When the spreadsheet stops coping and nothing off the shelf quite fits, I build the thing that does — and explain every part of it in words you'd use yourself.
If one of these sounds like your week, that's enough to start a conversation. Working out the rest is my job.
The first two cost you nothing but an hour. Most of what goes wrong in software goes wrong here, so this part is slow on purpose.
Describe the painful bit of your week in two paragraphs. I’ll tell you honestly whether it’s worth building — and I’ll say so if it isn’t.