Cosmo Tech | The Decision Twin Platform for Supply Chain, Finance & Asset Leaders at Fortune 500 Scale | Simulate Tomorrow. Decide Today.

Over the past 30 years, I’ve led sales teams at fast-growing Tech & SaaS companies — to rebuild and refine the strategies and systems so sales teams can scale and drive revenue growth.

In recent roles, I was able:

- double revenue while EBITDA grew 400%
- drive a +34% YoY revenue growth

Today I’m working with Cosmo Tech to help enterprises simulate the future for faster decisions, better systems, and maximum opportunity.

That means: 

- Quantum-level decision making
- Complex system resiliency
- Future-proof roadmap

“Steve is “Instant Offense” for sales. This is very rare and very valuable. He’s truly world class at quickly creating and running strategic, data-driven sales teams to drive growth. Great at strategy and wading into the minutiae to uncover and fix and optimize the team and process.

He’s a great leader with great judgment who makes it fun to work on the most difficult challenges. He and I have worked together on two companies that were great successes.”

— Jeff O'Mara, General Manager EKAHAU/ CEO, Healthentic.

Feel free to join my newsletter below — you’ll get all my best systems and strategies for scaling sales into the future. 

Join my newsletter at www.salesgss.com/newsletter

Trying to figure out where to start to double sales in 2025? Click on my "FREE Sales Accelerator Assessment" www.salesgss.com/assessment

Steve Litzow

A 17-year-old enterprise tech company went from $25M to $65M in revenue without changing their team, market, or product strategy.

Here's what actually drove the transformation:
Revenue: $25M → $65M (160% growth) 
Recurring Revenue: $5M → $30M (6× increase) 
EBITDA margins: 20% → 50% 
Product velocity: 1 release every 4 years → 4 per year

When I ask CEOs what they think enabled this kind of growth, they usually say: 
"Better talent? Bigger pipeline? New market positioning?"

None of the above.

It was implementing a High-Intensity Rhythm of Business (HI-ROB).

Here's what it looked like in practice:
Daily 15-minute standups focused on:
- Pipeline movement (what changed overnight)
- Yesterday's activity vs. plan
- Today's activity commitments
- What's closing today + backup options

Weekly cross-functional reviews where every team reports using the same metrics, same format, same cadence.

The insight most teams miss: Elite execution isn't about having better people. 

It's about building systems that surface problems in 24 hours instead of 30 days.

That time compression is what separates:
- Forecast accuracy from CFO discounts
- Pipeline visibility from month-end surprises
- Revenue growth from revenue hope

The companies scaling predictably right now aren't necessarily the ones with the best talent. 

They're the ones with the best operating systems. 

salesgss.com/newsletter

Your sales team has 200+ hours of PMF intelligence.
Your product team sees maybe 5% of it.

That gap is killing your velocity.

Sales hears every objection, every “not yet,” every competitive blindside.
Product never sees most of it.

That’s where PMF actually erodes — in the gap between Sales intelligence and Product velocity.

And the fix isn’t another roadmap meeting.

It’s a bi-weekly execution ritual:
Sales brings: Top 3 deal blockers
Product maps: Clear ship windows
CEO enforces: Ruthless scope discipline
15 minutes. Twice a month.

This loop eliminates the three silent killers:
- Roadmap drift
- Ship-date ambiguity
- Competitive feature surprises

One company I worked with went from 1 release every 4 years → 4 releases per year using this exact loop.

Result: 2× revenue and expansion from a niche tool to a mainstream IT platform.

The data backs it up:
Elite product teams ship with 76% success  --  Average teams sit at 51%

That 25-point gap compounds into years of competitive advantage (or decline).

With Q1 planning six weeks away, now is the moment to fix your Sales → Product loop before you lock next year’s roadmap.

Product-market fit isn’t a milestone — it’s a 90-day referendum.

Full framework + the Q1 implementation plan is in this week’s SalesGSS newsletter.
Link in comments. 👇

Couldn’t agree more with Phillip — the ability to anticipate, not just react, is what separates leaders today.

Simulation is already helping our customers cut decision cycles, reduce risk, and move with confidence.

CEO at Cosmo Tech I Global Business Leader I Chief Technology Officer

Enterprises today face a simple truth: disruption is no longer an occasional event, it’s a constant. Supply shocks, market volatility, and regulatory 

Open article: From Intelligent to Autonomous: How AI-Simulation Unlocks the Self-Learning Enterprise by Phillip Hazen • 2 min read

From Intelligent to Autonomous: How AI-Simulation Unlocks the Self-Learning Enterprise

The new advantage isn’t faster outreach — it’s faster proof.

