307: Set your systems up to complement your marketing in 2026 | Lee-Anne Prytherch 

Looking to “clean up your systems” over the New Year break? 

This is a great time to audit and see what you need for the year ahead. 

But with all the options, where do you even begin? Here. Start with this episode. We are going through the systems and processes to help you in the year ahead! 

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag us @contentqueenmariah and @mindfulmanagementco_.

⁠⁠⁠⁠LEARN THE DETAILS OF A CONTENT STRATEGY WITH MY FREE AUDIO GUIDE⁠⁠⁠⁠

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

✨ What tools you need as a small business 

✨ How to launch your next product or service 

✨ How to start using AI 

✨ How to set up the right systems 

SHOW RESOURCES 👇

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Other than that, enjoy - chat next week 💕

ABOUT THE GUEST 

Lee-Anne Prytherch is the Founder of Mindful Management Co, a systems strategist, tech integrator, and Fractional COO known for her rare ability to blend sharp strategy with grounded execution.

Lee-Anne brings a level of detail and depth that’s hard to find. She sees the whole board, from backend workflows to launch planning, AI integration to strategic presence, and ensures that every element is considered, aligned, and implemented with precision. Nothing gets missed.

With nearly two decades of cross-industry experience (we're talking sales, strategy, operations and tech) and an insatiable curiosity for emerging trends and technologies, Lee-Anne is always evolving - not for the sake of following hype, but to ensure her clients' businesses are ready for what’s next.

She’s technically brilliant (especially when it comes to AI and smart integrations), but never loses the human-first approach that sets her apart. 

Systems and strategy aren’t just services, they’re her second language.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

307 - 19:12:2025, 5.22 pm

Mariah: [00:00:00] This is episode 307, and we're talking all about systems in 2026 for your small business with the amazing Leanne Prytherch. Welcome to the Content Queen podcast. I'm your host, Mariah, entrepreneur storyteller, digital nomad, creator of Content bootcamp, and founder of Content Queen. I'm here to teach you how to share your unique story, create content, and market your business with strategy through the channels that work for you.

Each week, I'll deliver a story to help you connect to a powerful strategy around marketing, business, and content creation. I'll also be joined by amazing souls and entrepreneurs who are here to share their own story and journey, along with actual steps, help you take your business to a whole new level through amazing storytelling, powerful and marketing and content strategy.

Let's do it. Hello, gang. All right. The last episode of 2025. Amazing. What a better way to talk about anything other than setting up the foundations, the systems, and I have. The absolute queen of [00:01:00] systems, Leanne Parch, who her and I have worked together on a lot of different projects. You'll hear a little bit about our story together in this episode.

Um, but I'm excited to welcome this amazing soul who I also used to live with and is a really beautiful friend of mine. So Leanne Prytherch is the founder of Mindful Management Co. A system strategist, tech integrator, and fractional COO, known for her rare ability to blend sharp strategy with grounded execution.

Leanne brings a level of detail and depth that's hard to find. She sees the whole board from backend workflows to launch planning, AI integration to strategic presence, and ensures that every element is considered aligned and implemented with precision. Nothing gets missed, and I can vouch for that. It definitely doesn't.

We are nearly two decades of cross-industry experience. We're talking sales strategy, operations, and tech. She has a level of curiosity in the emerging trends and [00:02:00] technology, and Leanne is always evolving, not just for the sake of following a hype, but to ensure her clients businesses are ready for the next steps.

She's. Technically brilliant, especially when it comes to AI and smart integrations, but never loses the human approach. And that's what sets her apart for her systems and strategy aren't the ser, just the service. They're her second language, which is very true. So let's chat with Leanne. Amazing. Leanne, welcome to the podcast.

You have been on the podcast before but in a group setting, so I'm happy to have you here. To kick off, can you tell us a little bit more about who you are, what you do, your story, how you got into systems automation, ai, launching things, being behind the scenes, everything, all the things that you do. 

Lee anne: All of the things.

Great. So I'm Leanne. I am the owner and founder of Mindful Management Co. I'm essentially a business manager and consultant and I run the business with my business support Ella. She's amazing. So it's just the two of us, which is great. The team is very leaned, [00:03:00] um, but I'm still very, I guess hands-on behind the scenes.

So essentially I support founders with systems strategy. Tech integrations, automation launches, all of those sort of operational layers that make a business run smoothly. But I'm also a solo mom, which I think shapes much of how I show up, um, and lead intentionally. And I think how I have built the business, I've had quite a broad career, I guess across like nonprofit, online travel, SaaS, logistics, project management, sales strategy.

I mean, there's, the list is endless, but I think all of those experience have, have certainly taught me how to see that broad picture and, and really manage a lot of moving parts. Um, but I think the real turning point in terms of like my career came after I had Ari, I returned to TripAdvisor and I realized that the work wasn't for me.

I was doing part-time hours, full-time targets, working remote remotely while my team were in Singapore. [00:04:00] And I realized I think that. I often tied my work with my worth. Sorry. I tied my worth with my work other way around. I was that high achiever, you know, the one who carried the load and I think, yeah, the one who made everything happen.

Um, and certainly motherhood. Anybody that's a mom will tell you that that can really shape and make you confront that. And those parts of you that maybe you didn't, you know, you hadn't confronted before. But I realized it wasn't the work itself that I didn't enjoy. It was how the work was structured. So I don't think I'm built for that rigid, well, I know I'm not, not, I don't think, I know I'm not built for that rigid, you know, those sort of rigid hours, that corporate box.

Like I need the depth, the autonomy, the problem solving, the. Intuition, the, you know, supporting people in, I think a more human and spacious way. Maybe spacious, is that the right word? I don't know. But, [00:05:00] um, you know, it was funny at the, at around that same time that I went back to TripAdvisor and I was working there for a little bit, a mutual friend, well, you know who mm-hmm.

Mariah: And 

Lee anne: mentor and, and friend of ours. She asked if I'd consider stepping into a business manager role for her. And I think I, I just trusted the nudge, right? Because it, you know, these things happen for a reason and yeah, I resigned and then that's how mindful management co began. And I think it's something, yeah, I am very proud of it, but I think it's, there's a lot to be said about how I started because I didn't have, I mean, as you know, I didn't have a website.

I didn't have an Instagram. My business grew purely from referrals, right? Mm-hmm. Word of mouth. And I think that speaks to the power of connection and community and doing really good work that genuinely helps people. 

Mariah: Um, 

Lee anne: and I think. You know, why I've, or how I've done what I've done is definitely tied to motherhood.

Like I said, it's that stepping up as a [00:06:00] real leader and confronting those parts of you that perhaps you hadn't confronted before. And I know now that my work certainly sits at that intersection between systems strategy and sustainable growth. Like I do love partnering with founders that have that big vision, um, but need their backend to hold the vision, right?

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: Um, you know, I, I, I love to streamline the operations, build the tech funnels. All of the things essentially act as that second brain. Um, and I think e everything that I do is certainly grounded in regenerative entrepreneurship. So building businesses that give back more than they take. And I know with the work that you and I do, you know, it's very implementation heavy, very execution heavy, so that can be quite difficult, but.

There are systems that can create space, um, instead of stress. So, you know, tech that really does support people instead of overwhelm you, which can often happen. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Lee anne: You know, that real growth that can strengthen rather than drain. And yeah, I think that's the [00:07:00] lens that I bring into everything that I do.

Wow. I've really gone, I love it. We love a 

Mariah: tangent. That's, that's us. That's us. The 

Lee anne: tangents. 

Mariah: But yes. Let, let's talk about systems because I think, um, what ends up happening is when we start a business, we look at all the shiny things and we're like, oh, we could do this, we could do that. Like, um, and then you forget about all the stuff that goes into putting it together.

