Swain & Co

Business should be joyful - not a constant source of stress.

Yet here you are - brilliant at what you do, successful by most measures, but wondering why running your business feels so damn hard some days.

Shh don't tell the advisors, but you don't need more advice. What you need is a fractional business manager - someone who gets it & helps you focus on what will actually make a difference.

Hi 👋🏻 that's where I come in - here to infuse your business with joy (and solid AF commercial outcomes).

Unlike VAs who handle admin, I bring strategic thinking AND execution. I'm your commercial sounding board who actually does stuff. We work together for 90 days to see what's going on (and getting pushed aside), what can be removed, changed, delegated or automated, then create the plan to get it done - whatever your business needs to bring your je ne sais quoi to the front & centre of the work you do.

What this delivers:
→ Strategic clarity without consultant waffle

→ Real-world solutions that honour your reality

→ Someone to bounce ideas off

→ Progress on things that actually make a difference

→ Systems & processes that stick

→ Change that sneaks up on you (humans need time to shift habits)

I specialise in 90-day resets & fractional partnerships for established consultants, plus support growing businesses preparing to hire their first manager.

The results? Clients go from 60-hour weeks to proper holidays, constant firefighting to strategic thinking, "how did I get here?" to "hell yes, I love this."

Ready to stop feeling like you're making it up on the daily?

→ Join my Monday office hours (12-1pm)

→ Book a virtual cuppa 

→ Visit www.alanaswain.com 

You bring your brilliance, I'll bring the practical support & strategic thinking. Let's make your business work for you, not against you.

Director

Me-Moir

Freeing trapped photos. Slayer of photo purgatory. 
Bringing back old school photo albums with convenience. 
Determined our next generation will know where they came from so they know where they are going.

TBH - life with one business and 3 kids under 5 is pretty hectic, so ye old Me-Moir is on the back burner until 2025 but I'm so excited to kick things back off and get more photos into your hands then!!

Chief Memory Officer

Your Business Club by Your Success Team

** Now included in my weekly office hours!!** 

Connection and help - by business owners, for business owners.  


When you're in small* business, there's common themes:

💰 You're not making enough money (or if you are, it's not in the right places at the right time and cashflow is bloody hard) 
⏰  You've not got enough time (for all the things, ideas and stuff you want and need to do) 
💡 You have SO many ideas and working out which are most impactful is HARD work
😔 It's bloody lonely at times and the rest of the online world looks like it's got it's 💩 sorted. 

We help with that. Your Business Club is built for connection and help - by business owners, for business owners.  

So who are we? 

Your Success Team is a collective of business experts, formed by  myself and my business partner Robyn Brown. We're heart based entrepreneurs, who have created NZ's first space built by business owners - for business owners.  

Because, at the end of the day, YOU as the amazing business owner you are, you want to make money from your talents, while living life on your (very unique) terms.  Which is why when we all get the chance to bring our talents, experience and grit to the table, we're going to be amazed at what we’ll create together. 

We're here to help you with truthfulness, doggedness and not a small dose of common sense, walking alongside you, supporting you to run a business where you’re no longer holding all the cards to your chest and trying to do this alone. 

Meet, learn, connect, thrive. Be blinking awesome and make business more fun!

Co-Founder & Business Owner

Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd

Created & embedded amazing capability programmes and initiatives that supported the overall development of Ballance's people across New Zealand, including creating a tailored embedded literacy programme, revamped onboarding experience and helping increase the insights from the Employee Experience survey platform.

Organisational Capability Advisor

Westpac New Zealand Limited

180 staff.  3 locations. 2.5 million phone calls per year. Thousands of emails each week.  I loved leading this great team who are the "voice" of Westpac. 

Customers from all walks of life need help in many moments of truth (or transaction) and chose to use us. So that meant I had the very great opportunity leading the team, creating the customer experience which created those moments of real connection with each customer, in the right way for them, treating them with warmth, empathy and respect, taking the fear or stress out of banking jargon and financial situations. 

Our challenge was to create an environment where our amazing people were in a position to be able to do that, for every customer, during every interaction, consistently.  Our diversity and empathy enabled that to happen, alongside the creation of new CX focussed capability programmes including onboarding and upskilling. 