✅ Days 0–7 (Sales): Define success metric + provision sandbox
✅ Days 8–21 (Product): Automate setup + guide onboarding
✅ Days 22–30 (CS): Deliver one-page ROI snapshot

Track what matters:
• TTFV (Time-to-First-Value) — leading indicator of conversion
• Activation → Expansion Ratio (≤60 days) — proof that value sticks

The teams that show ROI inside 30 days stay alive in deals CFOs can’t kill.

Read the full playbook → salesgss.com/newsletter

#SaaS #SalesStrategy #RevenueGrowth #SalesGSS

Great insight, Philipp.
Transforming Weibull and other reliability models into continuously learning systems through AI simulation is where asset management becomes truly prescriptive. It’s exciting to see this thinking gain momentum across the SAP ecosystem.

Yesterday I shared my first impressions on sessions about Predictive Maintenance, RCM, Asset Maintenance 5.0, and deep dives into data acquisition and diagnostic hardware at the Asset Performance conference. Today, I want to share one idea that really stuck with me—something that could be transformational if applied across the entire asset lifecycle:

Weibull distribution.
It’s a statistical tool that uses failure data from operations—data that’s often easy to get. It doesn’t need huge datasets, and because it’s based on probability distributions, it provides interpretable confidence intervals. That means maintenance experts can use it with confidence.
Of course, it comes with challenges: modeling expertise and thorough data cleansing are essential.

But the opportunities are huge. Startup Cosmo Tech showed a very innovative approach how operational data (e.g. failures, financials, risk) can be used to simulate different maintenance policies and predict their impact on CAPEX, OPEX, or any custom risk KPI you define is relevant for your business. This enables to test strategies before implementing them—using models they can actually understand.

My takeaway: Weibull distribution shouldn’t be a one-time tool for investment decisions. It should be part of a continuous loop:
- Define strategies based on simulations
- Implement and measure performance of such strategies
- Learn from cases where the policies been violates or fails, e.g. when using CBM or RUL predictions missed a failure beyond what is to be expected from a statistical model.

With continuous closed loops to monitor, improve, and optimize your maintenance strategies and operations, it would be possible to unleash the full power of Weibull distribution—or, as a matter of fact, any AI or model-based tool.

Thanks Olivier Blancke & Steven Coates for the insightful demo and nice discussion we had during the conference.

This is how leading utilities are using AI Simulation to prioritize investments, balance risk, and accelerate the energy transition.
Join Cosmo Tech and Groupe E on Dec 2 to see it in practice.

Join us for an insightful webinar with Cosmo Tech and Groupe E on December 2nd.

Ana Nazaré, Strategic Asset Manager at Groupe E, and Maxime Le Pendeven, Key Account Director at Cosmo Tech, will explore how Cosmo Tech AI Simulation empowers Groupe E to 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺, 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦-𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 - 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.

Whether you’re managing renewable energy plants, large industrial fleets, or complex infrastructure, this session is for you.

👉 Register here: https://hubs.ly/Q03Rxpwj0

#ai #simulation #assetmanagement #aip #digitaltransformation #innovation #energy #utility

Buyers don’t wait 90 days for ROI anymore.

The window for proof has collapsed — from quarters to weeks.

▪ 78 % of B2B buyers now expect measurable ROI within six months (G2)
▪ Deal slippage nearly doubled year-over-year (Kluster)
▪ Interactive demos lift conversions ≈ 25 % (Navattic)

If your product still takes three months to prove value, you’re already behind competitors who do it in 14 days.

👉 Stop selling platforms. Start selling proof.

This week’s SalesGSS issue breaks down how to:
• Re-engineer your first-value moment
• Turn demos into ROI trials
• Track the 3 KPIs boards now watch

Read here → salesgss.com/newsletter

#B2BSales #SaaS #SalesLeadership #GrowthStrategy

Most B2B tech CEOs think they have a meeting problem.
But the data says something very different.

Only 37% of meetings have an agenda.
Executives say 67% of them fail.
Teams waste 392 hours a year sitting in them.

But here’s the truth:

Meetings aren’t the problem.
Visibility lag is.

If you’re still discovering slippage at the end of the month, you’re already 30 days behind the teams you’re competing with.

Across the $25M–$65M companies I’ve worked inside, the pattern is identical:

Elite teams surface deal risk in 24 hours.
Average teams: 7–14 days.
Struggling teams: after the month closes.

This one gap explains revenue misses more than pipeline size, talent, or marketing.

The companies that scale consistently run a tight Rhythm of Business (ROB):

Daily (15 minutes):
• Pipeline movement
• Yesterday’s activity
• Today’s targets
• Deals closing today
• Backup if #1 slips

Everyone stands.
Cameras on.
Pipeline open.

Weekly:
Every function reports progress on the same goals, using the same metrics, in the same format.

No silos.
No spin.
No surprises.

Slippage is a visibility problem — not a talent problem.
Fix the cadence → fix the outcome.