So, um, I wanna look at what are kind of the key business systems that every business needs to have, especially as we're looking into like 2026, like things are changing a lot. Like even, um, the way we connect. I think it's funny with the ai, it's actually making us go back to. Like even I'm looking on social media, like people are looking for more in person rather than like online.

It's very interesting how, um, and but also in that lens, people are using data from 2020, which, you know, like, it's kind of crazy 'cause you're using data from a time where we just didn't really have a [00:08:00] choice. So. Exactly. You know, I don't, and like one guy did a video and he is like, you know, in, in 2018 and 2019, this is how we were using social media screen time.

And it's like, yep. Because we didn't, we weren't in a pandemic mate, like 

Lee anne: Exactly. And it's not relevant now because of how we've evolved. Yeah. You know, it's very different. Yeah. 

Mariah: Anyway, it's very crazy. But I, yeah. I wanna talk about like, looking into 2026, what are the like key background systems that we should be thinking about implementing instead of going like, yes, we wanna go lean and we wanna just make things happen and get things done.

But there are some foundations that is good to set up early or like. Now rather than waiting until midyear or end of next year when you've realized that everything is a mess. Yes, 

Lee anne: yes, definitely. And I think so, yeah, on that, the foundations are quite simple, so, and I don't think the foundations have changed.

So what has changed is the expectation around how [00:09:00] smoothly I think everything needs to work together, especially with the rise of AI and automation. So there are a few core systems that every business really does need, I think no matter the size or industry. Um, and I think going into 2026, or even if you're just starting out, these are some that, I mean, I always say, 

Mariah: mm-hmm.

Lee anne: The first is of course, your business email. I always recommend a Google workspace, as you know, because it gives you everything you need to operate properly. Email storage docs, sheets, drive, analytics, search console, all in one place. And if you don't want to use a project management software, you know it's got tasks.

And you know, there, there are things that you can do in there. If you get overwhelmed with all of the other platforms, you can do a lot in Google Workspace. So that's the first one. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: The next one is obviously your accounting software. So whether that's something, you know, that you set up from day one or you get help, but zero is great as you know, it keeps your finances clean.

Lucy will love that. I'm mentioning that. And then, uh, you re, and then this is the big one, is you [00:10:00] need a CRM, right? You need somewhere to manage clients, leads, conversion, email marketing, if it can do all in one. Fantastic. Mm-hmm. And I think that's a non-negotiable as your business grows. But then I think the next most important, to be fair, it's probably.

The mo, it's probably above the rest. You need onboarding. And I think it's really overlooked because the moment someone pays you, the process should feel very effortless and automated. Right. So it sets the tone for the entire relationship. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: And yeah, it does often get overlooked because people just forget how much goes into onboarding.

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: The thing I would say is task and project management. Sorry, that was a long pause. We love it. Pause. Um, just something to ha Yeah, I'm pondering something to house, I guess your tasks, projects, and ideas. So you're not holding everything in your head, which often we do. So that can be notion, I know you use Clickup, [00:11:00] but there are, you know, Todoist or like I said, there's Google have tasks.

So whatever feels simple and sustainable, but I think those are the backbone and then you can kind of incorporate. AI into it, you know? 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: And with ai, I would say keep it lean because people get very overwhelmed with chat, JBT clawed, grok, then there's content, you know, uh, AI systems, blaze, vocal ai. I mean, there's just so many out there that you can get very overwhelmed.

But I would say if you are, if you want to keep it lean, choose one and, and train one very well, very, very well. And so that's all. And, and essentially that's all you need really, depending on obviously what business you're running. That's kind of more for, I would say more for online, but even in person businesses, you know, you could start with those foundational systems.

Mariah: Yeah. So, and [00:12:00] it's quite interesting 'cause even with the CRM, um, you know, even I've talked to. Um, you know, um, brick and mortar businesses that are in the tourism space. I'm like, how are you tracking the clients that come in? Like, are you getting emails, even a postcode? So you can look at, okay, we've got, they're in, in Gippsland, in, in country Victoria.

Okay. Actually we have a lot of postcodes from Melbourne. So if they had a system like A CRM that could track all that, then they would know, and then they know where to put their marketing efforts into. Because they kind of weren't really like, oh, do we, do we target Melbourne people? Do we target Gippsland people?

Like where do we make, you know, and that was kind of the one thing when I was putting a strategy together for them, I said like, you really need to be tracking at least postcodes. Then of course, get your emails if you can. Um, because this is how we can continue to grow our business. One thing I think is quite interesting with this is like if we build the systems early, it actually helps us for when maybe times are a little bit more [00:13:00] challenging.

So for example, having a way to track emails from people that are engaging with you, it means that if maybe businesses are a little bit slow, you have a pool of leads that you can pull from. And this, I don't think this matters. I mean, I've had conversations in rooms where people are like, oh, I'm pretty busy.

I don't really need an email list. And it's like, mm, well you won't be saying that if like, and even I've had this, I've had moments where I've been really busy and then all of a sudden you lose three clients 'cause they, you know, maybe financially can't afford it. And then you go, oh, what do I do now? 

Lee anne: Yes.

Given, I mean the nature of what you do, right? People are or can get very dependent on social media and negate the power of collecting someone's email address. Yeah. You know. Taking them through that nurture sequence, engaging with them, connecting with them, adding value. You know, it's just, it's, there's something to be said about [00:14:00] the way we structure or the way some people structure their businesses these days where they're just so dependent on social media.

I mean, I'm like the opposite. I don't rely on it at all, which, I mean, I, I know it's a nice problem. 

Mariah: To be fair, I don't either. I just No, you don't. Yeah. Use it as a way to build credibility. And I think when people have like such a reliant on social media for sales, that's when things start to get a little bit frustrating.

And because there's 

Lee anne: that, there's, yeah, there's that like. Yeah, it, it's, it, they're met with a, a lens of, you know, almost fear. It can come with a bit of desperation, almost. Not desper, I dunno if desperation is the right word, but you know what I mean? It's like that kind of heavy dependence, heavy reliance on it.

Mariah: Mm. 

Lee anne: So, yeah. Love that. I mean, look, we could go down the whole email marketing path for, we could just do a whole episode on that. Yeah. 

Mariah: To be fair, we should, honestly, we definitely should. So Good. So, some of the things that you probably have come up a lot, you know, people jump on a discovery call with you and they're like, I wanna [00:15:00] launch a product, I wanna do a masterclass.

And they don't realize all of the backend that's involved in it. Like, I always find Yeah. You're like, yeah, cool. We'll, yeah, we'll run that next week. Like, I'll have a class. And I'm like, okay, so we need a landing page. We need to invite people, we need to market it. Then we need the backend so people know, because like, I don't think people realize like, oh yeah, I just, I just say I'm doing a master class, and people show up.

Like it's not really. 

Lee anne: The story of my life is, is is the amount of people that have said that to me. Leanne, I wanna do this in three weeks. I'm like, okay, great. Yep. Just let's take a deep breath. 

Mariah: Yeah. So let's, let's break that down. Like, what are some of the hidden things that people don't realize need to happen to prepare for some type of launch, whether it's a webinar masterclass, um, new product, yeah.

Uh, membership, whatever is involved in all that. It, I think people don't realize the, the, the backend until they go to do it. 

Lee anne: Yes. And I think, yeah. Yeah. Look, uh, yeah, I, I, I love this one. We, we could, we could again do a whole podcast [00:16:00] episode just on this. Um, but I think one of the biggest things people forget is that the buying journey has changed.