During my time here with these great folks, we dropped out attrition from over 40% to  below 15%, increased staff engagement from the 30% mark to over 70% and onboarded some 70+ new staff within a 12 month period. 

This time also saw the implementation of a full onsite outsourced staffing model (with a further 30+ onboarded, meshing two sets of company values into one site) and the establishment of a cloud based telephony platform. Both required significant change and project management.

Senior Manager Service Contact Centre 

Got asked to come back to the Big Red W.  Hooray - nice to know I was missed.  Red suited me a bit better than Green did.  

What an great new team and role this was! We got cool stuff done, differently! Thinking outside the box to disrupt the norms, for employees, customers, and shareholder impact.  Key focus on CX,  NPS, Revenue and Team Engagement.  Knocked it all out of the park - so the aussies then came to steal our ideas! (more of the details below!) 

It was a huge privilege to set up & lead this amazing team of digital banking advocates.  We  were dedicated to transforming our customer service experiences across a number of interaction points - creating the best of two channels - branch and contact centre for our customers. 

Changing consumer expectations & technological advancements, mean banking relationships are firmly being place in hands of our customers - so that they choose when and where they do their banking.  What I loved about this role, was balancing the dynamic between forging personal connections, balanced with digital advancements, facing into the future while honouring our experience and past. 

Fair to say, I loved this gig.  There was also the HUGE transformation project sitting alongside the executive team and Mckinsey Consultants, with a focus on optimising revenue, decreasing wastage and expenses, and increasing staff and customer satisfaction (hit me  up if you want the war stories from this one - so many lessons, still a few bruises held, totally worth the ride!)

Digital Bank Manager and Change Leader

Kiwibank

Got shoulder tapped. How cool.  

Got to mesh two different brands into one team, in a change adverse community on Auckland's North Shore.  

Tons of fun, lots of learning.  Got to run a post shop and Christmas - ticked that off the bucket list! 

Had an amazing team that went through transformation, new learning and change at a pace that would make eyes water.  They nailed it.  Love them to pieces!!

Local Manager

Turned a team around - from bottom 5 branch to top 5 branch. 

They rocked it.  Loved being in a community, having an impact for my team and those around us.

Bank Manager

Saw all the ways money impacts us humans. 

Helped people suss their finances. Get out of debt. Get on top of bills. Learn how to budget. 

Buy homes, first homes, first investment homes.  Buy new cars, start savings accounts. Plan trips back to the islands to see family. Have money left over to send to family.  Got to see their joy. Loved it.

Customer Banking Consultant

Helped the Bank Managers run better teams, with more confidence. 

Sales training, reporting, analysis, performance management support.

(Did the "boring stuff" behind the scenes which enabled them to do the important stuff!)

Operational Support

Supported basically every branch managed in the country at some stage across their employee's lifescycle. 

I've hired right across NZ for them and loved it!!

Hr Administrator, Retail recruitment consultant

AER Recruitment

Helped small business owners, public sector managers and corporate HR to find the right people at the right time.

Recruiter

Bachcare Holiday Homes

Kept customers happy, the managers loving their work, the home owners proud to share their homes. 

AKA kept the lights on, the emails and phones answered, the cashflow going, the invoices going out and coming back in. Cleaned a few houses when it really got pinchy too - because, you know #startup life! (well, and an excuse to get to the beach!)

Office Manager

It's 3am and you're lying awake thinking about your business again. Sound familiar?

Your business looks successful (& on the good days, feels it) but here's what I know: your expertise got you here, but it won't get you to the next level. 

Business should be joyful - not a source of 3am anxiety.

Shh don’t tell the advisors, but I don’t think you need more advice right now. What you need is a fractional business manager. Someone who gets it, can see what's going on & helps you focus on what will actually make a difference. 

Yay, you found me! (And like many of my amazing clients, you might not have realised that such a partnership existed!) Think: your commercial sounding board who actually does stuff, not just gives advice. Not just a spare set of hands, I’m an external plan, with a brain, that gently keeps the progress going in the right places. 

While VAs handle admin tasks, I bring strategic thinking AND execution to help brilliant consultants like you master the bit that's actually hard (managing the business), because you're already great at doing the work.

