Stretching, structuring, and staying in my lane
Where I’m At
At the start of this year, I realised something important. 2024 had looked good on paper. Brilliant clients, real freedom, a new house, goals ticked off. But if I’m being honest, I’d been cruising.
I'd built the business I set out to build. I was doing work I love, with clients I rate, taking long summer breaks because I could. But I’d forgotten something: I need challenge. Without it, I feel a bit flat. Not stressed, just unfulfilled.
So 2025 is about stretching myself again. Still running Strategy Days. Still working with ambitious founders. Still holding onto freedom. But also building something longer term. Growing the business. Growing the team. Doing work that keeps me energised and challenged, not just busy.
That’s what The Long Game is about. Building a brilliant business and living a brilliant life. Not chasing short-term hype or burning out for the sake of growth, but creating something sustainable. For me, and for the people around me.
What’s Happening in the Business
So where are we now, halfway through the year?
✅ I’ve brought on my first Associate Consultant, Samantha Maloney (she/her). She’s brilliant. Creative, strategic, and brings fresh thinking. I know I want to build a business with people better than me, and this is the first step.
✅ I’ve also just offered a summer internship to a student from Exeter Uni. They’ll be helping with our marketing and content. Running our LinkedIn company page and Instagram, supported by me and Sam. It’s exciting to be in a place where I can give others a platform to learn and lead.
✅ Sales have been strong. June’s been a particularly busy month and I know that bucks the trend. I’m showing up. I’m networking. I’m focused on building partnerships and developing new ways to serve B2B businesses well.
✅ We’re delivering monthly free 30-minute webinars for SME leaders, and we’re about to launch a brand new series of full-day in-person workshops covering the things SMEs really need - sales, strategy, operations and teams. They’ll be practical, focused, and in beautiful venues, because stepping out of the day-to-day is how you move forward.
The Wins
Some big wins I want to celebrate:
I’ve grown the team and created new opportunities without losing the freedom I care about.
I’ve recognised that I need challenge, and I’m leaning into it without tipping into stress.
I’ve worked with a huge range of businesses this year. Accountants, legal firms, copywriters, marketers, translators, quality consultants, bid writers, coaches, L&D consultants, interior designers, event planners - among others! I love the mix.
My clients have been making incredible progress, making hard decisions, putting in place structure, growing teams, better managing teams and winning new business, also reducing their hours (more profit and less work, the dream!)
I’m still showing up for my kids, still watching their sports, still holding space for the life I want. That’s the whole point.
What’s Been Hard
Growth brings challenge, even the kind you want.
Taking on someone as capable and creative as Sam is brilliant. But it’s pushed me too. Not because of anything she’s done, but because of the pressure I put on myself.
I caught myself wondering if I needed to be more. More structured. More visionary. More "leader-like." I questioned whether I was building fast enough. Whether I needed to be different now I had a team.
Here’s what I’ve learned: I don’t need to change who I am. People come on board because of what we already do well. I’ve built a great business. I don’t need to reinvent it. I just need to stay focused and keep going.
And while we’ve taken on more work, I didn’t account for the time that extra growth actually demands. More networking and visibility means more admin, more delivery, and more follow-up. Even with solid systems and a brilliant VA, the reality is that I still do a lot of the legwork. And I hadn’t made space for that properly.
Lessons I’m Taking Forward
Growth needs structure We’ve been developing new services, growing the team, and creating a lot behind the scenes. What’s kept things from sliding into chaos is having strong systems in place. A shared project management tool. Clear responsibilities. A growing bank of SOPs. It works. But it only works if I keep building and using that structure deliberately.
Don’t make up expectations that no one has put on you Bringing Sam into the business triggered a wobble in me. I started imagining what kind of founder or leader I should be, and questioning if I was enough. But none of that came from her. That pressure was all mine. The reminder here is simple: people join you because of what you already are. You don’t have to become someone else.
Business development takes time, and creates more work I’ve upped my networking and visibility this year, and it’s working. But I hadn’t planned for the extra admin and operational work that comes with it. From onboarding to resource creation, everything takes time and energy. I’ve had to rebalance my calendar, build in white space again, and get stricter about how I spend my time.
I’ve built in less white space, and I can feel it Over the past three years, I’ve been really good at protecting thinking time, white space, and headroom. But in the last month or two, I’ve let it slip. It’s crept out of the calendar, and I’ve noticed the difference. So I’m building it back in and protecting it. Because if I want to keep growing without tipping into stress, I need space to think and plan, not just deliver.
Stay in your lane With more people around me and more ideas flying, it’s easy to get excited. But I’ve had to check myself. Just because something sounds great doesn’t mean I should be the one to do it. My job is to stay rooted in our strategy. Focus on the core services, the right clients, and the long-term vision.
What’s Next
➡️ Onboarding our new intern
➡️ Promoting our July FREE Lunch and Learn on lead generation
➡️ Finalising and launching our new in-person workshop series (running in the Autumn)
➡️ Continuing to support B2B founders and teams with Strategy Days and 1:1 support
➡️ Enjoying the summer holidays - my girls break up in 2 weeks!!
➡️ Building in more white space to think and be focused
And that’s it for edition one.
This is the real stuff. Just the honest journey of building a business that works, and doing it in a way that works for me, my family, my team, and my clients!
If you’ve read this far, thank you. I’d love to know what resonated...
See you next month.
Katherine
PS - want to watch the free 30-minute webinar on business strategy for SMEs? Get it here