If you want more on operating cadence, forecasting accuracy, and mid-market sales strategy, subscribe to my weekly newsletter - salesgss.com/newsletter.

The earliest sign your deal is slipping?
A single stakeholder goes silent for 11–14 days.

Across the teams I’ve led and advised, this Silent Thread Indicator is the #1 early warning signal.

When even one stakeholder goes dark for 14 days:
• Decision momentum breaks
• Champion confidence drops
• Parallel blockers emerge
• CFO/IT lose context
• Legal quietly resets the evaluation

Probability of stall increases 6–8X —
even if your champion absolutely loves you.

This is why single-threading kills Q4 forecasts.
You don’t lose because someone said “no.”
You lose because someone stopped saying anything.

Monday rule:
Any deal with a silent thread = at-risk deal.
Don’t wait for the stage to slip.
Re-engage immediately.
––
Full breakdown (and the Q1 2026 multi-threading plan) is in the new SalesGSS Newsletter issue.

linkedin.com/company/getdatabees/

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Your prospects aren’t waiting 379 days because your category is complex.
They’re waiting because they can’t see momentum.

In 2025, PMF isn’t something you “achieve.”
It’s something your market re-evaluates every 90 days.

When you go two quarters without visible product news, buyers assume:
“Are they still investing?”
“Are they falling behind competitors?”
“Will this product still matter in 12 months?”

One quiet quarter doesn’t kill deals.
Two quiet quarters trigger the PMF death spiral:
longer cycles → lower win rates → silent champions → stalled pipeline.

Quarterly updates aren’t nice-to-have.
They’re your only defense against ambiguity.

If your deal cycles are extending while your roadmap isn’t shipping visibly every 90 days, that’s not a market problem — it’s a product velocity problem.

If you want the full framework, my latest SalesGSS newsletter is live - www.salesgss.kit.com

Most stalled deals don’t die in competition.

They die in conference rooms you’ll never enter.

Here’s what’s happening across $5M–$50M SaaS teams:
• Buyers spend 83% of the journey without you
• Buying committees: 10–11 stakeholders
• Only 9% of deals are multi-threaded
• Champion turnover: 81%
• Champion leaves → 80% deal loss rate

This is the Single-Thread Death Spiral:
One relationship in a 10-person committee is a gamble — not a forecast.

The simplest diagnostic I know:
How many unique stakeholders are engaged right now in your top 10 opportunities?

Benchmarks:
• 1–2 threads: Critical risk
• 3–4 threads: Baseline safety
• 5+ threads: Elite execution (6X win rate)

Thread count is now a leading indicator — not a “nice to have.”
If half your late-stage pipeline has fewer than 3 threads…
your Q4 number isn’t slipping — it’s already gone.
––
Full breakdown is in today’s SalesGSS newsletter -  https://lnkd.in/gZJeATBP

You’re rich — but you’re still broke.

Not in money, but in time, peace, and freedom.

Revenue’s up. The team’s bigger. Yet the right skills are either unavailable or unaffordable.
Cash flow swings from abundance to a trickle.
You’re constantly reacting — one disruption, one surprise at a time.

External pressures — inflation, tariffs, supply chains — make the business feel harder, not stronger.
And life outside the business? The cost is showing up there too.
Date days have turned into date minutes. Golf, friends, and family time — gone.

That’s what it means to be rich but still broke.

More sales won’t fix it.
Most businesses don’t fail from bad ideas or lack of effort — they fail because growth exposes structural cracks that were never fixed.

That’s where the Structure • Leadership • Flow Framework delivers.

Structure clarifies your business model and aligns resources so every role, cost, and process supports profit.
Leadership builds capability and accountability to execute without chaos or dependence.
Flow restores stability in cash, communication, and decision-making — so energy fuels growth instead of firefighting.

Built from Fortune 500 insights, right-sized brilliantly for SMBs, this framework helps established B2B and B2C service firms and small manufacturers ($500K–$20M revenue, 5–100 employees) turn complexity into clarity, and effort into predictable profitability.

If you’re working harder and seeing no upside, it’s not a sales problem — it’s a system problem.
And it can be fixed.

Book a Strategy Session here:  

https://calendly.com/timewithfran/vip_strategy_session

Frances Melvina Strickland

Why Cash Flow Predictability is the Real Flex ?

Everyone loves to post big revenue wins on social media.

But the real power move?

Knowing exactly what’s coming in, when it’s arriving, and how it lines up with what’s going out.
That takes structure.

Unpredictable cash flow makes even profitable businesses feel unstable.

 It’s what keeps you stuck in feast-or-famine mode,  never fully in control, always reacting.

Predictable cash flow changes everything:

 💠 You make smarter, calmer decisions.
 💠 You stop financing your clients’ delays.
 💠 You can plan for growth and for your life.

