You Built a Business to Make a Difference. Why Are You Still Its #1 Employee?
Your clients love you. Your community appreciate you. You know your work matters. And…
You still can't pay yourself consistently, take a week off without chaos, or stop worrying about the next crises. Everything in your business runs through you.
That's a design problem. And it's fixable.
We help values-driven, community-focused service businesses thrive — without the stress or the burnout.
☑️ Have More Money In Your Bank Account
☑️ Take More Time Off
☑️ Step Into Your Regulated, CEO Self
100% Satisfaction Rating with over 600 clients.
100% Satisfaction Rating with over 600 clients.
You know those business owners who seem to have it figured out?
The ones who take real vacations. Who have consistent cash flow. Whose team follows through & works well together.
You want to be them. You’re jealous.
You started this business to serve your community — to build something good, something real, something that would still be standing and making a difference ten years from now. You care deeply. You worry. You show up.
And right now, that same drive that makes you great at this work is making it impossible to slow down.
Because you're:
Drowning in daily operations with zero time or bandwidth to think strategically
Stuck with cash flow that's a roller coaster
Watching your bank accounts not reflect your revenue and not knowing why
Clueless about what your business can afford
Not clear which of your offers is your most profitable
Unable to scale past yourself, you are the bottleneck and you know it
Working with "systems" that are all in your head, just you remembering stuff
Managing a team you can’t seem to trust fully
Feeling like slowing down means letting your clients, your team, your community down
You haven’t taken a real day off in longer than you want to admit
The hardest part? You know what you should be doing. You can’t do it.
Here's why: a brain under sustained stress can't think strategically. It's too busy surviving. The strategic part of your brain is literally not available. Your frontal lobe is offline. No amount of good advice sticks when your nervous system is running the show. Most business coaches don’t touch that.
I Freelanced To My Own Detriment
What finally changed everything:
I combined brain health practices (getting comfortable being uncomfortable) with proven business systems (so nothing actually fell apart when I stepped back).
That's when I stopped making employee choices and started acting like a CEO.
I started paying myself consistently. I built systems that allowed me to save time, read more, go hiking, and devote more time to my creative pursuits outside of my business.
Brain health + real business systems = You actually get to be the business owner you want to be, with a life outside of your business.
For over a decade, I was trapped in that pattern.
I helped clients 4, 6, and 8x their revenue. I built businesses that are still thriving today, more than 10 years later. I helped build multi-million-dollar operations over and over again.
And me? I was living in my car. Actually homeless. Unable to make Bay Area rent work while building million dollar results for all of my clients.
When I started my coaching business in 2019, my behaviors didn’t change. I just traded one freelance hustle for another.
I worked 60-hour weeks. I was the first responder to every crisis. I made every decision. I couldn't take a day off without my business grinding to a halt.
Revenue came in. I got clients. Clients got results. And I couldn't pay myself consistently because I had no cash flow systems. I reacted to expenses and put off paying myself. I didn’t know what I could spend on help. I ran myself ragged and overworked the way I learned to as a kid.
I was running a business while thinking like an employee.
The problem wasn't my work ethic. It wasn't my skills.
My brain couldn't handle stepping back. (It’s a sneaky form of flight, that need to stay busy.) My business had no structure to catch things when I did.
When your brain is in survival mode (scanning for threats, always waiting for the next disaster), you physically cannot:
Delegate without obsessively checking in
Think strategically (you're too busy reacting)
Make decisions from vision instead of fear
Prioritize the work that actually brings in revenue
Build systems that work without you
Step back and lead in a way you feel proud of
You literally can’t think like a business owner. This isn't a personality flaw. This is how brains work, but it’s keeping you trapped.
WHAT CEO MODE LOOKS LIKE
Here's What Changes When You Stop Being Employee #1
Your cash flow stabilizes. You're not on a revenue roller coaster anymore. You can actually plan for next quarter because you know what's coming in. You pay yourself consistently and set profit aside, first.
You stop reacting to every fire. Not because fires don't happen, but because you trust your team and you've built systems that handle 80% of them without you. We teach you how to get yourself out of survival mode so you can respond rather than react.
You start thinking strategically. You actually have time to plan, to see opportunities, to make decisions from vision instead of panic.
You delegate without hovering. Your brain can finally tolerate not controlling everything. Your team actually follows through because the accountability structure is real. There are systems that catch problems early.
Your business can run without you. Not forever, but for a week or two. The systems are documented and your team knows what to do. You’re not on a beach on your laptop.
You pay yourself first. Consistently. Without guilt. Like an actual business owner.
You take time off. Real time off. Where you're not checking email or "just handling one thing real quick."
You become the business owner your community needs. Sustainable, resourced, still standing 10 years from now. Not the who’s up worried about payroll in the middle of the night.
The one who seems to have it all figured out. The one whose business works FOR them instead of the other way around.
That's not magic. That's not luck.
That's brain health + working systems + proven strategy.
Work With a Business Strategist Who Specializes in Service Businesses
Stop guessing. Start growing with proven frameworks and someone who's built this exact transformation over and over again.
Most business coaches give you generic advice that doesn't seem like it would work for service businesses.
"automate everything" — but your value IS the service you provide.
"hire more people" — but you can't find good people, and when you do, you micromanage anyway.