What this looks like:
I work alongside you for 90 days to see clearly what’s going on (and getting pushed to the side), what can be removed or changed, delegated or automated. We'll create a plan to get it done together. We can integrate AI, overhaul (or tweak!) your business model, or put check out the ways we can put better processes in place to protect your mojo. The work we do together is designed to do whatever your business needs to bring your je ne sais quoi to the front and centre and turn down the noise of the other stuff.

Most business advice assumes you have unlimited time OR resources. 

I know better. 

I work with your reality: the mental load of running everything, the challenge of letting go, the fact that you're still doing while improving, oh and LIFE will keep life-ing! 

My approach is very hands on, because humans take time to shift our habits.  

Results my clients see:
"After the first conversation there was a glimmer. The next week I had a solid, tangible plan & progress like I hadn't made in 18 months."

"Everyone needs an Alana in their life! She's been game-changing for my business."

Ready to infuse your business with joy (and some solid AF commercial outcomes, too?)
Join my free Monday office hours (12-1pm) where business owners swap ideas & get feedback
Book a virtual cuppa to explore working together
Visit www.alanaswain.com for more details
Not ready yet? Follow me for practical insights, energy & overuse of weird analogies

How I walk my kids to school can tell you a whole lot about the entirety of my professional success to date.

(look, my rainbow gumboots to go with my "makes every smile" rain jacket might be new, but the mannerisms? old as I am)

Kids like to be seen (so do most humans)

Kids like to see a smile (again, human-ing like the rest of us)

Kids LOVE it when you remember their name or something about them (see above)

Kids are RAPT when they have agency (nothing quite to glamorous in the morning like the new found confidence of a Year 3 child who is riding to school by themselves!)

And the seen, heard, remembered, have agency formula is SO fricking easy

You just gotta remember to do it

It works when building incredible networks

It works in workplaces to boost moral

It works in sales (when you remember it’s a long game)

It works to diffuse a hot topic or get through a prickly performance conversation (hard to believe, but true)

It works with partnerships, friendships and sibling relationships (not withstanding the irrationality of 3 year olds)

I reckon you might just be overcomplicating how you show up for those around you (although my rainbow gumboots are certainly not for everyone’s taste)

What say you?

#LinkedInFest25

Alana Swain

Alana grins at the camera, about to head out the door. She wears a bright blue patterned rain coat

One of the things I most admire about wise & clever coaches, is how good they are at listening.

It takes real power to sit in silence

To understand, rather than to respond.

To respond, rather than react.

It’s quite joyful to work with people who sit in a question and really think it through.

The answers richer, the actions as a result all the better as a result.

This month, Christopher Miller and I have begun a unique business relationship - we are (true to form!) leveraging our strengths and peer coaching each other. 

This is fantabulous for each of us, as we have different needs right now in the growth, strategy and execution of delivery in our practices, each of us able to help the other by leaning into our strengths. 

Every time I learn, whether I am the coach, or I am the coachee.

Every time, I find joy in both the silence and the conversation.

I find wisdom in the well considered silence that helps form a better answer to a question. 

Who have you got in your world right now who gives you that space to just be?

Go find them, and if you need someone? I can highly recommend a conversation with Christopher Miller, he is definitely known as the coach of coaches for good reason! 

#coaching #betterconversation #humanfirstbusiness 

👋🏻 Kia ora, I'm Alana, while some of you might not normally known as a coach, I AM here to help make the how of managing your business more doable. So if that means some coaching happens to help make that happen?So be it.

Photo of Alana and Christopher smiling at the camera. They stand in front of a mural of a rainbow and green foliage at the Incubator creative space in Tauranga. 

After Lizzie set forth a few challenges this month in her #linkedinfest25, I sang the praises of some of my clients.

And I don’t know if it’s that energy bouncing back, but JEEPERS the flood gates of compliments have opened this week. 

I’ve chucked some below, but really today, I wanted to highlight the power of advocates in business strategy.

My ENTIRE premise to start 2025 in my customer & marketing strategy was “Add More Value”. I tweaked a couple of my services to increase face time, reduce cost (without damaging my capacity) and listened deeply to my customers. 