So the real question is:

Is your business generating income, or creating financial stability?

Scroll through to discover why having a predictable cash rhythm is more valuable than impressive revenue numbers when building sustainable wealth.

If your business brings in a lot of revenue but the cash leftover still feels unpredictable, it’s time to fix what’s underneath.

 Start with a focused 30-minute conversation to identify one profit drain and outline a plan to fix it.  It’s complimentary, the link in the comments.


#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

Frances Melvina Strickland 

Partner & Architect for Established SMBs to Regain Control, Predictable Profits, and Their Lives | Fortune 500 Insights Brilliantly Sized for SMBs | Structure • Leadership • Flow | Rich But Broke No More | The Fixer

Why Cash Flow Predictability is the Real Flex ?

He cut his oversight time from 25 hours to 4 hours weekly while client 
satisfaction scores jumped 18%.

Before working together, David reviewed every proposal, email response, and project deliverable personally because he believed this protected his reputation and maintained quality standards.

His team of 10 capable logistic operators waited constantly for his feedback before finalizing anything, creating bottlenecks that delayed client responses and prevented autonomous operation.

David worked 65-hour weeks, 25 of which were spent reviewing work that his team was fully capable of delivering independently if given proper frameworks and trust.

How we solved it:

Step 1: Established clear quality frameworks We documented what "excellent work" looked like for each deliverable type with specific criteria instead of subjective judgment calls.

Created decision-making guidelines that defined when team members could proceed independently versus when consultation was genuinely needed.

Step 2: Implemented spot-check systems Replaced 100% review with strategic sampling, David reviewed 20% of deliverables randomly to ensure standards were maintained without bottlenecking everything.

Built feedback loops where quality issues got addressed systematically rather than through constant oversight.

Step 3: Developed team judgment capability Shifted from "get approval" to "here's my recommendation" conversations that built decision-making confidence rather than dependency.

Celebrated good independent decisions publicly to reinforce autonomous operation as the new standard.

The results within 90 days:

David’s review time dropped from 25 hours weekly to 4 hours because the team delivered confidently using clear quality standards without constant oversight.

Client satisfaction scores increased 18% because response times improved dramatically when work didn't require David’s approval bottleneck.

Life after solving the problem:
David now focuses on business development and strategic relationships instead of operational oversight, which has opened three major partnership opportunities.

He takes real vacations without laptop or email checking because his team operates independently with established quality frameworks.

The lesson:
Micro-management doesn't protect quality, it prevents capability development and creates permanent dependency that limits both team potential and business growth.

Are you a business owner working 60+ hours weekly because everything requires your approval? 

Are you looking to build a team that operates independently while maintaining standards?


Book a 30-minute complimentary call and solve just one of those situations that has you being a bottleneck and blocking team development. 

Link is in the comments.


#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

Success from the outside looked like suffering from the inside. 

A crisis forced the transformation I needed.

Four years into building my consulting practice, I sat in my at-home workspace.  It was nearing midnight, and I was just finishing client work. 

Seriously, I considered shutting everything down despite appearing successful to everyone around me.

Revenue was strong, my client roster was getting traction, and my reputation was solid.

The hidden crisis:
I was exhausted. I worked late into the evenings and weekends to keep up with my commitments to my clients while developing and executing my social media strategy, networking, email marketing and creating assets.  

I didn’t take vacations. 
I spent no time with friends, in fact, the word got around that for the most part, “don’t bother inviting Fran because she’s working.”

The devastating realization:
I'd built a business that had become a heavy liability financial upside with terrible work-life balance rather than the lifestyle I’d envisioned freedom!

So, I asked myself if what I had built was truly what I wanted to look forward to for the next week, month, or year. 

I was ready to walk away because continuing at that pace felt impossible, but I could not accept looking like a failure. 

The intervention:
A mentor asked one simple question that changed everything: "Are you working this hard because the business requires it, or because you have no standardization?"

That question revealed the uncomfortable truth that I had no Structure, Leadership, or Flow systems because I thought speed and flexibility required my personal involvement.

The transformation decision:
With that, I committed to redesigning the business with proper infrastructure even though it felt slow and constrictive initially.

I onboarded capable people, documented processes, and resolved my technology issues that made attracting, nurturing, and converting prospects a nightmare. 

The outcome six months later:
Working hours dropped from 65 to 32 hours per week.   Client satisfaction and business profitability both improved measurably.

When I needed to travel back to the US for family reasons, I could take the time because my team had things under control. 

The business finally felt sustainable.

The lesson:
The breaking point isn't business failure.  It's the moment you realize your current approach is unsustainable regardless of external success.

That crisis can either end your business or force the transformation that creates the freedom you originally pursued.

What unsustainable patterns in your business need redesigning before they force your own breaking point?


If you're rich but still broke, let's fix what's really going on. Please get on my calendar to learn more. Link in comments.


