Operations strategist for founder-led businesses across the UK
You started a business to do the work you're brilliant at, and somewhere along the way you also became the sales team, the finance department, customer service, HR and the only person who knows where anything is. That is not what you signed up for. You've got the reputation that brings the work in, but behind it things are a lot more chaotic than they should be, and that's where I come in, to sit alongside you, untangle it and stop you taking on every role.
Well, that's not what you signed up for
You started this to do the thing you're brilliant at, and now most of your week goes on chasing invoices, sending quotes again, answering the same question from the team for the third time and sorting out whatever went wrong while you were busy doing the actual work. If that sounds like your week, there's nothing wrong with you, and you're in very good company.
The business grew and the way it runs stayed exactly where it was. Every new customer, job and person adds a bit more weight, and because nobody else owns it, it all lands on you. I know because I did exactly this in my own business, in every rota and every decision, telling myself I'd sort it once things calmed down, and things never calmed down. Hiring someone feels like the answer, but if you hand them the chaos as it is, you've just got a second person asking you where everything is. Which is why there's a third option.
Picture a very ordinary Tuesday, as it is now
You're answering messages before you've even had a coffee, because if you don't do it now you won't see them again until tonight.
You're on site, or with your first client, or on the shop floor, and your phone hasn't stopped going in your pocket. You can't pick up, so it all just stacks up.
Can you just check this?
Where do I find this?
Someone on the team needs something only you know, so you stop what you're doing and tell them again, because it's never been written down anywhere.
Lunch, what's that? You're too busy trying to remember who you promised that quote to.
Something breaks. A booking gets missed or an order goes out wrong and a customer chases. You stick a plaster on it and move on, because there's no time to fix it properly.
You're on your laptop, ignoring the fact it's 9.40, looking at the project that's stalling and wondering what to do about it.
You go to bed thinking about the thing you were meant to be doing to grow the business this month. You haven't touched it, and you won't tomorrow either.
None of that is because you're bad at running a business. It's because the business grew faster than the way it runs, and you've been holding the gap together yourself.
The bits you don't say out loud
So who am I?
I'm the person you bring in when your business has grown out of control and turned into total chaos behind the scenes.
If you think you can grow into those big months with your pipeline on a spreadsheet and everything running through your inbox and your head, I have some very bad news for you.
It isn't just the tech, it's everything from the first time a customer gets in touch to the end of their job, the team, the processes, the follow-ups, the delivery and all the bits we like to ignore because they take up too much headspace, and they're the bits leaving money on the table and stopping you growing. Lucky for you, this is my jam.
What landed on my phone, three weeks in
That last line is the one I care about. He didn't message me about a system or a spreadsheet. He messaged me because, for the first time in months, he had enough headspace to do something for his business without even thinking about it.
That's what this is really for. The back end gets sorted so you get some headspace back.
Picture a very ordinary Tuesday
You get to where you need to be on time, and your phone isn't vibrating every five minutes with endless questions, because the enquiry that came in at ten past nine was picked up, answered the way you'd have answered it and booked in, and you'll only see it when you look at the week.
The quotes went out yesterday, the invoices went out on the day and the thing you'd normally be chasing has already been chased. You spend the morning on the job only you can do, the work you started the business for, the price rise you kept putting off, the conversation about the hire you've been avoiding, and you're no longer guessing where next month's money is coming from because you can see it.
Something goes wrong at 3pm, because something always does, but rather than panic, it gets sorted in ten minutes because the way to sort it is written down. The laptop stays shut.
This isn't just a good day, this is what an ordinary week looks like three months from now. The business runs like it should, every customer gets the same experience, which is exactly what your reputation promised them, and you've got the time, the headspace and the profit to keep that momentum going.
What this actually is AND isn't
It's about having a choice, and right now I know you don't get one.
What it's like having me next to you
I'm not a coach and I won't hand you a plan and wish you luck. I get into the business with you, work out what's actually going on behind the scenes, decide with you what matters most, and then I make it happen, so you end up with a partner who understands how your business works and cares about it as much as you do, and who will tell you the truth rather than agree with you.
A proper sit-down about where you are and where you actually want to be. You leave with it written down, not just a good feeling.
Half a page from me with what's been done, what's next and anything I need from you. It takes two minutes to read on your phone between jobs.
We step back and look at whether it's working. If it isn't, we change it.
I'm on WhatsApp, so when something comes up on a Wednesday afternoon you're not sat with it on your own at eleven o'clock at night.
Who owns what, how a job gets from first enquiry to paid, what the team can do without asking you, your pricing and your numbers, hiring the right people, letting the wrong ones go and everything in between.
Being honest about where you are
One
You remain the person everything runs through, capped by the number of hours you can physically work, turning down the opportunities you really want and telling yourself you'll sort it out next year, knowing you won't.
Two
They'll work hard, but with nothing set up for them to step into they end up asking you everything anyway, and you've added a wage to the problem instead of taking something off your plate.
Three
You get what's behind the scenes straight so the business holds itself up, and then you grow it, hire into it or step back from it, whichever one you actually want, because now you've got the choice. The right one depends on what you want your life and your business to look like, and that's exactly what we work out together.
What we actually work through
It's practical, it's strategic, and it's about making the adjustments that matter, because what got you to where you are now will not get you to the next bit, and that is what all of this is about.