As a result? I am nearing capacity for my current services with only 2 more client spots for 2025. (Don’t worry, 2026 I got you with some goodies in some new stuff!)

But, before you set forth and read all the delish wordage from the delightful humans who trust me to partner with them on making business more doable - I’d ask: 

⁉ What could you do to add more value to the clients you already have - and how might that change your business trajectory as a result ❓

🤔🤔🤔🤔

Right - now set forth an bask in my brilliance if you want 😆

From email intros:
"Alana really cares and goes the extra mile. Alana has your back and will do whatever she can to help where she can. For those that chose she moves from a connection to a friend - and from there on there is no turning back, you can trust her, rely on her and gain massive value from all she has to offer - that being her awesome amazing Alananess! "

"This is my business coach who has been an absolute GOD-SEND from above (after having spent hundreds of dollars on “business coaches” throughout the years that seemed to provide literally no value)."

"I was telling them about my insanely amazing business coach - and they were keen to find out more.
If you wouldn't mind reaching out to them when you have a moment - they'd love to connect with you and see if you and them is a good fit too. I think you're amazing and could help anyone :)" 

From Claudia Nelson about how valuable my weekly office hours are:
I have been loving our office hour sessions on Monday!...
We kickstart our week, find supportive company, insights, helpful tips and tools (Alana has a bottomless stash of these!), There are laughs, connection, AI learning and sometimes hard truths we didn’t really want to hear but needed 😊. Best hour of the week!

On email after a zoom coaching call:
"Hello magnificent human being,
Thank you so much for your time, presence and energy this morning. Awesomely useful"

Here on Linky Dink from Miraka Davies:
"And this is why you’re FREAKING GLORIOUS!!!"

I hope you too, set forth and share & shine the love with your client - and, if you’re wanting any ideas, DM me for the zoom room details for Office hours monday.

PS Shout out goes to Kathryn McGarvey for the naming convention of this email folder, one of her wise tidbits from said office hours! 😍

Screen snip of Alana's inbox showing a subfolder for warm fuzzies titled 1.01 I'm f&cking brilliant

Pop quiz to start the week: How, when sales were up only 17.9% across the last 4 years, and GP was down 15%, how might you increase your salary by 50% as well as net profit by some 1700%??

Be More Bankable.

It’s a whole thing I love to do (gosh darn it, once a banker….)

Here’s a quick walk through of how me and one of my fave client's Mike  GSD: 

📏What’s measured gets done - clear and tight on Opex, smarter tech to reduce slippage, team KPIs clear AF. 

🔍Being ok with shredding overheads  - more in the bank = more in the coffers during the slower months to keep sane (for this business that’s the NZ summer of Dec - Jan) 

🤗Growing sales by growing relationships - getting tighter with existing customers to make them stickier (in a nice, not creepy way) and more profitable. Less chasing new = better work / more profit

👀 Focussing on what's controllable - often easier said than done, which is why working with an external advisor (ahem, that’s ME!) is handy. You can’t be your own relentless cheerleader. But I can! 

😎 Being the boss he wanted to be -  It’s one thing to be the master of your craft, it’s quite another to lead others in the craft. Success in this sort of a business is largely dependent on the team not the business owner. Which is a mind flip, and in my opinion, the reason many small businesses struggle.

AND along the way? Two new small humans welcomed to the family, a new house (and the lending needed for that bigger house (for said small humans), a new boat (ohhh yes, for the times when you can get out even with said small humans) and a WHOLE lotta laughs.

As Mike (he is the hero of this story) says: “this definitely puts all the hard work into perspective. Having your help so I could put self doubt to the side and grow as a person and as a business owner has been astronomical. I will be forever grateful”

At different times, different things need to be done in business. That’s why when some well meaning but formulaic AF advisor stands in front of you and harps on about “Work On the Business, not In it” and “strategies for growth and a self managing company” you CAN roll your eyes if you want.

Because generic isn’t for everyone.

Creating the right sized, right paced, right performing business model isn’t anything that comes out of a box. 

Being bankable for life + business growth isn’t the easiest thing to do, but it CAN and IS fun when you do it with me and with results like this - isn’t it worth trying that on for size? 

