The architecture behind the businesses.
Derek Hazelwood is a business owner who solves problems by building the architecture to fix them. Ricochet Business Solutions, his business consulting and AI automation firm, wasn't born out of a need for income or a desire to start another company. It came out of necessity, forged in the trenches of running his own businesses, where Derek was working 14 to 16 hour days behind a screen and losing time he wanted to spend with his family. He built the systems to solve that problem for himself first. Ricochet is what happened when other business owners needed the same fix.
Ricochet focuses on fixing broken systems for service businesses, with an emphasis on hiring and recruiting, and sales. One example of that work: a flagship scheduling and quoting system Derek built that replaced a 45 minute to 1 hour manual decision with an automated result in under 10 seconds. That same system drove an 18 percent sales increase for the business it was built for, with AI handling the entire quote to close to booking pipeline and zero added salaried headcount.
Derek is also co-owner of Raleigh Cleaning Company, a residential and commercial cleaning company he runs alongside his wife Nina. He entered the insurance industry at 18 and started Hazelwood Insurance Group himself at 21. Through his consulting and insurance work, he has also trained others in sales and in leading under pressure. While building his businesses, Derek also served for years as a firefighter, driven by a love of helping people and a pull toward high performance environments under heavy pressure. He worked up to lieutenant and later served as an instructor, teaching leadership within the department.
Derek is a John Maxwell certified leader and has spoken publicly on AI and automation, including at the South Hill Chamber of Commerce. He describes his approach simply: he doesn't build automation for automation's sake, he builds systems that run without him so businesses can grow past what one person or one team can manually handle, and so their owners can get their lives back too.
I've launched businesses, a church, and a regional young professionals' network, and served as its founding president. Building an organization from nothing is different work than improving one that already exists. I've done both.
The work, up close.
My grandfather taught me about ricochet with a BB gun when I was seven. He said whatever you send out doesn't just disappear, it comes back, one way or another. I didn't understand it then. I've lived it since.
Every hit I took, in school, in marriages, in a church that should have protected me, was its own kind of ricochet, energy I didn't choose, coming back at me anyway. For a long time I just absorbed it. I didn't decide what to send out next, I just took the hit and moved on.
This isn't a comeback story. I'm not trying to get back to something I lost, because a lot of what I'm talking about, I never had in the first place. This is just, let's go. Whatever energy you put out from right where you are, beat down or not, is what starts ricocheting back. I built these businesses to put out real energy on purpose. And I want to stand in front of people who are still just absorbing hits and tell them it's time to decide what they're sending out next.
What's actually behind it.
Business ownership
- →Founder of Ricochet Business Solutions, business consulting and AI automation.
- →Co-owner of Raleigh Cleaning Company alongside his wife Nina, who founded it.
- →Founded Hazelwood Insurance Group himself at 21, after entering the industry at 18.
Consulting and AI work
- →Built a flagship scheduling, accounting, accountability, and quoting system that turned a 45 minute to 1 hour manual decision into a result in under 10 seconds.
- →That system drove an 18 percent sales increase with AI handling the full quote to close to booking pipeline and zero added salaried headcount.
- →Built and deployed live AI agents for real business operations before AI automation became a mainstream buzzword.
- →Spoke publicly on AI and automation at the South Hill Chamber of Commerce.
Fire service background
- →Served for years as a firefighter, working up to lieutenant.
- →Served as a fire service instructor, teaching leadership within the department.
- →Pursued EMS education as well, attending EMT training out of the same drive to be useful on accident and fire scenes.
- →Between 2022 and 2023, on scene for two separate highway crashes involving his department's trucks on Interstate 85, including pulling his fire chief to safety during a vehicle strike. Later covered by CBS 6 Richmond, NBC 12, and Virginia's statewide Move Over Law campaign.
Leadership, training, recognition
- →John Maxwell certified leader and public speaker.
- →Has trained others in sales through his consulting and insurance work.
- →Raleigh Cleaning Company has won Best of the Best 10 consecutive times.
Sitting on a decision you cannot make alone?
Sixty minutes, one on one. A written summary within three business days. Straight answers, including when the answer is do not spend the money.