Construction Consultant & Coach | 25+ years experience | Helping businesses structure, scale and sustain with digital systems & real world strategies | More control. More freedom. Higher profits

You built your business for freedom.

So why does it feel like a prison?

You're making money. But working harder than ever. And more exhausted and absent than ever.

50 WhatsApp messages before breakfast. Every decision runs through you. You can't step away for an hour without something breaking.

Big decisions sit on your desk for weeks because you're terrified one wrong move could destroy everything you've built.

And the worst part?

You're missing your family. Another dinner. Another match. Another bedtime. When you're home, you're on your phone. The guilt never goes away.

Here's what I've learned after 26 years building and scaling businesses:

You don't have a you problem. You have a system problem.

Working harder won't fix it. 
You need structure. Visibility. Accountability. 
A business that runs without you at the centre of everything.

That's what I help founders build.

I call it the Scaling Operating System.

We Discover what's broken, Design the system your business needs, and Drive the implementation together.

Done with you, not done to you. 

20+ founders have used this to reclaim their time, scale with confidence, and finally be present for their families.

One client told me: "this is the most focused I’ve ever felt. I feel clearer, calmer… like I’m not carrying the whole thing on my own now.

It’s helping me massively, I feel more organised, more in control, and I can see the way forward now. Even my partner said I seem different.”

That's the goal.

If you're trapped in a business you built for freedom, let's talk.

DM me "FREEDOM" and I'll send you a quick diagnostic.
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Why Work With Me?
I’ve scaled businesses, rebuilt after setbacks, and coached leaders through chaos. I’m not here to give advice. I build systems, guide execution, and drive results.
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Let’s Connect:
•	DM for coaching, consulting, or speaking enquiries
•	Email: westley@satoris.co.uk 
•	Based in Dubai | Working globally

Westley Harnett

I attended a Connections DXB networking event recently at Grosvenor House.

First time going.
Great venue. Relaxed room. Interesting conversations.

What I’m noticing more and more since moving to Dubai is the density of networks here.

Different rooms.
Different formats.
But often familiar faces.

And that’s a good thing.
Because real networking isn’t about collecting contacts.

It’s about context over time.

Seeing people again.
Picking up where a conversation left off.
Building familiarity before opportunity.

And that’s where value actually forms.

The event isn’t the work.
The follow-up is.
The coffee after.
The message that references something specific.
The willingness to continue the conversation without forcing an outcome.

Your network isn’t built in the room.
It’s built in what you do after you leave it.

Grateful to meet some new faces and reconnect with a few familiar ones.

If you’re networking:
Are you chasing rooms…
or building relationships?

Because one looks busy.
The other compounds.

Peter Thomsen Josh Bowley Travis Haasch Sailesh Jani Mark Primett Adam Allison

Helping founders of $1m-$10m businesses scale with confidence through my Scaling Operating System (SOS) | 25+ years experience building and scaling businesses.

In 14 days, Circle Networks Live Dubai takes place on the QE2.

The real value isn’t on stage.

It’s what happens between the sessions.

The conversations over coffee.
The slower, more honest chats over lunch.
The moments where you sit next to someone and realise:
“Oh… it’s not just me.”

I’ll be hosting on the day, holding the room and energy together and if there’s one thing I’ve learned from rooms like this, it’s this:

Momentum doesn’t come from information.
It comes from proximity.

Being around people who hear the same message you do.
Who are wrestling with similar decisions.
Who are building, questioning, recalibrating, just like you.

In a world that’s fast, digital, and always on, having space to think with the right people is rare.

And powerful.

One day won’t change your life on its own.

But the right conversations can change the direction of this year.

Take a look at what the day includes and see if it feels like the right room for you. The link is in the comments.

Sometimes clarity doesn’t come from doing more.
It comes from being in the right place, with the right people.

#cnlive2026

Hazel Bergin ·Shayan Khan Gautam Ganglani Christopher Adams Amanda Llewellyn Asrin Shahana Ewa Ledeboer Emma West Paolo Volani Rajiv Shah Shoma Mittra Ina Hammer Taqua Malik Jamie Stewart

Most leadership teams are making workplace decisions using the wrong numbers.

Around 90% of organisational cost is people, not space.

Yet many offices are still designed and managed as if desks are the asset that matters most.

I attended the MEA Workplace event yesterday at Expo City Dubai.