It comes from being attuned to what you REALLY want, and then seeing all the itty bitty (and sometimes shitty) nuance of where you are right now, to choose what to do, when, and how.

Bankable and more-fun-business questions answered 12 noon Mondays during my office hours (FREE!) DM for the link to join. 

#linkedinfest25

Hustle won’t get you clear on your strategy. 

Thinking won’t get you taking the right action.

You need both, in the right measures. 

Sequencing & pacing that 💩 is essential.



#sorrynotsorry #linkedinfest25

Those emus (you could also call them turkeys or Big Corporate Critters) will never know the delight when you call a customer and the joy, love and intention for impact you sent in their lovingly packed order was felt.

Nothing can replace that heart.

The unique thumbprint that you’ve bought to life.

The joy, sweat, tears and grit it is to keep bringing your art, craft and magic to the world.

Gift fairs, expos and trade shows have changed a bit in the post Covid era of business, with a double laceration of competing against the emu rhyming bohemouth that has torn shreds into what it takes to keep on in an e-comm business.

But, you know what? 

People with heart keep showing up, and I’m sending all my best to those stallholders and business owners who are meeting potential, new, and familiar friends who may become stockists at the Spring Gift Fair in Auckland this week

Those amazing business owners who have put their customers at the heart of what they do.

They’ve chosen to design for customers, listened to them, watched how they are using things, and then used that to help inform their strategy, including product design.

People like Blair, the owner and founder of the delish 100% natural skincare business that is Nudi Point. 

Watching Blair Coates bring these new display stands (offering his retailers more choice in the range they stock) and a series of new products to life has been joyful work for me, too.

It’s been a delight to see how even after 10+ years in business, the sparkle is there for this mahi.

This is the stuff that no-one can explain rationally, but it’s the bit that gives us all our feels here in the world of small business huh?

And, choosing to support each other, to make small decisions that ripple out, that’s the stuff we can choose to do, as business owners, to keep the heart in our business ecosystem.

So, if you’re in Auckland and heading to the Gift fair this week, stop in and say hi to Blair, all round great human, who’s incredible, 100% natural products are SO made with love, and SO great for the mind, body and soul.

Or, get your credit card ready to go online and get your little bit of Nudi Point magic delivered to you at home. Set forth in the comments if you want to know my faves 😍

Joy is not naive.

Joy is not the absence of hard. 

Joy is a dog at the beach, a kid on the swings, a hug, a babies first belly laugh. 

Joy is today, where the sun is shining, and the very first sense of true spring has said "hello" (well, here in Tauranga it sure has!!) 

Joy is so much a part of us, that of course it must be part of our business lives, too. 

And joy is a strategic choice. 

Because to choose joy is to choose the things that will motivate us when it's hard, to keep us focussed on what matters most, to be present to the profound magic of our success, to treasure in the impact of our work - for those close to us and who we're working to serve. 

We can do hard things

And we can be joyful 

We can be joyful, having done (or going through) hard things

Three kids? That sure is work! I can't even begin to tell you how much joy it brings
A strong marriage? Same. 
Great friendship? Same
A business? Same
Sitting with loved ones when the mortality of humans is near to hand? Ditto. (Plus, ugly crying or crying through tears)
A sporting accomplishment? (see above, sometimes with the addition of a injury to add to it) 
Your first fish pulled up into the boat?
Landing your first job?

You name a great human accomplishment - there was hard work, there is joy. 

To be human is to sit beyond a binary - the computer can nail the 0s and 1s, we get the richness, the rawness of being human. 

And being human in business?

Damn straight that's hard. 

Damn straight that's joy. 

Today, I just wanted to remind you of that. 

Because I'm going to bet, when you reflect back on the moments that have mattered most - you'll be able to spot those places where the joy mixed with all the other human emotions. 

PS Yes, it's a pic of my joyful pup cos #whynot in favour of #linkedinfest25

Luna (a shepherd / kelpie dog cross with black fur) is sat with her tongue joyously hanging out with a tennis ball in between her front paws. The sun is shining, the grass is green. 

What's your "tell" when you're working through some big thinking?

Mine is Cups of Tea Consumed. 

When my strategic brain is ON, lemme tell you, it's ON. 

