This was the first 1:1 — the goal was to map where you actually are. The picture: a $181K business paying you $48K, four to five day weeks fully booked into September, last price raise was two years ago, and the assistant hire from earlier this year fell through. You're not stuck for lack of ideas — you're stuck because three things are holding the wheel: control, scarcity, and a schedule built around clients instead of your life. The next two weeks aren't about action. They're about clarity.
The rut isn't a money problem — it's a structure problem.
The business is making real money. The issue is that almost none of it makes it to you, and the schedule that produces it is wearing you down. Cutting expenses won't fix that. Restructuring what you charge, who's helping, and when you work is what fixes it.
Life first. The business fits inside it.
We're not designing the perfect work week. We're designing the perfect life week — ideal day off, ideal work day, ideal admin day, ideal time with Jim — and then arranging the business to support it. If we do it the other way around, we'll be back here in six months.
The hire that fell through was protection, not failure.
She had bright red flags — most importantly, she was "too busy" to even take your calls. The universe blocked a bad fit. The work now is to build a sharper picker before the next hire, not to write off hiring altogether.
Pricing gets a real review on call 2.
You haven't raised in two years and most services only went up $20 last time. That's well below where you should be at 15 years in. Send the spreadsheet over — we'll go line by line and build a smart, aligned raise.
Owner pay is the real KPI.
The number that matters isn't $181K revenue — it's the $48K making it to you, which has been flat for seven years. Target: get the business into the $200K+ range with six-figure take-home. That comes from raising prices, adding an assistant who absorbs lower-tier work, and protecting your time for extensions.
Scarcity is running in the background — and it's older than this business.
Every time stress rises, the reflex is "what can I cut?" That's a nervous system pattern, usually wired in childhood. Naming it is step one. Sitting with where it came from is step two. Rewiring it is the long work — and we do it together.
The exact shape of your week.
Three days vs. four. Long days vs. short. Same days every week vs. flexed around Jim's firefighter schedule. No right answer yet — that's what the voice-note riffs this week are for.
Assistant vs. booth renter vs. solo.
Assistant is still the lead candidate — it grows the business and protects your space's energy. Not decided. The shape of the week comes first, then we lock the hire question.
What you actually want to charge.
Not what the market says. Not what your clients will tolerate. What you want to be paid for the skill and time at 15 years in. Sit with the question: who told me my prices are a hot take, and why do I believe it?
The owner-pay shift with your CPA.
Bumping payroll changes your tax picture. The CPA conversation isn't "should I?" — it's "what's the right structure for paying me more without getting hammered at tax time?" We'll prep talking points for that.
Click any step to check it off — your progress saves automatically.
Open voice memos, close your eyes, and talk it through. When you've done a few, upload them to Claude and ask for a synthesis — themes, contradictions, what you keep circling back to.
The longer arc behind this container. Most of these will move over the next 60–90 days — check things off as they finish.
My side of the work this week.