Not the vague, watered down version you tell people at networking events, the big bold one you know deep down you could get to if you put your mind to it, and what you want the business to give you in money and in time. We say it out loud, reverse engineer the shit out of it, and then we make it happen.
Something about money brings people out in a cold sweat, yet every founder I speak to wants more profit without more hours. So we do all those bits you've ignored for ages, and yes it's tedious, but we look at which jobs actually make you money, stop the leaks, fix the pricing where it needs fixing and stop settling.
Everything between a customer getting in touch and the money landing in your account, mapped on one page with every spot where it waits on you or drops through the gap marked. This is where most of the money quietly walks out of the door, and it's where I'm at my happiest.
Be honest, which of the jobs on your plate should have been someone else's months ago? We get it written down, who answers what and what the team can decide without ringing you, so the questions stop landing in your pocket every hour of the day.
This is the aha moment for most people, that being available isn't the same as having capacity, and it's why it's ten at night and you're still answering emails. Tell me what you won't give up, your evenings, your Sundays, the one morning a week that's yours, and we build the week around it.
Here's the test, if ten people said yes tomorrow, could your business actually support that? If the answer's no, and most of the time it will be, then that's the work, because the back end is what makes growth possible and what turns more customers into more profit instead of more chaos. This is my jam.
By the end, you're sitting in a business that finally has the structure to fit the life you want, you're not making reactive decisions with your back against the wall, and you're taking a proper holiday where the phone stays on Do Not Disturb.
How we do it
If you're not sure where to start
You know something's not right behind the scenes, but you can't put your finger on what. Ninety minutes going through how the business actually runs, the three things I'd fix first in writing within 48 hours, and a follow-up call a week later to see what's moved.
How the sit-down works →One thing, sorted properly · usually six weeks
You know what's costing you, you just haven't got the hours to sort it. We take whatever's hurting most, whether that's enquiries, the team, handovers or the numbers, and build it properly with you and your team so it runs without you.
See everything in the Fix →
Your part-time operations director
You're done being the person everything comes back to. I stay in the business with you, lead the back end and the team through it, and keep it all moving week in, week out, while you stay on the work only you can do. Four months minimum.
See everything in the Partnership →Not sure where you fit?
If you know something's not right but can't say what, start with the Sit-Down. We get underneath it and you leave knowing exactly what to fix first.
If you know what's costing you and it keeps sitting on your list, that's the Fix. We stop talking about it and get it built.
If you're done being the person everything comes back to, that's the Partnership. I stay in it with you, so it doesn't drift back.
And if you're sat there thinking you're somewhere between two of those, that's completely normal. Tell me what's going on and we'll work out where to start together.
What's it costing you?
No smoke and mirrors. Move the sliders to match your business and see what the mess behind the scenes is really costing you.
That's what it could be costing you, which is £0 a year. Excuse me, but make that make sense.
Estimates only, based on your own numbers. Team time is counted at £20 an hour.
Who I work with
You're booked up for months, the quotes go out late, and half the job notes live in your head and the other half in the van.
The treatments are brilliant and people rave about you, but rebooking, stock and the rota still run through your phone.
The work is good, but projects stall waiting on your sign-off and nobody is quite sure what was agreed with the client.
Orders are growing, but production and dispatch only work because you know where everything is.
The place is busy and well loved, but the suppliers, the staff and the cashing up all still land on you.
If you've got a team, a reputation and a business that still needs you for everything, it's the same problem underneath. Tell me about yours.
If you're still looking for your first customers, I'm not the right person for you yet. Come back when they're queuing.
Ten honest questions
Ten questions. Nobody sees your answers. Tick what's true, in the van or on the sofa. Three or more and we should talk.
I have lived this
My business grew very quickly and I'd created my own monster. I built my last business from nothing to a team of twelve in eighteen months, and from the outside it was a roaring success, but every core part of it needed me, I couldn't take a holiday without everything stopping, I skipped social occasions and my anxiety was through the roof.
Then I took the time to restructure how it ran, and things changed, we went from £12k weeks to £20k weeks and the team ran it without us. Most people teaching this have never run a business with twelve people in it. I built one, broke myself doing it, rebuilt it properly so it could run without me, and then closed it, on purpose, because my idea of success had changed.
Why now, and not January
There isn't much of this year left, and if you start now you spend the whole of the final stretch sorting how the business runs, which means you walk into January ahead and excited, with the capacity to take on the opportunities you've been putting on the back burner and the headspace to actually go after the goals you set when you were feeling optimistic.
If you wait, January arrives and you're sitting in the exact same seat, a year older, still wondering why your week is chaos. For most of you reading this, you already know what those missed opportunities have cost you, and the expensive option is being in the same place three months from now.
Not ready to talk yet?
Straight talk for business owners who are brilliant at the job and tired of the mess behind it. Real stories from inside real businesses, landing in your inbox.
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You have already done the hardest part
You built something out of nothing and made it work, people recommend you without being asked, and everything from here is a question of shape. You don't want to be sitting in this exact seat in three months' time, still wondering why your week is chaos and missing the people you do it all for, when it could be different.
Next step is a 30 minute call, to see what's happening in your business right now and whether we're a good fit.