I help businesses figure things out.
I'm James Bake, an operator in St. Petersburg, FL. Businesses usually bring me in when growth creates complexity, priorities become unclear, or the systems behind the business aren't keeping up. I help build teams, improve operations, solve problems, and turn ideas into execution.
Three ways businesses work with me:
Every engagement is different, but most start with a problem that needs solving, a team that needs support, or an owner who's tired of carrying everything alone.
Operator in Your Corner
When the business is growing but the systems aren't keeping up. I'll help build accountability, improve operations, manage projects, and keep important work moving forward. You stay focused on leading the business. I help make sure the machine behind it actually runs.
Advisory
When you need an experienced sounding board. A regular call with someone who's been through similar challenges before. We talk through problems, pressure-test ideas, identify blind spots, and create a plan that actually gets executed between meetings.
Special Projects
When there's a specific problem to solve. A product launch. An app or a customer portal. A process that's breaking under growth. A tool that doesn't exist yet. We define the goal, build the solution, and get it across the finish line.
Twenty years helping businesses figure things out.
I've led teams, launched products, improved operations, built systems, managed partnerships, and helped organizations navigate the challenges that come with growth.
The details change from business to business. The goal is usually the same: create clarity, improve execution, and build an organization that can grow without everything depending on one person.
- Built, grown, and helped sell three businesses.
- Launched products ranging from physical goods to SaaS platforms, including work with brands like Paired, BestSelf, and Christian Planner.
- Built apps, automation, client portals, reporting systems, and internal tools that help teams work smarter and scale more effectively.
- Served as a fractional operator, advisor, and execution partner across ecommerce, SaaS, agencies, nonprofits, and service businesses.
- Published author. Problem solver. Professional fixer of things that should probably work better than they do.
Most things don't fail because of bad ideas. They fail because execution is hard.
Building teams, launching programs, creating partnerships, improving operations, and occasionally developing custom solutions when the existing options weren't enough.
The projects below are different on the surface, but they all started the same way: a problem worth solving and a group of people willing to solve it.
ArtOUT
Grew an annual LGBTQ+ art exhibition into one of the region's largest celebrations of queer creativity, attracting hundreds of attendees at its opening reception.
Because I Can Life
Helped build and scale a multi-million-dollar coaching and membership business, creating the systems, operations, and programs that supported long-term growth.
Paired
Helped launch and grow a physical products business for one of the world's leading relationship apps, turning digital expertise into tangible experiences for couples.
Pirate Wizards
Built a card game brand from a napkin sketch to a manufactured product sold online and through retail channels.
SwiftStart Client Dashboard
Created a single source of truth for agency reporting, goal tracking, and client conversations.
Spill Tab
Built a beverage inventory platform that helps bars and restaurants count inventory faster, improve accuracy, and better understand costs.
Big Wins: From Napkin to Reality
Everything on this page started as a scribble, a sticky note, or a half-idea someone almost dismissed. The book is the playbook for turning small ideas into shipped, real things, written for people who would rather build than brainstorm forever.
About the bookThe short version.
I moved to St. Petersburg from Detroit and never looked back, especially in January. I've spent my career as the execution person behind founder-led businesses, and I like it that way. I'd rather show you a working thing than a strategy document about the thing.
I work best alongside people I genuinely like, building businesses we're proud of. If you've heard yourself say "I need a right-hand person to help me figure this out," that's usually where I come in.
Outside of work I'm usually making something anyway. I once gave myself a full year of hobbies: pottery, sailing, printmaking, and a few I'm still not good at. That's kind of the point.
I'm also the president of OUT Arts & Culture, a nonprofit amplifying voices in the arts, a board member of the Gulfport Merchant Chamber, and a pug dad.
Working on something interesting?
If your business is growing faster than the systems behind it, or you have an idea stuck on a napkin, I'd love to hear about it.