When Growth Depends on One Person Being in the Room
Safe Eats Consulting is owned by Patrick Hayes, with his wife Taylor Hayes serving as Administrative Director. Their content was strong. Their delivery model was the problem.
Every course required Patrick to travel to a client site and teach in person. Class size was capped by what one instructor could cover in a single day. Scheduling ran on the client's clock, which often meant nights and weekends.
The business could only grow as far as one calendar allowed.
"One of the limiting factors on the growth of our content in the past has been that it was all on me to be there to teach." Patrick Hayes Owner, Safe Eats Consulting
The Challenge
Great Content With a Hard Ceiling
The constraint wasn't the curriculum. It was physics.
Patrick could only be in one place at a time, teaching one group, on one day. Every new client relationship meant another trip, another calendar block, another evening away from home.
For a consulting business built on expertise, that created a difficult tension: the more the content was in demand, the more the owner's life had to bend around delivering it.
"I'd go do these courses with clients and I would build based on how many students were there. It was all about what I was capable of doing in that one day." Patrick Hayes Owner, Safe Eats Consulting
Taylor saw the same ceiling from the administrative side — and from home.
"In the past, whenever he had to teach a course, that could have been at night, that could have been on weekends." Taylor Hayes Administrative Director, Safe Eats Consulting
The Solution
Content That Replicates Instead of Repeats
Safe Eats Consulting moved its curriculum onto Develop.Me, converting instructor-led sessions into structured on-demand courses delivered through the web platform and mobile app.
The same course now runs simultaneously across every client relationship, in real time, without Patrick traveling to each one. It currently has 406 users and counting. The ceiling didn't get raised. It got removed.
"Develop.Me has now allowed our course to replicate and be available in real time. People can be learning the content they need all over the place, through all of our different client relationships. It's kind of limitless as far as who can be served by our content, as well as who can take our course." Patrick Hayes Owner, Safe Eats Consulting
Learning at Their Fingertips
Training That Fits Around Work, Not the Other Way Around
Before Develop.Me, learning required a scheduled session. Now it requires a phone.
Learners at client organizations work through content between shifts, on their own time, wherever they are. Nobody has to be pulled off the floor and into a training room for a day.
"What I love about having the software and the app is that they're learning anywhere, anytime, on their phone. They do not have to be in a session — they're able to learn and use the app at their fingertips with the content." Taylor Hayes Administrative Director
The Develop.Me Difference
Built So a Non-Developer Can Run It
Taylor's background is in education, not software. That mattered, because she is the one building the courses.
Rather than requiring a developer or an IT ticket for every change, Develop.Me put course creation directly in her hands — adding assignments, building quizzes, publishing courses — without technical support standing between her and the work.
"The admin side of the software has been incredible. I'm not a developer. Develop.Me has set it up in a way so that as a course administrator I'm able to add assignments and quizzes and courses in a way that's very intuitive and easy for me — and easy for the user as well." Taylor Hayes Administrative Director, Safe Eats Consulting
For Taylor, the platform also answered something she had wanted years earlier, in a different role.
"My background was in education, and when I think about getting resources to my students, I would have loved to have had a tool like this. Now we do." Taylor Hayes Administrative Director, Safe Eats Consulting
Key Outcomes
LIMITLESS
Reach That No Longer Depends on One Calendar
Courses run in real time across every client relationship at once, instead of one classroom on one day.
EXPANDING
Entry Into New Businesses
On-demand delivery opened doors the in-person model couldn't support, driving expansion over the past year.
SUSTAINABLE
Evenings and Weekends Back
Training that once required nights and weekends now runs on its own, returning time to the family that runs the business.
What Scale Actually Made Possible
Growth the Old Model Couldn't Support
The clearest measure of the change isn't a completion rate. It's that Safe Eats Consulting is now in rooms it couldn't previously reach.
"Develop.Me Software has allowed Safe Eats Consulting to enter into other businesses. If we did not have the ability to do that, we would not be able to expand like we have over the last year." Taylor Hayes Administrative Director, Safe Eats Consulting
And the growth didn't come at the owner's expense.
"Patrick is able to spend more time with us as a family, and that really benefits us."Taylor Hayes Administrative Director, Safe Eats Consulting
More Than a Vendor
A Partnership That Stayed After the Sale
Patrick was direct about what he was watching for, which was whether or not the relationship would continue after onboarding.
"I believe in win-wins, and you can really feel that. It's not some product they're selling you and saying 'I hope it works out, thanks for the purchase.' They empowered us to really use the software, but they were just a call away if we ever had questions." Patrick Hayes Owner, Safe Eats Consulting
"It's really a partnership. We've been able to adjust and customize on the fly, and there have been problems that have come up that they've helped me with really immediately." Patrick Hayes Owner, Safe Eats Consulting
A Business Investment With a Second Return
Why This Was a No-Brainer for a Christian Business Owner
Develop.Me exists alongside Cultivate Leadership Institute. For Patrick, that changed the nature of the purchase because his software spend isn't only an operating expense.
"We're not just selling our course content with the end goal of profit alone. We're able to come into partnership with Develop.Me and with CLI, and as we grow sales, it's also growing our impact in the kingdom because of the work that they're doing. "For me, it's a no-brainer, because it's a win-win all the way around."" Patrick Hayes Owner, Safe Eats Consulting
Why Safe Eats Consulting Recommends Develop.Me
For business owners whose growth is capped by their own availability, Safe Eats sees Develop.Me as more than a place to store course content. It's the thing that separates the business from the founder's calendar.
"I would encourage you, if you're a Christian business owner, to consider using the Develop.Me software for many different reasons — but the number one reason being that you're not only investing in your business, more importantly you're investing in the kingdom. That is one thing that we really love: knowing that we're not only expanding our business, but we're expanding the kingdom all over the world. And we're really grateful for that." Patrick and Taylor Hayes Safe Eats Consulting
Watch the Safe Eats Consulting Story
Hear directly from Patrick and Taylor Hayes about what changed when their training stopped depending on one person being in the room.
Your Expertise Shouldn't Be Capped by Your Calendar.
Whether you're training clients, staff, volunteers, or emerging leaders, Develop.Me gives you one place to deliver an accessible, on-demand, fully branded development experience — without being in the room.
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