One line from the event stuck with me, shared by Oliver Baxter:
Measure twice. Cut once.

In other words, slow down long enough to understand how people actually work before redesigning where they work.

Because the data, excellently provided by Workplaced , is uncomfortable.

In many markets, offices are still operating well below 50% utilisation across a typical week.

Yet leadership conversations still default to space cost, attendance, and control.

That gap is not a facilities issue.
It's a leadership one.

What stood out most was not a push for full-time office or full-time remote.
It was something far more considered.

Hybrid is not a perk. It is a productivity model.
Activity-based environments create clarity.
Design work around behaviour, not habit.
One-size-fits-all offices fit no one.
Trust outperforms control.
And the office has to earn the commute.

The real question is not where people sit.
It's whether the environment, physical and cultural, supports the outcomes you expect.

When leaders skip the measuring part, they pay for it later.
In disengagement.
In quiet resistance.
In performance that never quite shows up.

Huge credit to Oliver Baxter for a clear, evidence-led, practical session.
Exactly the kind of thinking the region needs more of.

If you are leading a business right now, especially between $1m and $10m, ask yourself:
What are you designing for, presence, or performance?

Great panellist's as well
Siddharth Peters Brian Kelly Toby Hall Richard Fenne Paula Walshe Adel E.

A client said something to me yesterday.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in this mental state when I’ve stepped onto an plane to go away.”

No panic.
No mental load.
No running checklist.

Just space.

We didn’t achieve that by working harder.
Or pushing more.
Or adding pressure.

We structured the business.
Clarified decision rights.
Installed simple systems.
Removed noise that never needed to be there.

But the real outcome isn't just operational.
It's internal.

When founders come to me, they often say they're scared, fearful of making the wrong decision and it all collapsing.

What they are really asking for is permission to breathe again.
To leave without guilt.
To stop carrying everything.
To trust that things will hold without them.

Most founders forget this part.

The business was never the point.
The life it was meant to enable was.

That moment, stepping onto a plane with a clear head, is the signal that things are finally working the way they should.

Not because everything is perfect.
But because the business no longer lives inside you.

If you built your business for freedom, but still can’t switch off when you leave, it might be time to ask what is actually missing.

Structure changes businesses.
But what it really gives back is peace of mind.

I'm in the business of results, outcomes and feelings.. if you want any of these, DM me.

There was a point where working harder was no longer an option.
Not because I didn’t want to.
Because I couldn’t.

Being a single dad forced clarity in a way ambition never did.

Time was finite.
Energy was limited.
Presence wasn’t optional.
I couldn’t stay late to fix things.
I couldn’t carry everything myself.
I couldn’t let the business spill endlessly into home.

So the business had to change.

Not because of growth targets.
Not because of scale.

Because life demanded it.

Structure stopped being a business decision.
It became a life decision.

Most founders never get forced into that corner.
They just slowly accept the cost instead.

What would you change if your time was genuinely non-negotiable?

Some weeks feel chaotic.

Others just feel full.

Busy.
Necessary.
Productive on the surface.

But the pressure doesn’t always show up in the moment.

It shows up later.
In the carryover.

Decisions that stay open.
Tension that never fully leaves.
Energy that doesn’t quite reset before Monday arrives.

That’s because unresolved weeks don’t disappear.
They compound.

I tried fixing this with better tools.
Planning systems.
Productivity tweaks.

What actually changed things wasn’t doing more.
It was stopping.

Once a week.
No dashboard.
No optimisation.

Just three questions:
What drained me this week?
What required unnecessary effort?
What shouldn’t come back into next week?

Most founders skip this pause because it feels non-urgent.

But unresolved weeks quietly create:
Reactive leadership
False urgency
And systems that drift.

If you don’t design the week
The week designs you.

What would change if one hour a week was protected before everything else filled the space?

Not all chaos is loud

You are the most important business you'll ever run.
Not your company.

Not your role.
Not your title.
You.

And yet most founders put more structure, discipline, and intention into their businesses than they ever put into themselves.

We obsess over ROI.
We track revenue.
We track costs.

But when it comes to life, we drift.

Energy gets depleted without noticing.
Commitments become optional.
Standards slide quietly.

Time gets spent without intention.

Running your life like a business isn't about optimisation for the sake of it.
It's about ownership.

Stepping up.
Stepping in.
Deciding how you are going to show up.

