It's always been important to run your business efficiently.
If you want to find stability in a marketplace, and a world, that’s changing by the minute, you can’t do it with a business that’s held together by duct tape and band-aids. Most businesses grow on the fly, adding software and systems and team members here and there -- patching in tools “for now” because “it’ll do”. Hiring because it’s “all hands on deck” and “we need more help.” But, over time, that becomes the foundation of your business, whether that was your plan or not. When you hack together a bunch of spur-of-the-moment decisions to fix the problem at hand, you create a business with a foundation about as strong as a house of cards. Your software tools, your team members, your choices about how your business should run all make up the foundation of your business. And if it’s unstable and bloated, your business will be too. Bloated businesses and systems cost more and take more time to run than simpler, streamlined ones.
Stability comes from having strong foundations. And having strong foundations and efficient systems allow you to be more profitable and more resilient and hold steady when everything is changing around you.
Hi, I'm Susan
I created the Action Plan to help small business owners shore up the foundations of their business so they can:
Navigate Uncertainty
Build Resilience
Run Their Businesses Efficiently
Your Action Plan will help you & your team identify how you can:
Increase Efficiency
Simplify your systems and automate away time-consuming manual tasks so that your business takes less time and staff to run.
Run Lean
Identify where you need actual human support, and where you just need clearer tools and processes. Which keeps costs low and profit high.
Save Money
Eliminate your back end bloat. Simpler systems mean more efficiency, easier operations and lower costs.
Be Resilient
More profit means a bigger financial cushion, and more efficiency means nothing comes crashing down when you hit a crisis.
Grow Your Margins
Simpler, more efficient systems & business design means more margin, both time & profit. So you can weather any storms.
Zero In On Limitations
Identify changes you could make in your business RIGHT NOW to set you up for success later on.
Your Action Plan looks at every area of your business -- not just finance. We also look at software, HR, hiring & onboarding, client & project management, operations, and more.
Because your business (and the software you use to run it) is an ecosystem. Everything needs to work together in harmony. Otherwise, that disjointed mostly-manual mess you’re running will continue to sap your time and attention with annoying admin instead of letting you work on things that actually move the needle.
And when your software systems run together smoothly, you get better data faster. So that you can make decisions from a place of intention and purpose, instead of panic. Imagine getting rid of your bloated back end and having simple, efficient systems that just work... Imagine being able to know exactly where your business is and how it’s doing with a single glance at your fully integrated system… Imagine being able to leverage what’s really working in your business, and being able to ditch what’s actually not, so you can create a snowball effect of massive profit and market power…
That’s what having a plan of action does for your business.
The Action Plan is Perfect For You If:
You're
A coach or consultant with multiple income streams
An agency with a team of less that 25
And you need to know...
What needs to be cut -- from software subscriptions to job positions -- for you to be more efficient and more profitable + how to cut it without sacrificing performance, profitability, or your sanity
What to change about your current operations to keep growing with the lowest possible overhead
What you need to leverage to keep growing vs. what’s standing in your way...so you can tear it down and build something that actually works for your business and your life
Here's how it works
Stage 1: Assessment + Access
The first step is to complete an extensive questionnaire, telling me all about your priorities, visions, goals and an in-depth look at what your business is all about and what you’re trying to achieve, along with information about the systems & processes you have in place. You’ll also share access to your systems, so I can actually dig in and see what’s going on.
Stage 2: Kickoff Call & In-Depth Interview
In a 2-hour deep-dive call, I’ll dig deeper into the issues or challenges I found during the questionnaire. So I can really get to know you and your business and make suggestions that will get you to where you want to go. We’ll also confirm that I’ve got access to all your systems, so I can dig in and see what’s actually happening.
Stage 3: Design Your Foundations
Keeping in mind your business goals, I’ll design the foundational systems you need. You’ll get a literal blueprint for how you can grow your business, and how your backend -- including finance & operations processes and systems -- can support those goals.
Stage 4: Plan of Action
We meet for 1 hour via Zoom so I can walk you through your Action Plan. I’ll go over my recommendations for systems, processes, software, and team. And we’ll talk about a realistic timeline for these changes, and my suggested process for making it happen.
Get Straight to the Point with the Action Plan
Finance & Cash Flow Health Check
A complete overview of where you stand financially -- and what you could do to improve
Software Blueprint & System Map
Customized software recommendations and how they all work together
Operations & Team Audit
What’s working and what’s not -- where do you have opportunities to improve, refine or streamline your team and your operations.
Limitations & Opportunities Report
What’s holding you back and where do you have some quick-win opportunities for improvements
Implementation Action Plan
This is your roadmap for how to actually implement these changes, including timeline & order of operations.
“I love how Susan just casually throws out an incredibly magical and efficient all-around perfect solution like it's nothin'”
Rachel Jordan
Founder, 929 Marketing
Running a profitable business doesn't have to follow anyone’s rules but yours
You don’t need the huge team or the bloated systems. You can grow fast and scale while still staying small and lean, and having the life you want. There is no one magic framework or software that will solve all of your problems. But the right combination of software, process & team can revolutionize your business. Your Action Plan will identify the day-to-day clutter clogging your vision and bloating your back end and design the foundations that support the growth you really want, in the way that works for you. So you can leverage what’s really working, and ditch what’s really not, to create a snowball effect of massive profit and market power.
The Action Plan is designed to stand on its own. So you can take the plan and have your trusted team implement it, or we can implement it together, either on a project basis or as your CFO.
Do you have specific tools that you always recommend?
I stay up-to-date with the best financial, HR and project management tools on the market so that I can recommend the tool that precisely fits the job you need it to do. I do have some stand-out tools that I pretty consistently recommend because they’re just plain better than the other ones in their space, like Xero and Gusto. But I try to stay as platform-agnostic as possible so we can match your brain and work with the best tools for you.
Do you consider the software we already use?
I always ask about the software you’re currently using - that’s a big chunk of what we talk about during your interview because software is a foundational piece of online business today. I want to know why you’re using it and what you like and don’t like about it. If it’s something that works well, that you love and that will work with everything else in your systems, I’ll probably recommend you keep using it. If it’s something you don’t like, causes problems, or would limit your ability to automate, I’ll give you some alternative options that would work better. And I’ll be clear on what limitations you’ll have if you choose to keep the old system.