#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

“So… what do you do?” He snickered looking sheepishly in his cup.

Week before last, I was hanging out with a group of entrepreneurs at a high-end mastermind breakfast.

I’d been before, so I wasn’t new, but several others were.

We did the usual: name tags, coffee, quick smiles… and then that question everyone asks:

“So… what do you do?”

One said, “I’m a business coach. I help people get unstuck.”

Another said, “I’m a marketing consultant. I help small businesses grow online.”

A third said, “I’m a fractional CFO. I help owners make sense of their numbers.”

Then they turned to me.

Before I could answer, the ones who’d heard me before jumped in:
 
“Oh, you’re the leadership coach!”
 
“No, she’s the business fixer.”
 
“Wait — you do that culture and profit thing!”

Close, but not quite.

And that moment hit me.

When people keep trying to name what you do, it’s not about ego, it’s about missing clarity.
 
If you can’t explain your value in a simple, memorable way, your business stays stuck in confusion.

That truth bomb is what anchors the Structure • Leadership • Flow Framework.

🟢 Structure → keeps the business solid and organized.
🟢 Leadership → aligns people and decisions with the right priorities.
🟢 Flow → turns all that effort into steady, predictable profit.

A lot of owners look rich but still feel broke.

They live and work in constant chaos, cash anxiety, and no real freedom.

When they hire the Structure–Leadership–Flow Framework, that stops.
 
They get predictable profit and calm control whether they’re there or not.

So now when people ask what I do, I tell them this:

“Think of me as the business partner and architect who builds stability into your company.”

If you're an established SMB owner or CXO who’s tired of chaos and wants predictable profits and calm control, I’ll help you with my Structure–Leadership–Flow Framework.

Book a 30-minute consultation and solve one problem that’s filling your life with headaches.

 Link is in the comments.

#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

Frances Strickland, business consultant and strategist for small and mid-sized businesses, smiling in front of a calm mountain lake with autumn colors. On-screen text reads: “Your partner and architect who builds stability in your business.” Tagline: “You’re rich but you’re broke no more.” Image conveys confidence, clarity, and business stability.

This should scare you.

You can lose $200K on your best-selling service line and not even know it.

And the real danger isn’t the cash-flow problem. 

It’s the moment you as CEO says, “I don’t know where we stand.”

That’s when the business is already running you.

I’ve seen this across multiple established multi-million-dollar companies:
On the outside, the business looks strong.

On the inside, profit is leaking from every direction - quietly, consistently, and invisibly.

Here’s what was really happening inside two different businesses I supported:

– KPI reports existed, but didn't decision-makers consistently.
– A major service line that once drove 60%+ of revenue dropped by half over two years, undetected.
– Labor costs rose with no structure for merit increases, no budgeting rhythm, and no clarity on total compensation.
– Credit card spend ballooned into years of miscellaneous, unmonitored expenses.
– Parts and equipment purchases often made without knowing they already existed.
– And all new business relied on one person.  There was no shared topline responsibility, no commercial system, no pipeline discipline.

These weren’t “money problems.”

These were Structure, Leadership, and Flow problems.

Here’s what they stopped doing and what changed everything:

Step 1: Stopped running blind.

We rebuilt visibility: automated weekly KPIs, accurate segmentation of direct/indirect costs, and real-time clarity on labor cost and benefits.

Step 2: Stopped carrying dead weight.

A division that burned $1.2M over two years was divested long overdue, and instantly margin-positive.

Step 3: Stopped letting labor costs drift.

We implemented merit-based increases and annual budgeting discipline.

Step 4: Stopped revenue leakage.

We put a cap on how much each salesperson could leave on the table and built a simple, reliable commercial system for predictable growth.

Step 5: Stopped bottlenecking decisions at the CEO.

Clear decision rights. Authority limits. A leadership cadence that stopped the chaos.

And here’s what happened next:
✔ Negative margins on their best-selling service line flipped positive, a $100K net gain.
✔ Miscellaneous credit-card spend dropped to a two-year low.
✔ A full parts-and-equipment cataloging system stopped duplicate purchasing.
✔ Cash flow stabilized.
✔ Leadership alignment strengthened.
✔ The CEO finally led from clarity instead of crisis.

Revenue didn’t save these businesses.

Structure, Leadership, and Flow did.

If you’re generating strong revenue but still don’t know exactly where you stand, that’s your signal.

And there's a proven way to do something about it.

The link’s in the comments.


#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

You can't fix time until you fix the delusion.

We’ve all tried to manage time, but time doesn't listen because it does not exist.  

It doesn’t bend, pause, or stretch.

So, truth bomb?  You can’t manage time. You can only manage yourself and activities.

Over the years, I’ve noticed three tiers of behavior when it comes to getting things done.