What becomes non-negotiable.
What you stop tolerating.
What you protect.
What you give.

The return isn't money,
It's consistency.
It's clarity.
Presence.
Capacity.

The hard part is not knowing this.
It's choosing it, repeatedly, when no one is watching.

If you treated your life with the same intent you treat your business, what would you make non-negotiable first?

From a podcast with the legend KHALED ABULJEBAIN

There was a point in my life, in the evenings,
I was physically present.
Mentally elsewhere.

Phone nearby. Head still in the day.

I would hear the words, but not fully take them in. 
Nod. Respond. Drift.

Nothing dramatic happened. 
No big argument. 
No clear moment.
Just small signals.

Shorter conversations. Less eye contact. Quieter rooms.

I told myself it was temporary. 
That this was just what building required.
But time doesn’t pause while you’re building.

That realisation didn’t come from a crisis. 
It came from noticing what had quietly changed.

If you’re honest, how often are you home without really being there?

There’s a cost to every decision.

But there’s a bigger cost to the ones you don’t make.

Most people negotiate with themselves.
Delay. Justify. Revisit.

Tell yourself I'll decide “when it fells clearer.”
It never does.

One of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made came a month before my wedding.

Flights booked. Guests paid. Santorini waiting.

I made the decision to call off my wedding.

Not because it was easy.
Because it was intentional.

That moment taught me something I’ve carried ever since:
The pain isn’t in the decision.
The pain is in living with decisions you didn’t make.

Over the years, I’ve learned this:
Make the decision.
Then make it non-negotiable.

Not from ego.
Not from reaction.
But from values.

When you decide based on what you stand for, not what feels comfortable. You stop arguing with yourself.
You stop replaying conversations.
You stop leaking energy.
You stop living in the “what if.”

Most people don’t struggle because they choose wrong.
They struggle because they never fully choose at all.

If this has got you thinking, ask yourself:
What decision are you still negotiating with yourself? 
Even though you already know the answer?

Check out the Hope It Helps podcast, by KHALED ABULJEBAIN, link in the comments 👇

A lot of leadership problems aren’t attitude problems. 
They’re boundary problems.

When expectations are loose, people hesitate. 
When decisions are unclear, confidence drops. 
When standards shift, trust erodes.

Most founders don’t avoid boundaries because they don’t care. 
They avoid them because they want to be fair. Supportive. Reasonable.

So they soften. 
They explain. 
They step in.

Over time, the team adapts.
They wait. 
They check. 
They escalate.

Not because they can’t decide. 
But because they're unsure where the edge is.

Strong leadership doesn’t come from being liked. 
It comes from being predictable.

Clear standards remove emotion from decisions. 
They create safety, not distance.

If your team waits for you before acting, what boundary might still be unclear?

Somewhere between $1m to $3m, the business starts to feel different.


From the outside, it looks like progress. 
Revenue up. 
Team growing. 
Clients coming in consistently.

From the inside, the days feel tighter.

People hesitate a little longer before acting. 
The same issues resurface, just framed as “quick checks”.
Questions come to you that used to be handled without you. 

You tell yourself this is normal at this stage. 
That staying close is the price of growth.
You keep things moving. 
So you stay available. 
You fill the gaps.

At first, it works.

Then your calendar shifts without asking you. 
More internal meetings. 
More decisions needing context. 
More responsibility sitting with you, even when others are capable.

You’re not overwhelmed. You’re relied on.

The business performs, but only if you're present. 
Time away feels risky. 
Thinking time feels indulgent.

Evenings carry the weight of the day. 
Family time gets compressed between notifications. 
You’re providing well, but you are rarely switching off.

By $5m, the business needs you to function. 
By $10m, the idea of stepping back feels unrealistic, not liberating.

This is the part few founders talk about.
Not because things are going badly. 
But because they’re going well, and still feel wrong.

You built this business for freedom. At what point did it start feeling like a golden cage?

Most people confuse mistakes with regret.
They're not the same thing.

A mistake is an action.
A decision that didn't land the way you hoped.
You see it. You adjust. You move.

Regret is what happens after.
It's the story you keep replaying.
The wishing you had acted differently.
The quiet weight that follows you day after day.

I once heard this explained through the parable of the two arrows.

The first arrow is unavoidable.
Pain. Failure. A wrong call.
That happens to everyone.