So people are certainly taking longer to make decisions now, even for a free masterclass. But I think with a masterclass or workshop, or whatever you wanna call it, I, I don't love the word masterclass, just quite very 

Mariah: 2020, isn't it? 

Lee anne: Very 2020, isn't it? I don't think it needs a long lead time, you know? And if they're low ticket or free, right?

You can absolutely launch in a couple of weeks. You know, maybe three weeks just to give people some extra time. But I think I've seen people do like a one week runway if their messaging is strong and their audience is warm and they're primed. 

Mariah: Oh, and they've got the followers. Yeah. 

Lee anne: They've, they've, they've got it.

They've got the traction there. There's, it's a no brainer. But I think what does require more time is obviously after said, masterclass, workshop, whatever it is, where you're leading them. And that's what people forget. It's like, okay, I wanna do this, but what's the purpose of this? 

Mariah: Mm. [00:17:00] 

Lee anne: And where are we taking them from there?

So, you know, and for like, if it's a mid to high ticket program, give yourself four to six weeks. I would say if you're launching something and you're not doing a freebie. 'cause I, I do see a lot of people that are launching a high ticket offer and not doing a, a kind of lead magnet or opt in sometimes, depending on the audience.

And again, like the messaging. You know, it's, it's one of those kind of case by case basis, I guess, if you need one or not. Depends on the traction and how primed your audience are, but the consideration phase is longer, as you know. Mm-hmm. And people need more time to integrate and things like that. So if they've, if they've done the masterclass, for example, if you're doing it that way, um, they do need, they still need a bit of time, right.

To integrate and, and understand the next step. So I think before you think about the backend, I would do priming. Um, I would talk about the topic ahead of time. And you know, this, you're big on this. Mm-hmm. That's what you do. You know, add value, [00:18:00] educate, share the opinions, even if it's controversial. Love a controversial opinion.

Start conversations, you know, um, let people warm up to the idea. And that way when you announce it, the audience is already, they already understand why it matters. So from there you move into that, that, that backend setup. And that's where. A lot of the hidden work sits because for example, if you're doing a free masterclass, you need the opt-in page, the thank you page, the welcome email, you know, for a a, a paid masterclass, you need the checkout page as well.

A mini sales page, checkout page, thank you page. I always say for the sales page, keep it short. Value driven. People aren't reading long sales pages anymore. They're not, you don't, we don't need a novel. Mm-hmm. Right? So to dec particularly to decide on, to, to decide on a 60 minute masterclass, for example.

But then once someone registers, your system should automatically tell them or add them into a sequence. Here's your welcome email, here's the event details, here's the add to calendar. Here are the reminder [00:19:00] emails, if it's live, if it's run live, and that should all be automated, right? That takes time to set up.

But then you need, obviously, which is what you do, so well, your marketing engine, right? You need to sell the masterclass. You need to remind people who have already signed up. You're using social, if you're using socials, you need that content plan. Like you all, so, well, if you, if you're running ads, you need the creative assets, the copy, the pixel, the tracking, the whole, it's a ecosystem, right?

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: But my, the bane of my existence, which a lot of people who work with me know, is segmentation. So if someone buys, they should not keep, continue to receive the sales emails and Yeah. I mean, you know, you probably knew what I was gonna say. Yes. We've had 

Mariah: that conversation many times. 

Lee anne: Oh goodness. It's, yeah.

And I mean, it sounds simple, but you'd be surprised. Oh, it's so often. Oh my God. Oh my goodness. I mean, even 

Mariah: actually to be fair, a big marketer that I am in there. Um, one of their programs [00:20:00] like, and, and very good at what she does. Even I still get sales emails for her programs that I'm already in. 

Lee anne: Yeah. And you know, like it's, and it is about systems talking to each other.

Obviously they've got too much going on and they're just doing a bulk send to everybody regardless of if they've already bought or not. So they haven't segmented properly. But I think people would be surprised. It's, I find segmenting a respect thing as well because it's, well, it's a conversation thing.

People trust you more when the backend is clean, but also your respecting their time, like, and not clogging up the inbox with something that they've already bought from you. So, yeah, I, I'm, I mean maybe I'm weird in saying that get expecting 

Mariah: it, it's almost like a, oh, don't you know me? Because, because when you receive an email, right?

Like even this has happened to me, I'll have, someone will book in a discovery call with me and I'll send out the reminder emails, right. And sometimes they just think I'm sending it [00:21:00] to them manually. Hmm. They don't realize it's automated. Right. So if you are getting an email, like I imagine some people go like, oh, hey Leanne, I already have this product just letting you know.

And you get that back and you go, oh, what? Because you've just automated. Like, it's just gone back like where they actually think. And it's nice that people think that, that you've taken the time just to send them a personal email. 

Lee anne: Exactly. Exactly. You know? Exactly. It, it does, it, it, and it, it adds to that trust factor, like we said.

So, you know, they trust you more when your backend is clean and it doesn't feel as scattered. I mean, I know we've worked with a client who's had multiple email marketing systems and it does, it is complex and, you know, it, uh, it can just, it can really take away, I think from the customer experience really at the end of the day.

Mm-hmm. So. Um, but the, the next thing is the post plan. [00:22:00] So where are they going next? Is there an upsell, a nurture sequence, a program, a mid-tier offer? 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: If, if, if this is a doorway, we need, you know, I guess we need to know what's on the other side, which is that customer journey, which we talk about.

Mm-hmm. So often. Um, but then if we're talking about product based businesses, I think they need more time because you're relying heavily on storytelling, which you do very well. Visual, social proof, you know? Um, I would even go and maybe, you know, lock that into sort of four stages, like the pre-launch soft tins, behind the scenes, why you created the problem.

It solves all of those things. And then the warmup, so you know, really that educational piece, tutorials, ingredient, whatever, you know, those types of things. Use cases, FAQs. Um, and then I'd go into kind of like a launch week where it's a clear product page, imagery, mockup, storytelling, social [00:23:00] proof, um, ch simple checkout, you know, just making that mm-hmm.

Journey. Seamless bundles are a good one. Mm-hmm. Particularly this time of year. Um, but the launch week doesn't need to be stressful either. It needs to be intentional. I always say that intention mm-hmm. Should be the word of the potty. And then the post-launch momentum so that, you know, people still can buy after the hype dies down.

So, you know, that's the time to share the reviews, testimonials, user generated content, limited bundle, you know, those types of things. So I think bringing it all together, masterclass has a short runway. The upsell, I would give it a longer runway, whereas people often do, like you've got one week to join the program after something, you know, say the masterclass is free, and then they give people one week.

I don't, I guess, and I know why they're doing it. They're trying to create that sense of urgency. But really you are then not allowing other people who haven't joined the masterclass either. Yeah. Because with [00:24:00] sort of people, people often negate the wider audience, which, you know, you're still speaking to them.

Right? So, and if they haven't joined, then they sort of need more time to prime. Mm-hmm. But also people are just taking longer to make decisions these days. Like we need to see things, what, 20 times now before we actually make a decision. I mean, I'm quite a quick 

Mariah: Yeah. It depends on the type of buyer, but Yeah.

You're rights, it's, it's a long, that other podcast, right? As we 

Lee anne: run on bio types and bio psychology and all of that, 

Mariah: it's, yeah. 

Lee anne: Um, and then I think, yeah, and then to tie it up again, product have their own unique rhythm and most launches do well, they can fall apart. I won't say they do fall apart. They can fall apart because people plan the event.

But not the ecosystem. Mm. Around it. They don't plan the pages, the workflows, the segmentation, the marketing, the automations, the nurture, the next step that, you know, they [00:25:00] yeah. That's what will create the result as well. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Lee anne: On top of your messaging and marketing and great sales strategy and all of the other things.