Tier 1 — The To-Do List Crowd
The famous list.

It feels good to write one, but let’s be honest that it’s really an “I don’t want to forget that” list.

It’s awareness, not progress.

Tier 2 — The System Seekers
These are the Pomodoro people, time-blockers, and Trello or Slack organizers.

They’ve moved from reaction to rhythm.

This is where flow begins because systems support focus.

Tier 3 — The Superhero Strugglers
They live in constant motion, proud of the chaos.

They hate being rushed but secretly love feeling essential.

Their notebooks are full, their apps overflowing, yet nothing sticks.

Tier 3 is my client from somewhere I don't want to be.

Not because they’re bad, but because done-with-you, done-for-you, or coaching becomes painfully slow. 

Still, if you’re the consultant, that’s on you. You were brought in to solve it.

When I meet a Tier 3 client, beyond the business deep dive I love doing, I have a heartfelt conversation with the person who owns the mandate.

I want to know who they’re being, not their title, not their to-do list - who are they being?

And what amazes me is this: about half the people who book my 30-minute complimentary consultation say their top struggle is inconsistent cash flow.
 
The other half? They can’t get anything done.

But when we talk, most don’t actually want to talk about it.

They change the subject.

Any question that pokes the wound, the one stealing their stability, gets deflected.

That tells me who they’re being: avoidant, overwhelmed, maybe even a little delusional.

Because getting things done isn’t about tactics.

It’s three-dimensional: Psychological, Strategic, and Tactical.

And it fits perfectly into Structure • Leadership • Flow.

🟢 Structure reflects your psychological alignment — when your values and the outside world clash, your values win every time.

🟢 Leadership is strategic self-leadership — anticipating, deciding, and managing energy, attention, and priorities based on who you are and how you operate.

🟢 Flow lives in tactics — the Pomodoro, time-blocking, and quick notes that define success beyond “checked the box.” It’s about measurable, meaningful outcomes that feel real.

So… are you still thinking “getting stuff done” is just about a to-do list?

Are you an established SMB owner or CXO who’s tired of spinning your wheels, avoiding what matters, and craving focus and steady performance?
 
Book a 30-minute consultation and solve one problem that’s stealing your time and energy.

Link is in the comments.

#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

Frances Strickland, business consultant and strategist for small and mid-sized businesses, smiling confidently in a forest filled with golden autumn leaves. On-screen text reads: “You can’t manage time. You have to manage who you’re being.” The image reflects clarity, grounded leadership, and calm focus — core themes of the Structure–Leadership–Flow Framework.

Leadership shows before you say a word.  So does your business.

The last time I was this close to a horse was over 25 years ago in the US, in an Arizona ghost town attraction.

But this morning, the horses weren’t props. They were the coaches.

And my time in an equine leadership experience reminded me of something leaders forget:
 
You can’t fake presence.

Not with a horse.

Not with your team.

Not with your business.

Horses follow clear leadership and ignore unclear leadership.
 
There is no negotiation, no debate, no “let me explain.”

One horse, bold, extroverted, boundary-testing, made it obvious:

If your signal is clear, he follows.
 
If it isn’t, he fills the space and takes control.

Your business behaves the same way. 

When clarity slips, confusion grows.

When direction is soft, execution slows.

When presence is ambivalent, performance becomes unpredictable.

This is why Structure • Leadership • Flow is not theory.
 
It’s the operating reality of every SMB.

So here’s your Sunday check-in:

💎 Where is clarity missing?
💎 What boundary needs resetting? 
💎 What decision must be made instead of delayed?
💎 What part of the business is waiting on you — not the market?
💎 What signal will your team read first tomorrow?

Your business already knows who’s leading it.

The only question is whether your presence confirms it.

If you want to stabilize operations and increase profit this quarter using the Structure • Leadership • Flow framework,  let’s talk. 

The link is in the comments section.

 #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

A woman in a gray plaid coat stands close to a dark brown horse with a pink halter, her hand resting on its neck as the horse leans in, sensing her calm leadership energy.

Tiny choices compound into massive profit erosion. 

What feels insignificant today costs thousands annually.

Business owners obsess over major expenses while countless small daily decisions quietly drain profit margins through accumulated inefficiency and poor judgment.

These micro-decisions feel too minor to scrutinize individually, but their collective impact destroys more profitability than any single large expense on your P&L.

Scroll through to identify which daily decision patterns might be bleeding thousands from your bottom line without appearing anywhere on financial reports.

Are small choices quietly destroying the profits your big decisions are trying to create?

Are you looking to build a team that operates independently, maintaining standards while you work fewer hours and get more done?


Let’s talk. Book a 30-minute complimentary call to solve just one of your situations that has you being a bottleneck and blocking team development. 
Link is in the comments.