And the last couple of week's I've been crunching through Some Big Ideas. 

My brain loves the view from 2-3 years out, and then to work backwards to craft the "next right action step" which then becomes my term by term planning.

And yes, my assistant Claude is very helpful, but you know what is more helpful? 

Tea, snacks and, great conversation with people to bounce ideas through. I'm lucky enough to get to work with Christopher Miller on this stuff too. He's champion like that. 

Here's the often missed trick when it comes to better strategic thinking: We ALL do better thinking when we get diverse minds on our problems. 

So, if you're in need of some great company at based in Tauranga, I'm at Vitality Kitchen in town tomorrow at 10 am for my regular "swap notes and ideas with clever thinking business owners" meet up. Come for the vibes, stay for the substance!

OR, let's get our think on for what your next right thing looks like, and get a brain vacuum booked in the diary in October. 

Your January 2026 self will thank you. 

Right, off to go boil the jug *again!* 

PS Ostrich Procrastination is NOT a way of working through strategic planning - just saying! 👀

#strategicthinking #procrastination

A close up selfie of Alana drinking from a ceramic ping cup with a questioning look on her face

I have the best clients! 

We all are in this for family first and foremost, impact on the world secondly. 

Following that, invariably are a bunch of other intentions, reasons, goals and dreams, most of which are based around good humaning, being kind, doing better. 

These pics are snaps of some of the "non business" benefits and convos we've had / shared of late 

Featuring:
📞 New play phones from a downsized office (so my kids can play, and play, and play, and play at work) PLUS a client giving me some of those Disney tat they're currently collecting from the Super Duper Markets round town... my kids were VERY happy with mum's work that day!! 

♟ The reality of working on sick days when you have a 5 year old home, and jump to get something done for a client in and around him learning spelling and learning chess while you need to do the things. 

✏Mum's stationery being used for creative play at the table (showing how the apple does NOT fall far from the tree when it comes to any chance to scrawl on paper!) and the reality of a % of any family business budget being used on kid entertainment when they come in to "help"!

🍍Recipe sharing. Life is a bunch of snack making, and any / all recipes that we can add into lunch box rotations, that work for grab n go days, you gotta love those hacks. (side note, this one is an excellent bliss ball, and great use of Chatty is to change to / from Thermomix versions when you find good ones) 

Family business is all the things, all the realities, and keeping what we're in it for front and centre lights me up. 

Ain't nothing quite like it in my book - how about you? 

#linkedinfest25

Leading by example takes many forms... but this one from the team Nurture Paediatrics is one of my highlights from last month!

As the brilliant paediatric wellbeing team that they are, they get to use a whole bunch of cool resources to help kids  & their families

- Be in their bodies better
- Work through pain 
- Be rehabilitated from injury or chronic conditions 
- Learn ways to regulate through life's natural ups, downs and zig zags when working with chronic pain, health conditions or neurodiverse conditions. 

So, a quick game of peanut ball bounce tag (well, that's what I called it!) was just the ticket between patients helping them 

- Reset
-Connect 
- Move
- Laugh

And isn't that essential for a great day of work?! 

As you can see, I enjoyed myself so much I snorted with laughter

What I love about my work as a fractional business manager is that while it SOUNDS so boring, the work, with amazing, fun, and clever people like Amanda Meys and her team, is anything but boring. And that keeps me pinching myself that this is work! 

Game of peanut ball anyone?! (laughter snorts optional 😜)

Do you need to fight for the Big Plan you have?

The easiest thing is to let life drift by. 

It's harder to work through a plan, to see it come to life, to bask in the glory of it & the joy it brings you having done it. 

A good plan is worth the effort. The thinking, the back n forthing, the friction, the rework, a good plan needs good thinking. 

If you need some help fighting for your Big Plan, then make it happen. 

Find the space
Find the time
Find the people who can bring your thinking to where it needs to be 

Or, you might like to join me for some fresh ideas and sense checking in my Monday office hours (which are free!) to help you work out where you might find that oomph to make the Big Plan a reality. DM for the link to join us next week! 


#getyourplanon #probablybetterwithcolouredpens

I SHOULD be able to do this myself.