But, you know, it's, it's those key things, I think. Yeah. 

Mariah: Yeah. That was a very 

Lee anne: long answer. Sorry. 

Mariah: No, but it's really good. 'cause I did a podcast two weeks ago around the launch that we did. Um, together. Yeah. And which we'll talk about. But, um, I think what ends up happening is, yeah, because we are often like one women slash one man shows.

We, we find, like, I find a lot of, um, business owners are doing it as they go. So rather than going. That's why it's really good to try and intentionally plan your year out. Obviously, depending on your personality type and everything and how you operate and dah, dah, dah. But if you know, all right, in Q2 I wanna launch this program, then you sort of work backwards.

So then everything is done. So the minute you, you actually launch that thing, you have, it has your full attention in terms of [00:26:00] answering questions, messaging people, doing any personal outreach, any selling, like, 'cause what happens is we spend so much time getting all the content organized, whether it's marketing content or actual like the, the course and everything up and running, that when it comes to launch time, we're still doing it.

So we go and then, I mean, the beauty of that is if you are launching it multiple times and the next time it's already all done and, and you just kind of have to, um, you know, set it up. For the right dates or whatever. But what happens is, yeah, we, and that's why it can be exhausting to launch so many things in one year because you, you are creating that process for yourself again.

And then if you're not prepping the content ahead of time and you're doing it on the fly, like even, you know, oh, I've still gotta do the opt-in page or this or that, and you're doing it the minute it goes live, you don't have any time, you don't have any energy to actually sell the thing. Right. I'm sure you see that a lot.

Absolutely. 

Lee anne: Oh, all the time. Even for me, and I'm not the one that has to go and sell it. I'm like, oh my [00:27:00] gosh, this is so exhausting. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Lee anne: Because it is, it, it can be quite draining. And then, and I mean, live launching in general can be, can take a lot out of you, you know? Mm-hmm. And people are doing them four or five times a year.

I'm like, oh my goodness. It's, it's a lot. Yeah. So that's why, you know, I love January. We map out the year. Mm-hmm. We plan ahead, because then realistically I can say, well, that's not really practical, or, that's a bit of a crappy time. Or, you know, then you've gotta think about things like school holidays.

There's all these little things that people don't realize, particularly when you're running something, if it's a live masterclass. Like they're just, there's so much that goes into it, and you're right. You can get, yeah, so much goes into it. Then by the time you get to the point where you have to sell it, you're like, oh my goodness, I need to take a big excel.

But that, that's the time where you've gotta keep going full steam ahead, right? Yeah. So, yeah, 

Mariah: it's everyone listening feel like, oh, I don't wanna do this anymore. I know it's totally possible. You just gotta have the processes in place and like, if you, and that's why it [00:28:00] is good to think about, yes, of course we wanna launch multiple things in one year, but I, I, I felt guilty.

I felt guilty of that when I first like went full time in my business. I'm like, I'm gonna do this, and then I'm gonna do that, and then I, you know, rather than just like focusing on. One thing doing it really well. And then even there's some things though that you don't actually have to launch. Like for example, like if you are a service base business or maybe you wanna do like a one-on-one sort of program that's more intimate, you don't have to have this big fancy launch as you're saying.

If you have a really good onboarding system, which maybe you know, which is like you contracts and your invoices and you know how people feel welcome into your space and included, um, from the minute they say yes to working with you. Mm-hmm. So it doesn't mean everything has to have these like crazy launches rights.

Oh, definitely. 

Lee anne: Definitely. As long as the ecosystem is, is solid and everything's talking to each other, you can do it. And yeah. Not to, not to put a dampener on it because I mean, I guess from our lens we just know how much [00:29:00] goes into it. 'cause we're the ones doing all the backend execution. But yeah. And I mean they definitely still have a place.

I do think that. The landscape is changing and people are, are craving more connection. You know, if you're going to sell something, it needs to have that connection element. It needs to have the accountability, it needs to have that community element because that's something that AI can't, we just can't get that from ai.

Right. So that's sort of where I see things shifting, particularly moving into 2026. Mm-hmm. So anyway, that's, that could be a whole another, yeah. 

Mariah: That, that's a, yeah. So, well let's, let's go into AI because you use a lot of like automation tools like Make, which helps platforms talk to each other. Mm-hmm. Um, and we know a lot of business owners are always curious about ai.

Um. What can you share at the moment that you're seeing with ai? I mean, you mentioned, you know, choose one. I think that's a really good tip. Like choose one and just like train it really well. Because if you're using like five or six different [00:30:00] platforms, um, with your ai, they don't all know that you've spoken to Claude about this, you know, so unless you're gonna train every single one of them.

Um, but how can people use AI to streamline their businesses in 2026? Is it something that you are seeing business owners wanna do more of or do they actually just wanna go like you can do it? 

Lee anne: Yeah, so there's, look again, we could do a whole podcast just on ai, but I think AI gets made way more complicated than what it needs to be.

I think a lot of people either feel really overwhelmed by it or they think they need 10 different tools to keep up, but you don't. I think for most business owners, the first step is very simple. Choose one strong AI platform, love of all things ai. Don't try and get to all of them because you can get, it's can be suffocating and expensive, of course depending and expensive.

And of [00:31:00] course, depending on what business you have, I mean, I do know one client I've, I've got, they're going to test one which helps re re reply to emails for you and that is a separate one. And you know, so there are a few, 

Mariah: yeah, depending on what their capabilities are, depend on, depending on the 

Lee anne: capability.

But I think if we're talking about, which I think the most, for the most part, people are using Claude or chat, GBT or gr, you know, those sort of more copy, you know, they'll give you more assistance with copywriting. Um, uh. And really helping you build, build out a strategy that potentially, you know, you might not be able to afford to invest in someone.

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: So I think firstly, choose a strong one. Choose a strong platform. I personally, I was using two, so I was using chat t and Claude. If we're talking about those kinds of ones, then I'll get into automation, [00:32:00] um, set up the foundation properly. So if you're going to use it to support communication, content, whatever it may be, great.

Choose one. Get the foundations right inside chat. TI like the project, so, and I treat each project like an AI brain for a specific business. So I have client, each client has its own project, and in there I have. Obviously I have a separate projects for my own business, but I also then am segmenting it even further and I'm having like one for long form content.

I'm gonna have a, a separate, so I'll have one folder, one project folder, and inside I'll have different kind of mm-hmm tabs, we'll call it tabs one for long form content, one for captions, one for reels, one for offers, one for strategy brainstorming, you know, that type of thing. Operations, tech. Things. So I'm gonna segment mine down even further.

Mariah: Mm-hmm. [00:33:00] 

Lee anne: That's my plan for over the break. Yeah. That way, you know, because it's very easy to get. Yeah. It's very easy to get lost in one giant messy chat, which is a lot of feedback that I get. And they 

Mariah: get heavy and then they don't load, and then it's a lot. Yeah. 

Lee anne: And you lose track, you know, so the ai al always knows what context I'm working with, but then you need to go deep in custom instructions and files.

So I've got the, the full brand guideline in there, plus tone of voice language preferences, words. They, we don't use details about the values. Mission positioning. I upload content examples that sounds like them. Then you add in a layer about ideal client. You could even go deep into bias psychology. I essentially take AI through a brand strategy 

Mariah: mm-hmm.

Lee anne: Intake type thing that covers, you know, like why they, why their brand exists, who they are, what they do. Of course. Um, what they want people to feel when they find them, or, you [00:34:00] know, and, and when they work with them, offers pricing, vision, big picture, vision problems, motivations. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: Fears, desires of their ideal client, you know, and then even going into competitors, what makes them different?