#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

The Profit Leak Hiding in Small Daily Decisions

Be In Your Superpower!  Self Regulate Your Nervous System

Join Dharma Funder and me for a live conversation on how to elevate our overall impact by developing our ability to self-regulate from the real power center - our nervous system

Nihal Prasad, Frances Melvina Strickland and 4 other attendees

Be In Your Superpower!  Self Regulate Your Nervous System

Your week reflects your leadership. Adjust your frame.

Business advice gets noisy. You get to cut through it.

Strip away the pillar-based models, the recycled “Three Ps,” and even strong operating systems like EOS.

You’re left with the forces that actually determine whether a business prospers or quietly erodes:

💎 Structure:  the clarity of purpose, vision, and message that anchors every decision.

💎 Leadership:  the authority signals that establish credibility and trust.
 
💎 Flow:  the systems that attract the right people, resources, and energy so execution actually happens.

Simple. Precise. Zero fog.

As you move through your Saturday -- doing the thinking, planning, and quiet follow-ups you can’t reach during the week -- take a moment for a direct leadership check-in.

Not legalistic.
 
Not performative.

A straight look in the mirror.

✅ Where was your clarity sharp—and where did it drift?
 
✅ What signals did you send about your authority and credibility?
 
✅ Did your systems create Flow—or did they force you to carry work your structure should have handled?
 
✅ Did your people bring critical thinking and drive—or wait for direction?
 
✅ Did your leadership create momentum—or friction?

Here's your vital reality:
 
If profitability slipped this week, it wasn’t the market.
 
It was a break in Structure, Leadership, or Flow.
 
Fix the break, and profitability follows.
 
Ignore it, and you’ll relive the same week again.

When these three work together, profits stop being unpredictable.
 
You stop running the business.
 
The business starts running WITH you.

If you want to explore the Structure • Leadership • Flow framework to stabilize your operations and increase profit this quarter, let's talk.
 
The link is in the comments section.

 #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

Fran stands under a towering tree with her two dogs, in a quiet nature setting—a grounded moment that reflects leadership, clarity, and intentional presence.

What does it feel like when the team member you most invested in is the one you must let go?

Like a failure.

For 18 months, I poured time, training, and patience into someone I believed had tremendous leadership potential based on their technical skills and early enthusiasm.

I gave them increasing responsibility, included them in strategic conversations, and mentored them extensively because I saw them as critical to the business's future growth.

The painful reality:
Despite all the visibility and opportunities, they consistently failed to take ownership, blamed external factors when outcomes disappointed, and resisted feedback.

Quality issues emerged that required my constant intervention, frustrating high-performers on the team.

The breaking point:
A major client nearly walked because of quality issues after repeated coaching and clear expectations.

I realized I was protecting my investment rather than protecting business standards and team morale.

The difficult decision:
I transitioned them out, which felt like admitting failure after all the time invested.

The unexpected relief:
Within two weeks, team dynamics improved dramatically. Everyone stopped compensating for inconsistent performance, unclear accountability, and frankly the lack of equity.

Client relationships stabilized without requiring my constant safety-net oversight.

The hardest lesson:
Leadership potential means nothing without execution and accountability. Your responsibility is to the business and the whole team, not to endless patience with someone who isn't meeting standards.

The wisdom gained:
Now I assess people based on actual results and accountability patterns, not potential or enthusiasm.

I give clear expectations, adequate support, and reasonable time - but I act decisively when patterns show someone isn't the right fit.

What difficult personnel decision might you be delaying that's actually costing your business more than the discomfort of acting?

Are you a business owner struggling with team performance, looking to build accountability systems while developing genuine leaders? 


Book a 30-minute complimentary call and set a path to turn things around. 
Link is in the comments.



#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

Most profit problems become visible weekly before they become monthly crises.

Waiting for monthly financials to understand your profit position creates expensive delays where small issues compound into significant problems.

This weekly review takes 15 minutes but catches profit leaks, cash flow gaps, and margin erosion while they're still easily correctable.

The goal is weekly profit awareness that enables proactive adjustments instead of reactive crisis management when problems have already caused damage.

When did you last review your profit drivers weekly instead of hoping monthly reports would reveal good news?


If solid revenue still isn’t showing up as profit, it’s time to look under the hood. Let’s map the flow and structure that protect your margins.  

Link is in the comments.


#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

Tight oversight feels safe but creates permanent dependence. 

Real security comes from systems that work without you.

The instinct to maintain control over business operations feels like protecting quality and ensuring standards, but this approach systematically prevents the freedom that business ownership should create.

Here's how control addiction destroys the very success you're protecting:

The control patterns that trap you:
Reviewing every client deliverable before it goes out, even when team members are fully capable of maintaining quality independently.

Requiring approval for routine decisions that should happen at team level, creating bottlenecks that slow operations unnecessarily.