🙋‍♀️ If you are three it sounds a bit like “NO! ME do it!” (insert every parent’s most fertile patience building ground EVER)

🤔 If you are five it sounds like “Can I try that please?”

🙄 If you are eight it sounds like “Ugh, NO not THAT. Why don’t you just get me?!”

I’d like to think I’m more evolved in my kids

BUT when I boil down what’s created my particular curse of capability flavour, I can see it play out Every.Damn.Day with my small humans.

In reality, my inner voice sounds just like them at different points in a week.

Here’s some inner chat that happens for me - maybe you can relate?

Someone else:
🥕 Is making dinner? WRONG where are the hidden vegetables?!
👔 Is doing the laundry? NO they don’t get hung out like that!
🎁Is getting a present? ALL that plastic? Really?
🤯Is explaining something new that I’m hesitant about: Really?! Like that? God that sounds complicated!

Look, I’m a work in progress just like any human.

Here’s what is true for me:
✨Someone else’s way is different
🦸‍♀️Help is hard to ask for
🤢 Other people do things in new ways that might stretch the comfort zone I’ve created (UGH, change!)
🌈 Good stuff sits on the other side of that discomfort
🙌 FECK it’s nice when help is easy to ask for and fit for purpose!

But that's hard. Because most of us? Got told “well done for doing it yourself!” from that “NO! ME do it!” stage of life.

Is it any wonder we’re all a hot mess navigated the complexity of life especially when running our own businesses?

#curseofcapability 

If you’re ready to stop shoulding all over yourself and work out how, where and what are the things you could best ask for help / deleate / outsource or automate in your business, come chat to me - I promise you there’s NO way it’s going to be boring.

PS When does this 8 year old stage last til? Asking for a friend 😂

Do you need colour to think, too?

A blank A3 piece of paper and my trusty coloured pens (hidden from my kids so they can’t pinch them!) are my best planning tools.

I need to think in shapes, spaces and colour.

My planning goes a bit like this:

🎯 Every term, set up a plan for the biggest focus for the term ahead. Revisit and be a bit more ruthless on the edit to what's REALLY going to get done. 

⚖️ Every fortnight, sit with the current workload and the previous plan, to write the specific outcomes or next actions needed.

📅 Every week, check in, block time out, write my life admin list (join my weekly office hours if you want to see my Claude Assistant in action helping me reduce this mental drag!)

✅ Most Days: Get the the dopamine hit of striking a line to show I "completed" the thing. Work the plan. Forgive myself for the bits I didn't get to where compassion was needed, learn from the other bits.


Look, there’s a whole bunch of epic planning tools out there, and a whole lot of ways I’d like to be more sophisticated than writing “write to do list” on a plan on a bad day - but this system works FOR ME.

Planning is an art, and I don’t think there’s one way to do it - I think there’s a way that’s likely to get you some cut through with where you are at right now, and I think , because you are human, thinking in colour with a life that is shifting - what works now will probably need to shift too.

Here’s a couple of quick wins you can add that might help your brain plan better(regardless of the tool you use):

⚡ Add in the next action step (draft, write, open, phone, email, text, drive to). The action in the verb helps your brain go "oh, I know what to do" in a way something that made sense last Thursday but doesn't today (I'm looking at you "spreadsheet conversions"!)

📍 Put down where to go to find that thing (emails, sharepoint folder XYZ, document ABC, the software tool you use for that thing). Then your brain has both the action & the direction. Watch it go WEEEE like a small, overzealous child going down a hill on a bike. 

⏰ Add something you can do in the next 2 minutes (it could be "write to do list" or "put on the jug for a cup of tea"). Momentum creates momentum (rolling stones, no moss, and all that)

🔄 Don't try for perfect. Try, do, learn, tweak, repeat.


If you’d like some space in the pace to plan, think in colour and find your groove when it comes to planning, why not join me for office hours today to swap ideas and pocket something you can put to good use? (DM me for the link & you can virtually share my coloured pens if you want 😜 )


#thinkingincolour #planning
👋🏻 I'm Alana, coloured pen fan, earl grey drinker & Here to Help with the How & make managing business more doable.

A3 sheet of white paper with coloured headers divided into themes of work tasks. 

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