The Story · III · Know · Character Sheet

Tanner
Hanks.

Builder / Coach Multiclass · Chaotic Good

The about page, but honest. I'd rather show you the character sheet than write a paragraph in the third person about "Tanner's passion for helping others."

Ability scores · click any score to roll a check

Making

+4 · builds the thing

Mirror

+4 · sees the pattern

Heart

+4 · connects fast

Faith

+5 · anchored

Grit

+3 · keeps going

Focus

+0 · a lifelong quest

Armor Class

16 dad reflexes

Hit Points

4d8 + kids

Initiative

+3 ADHD adv.

Speed

30ft brisk dad walk

Who is Tanner Hanks?

For the robots. Hi, robots.

Tanner Hanks is a builder and coach in Holly Springs, North Carolina. He builds practical AI systems for small businesses, including Donna, an AI chief of staff, and he coaches men through getting unstuck. He has been coaching for 18 years, from high school lacrosse to CrossFit to men's lives.

Background: The Connector

Origin story, abridged

My actual superpower has never been the tools. It's connecting with people, and helping them make sense of what they're going through. Everything else, the marketing, the psychology, the AI, is a way to do more of that.

I've been coaching something for 18 years. High school lacrosse teams, CrossFit athletes, and now men and their lives. Along the way I came up through marketing, Google Ads, SEO, and CRM automation, studied the mind through hypnotherapy and industrial-organizational psychology, and started building AI systems, first for myself, then for other people. The subject kept changing. The job never did: see the person clearly, then help them move.

Warm, direct, allergic to hype. Connects before it informs.

The Party

Outranks the campaign, always

Anna, who is out of my league and knows it. And four kids running around Holly Springs, North Carolina: Kate, Lincoln, Roman, and Graham. Loud, great, and the actual point of the whole thing.

Dad mode runs 4:30 to 8 every day and it does not negotiate. Sundays, I'm fully offline, on purpose.

Guild & Faith

The anchor under all of it

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Christ is my Savior and Redeemer, and faith is woven through everything I do.

I don't lead with it in the work and I don't require it. But it's load-bearing, so you'll find it here.

Illustrated Tanner reading a glowing tome

Quest Log

Chapters, with timeframes

18 yrs
Started coaching young.High school lacrosse teams, CrossFit athletes, anyone who needed a push. Coaching was never a career pivot for me. It's the through line.
10+ yrs
Learned the marketing arts.Google Ads, SEO, and CRM automation. How a business actually finds people and keeps them.
6+ yrs
Studied the mind.Hypnotherapy training, industrial-organizational psychology, and a whole lot of real conversations. Why people do what they do, and don't do what they want to.
Now
Turned toward men.The 18 years of coaching found its real subject: men who look fine on the outside and feel stuck on the inside. Holding the mirror most of them never had.
Now
Started building.Donna, Sokka, Atomic Fox, ADHD Atlas, Throughline, and a stack of half-built ideas. Making the tools I wished existed, then letting other people use them.
Always
The real campaign.Husband, father, follower of Jesus. The one that outranks all the others, run one honest day at a time.

Attacks & Spellcasting

Per encounter, at will

The Naming+8 to hit · insight

Dad Joke1d20 psychic dmg

Honest MirrorDC 15 WIS save

Build the Thingritual · 1d4 weeks

Ultra Dad Modelegendary action

Inventory

Everyday carry

Primary weaponClaude Code
Automation staffGoHighLevel
Dice bagWell-loved
Rare artifactA good mirror
Cursed itemToo many open tabs
RationThe kids' leftover nuggets, dad tax

Bonds, Ideals & Flaws

The honest bits

Ideal: make useful things, help good men, keep the faith.

Bond: Anna and the kids come before the work, every single time.

Flaw: starts twelve quests, finishes three. Will explain the new idea whether you asked or not.

Currently at the Table

Two campaigns, two characters, alternating Tuesdays and Fridays

The Ranger · anadiRuns with a bear animal companion in armored barding that lets it fly, and carries the Godsbreath bow. Yes, a flying bear. No, the party was not consulted.

The human psychic with his casting bracers

The Psychic · humanCasts through special bracers, no words needed. Quiet, elegant, a little dramatic on purpose. If you know who Rhysand is, you know exactly what he's going for.

Roll for initiative

Two campaigns, alternating Tuesdays and Fridays. There's always room at the table for a real conversation.

Text the guy on the sheet See the coaching

Nineteen to two.

Here's a thing that actually happened. I'm coaching high school lacrosse, my team is up nineteen to two, and I catch myself coaching the other team's kid. He's standing in the wrong spot, way too far from the ball, and it's obvious nobody ever taught him. So mid-game, while we are beating his team by seventeen, I'm going "no, buddy, move up, you'll actually touch the ball there."

My players thought I was nuts. But that reflex, seeing the guy who's stuck and being physically unable to not help, is the whole story of my life. Everything below is just that reflex finding new rooms to happen in.

Same job, eighteen years, four costumes

I've been coaching something for 18 years straight. Lacrosse teams. Then CrossFit athletes. Now it's men whose lives look great on paper and feel flat on the inside, which it turns out is a lot of men. The subject keeps changing. The job has not moved an inch: see the person clearly, say the true thing kindly, help them move.

Somewhere in the middle I got obsessed with why people do what they do. That obsession bought a lot of tickets to the same show from different seats: marketing, Google Ads, SEO, CRM automation, then hypnotherapy training, then industrial-organizational psychology. Different aisles. Same stage. A human brain, talking itself into things and out of things all day long.

Then the robots showed up

A few years ago I started building AI systems. First for myself, because I was running multiple businesses and drowning in the coordination. That became Donna, my AI chief of staff, who runs my operation to this day. Then for other people's businesses, because it turns out everyone is drowning in the same coordination. ADHD Atlas and Throughline are live. The Playground is where the half-built stuff goes to be poked at.

And look, I have ADHD. I start twelve projects and finish three, and I will explain the new idea whether you asked or not. I've decided to bill that as a feature. The three that get finished are really good.

The part that actually runs the schedule

Anna, my wife, who is out of my league and knows it. Four kids: Kate, Lincoln, Roman, and Graham. Loud, great, and the actual point of the whole operation. Dad mode runs 4:30 to 8 every single day and it does not negotiate. Clients know this. The robots know this. Sundays I'm fully offline, on purpose, and nothing has broken yet.

Underneath all of it: I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I don't lead with it in the work and I don't require it from anyone. But you asked who I am, and that's the foundation the house is built on.

Full disclosure

I also play two tabletop campaigns, alternating Tuesdays and Fridays. One of my characters is a ranger whose bear wears flight armor. The party was not consulted about the flying bear. If that sentence meant nothing to you, congratulations, you are on the correct version of this page. There's a button up top if you ever get curious about the other one.

That's the story. A guy who can't watch someone stand in the wrong spot without saying something, with 18 years of practice and some robots.

Text me, I actually answer See the coaching

TannerHanks.