Staying copied on every email thread to "keep informed," which actually trains your team to include you in everything rather than exercising judgment.

The expensive consequences:
Your business can only move as fast as your availability to review, approve, and provide input on matters others could handle.

Team members stop developing judgment because they know you'll ultimately make decisions anyway, creating permanent capability gaps.

Growth becomes impossible because operational capacity is limited by your personal bandwidth rather than team potential.

The freedom paradox:
The tighter you hold control, the less freedom you actually have. Your business becomes a demanding job that can't function without constant attention.

Real control comes from building systems and developing people you can trust to maintain standards without your oversight.

The client transformation:
One business owner reviewed every proposal, email response, and project deliverable personally because he believed this protected his reputation.

This consumed 25 hours weekly and prevented his team from developing the confidence to deliver independently.

We built quality frameworks, decision criteria, and spot-check systems that maintained standards without requiring her constant review.

The results within 90 days:
His review time dropped from 25 hours to 4 hours weekly because the team could deliver confidently using clear quality standards.

Team capability increased dramatically because people could see their work leading directly to outcomes without constant revision.

He could finally focus on business development and strategic relationships instead of operational oversight.

The Structure, Leadership, Flow connection:
Control through systems creates freedom. Control through personal oversight creates prison. The difference determines whether you own a business or just have an exhausting job.

What control are you maintaining that prevents both your freedom and your team's development?

If you're rich but still broke, let's fix what's really going on. Please get on my calendar to learn more. Link in comments.


#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

His team went from asking permission for everything to making 80% of decisions independently in 12 weeks.

Marcus managed seven technically competent people who operated like order-takers, escalating every decision and waiting for his direction constantly.

Often, when he had been out of the office, he found that certain activities that should have been automatic had not budged because he hadn’t told anyone to do them. 

One week, he spent 15 hours sitting in his office, answering questions and making choices his team should've handled themselves, creating a bottleneck that prevented growth.

How we solved it:
Step 1: Identified the ownership barriers
Marcus had accidentally trained dependency by always having answers ready and sometimes redoing work that didn't match his exact vision.

Team members learned that waiting for input was safer than risking a decision he might overturn.

Step 2: Established decision authority zones
Created clear frameworks: Green decisions (make independently), Yellow decisions (recommend your approach first), Red decisions (require approval).

Moved 70% of daily decisions into the Green zone with clear parameters around quality standards, budget limits, and client impact.

Step 3: Changed the conversation pattern
When the team asked "What should I do?" Marcus responded with “What have you already done?” or  "What do you think we should do and why?" forcing strategic thinking.

He committed to supporting their decisions even when he might've chosen differently, as long as choices fell within established parameters.

Step 4: Built accountability without micro-management
Created weekly check-ins focused on outcomes rather than activities. Celebrated good independent decisions publicly to reinforce the new standard.

The results within 12 weeks:
Marcus's decision-making time dropped to less than 3 hours per week - his team handled 80% of choices independently and he started handling the clarifications in their check-ins.

Projects wrapped up an average 2 to 3 weeks faster because approval bottlenecks disappeared.

Team confidence jumped as people saw their decisions leading to successful outcomes without constant intervention.

Life after solving the problem:
Marcus focuses on strategic client relationships instead of operational babysitting, which opened two major partnership opportunities.

His team operates like owners, proactively solving problems before they escalate.

The business scaled from $1.1M to $1.6M without adding headcount because existing capacity was unleashed through proper Leadership systems.

Are you looking to build a team that operates independently, maintaining standards while you get to work fewer hours yet get more done?

Take 30 minutes on a complimentary call and let’s solve just one of your situations that has you being a bottleneck and blocking team development. 
Link is in the comments.


#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

Most business owners lose 10+ hours weekly to preventable inefficiencies, unclear delegation, and low-value activities that feel urgent but create minimal business impact.

This three-step system identifies where time disappears and redirects those hours toward work that actually generates profit and builds sustainable business value.

The goal is reclaiming substantial time not through working faster but by eliminating activities that shouldn't consume your attention at all.

When did you last audited where your time actually goes versus where it should be allocated?


If you're rich but still broke, let's fix what's really going on. Please get on my calendar to learn more. Link in comments.



#strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

Episode 7: Coaching for Growth and Wellbeing

With Beate Rotthäuser, Empower Unleashed a lively and insightful discussion of the power of coaching in transforming your life experiences.

Nihal Prasad, Frances Melvina Strickland and 7 other attendees

Episode 7: Coaching for Growth and Wellbeing

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The Battle

Steve Litzow

Frances Melvina Strickland

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Performance ScoreSteve Litzow's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreFrances Melvina Strickland's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Steve Litzow

Frances Melvina Strickland

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Steve Litzow's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreFrances Melvina Strickland's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSteve Litzow's LinkedIn Performance