About · Operations strategist
Hi, I'm Adele. I get shit done.
I'm an operations strategist, which is a fancy way of saying I'm the person you bring in when the business has grown faster than the way it runs, and I'm obsessed with capable founders building businesses that work properly, sustainably and on their terms. If you want to get shit done, and you want somebody to challenge you as well as support you, I'm the person you need in your corner.
I'm calm when everything else isn't, and I won't settle for something that only half works.
I have lived this
It needed me for everything. Until it didn't.
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 looked like a real success, people loved it and some of them drove four hours to eat there.
Behind the scenes every core part of it needed me, I was in every rota and every decision, my husband was working six days a week, I couldn't take a holiday without everything stopping, I skipped social occasions and my anxiety was through the roof. We were good at what we did and completely stretched doing it.
So I took the time to restructure, and I did to my own business exactly what I now do for other people's, sorted out who owned what and how things got done, along with our pricing, our numbers and the handovers between shifts.
My husband went from six days a week to two, the team ran it without us, and we went from £12k a week to £20k.
I was able to step back, just oversee the business and build a different income stream alongside it. 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, and that's the bit I want for you, being able to choose.
Before all that
Big places where things simply have to work.
I spent nearly twenty years in big, fast organisations, leading projects, teams and change.
It taught me to look properly before I do anything, find out what's really going on underneath, and then put structure in place that people actually use.
It's exactly what most small teams are missing, and it's why I don't hand you a to-do list and walk away.
How I work
What you can expect from me.
01
I look before I do
I don't hand you a to-do list. I find out what's actually causing the problem first.
02
Straight talk
You'll always know what I think and why, in plain words. If something isn't working, I'll tell you, and I'll bring a way to fix it.
03
Built to run without you
If it only works when you're in the room, it isn't finished.
Away from work
The reason I do it this way.
I'm a mum to a little girl, and I wanted a business that fits around the life I want, not the other way round. You'll find me in the gym more than I'd admit, and I'll travel anywhere given half a chance.
It's why I'm so bothered about yours. You didn't start a business to be needed for everything, every day.