Issue 19 | October 7, 2026 Hi Reader, I got back from a 10-day road trip to Canada over the weekend, which means I'm currently in that familiar post-vacation phase of catching up on everything that happened while I was gone. Yesterday was only my second day back at work. I had plenty to catch up on, so this was definitely not the week I would normally decide to add build a new resource page to my list. And yet, by the end of the day, I had one. THE OPENING SIGNAL I've wanted a more organized...
5 days ago • 3 min read
Strategy, systems and sustainable growth. Hi Reader, I’ve had two conversations recently that started in slightly different places but led me to the same question. One was with a client. The other was with a business owner thinking through what she might do next. In both cases, there were plenty of possibilities. New things they could try. New directions they could explore. More they could add. But they also already had quite a bit. So before we started talking about what else they could do,...
6 days ago • 3 min read
Issue 18 | September 30, 2026 Hi Reader, I hear two very different things from business owners when we talk about AI. Some tell me, “I know I should be using AI more.” Others say, “I don’t really want to use AI more, but I feel like I should.” They sound like opposite problems, but I think they have something important in common. They’re both starting with AI. THE OPENING SIGNAL AI keeps showing up in more of the tools we already use, with more things it can help us do. So a lot of the...
12 days ago • 2 min read
Strategy, systems and sustainable growth. Hi Reader, I've gotten much better at this, but there was a time when I could have a great complimentary consultation with someone, spend 20 minutes listening to what was going on in their business, ask questions, offer some ideas and see exactly where I could help them. And then I'd hesitate to tell them. It wasn't because I didn't know what the next step could be. I didn't want them walking away thinking, Ohhh...so this was really just a sales call....
14 days ago • 3 min read
Issue 17 | September 23, 2026 Hi Reader, AI keeps getting better at doing things for us. Not just drafting an email or summarizing a document. We're seeing more AI tools that can recommend what should happen next, make decisions based on the information they have, and in some cases take action on our behalf. For a small business owner, that sounds pretty appealing. There are plenty of things most of us would happily get off our plates. But I think it also changes the question we need to be...
19 days ago • 3 min read
Strategy, systems and sustainable growth. Hi Reader, Have you ever had an idea for a new service or offering and immediately started figuring out how to make it happen? I have. You start thinking about what it could look like, what you might charge, how you could package it, maybe even what you could call it. And when you're excited about the idea, it's pretty easy to move from I could do this to I'm going to do this. Sometimes that's exactly the right move. But I've learned there's a step...
20 days ago • 3 min read
Issue 16 | September 16, 2026 Hi Reader, After a client strategy session, I usually have a lot of information to sort through. A 60- or 90-minute conversation can include decisions we've made, challenges we've uncovered, recommendations I've given, next steps for the client, and things I've promised to send afterward. Before I started using AI for this, I would spend hours going back through the conversation, reviewing my handwritten notes and emails we'd exchanged, creating my own summary,...
26 days ago • 3 min read
Strategy, systems and sustainable growth. Hi Reader, Earlier this year, I was working with a client whose business was starting to get some really good traction. People were finding her, inquiries were coming in, and there was real interest in what she was offering. But almost every inquiry created another round of decisions. What information did she need? What should she send them? When should she follow up? She was carrying a lot of this in her head and figuring out what to do each time...
27 days ago • 3 min read
Issue 15 | September 9W, 2026 Hi Reader, I give AI a lot of information about me, my business, and what I'm trying to accomplish. I've uploaded things I've written, trainings I've taught, transcripts and recordings, examples of my content, information about my business, and the goals I'm working toward. I've even created a source-of-truth document that gives AI a much deeper understanding of my business, my work, and how I think and communicate. And after all of that, it still gets me wrong...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read