I mean, it's so lengthy that Yeah. So all of that gets fed into a project, so the AI knows who they are, what they stand for, who they're speaking to, because then when you do that properly, the copy speaks way more human. Mm-hmm. Right. And I mean, I've written copy now through a, I've, I've written entire website build using, or just entire builds in general pages, whatever it is, using a custom GPT that I built.

And I ran it through an AI detector and it's come back as a hundred percent human. Which just shows that yeah, that's how, that's how, well, if you train it, well it will [00:35:00] sound like you, it's like a well-trained brain Yeah. Behind it. And I think, and I mean selfishly, it saves me a lot of time. Of course, as you know, I used to write sales pages completely from scratch, and I'm, you know, not a writer by any means.

You are the guru at that, you're the expert. Um, but now I can still bring that strategy in my brain and that, you know, the first draft happens, and then I can do all that faster because AI understands the brand. So I think that's the biggest thing is, and that's one question that I get a lot, is like how I set up my ai.

I probably need to, do I need to do some content on that? Definitely. 

Mariah: Yes, you do. We will. 

Lee anne: Yep. There's a lot I need to do. Um, but I think, you know, in terms of like having AI support your content, I use it for brain brainstorming, of course. You know, drafting things, structuring, I mean. Putting ideas outside of my brain into something Chitty chatting with it.

Yeah. So we knew Chitty Chat was gonna get in there, and [00:36:00] I think because I've set up separate projects or I'm starting to build that out now, like content captions, it means I'm not confusing AI with different kind of threads and things like that. Yeah. Everything has a home. Um, so I think the goal is not to let AI speak for you, but it's to let you, oh, I just had a really good point in my head.

It's to let you, essentially, it'll help you say what you want to say faster. Mm-hmm. 

Mariah: You 

Lee anne: know? Mm-hmm. I think that's one good thing. People are worried, oh my gosh, it's, you know, it's speaking for me. But no, it, it helps you say what you wanna say faster and more seamless. You know, you can kind of just so.

Mariah: Yeah, 

Lee anne: that's what I wanna say on that. And I think, I mean, I used, I, I, I do still have Claude, I don't really use it that much anymore because I've invested so much in chat GPT, and I think I've been in chat GP T longer, so it knows me more and it knows my clients more because I've been in there longer with clients as well.

So [00:37:00] I decided not to pay for Claude. I, of course I pay for chat GP PT because I build GPTs in there. And I mean, building A GPT is just like, again, we could do all, so just on that. But that's, you know, again, where if you've set up things like projects really well, you know, you can kind of pull from whatever you've got in projects, custom instructions, attachments, files.

I dunno if I said that before. Attaching files, like even if you are using Google Sheets for example, and you've got copy down or you've got notes or points or whatever it may be, any form of copy or writing. Always upload it into your project because I mean, it's a very simple thing that often people miss.

And you can upload mul multiple, I think in, um, when you're creating A GPT, I think it's 20, but I always consolidate things down. So then, you know, I'll upload like five docs, but they have multiple tabs in them. So, you know, just [00:38:00] being really like 

Mariah: mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: Clever with how you do it. Um, and then also automation.

So AI automation is where tools like make come in and make is, can be a bit daunting, but it does a lot more than platforms like Zapier. I mean, it's not for everybody, but it's incredibly powerful. And if you're ready for your systems to talk to each other, particularly if you're using different ones, then it'll save your life really.

Um, you know, there are things like if you have, uh, if you have platforms where. For example, someone buys a product, they join a program, make can, you know, add them to the right offer in the platform. They can tag send segment in your email marketing. If you're not using that all in one solution, add them to the right pipeline stage, trigger the right on onboarding emails.

Um, you know, when someone fill out an application form, the lead is created in, you know, I know you use [00:39:00] Clickup. A lead is created there. Or you know, if you use Notion or Asana or whatever it may be, it's assigned to the right team member and you get a summary in your inbox. There's so much you could do.

Um, and then, I mean, if you're getting, if you want like fun ones, you could automate, like this podcast episode for example, you'd have make, pull the Zoom recording, auto, transcribe it, send it to send the transcript to, you know, notion, Google Docs, click up, whatever it may be, break it into quotes for socials.

I mean, there's so much you could do, like 

Mariah: mm-hmm. Create 

Lee anne: drafts. Podcast descriptions, file it neatly in like a content dashboard if you've got something like that. Yeah. That's just a little example. Mm-hmm. But you know, and, and I think underneath all of this, there are web hooks and integrations that do a lot of heavy lifting.

So, you know, if you're using, I mean, I know you use Kartra, so some people even use Kartra and then have a different checkout system. I've seen people that prefer, like they use Kartra, but then they prefer Thrive Cart or something. I'm like, and because I use all the systems on the backend, [00:40:00] if I'm a customer and I'm seen, I can tell whether what they're doing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, you know, and or if you're using Ivory or Shopify or whatever it may be, just ensuring that they're speaking to each other instead of living in different places. And I think the whole point of this is nobody needs five different platforms that don't talk to each other. You need a clean setup where the CRM checkout, email calendar automation.

They all share the same information, so then the customer journey is really consistent. And I think, I mean, I've been using AI now since, what year are we in 2025? Soon to be 2026. So probably 2022. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: And yes, I would say I'm an AI strategist, but that's because I can look at someone's business and map out, I think, exactly where an AI automation can help support them.

But I don't, I definitely don't feel an, like an [00:41:00] expert because it's evolving so quickly. I'm learning as it evolves. But I think the difference is I'm not scared of it either. You, you know, I'm curious. I can refine it. You can mix things up, and I think that's what business owners do need to take into 2026.

You're not gonna, don't ignore ai. It's not going anywhere. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Lee anne: But don't hand your whole business to it either. You know, have some, yeah. You, you, you want to sit in the middle, use it as a coworker, which is what I do. I mean, you should see mine. Like it's just, there is a lot in there. Um, the poor thing, I even know people that use one for personal and one for business.

And I was like, oh, I can't, I can't be bothered to do that. Oh 

Mariah: no. 

Lee anne: I know, right? I know. I was like, no, no. 'cause I'd get lost in that. And again, keep it lean, so train it. Well make sure the systems talk to each other and let it give back your time. Right. So then you can focus on the work that only you can do.

Mariah: Yeah. 

Lee anne: Right. Because I think that's the, that's [00:42:00] the thing that, well, that's the biggest benefit really, isn't it? Because, you know, it's just, it's such a time saving tool for me. Yeah. And you know, everywhere. Yeah, for sure. It, it really is. So, you know, but just don't be afraid of it either. I think. Yeah, a lot of people can get a bit.

Frightened of it. 'cause it, it can be overwhelming and which one to choose. Yeah. 

Mariah: I think 'cause there's so much and then you like, I often find myself like, oh is there one that I haven't used that is going to do this? And like, you know, there's a lot in Canva even that I haven't even explored. Yes. And I'm like, apparently now they have this, I So say for example, you have an icon that you really like and the girl used an example of, she had like a, you know, like a bread with a smiley face.

Like a little toasted sandwich or something. Yeah. And then she had a co picture of a coffee cup, but she wanted the coffee cup to look like the same visual as the toasty. And now they have AI that will do it in Canberra. So you coffee style and you duplicate. Like I was blown away. I said it to Mitch, I'm like, [00:43:00] there's just so much in Canva that you know.

And that's what the thing is, it's like having the time to sit down and go through it all and learn it. It's so overwhelming. But I like what you say of like. If it's cha BT, if it's clawed, if it's whatever, just choose it, learn it really well. And then when you feel like you've gotten it all organized, which I don't feel like, you know, I'm still sort of exploring what projects, you know, how to use it.