"raise your prices" — but that doesn't fix the chaos or give you back your time.
Beyond all of that: none of it accounts for the fact that you care deeply about the people you serve. That the mission matters. That stepping back feels like a betrayal of everything you built this for.
Here's what actually works: strategic business planning combined with showing you how to get your brain on your side for the hard work of building.
You can't build systems if your nervous system won't let you delegate. You can't delegate if you don't have systems to catch things. You can’t do either if you’re too burnt out to function. Please, don’t let that be you.
We get you to a place where you know the exact profitability of every offer your business has available. We make sure you know which clients to build your offers around, and which are costing you money. We make sure you know what your business can afford, and set up the cash flow structure that makes it crystal clear.
Why Strategy Changes Everything
Without strategy, you're reacting. Every fire gets your immediate attention. Every client seems urgent. Every decision feels like a crisis. You lose all your time to small things, instead of putting your energy where it will get results. You chase every shiny object that comes your way, projects don’t get finished. You’re running on the hamster wheel, getting nowhere.
With strategy, you're leading. You know what you’re working toward. Your vision is clear. You’re inspired by your vision of what you want to create. Your vision is aligned with the life you actually want for yourself. You know which clients to keep and which to let go of. You know which offers are profitable. You have great referral partners that bring in clients. You have systems that handle 80% of problems. You make decisions from data, not panic.
When strategy and brain health work together, your energy actually moves your business and your community forward.
The Pumpkin Plan Approach
I'm a Certified Pumpkin Plan Strategist—combining Mike Michalowicz's proven business methodology with nervous system regulation and 8 years as a mental health coach.
The framework is built around three outcomes:
More money in your account — Identify which clients and services actually generate profit (vs. just revenue), then build your business around what makes you the most money and differentiates you in the market
More time in your week — Eliminate the activities and processes that eat hours without moving the needle, so you recover 10 hours per week. You can use 5 hours for strategic work and 5 hours for fun (or however you’d like).
More ease in your operations — Design your business around what you do best and what your ideal clients actually want, so work feels natural instead of forced
The result: Your bank account grows, your schedule opens up, and running your business stops feeling like something you’re not sure you’ll survive.
What Makes This Different
I combine things most coaches don't:
→ 16 years of business consulting helping service businesses grow 3-10x across industries, with clients still thriving more than a decade later.
→ ICF PCC certified coach specializing in burnout, brain health, and ADHD (so you can do the strategic thinking again)
→ Certified Pumpkin Strategist using the proven systems that follow natural laws to grow your business
→ Lived experience — I spent 16 years creating million-dollar results for everyone but myself
Plus: 1600+ clients, 5.0 average rating.
We get your brain in shape to be able to tolerate the life you want, then help you build the business that supports the dream life you’ve been too scared to let yourself hope for.
How We Work Together
I work with values-driven, community-focused service business owners making $400K–$2M who are done surviving their own business and ready to actually run it.
We start together — mapping your vision, diagnosing what's broken, and building the strategic foundation. You implement. When you hit a wall or need to redirect, we work through it together.
You get:
A clear picture of your most profitable clients and offers — and a strategy built around them
Systems tailored to your actual business, so things stop living in your head
Ways to recover meaningful time every week
Pumpkin Plan optimization for your specific market
Cash flow structure so you pay yourself first and know what the business can afford
Brain health strategies grounded in neuroscience & neurology — not generic self-care advice
Strategic planning and accountability so the important work actually gets done
You step into CEO mode. Your business stops running you. You pay yourself consistently. You take profit out of your revenue first, and set it aside before your expenses. You’re clear on what the business can afford, and have savings to cover payroll if things get bumpy. You can & do take time off.
What Past Clients Say:
“One of the Best Descisions”
"I've had the opportunity to work with Lissy for coming up on two years now, and it's been one of the best decisions I've made in my life.
As an overwhelmed professional who felt lost in my career and swamped by a busy schedule, carving out time with Lissy allowed me to develop techniques to get through my day, connect with my intuition and create space for self-reflection.
Lissy honestly served as a guide to the things that are most important to me in my life, and through gentle guidance and direction, has coached me every step of the way onto a career path I'd never in a million years think I'd get to do (becoming a full time artist).
Lissy is warm and professional, and we've developed a real relationship where she really understands me. Her advice and techniques are incredible."
C.M.
Getting out of Reactivity
"Through Lissy’s thoughtful approach to coaching, I learned how to slow down instead of immediately react, identify internal clues to emotions that were challenging my ability to effectively communicate and be more open
and direct with my team.
The coaching plan and directional guidance were a solid, clear and non-overwhelming foundation for me to identify and work on changing the things I wanted to. Through their ability to dig deeper in our conversations, I was able to make so much progress in our time working together and feel more grounded, curious and open in conversations at work and in life."
K.R.
You’ve Tried Doing This Alone. Let’s Make It Happen—Together.
f you're a values-driven, community-focused founder making $400K–$2M who's ready to stop being Employee #1 in your own business — let's talk.
The Strategy Session is free and takes 20 minutes. We'll look at your biggest capacity leak, your most significant cash flow drain, and whether working together makes sense for where you are right now. You'll leave with something useful — whether we work together or not.