The second arrow is optional.
It's the meaning you attach to it.
The self-judgment. The identity you build around a past moment.

Most suffering doesn't come from the mistake.
It comes from firing the second arrow over and over again.

You can learn from a mistake without carrying regret.
But only if you decide not to let the past define who you are.

That requires a mindset that doesn't stick to every outcome.

Not denial.
Ownership without self-punishment.

What happened happened.
What matters is who you choose to be next.

I would rather be shaped by the future I am building than the decisions I have already made.

Where are you still carrying a second arrow that no longer needs to be there?

Out in Dubai Design District yesterday between meetings.

You can feel it again.
 
The energy.
The movement.
The city fully back at work.

Being out there reminded me why I do what I do.
And who I do it for.

I have a genuine obsession with freeing founders from the businesses they’re building.

Yes, building a business takes hustle.
Yes, it takes pressure, sacrifice, and moments of doubt.

But it shouldn’t take your identity.
Or your health.
Or your life.

A business should enable the life you want.
Not consume it.

When structured properly, a business becomes a machine.
Clear decision rights.
Real accountability.
Simple operating systems.
The right people in the right seats.

Not chaos held together by effort.
Not growth powered by you carrying everything.

That’s where I step in.

My work is about helping founders between $1m and $10m turn what they’ve built into something sustainable.

Something that supports their ambition and their life.

Yesterday was a reminder that there are a lot of founders here who want more than just growth.

They want clarity.
Capacity.
Time.

And a business that gives back instead of constantly taking.

Good conversations.
Good energy.
Great reminder of the mission.

LFG!

Most mornings don’t start with strategy.

They start with messages.

Questions that feel small. 
Decisions that feel quick. 
Clarifications that seem harmless.

You tell yourself it will only take a minute.
Then another. Then another.

By the time the day actually starts, you’re already behind.
Not on work. On thinking.

Even when you step away, the phone stays close. 
Walks turn into inbox checks.
Holidays feel half-present. 

The cost isn’t just time.

It’s energy that never fully resets. 
Family moments that get the leftover version of you.
Opportunities you don’t spot because you’re reacting. 

Most founders don’t realise how loud their business has become until they try to create quiet.

If you didn’t respond for an hour, what would really stop?

Most founders at $1m–$5m aren't lazy. 

They're stretched.

They’re working harder than ever.
More responsibility.
More at stake.
Longer days. 

And yet, the same problems keep showing up.

The same confusion appears in different forms. 
The same decisions land back on your desk. 
The same conversations get repeated.

So you assume the answer is more effort. 
More involvement. 
More checking.

That works for a while.

Until effort becomes the thing holding everything together.

You start noticing how much relies on memory. 
On you being available at the right moment.
On judgement. 

The business doesn’t feel broken. It feels fragile.

That's usually the point where founders turn inward. 
They question their leadership. 
Their clarity. 
Their capability.

But most of the time, it’s not a personal problem.

It's a business running on effort instead of structure.
And effort doesn’t scale quietly.

Where's the business still relying on you to remember, decide, or catch things before they slip?

By the time a business crosses $2m, something subtle happens.

You stop being busy because you’re building.
You stay busy because the business needs you to function.

Projects still move, but only if you are across them.
Decisions still get made, but only after you weigh in.
People still act, but only once you confirm direction.

From the outside, it looks like leadership.
From the inside, it feels like obligation.

You carry the risk.
You hold the context.
You absorb the uncertainty.

And slowly, the business stops working without your presence.

You didn’t lose control overnight.

The business reorganised itself around you while you were busy keeping it going.

At what point did ownership start to feel heavier than employment?

It was great to finally meet Susanne Ekström after being connected on LinkedIn for over a year.

This was our first time meeting properly, not just liking posts or exchanging comments, and it reminded me why this platform can be powerful when used well.

Nothing replaces getting to know the person behind the profile.
We spoke about business.
About transitions.
About writing, leadership, and building credibility in new markets.

But we also spoke about life.
Parenting.
Neurodiversity.
And what it takes to keep going when the path isn’t straightforward.

Those conversations matter.

This is what LinkedIn is meant to be about.
Connecting, supporting, and growing together, over time.

Susanne Ekström, it was a real pleasure getting to know you beyond the feed.

Looking forward to continuing the conversation, supporting each other’s work, and catching up again soon.

taplio