And I think you've given a great example. So that's, I'm gone with that. Um, but you know how to use it, et cetera. And then, then you can move on to the other platforms and the other channels. But then having someone like you, or if you do have a VA or whoever it is that is keen to learn it as well, like even with Canva ai, I am like, well, I don't really use Canva that much.

That's Mitch. Like, yeah, that's you, that's your next project is like going through it, learning it, see what it can do that we are not using at the moment to make our stuff, you know, better. But what I think can often happen is. We, and that's what you're saying, like don't hand over ai your business ai, because like [00:44:00] then if we lose all of that energy that we are putting into our marketing, it does lose its spark a little bit.

And then it's just like people are just throwing shit out here, there and everywhere. And I think in 2020 the goal or 20 19, 20 20 was just get as much out as possible and you'll be seen. Mm. And now it's like, be really intentional because what I'm seeing is, um, and I, I'll, I'll have a podcast that come out last week around what's 2026 look like.

And actually they, they are predicting that people will be looking at social media less. And I think people are tuning out because even now I scroll TikTok and people in the comments like, is this real or is this ai? Yeah. Because we are so skeptical. Mm-hmm. So if something, uh, miraculous happens, we think it's ai.

Um, so that's where we need to be. Yeah. More intentional with what we put out there. And like, you know, yes, you can have, Hey Jen, be you and copy you, but like. Then you're just gonna lose trust with people. I think if you use it too much mm-hmm. You then lose that trust with people. That's why like, you know, [00:45:00] you need it for the automations and the things that you just don't need to be doing so you can do the things that are gonna move the needle, I think is a good piece of advice.

'cause we often are, like, someone over here is telling me that it could do all these things and basically be me and I could just sit on a beach and it's like, well, you know, I know, 

Lee anne: I know. And like I, I've seen there's a, there's two people that I follow that have now cloned themselves and I've seen reels of them saying, do you think this is me?

Because if you do, it's actually not. And I was like, oh, I don't know. I just, it's a bit cringe. Um, it's, isn't it? And I, I mean, I get it. I get it. Do I agree with it? Would I do it personally? No. Each to their own. Yeah, exactly. Course it depends on 

Mariah: their audience, right? Depends on their 

Lee anne: audience. And I mean, I don't know how it's, how well it's received, it's just, it kind of, you know, and if you're one to listen to this, who has experimented in that and it's working for you, great.

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: But just be mindful that [00:46:00] you, it can, you can get lost in it. Yeah. And then you can lose that authenticity, I think. And people will always buy from people. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Lee anne: Right. People will pay for, you know, people buy off you as much as they buy your goods and services. It's you that they want, not the robot.

You, you know? So I, I'm always like a bit, yeah, I know. I'm always a bit funny with that. Um. But look again each to their own. But it is, yeah. And I'm seeing it more and more now. Nice. And I can tell straight away now that I know those two have done it. And they've, they both speak about the fact that they Yeah, they're 

Mariah: open.

Lee anne: Yeah, they're open about it. But you know, I don't know how receptive the audience is to it. So it's, yeah. 

Mariah: And that's like, there's this woman on, um, I think I talked about this in another guest episode I had that she reviews stuff that she buys online based on like the AI photos. Yeah. And my mom got done with this, and it was actually really sad.

She was really disappointed. And this is what upsets me about ai. There was this [00:47:00] like cute little bunny lifelike looking bunny on social media. And mom bought it for my nephew for Easter. And she was so excited about it. And it did. And when I first saw it, I'm like, oh, that's so cool. Like, it's so cute. And then that's it.

And then when it showed up, it was this ridiculously, like those just ones that just. Walk and like make sniff noises or whatever. And she was actually gutted. Yeah. It's, and she spent like $40 on it, and it was like tiny. And I did a video on it and we kind of laughed about it, but in hindsight, like, that's really sad because she was general and she showed my, um, my brother and my sister-in-law and she's like, look, this is coming.

I'm so excited for it. And then it showed up and she was so disappointed. And like, that sucks. And that sucks for people that actually have really good products. Yeah. And there is a woman that has a whole TikTok channel dedicated to like, where does the, where do we draw the line and where is there like [00:48:00] moderation?

Because that to me is like, so inno, like that should be illegal. Really. 

Lee anne: Yeah. Um, and well, and that's the other problem is they've got AI now doing moderation. So then Exactly. You're like, hang on. So where, so what, like how I see, I don't even have the words. Yeah, because you just, yeah. Where do we draw the line?

It's like, when, when is it going to end? If we're, we are consuming AI content, it's being moderated by ai. There's no, you know, there's no human oversight. Yeah. Yeah. And it, it's, it's deception really, isn't it? It's quite deceiving. Yeah. So definitely not. Yeah. And we, we, 

Mariah: we could, we could do a whole nother one on that too.

I mean, like, I think at the end of the day, it's just about like thinking ethically and how you would like to be marketed to as well. Agree. Um, I think is very important. Okay. So we've, we, we've Chi chatted a lot. Um, we thing I did wanna just quickly touch on, um, we were [00:49:00] gonna talk about the client that we, we did together.

I did a podcast on this. Um, but we, for context for everyone, we, we do work with a lot of different clients working together. Leanne, doing like business management backend systems, and then me bringing to life, um, you know, the, the marketing. So let, let's talk about that for. For a second about having sort of the, those people working together.

If, if people are looking like, okay, what does my team look like? Um, how can I get people to support me? Um, yeah, let, let's just chat about what we did with that client and how we sort of created that backend and front end experience. Like what was that like for you sort of working together on building that or even working with someone that, you know, you know what, when you're working with clients, they've got their thing.

You are doing your thing. And like for me, if the backend or the, the, the, the website and everything isn't functioning, it makes my life harder. And I imagine for the you, they're same. Like, you've created all this work, they've spent all this money, and then if they're not marketing it, it's kind of like, well, you can't just bring, [00:50:00] people don't just magically appear.

Right? 

Lee anne: Yeah. Yeah. Look, I think it was one of the biggest. Builds, and I mean, because it's an in-person wellness space and they offer, you know, communal contrast therapy, ice bath, saunas, private rooms, compression, all of that. We're not just launching a program or a digital product. It's a business with real time bookings, memberships, class, schedule, community.

So I think the backend was a lot, but in the best way. And I think we work very well together because just what we do coincides with each other. It's very seamless. We ensure that we're on the same page with everything. We chose Gym Master as the main operating system and it's designed for gym. So it was complex because I had to get creative in adapting that for a different business.

Um, things like. Communal contrast therapy don't [00:51:00] exist in those native formats in that platform. Right. So I did design workarounds and things like that, and I think there was a lot of customizing and reconfiguring and, you know, it's a great system and it's good for reporting analytics, member management.

This is a good gym master plug, isn't it? Yeah. Um, but it was, it was a, it was a huge, you know, um, lift and I probably did like six or maybe more training sessions with their support team, just so I could build it properly from the ground up. Because actually by the time towards the end, the guy even said to me like, what do you do?

And, you know, you could work for us. Like, which made me laugh a little bit. I was like, thanks, but no thanks. Um, but it just show shows how deep I had to go with it. And I think alongside that, you know, I'm building the website in Squarespace, which I'm still building another page. And as you know, we're, you know, we're uploading blogs and things like that, but I love Squarespace.

I, it's great clean SEO friendly, user friendly for clients and, but I had to embed Gym Master into it with HML coding. Some things went wrong because the [00:52:00] mobile view had a tantrum and it was just, you know, you, you just, you wanna take some big deep breaths, right? And then we had the app, of course, which is all connected to Gym Master.

It's their own app. And you know, you've got all of the things in there that an app requires, like memberships, bookings, et cetera. Mm-hmm. So setting up the app is, you know, all the other tiny invisible details that nobody sees but is, well, a hundred percent people feel right, because they're using the app.

Mariah: Mm. 

Lee anne: So making sure the membership type maps correctly, all of the, you know, testing, the booking paths, checking notifications, all of the things. Mm-hmm. 

Mariah: I mean, 

Lee anne: you name it, we did it. And then all of that had to be done before, I mean of, of course you were doing all the marketing in the backend, but on the front end, I think they had a really beautiful, engaged community.

And I think, I mean, their Instagram reach is such a testament to your work because, you know, the website clicks the, the, it was huge in the lead up. And I think we, we had a really [00:53:00] solid launch runway planned out. Mm. But I think like any real project things shifted, you know, there were delays of course, and all of, you know, all of the things that you don't expect.

Yeah. Um, but, and then obviously there was an urgency needing to open the doors for cash flow and things like that. So we had to build things fast and fast and keep everything moving without compromising, I think, the customer experience or without everything collapsing. Um, but then, you know, you're, you're looking at the core system and then email marketing, sales, emails, refining funnels, planning upsells in a system that I haven't used before too.

Mariah: Hmm. 

Lee anne: And, you know, now I'm using, I'm onto the next piece, which is ensuring Gym Master is connected to Squarespace because it's not at the moment. And so for email marketing and CRM capturing all of the things, but Gym Master is ob obviously a really good CRM in, in essence, but we're still using Squarespace for form.

So anyway, I'm going into the nitty gritty, but I think there such a community driven business. [00:54:00] Mm. We also layered in partnerships, event planning, press opportunities, which, you know, you, you helped them with a huge open day. You know, the content shoot, which you and Mitch did, which was great. And, you know, they've, they've only been open a few weeks and they're absolutely flying, like the memberships have come in strong.

Mm. The community response has been really big, and it's usually a tricky time of year for that industry. So the traction speaks for itself, but I think the most part that people don't see is those little tiny decisions underneath that go into a, a launch like this. Every workflow, every post that you've done, every reel, every uh, newsletter, every membership type, everything has.

It has to be right, because the user only, um, I guess sees how seamless it feels, right? Yeah. And I think that's the magic of good kind of backend work. Um, you know, if you, if you've done your job well, nobody ever really sees how hard it was. And I think what I loved about us working together and just going into our working relationship is we bounce [00:55:00] well off each other because we know each other and we've worked with multiple clients together.

So having you supporting the marketing effort is just, oh, like, it's, honestly, I, I have no words to describe how good it is, because when I'm building everything, then it's like, okay, we need to go and, and market it now. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. Get people in. Yeah. So 

Lee anne: we need to get people in and, you know, the, the reels, the posts, the captions, the stories that you did, the.

It was just fantastic. Honestly, the newsletters, like the content shoot, the photography, the branding. I mean, you and Mitch have done so much to bring the business to life, and it's just, it makes my life easier, you know? Like we both make each other's life. Yeah. Dit Yeah. And I think it's, it's, that's why it's such a great partnership because yeah, we, we are, we are literally the dream team.

Mm-hmm. We, we are, we, I know we joke about that, but I feel like we are, [00:56:00] because like I said, we bounce off each other and, you know, that, that runway that we had was, you know, we weren't sure when the build was gonna be ready. So there, like I said before, there were, there were delays, so, you know, there was hiccups and this and that and it was just, um.

It was definitely a journey. Hmm. I'll, I'll call it that. Um, did I even answer the question? I'm just rambling. You did. 

Mariah: No, no. I think it's cool to, to see like, you know, obviously I think it's something that we're both really proud of because it was literally like from scratch. Like this business didn't even have, like you helped 'em set up Yeah, their Google workspace get the domain.

Um, obviously they had the registered business name, but that was kind of like it. And, and then from like, you know, you introducing me to them and us doing the branding to where it is now, I don't think we could have, like, obviously in hindsight you go, oh, you know, if, if we had a, a clear date or whatever.

But actually I think it worked exactly how it was meant to, because then in the end we had more time to do the content shoot. And then I so happened to have my plans fall through, so I was in [00:57:00] Sydney, so we could do like the in-person shooting, we could come to the launch date, which I didn't think we were gonna be able to go to.

So there was all these things that like worked out so well in our favor. But I think it just speaks to like, when you have everything. Running together. Just like we have user generated content every single day. Like every single day someone is tagging recovery base and, and the, the content is, is going up.

So it's like, it's actually quite interesting and awesome to see like that unfold. And as you say, they had a really, and, and hats off to the owners as well. They did their role, but everyone played their role. And I think like that's what happens when everyone plays their part. And like, it's not just Leanne's responsibility to make sure that members come in.

'cause she was helping the strategy. It's not just up to Mariah to make sure the wait list has leads. It's not just up to the owners to make sure the space is built. Like it was everyone sort of working together on like, yes, we're playing in our field, in our, our domain, but we like worked together. And I think that's when, yeah, and, and obviously [00:58:00] like, um, we, we didn't know the, the launch date in the, like we had one date and then it sort of shifted.

But I think how we all kind of like just shifted together and it wasn't. Not one person was like blamed for something maybe, you know, like it wasn't like, oh well we need you to get that done, you know, da da da. But it was just like, yeah, like we all sort of played our role and I think that's what a lot of business owners need to remember.

When you do hire a team, it's like, it is a team effort. Like, yes, I'm gonna help clients with their marketing. Yes, you're gonna help them with their backend systems or building their website or getting those things up. But like if they don't do their role in, maybe it's the selling, maybe it's the networking, maybe it's the answering dms, maybe it's messaging people, maybe it's whatever their role is.

Like it's not just up to us 'cause we're the team, it's up to everybody. And I think that was like a really cool example of us. You know, we both need to do our own little case studies on these and put 'em on our websites. But, um, 

Lee anne: yeah, and I, and I said definitely, definitely. And [00:59:00] just on that, I think there were a few things that made a big difference and.

They all worked together, but I don't think recovery base was just a launch. It was the birth of a community really. Because we, and, and I think we approached it like that from day one. Really? Yeah. Like we, you know, they had, we had clarity of the brand. Yeah. It had such a clear purpose. It's, you know, really community driven, wellness led, like, 

Mariah: mm.

It 

Lee anne: genuinely fills the gap in the Illawarra region. The branding was beautiful at it. Job. The messaging landed, the visual identity was strong. The tech set up was seamless. I mean, of course there's things that we tweaked, people connected with it because it felt high quality and it was, you know, they, they used their connections.

It was intentional. It wasn't rushed, it wasn't thrown together. You know, you did really well on the audience priming. [01:00:00] Um, there was storytelling education behind the scenes like. That community building from day one, that curiosity. But by the time memberships opened, people weren't just aware of recovery base.

They were already emotionally invested, like I said before, right? Mm-hmm. It's that emotional investment, you know, you're all, we're priming them, really. They're already, yeah. And I think we didn't, you know, it was, yeah, it was very relationship first. It was very community first. It was very, it was oriented in a different way.

Like we focused on that genuine momentum, collaboration, local partnerships, opportunities. So it, you know, um, I think when all those pieces align, you know, a launch doesn't just land, it kind of takes off. Yes. I guess because, you know, you've got the combination of all of us working together and Yeah.

Julian and Nathan did a great job of. Bringing it all together. And I mean, it's a big, it's a, it's a mammoth. It's a mammoth, it's a mammoth effort. Yeah, I'll say 

Mariah: that. Um, and I think like, 'cause it was literally built from scratch. Like [01:01:00] they built it. Yes. And I think too, like even though when I worked with them on the branding, they were like, look, we don't, like, we don't really know.

But they really knew what they stood for. Like they really understood why they wanted to make, and they were so purpose led. Like both of them, they were both on the same page. Like they were both very like, yep, we want to give back to the community, we wanna do this. And it really showed in the way that they had, and I did a whole podcast on sort of a bit of the launch.

I'll put it in the show notes if anyone wants to go back and listen. But they had like, they got people to come in for free and to test it before they opened. And that led to like people giving testimonials before they'd even, you know, launched the memberships. Those are things like, they really stand in their value.

And I think that's what made it so easy to bring it to life is because the day they showed up, yes. They weren't sure the colors, the, what the logo looked like. They didn't know what, but that didn't matter because that's not really, that's the icing on the cake. Like, but they really knew what they wanted to create and I think, and they had a story around it and, and everything.

So I think like for any business owner that's like, just really get clear on what it is you're doing [01:02:00] and why you're doing it. And I think when you know that that's like the Simon Sinek like focus on the why, like this stuff isn't just put out there because for shits and giggles, like it's not just like, oh, we wanna sound trendy.

Like literally sit down and, and ask yourself why. Like, Mitch and I wanna do this over the holidays. 'cause like we've had so much change in like the last year, we wanna sit down again and go like, what, what? Like what's the purpose? What do we want? I think you've gotta always reflect on that. 'cause sometimes you can chase the shiny object like, oh cool, there's cash here or there's opportunities there.

Or the ego's pulling me this way. But, um, to sit down and focus and go like, all right, why, why do we want this again? Like, what, what's the point? I think it's like it was important to do that, but 

Lee anne: Oh, definitely. 

Mariah: Yeah. So anyway, let, let's go and work 'cause we both have a lot to get done. Yes. Um, how can people find you connect with you?

And I know you and I wanna do some more in the future of supporting businesses. We're not sure what that will look like yet, but we'd love to, you know, whatever we can do to support If people can't work with us one-on-one, I know you and I wanna try and see how we can make that happen. And I know you do [01:03:00] like audits and stuff, which would be really helpful for people that maybe aren't ready to outsource, but yeah.

How can people connect with you and learn more about what you do? 

Lee anne: I'm very excited for us to see where we evolve together in the future. It's very exciting. So I think the easiest place, well, I guess is Instagram. Mm-hmm. So my handle is at Mindful Management Co with little underscore at the end. And I guess that's where I share some behind the scenes.

I'm a bit Slack on the old Instagram as you know. Um, 2026, we'll do 2026. Yep. But you can also head to my website, which is mindful management co.com. It's a little bit long, but that's okay. Or even email me at hello@mindfulmanagementco.com if you wanna explore working together. I think, um, you know, there are a few things that I'm doing.

As you know, as you've just mentioned, the systems audit, which is really good. It's a 60 minute audit where I look at maybe one to two of your systems. So depending on what you're using, it could be Ivory, Kajabi, Kartra, Thinkific, teachable, mighty [01:04:00] Networks, I mean, all of the things. Klaviyo, mm-hmm. Shopify, whatever it is.

Um, and you know, if you've built your backend yourself and you're, you're not sure if you've set it up correctly, I guess I can kind of jump in and look if something's not quite working or Yeah, the audit is even like the perfect place if you are. Yeah, well, just to start, I guess it's low investment.

Mm-hmm. Um, helps you get clarity, even bit of strategy and a personalized plan, I guess, to tighten everything up. Yeah. Um, I'm keeping these at three 50 for the rest of the year and January, but I know I've been told by yourself and everybody else around me to increase the price because Yeah. So everybody tells me that I'm undervaluing.

So the level, the level of depth I think and care that I, that I bring, um, I get very invested into clients' businesses. So, yeah, I think that's, you know, a really good one. Or if you're looking at, like, if you're considering switching platforms, like I know I'm doing a lot of migrations to ivory. I dunno if I've mentioned ivory today.

You actually haven't, 

Mariah: which is surprising. 

Lee anne: But anyway, we, we can. Um, but yeah, like if you're [01:05:00] migrating, you know, I've done about eight, maybe nine migrations now from platforms like Kajabi to Ivory. And so, you know, if you're looking at that and you've set it up yourself, I can jump in at that for you. There are a lot of things in there that.

You would be surprised that, yeah, everybody misses miss to be honest. Yeah. Um, so yeah, we could, we could do that. It's really good. I think systems audits or strategy sessions because, oh gosh, now my words are not coming outta my mouth strategy set. Um, I guess they're good for businesses that even have like a small team.

You've already got a VA who set it up for you. You just want someone to Yeah, 

Mariah: yeah, yeah, 

Lee anne: definitely. And look at it, know you're on the right track. Um, and then, you know, for businesses even that already have a VA like I said, or a small team, I'm doing consulting next year, so that's where I come in as that more strategic layer systems, brain operational oversight type thing.

Mariah: Love that 

Lee anne: to help you map out the plan and kind of guide things to get done properly. Um, and I, and I appreciate that not everybody needs the full [01:06:00] implementation or if they have a VA that they prefer to do that sort of thing. So I'm kind of, I'm going to offer that next year too, so it's very exciting.

But yeah, Instagram, website, email. Best places to connect, I guess. Um, and yeah, if you're feeling overwhelmed, I guess by the back end, just know that you're not alone. Reach out. It can. Yeah. And if you're curious about migrating to ivory, that's the one that I've been in the most I think this year. I know a lot of people are questioning whether or not they should make the move, but yeah, it's um, it's definitely a really good all in one.

So, but we won't go down that whole tangent. We'll be here all day. You'll 

Mariah: have content on your socials about that for people to explore. 

Lee anne: I'll I will. Yes. When I do my content strategy and amazing plan over the break. 

Mariah: I love that. Well, thank so much for chatting with Bing Leanne. And I did realize you have been on the podcast in like 2020.

Was it? Um, we talked about personal branding. I like, I remembered when you said something, I'm like, oh my god, jazz. So there's some other episodes of Leanne, which I'll put in the, um. [01:07:00] In the show notes if anyone wants to listen to other Leanne's magic. Yes, I'm sure we would've talked about our dynamic and everything in those two.

'cause we've known each other a long time. 

Lee anne: I know. We met on Instagram. 

Mariah: We did, and we lived together. 

Lee anne: We love it. Love when you met your housemaid on Instagram. I know it's the best. Oh, thank you so much. It was great. 

Mariah: So key takeaways. Keep it simple with your AI and just think about the whole customer experience and the whole approach when you're taking on systems.

And just know that you don't have to do it alone. There is amazing people that can help and Leanne is definitely one of them. So as we wrap up the last episode for 2025, I just wanna thank you for supporting this show, for supporting me and Content Queen. I appreciate you so much and I'm excited to deliver more episodes in 2026, and we'll be having two weeks off the podcast and we'll be back in the new year.

But be a content queen or king, and remember that developing your strategy and story develops your business. Thank you so much for joining me today. And please don't forget to share this with all your business and entrepreneurial friends. You can do this by adding it to your Insta [01:08:00] Stories and tagging me at Content Queen Mariah.

Or just tell them about it. If you do rate review, it allows amazing guests like Leanne to come on because they see the show, they wanna join, they want to share their insights with you 'cause they know you're listening. And so if you take five minutes to leave a review, that will be the best Christmas present ever.

Follow me on Instagram or TikTok and let me know if there's any topics you want me to talk about in the future. I'm all yours, and I'll talk to you in 2026. Bye.

PodcastMariah MacInnesmarketing, marketing advice, how to be authentic online, business ownerComment