The setup gets looked at first
If you've been struggling to stay organized, I look at how things are set up before I look at you. Most of the time the design is what's off, and design is something we can change.
You're probably here to figure out if you can trust me
A lot of people find me after being burned. They finally worked up the courage to ask for help, got advice that was too tactical or came from someone who didn't get how they work, and walked away feeling like they were the problem. People also tell me they didn't know that helping with systems was even a thing you could hire for, so they had no idea who to ask.
So this page is the long answer to who I am, how I think, and where I still mess up.
Customer service is where I learned why things break
The job
I spent almost ten years in customer service, and part of that was tech support for a wedding website company. The tech team never fixed anything unless you told them specifically what was wrong. And people planning a wedding are under a lot of pressure, so they're not gentle about a broken website. I was kind of incentivized to learn why things were breaking.
The habit
When you answer the same questions thousands of times, you start to see what someone's going to ask next before they ask it. A newer rep resets your password and says "Yep, I just sent that over." After a few years you say: it'll be in your inbox in a couple of minutes, check spam and promotions, here's the address it comes from, and here's how to reset it yourself next time.
The work now
That's the same thing I do inside a business. When I build a workflow or an automation, I'm thinking about the questions that are going to come up and all the places it could fail. You can add all the error handlers you want, and that still doesn't get to the root of the problem.
What that means when I'm working in your business
You're going to get a lot of questions from me.
- I ask what happens after each step, and then what happens after that, until we find the part that only lives in your head.
- I plan for how people will really use the thing: the client who fills in the form wrong, and the week you don't open the tool at all.
- I'll tell you what I'm seeing and why, and you get to disagree with me. You're the expert in your business.
If you've hired a VA before and it didn't stick, this might be part of why. A VA does the tasks you hand over, which means somebody still has to figure out what the tasks are. That thinking-ahead part is my job.
A few things I believe
Most advice assumes factory settings
Most business advice is written for people running on factory settings. A lot of the founders I work with aren't, so I build for the brain that's going to be using the thing. More on how I build for neurodivergent founders.
You're still the expert
I use AI skeptically. I really like it, and I don't trust it to be right. It can amplify what you already know, and it won't make you an expert in something different. So give me your real opinion. I don't care if it sounds good.
How I work
The different ways to work with me are on the services page. If you'd rather chat it through with me first, that's the Consulting Call (ninety minutes, $397).
Triage
First we find what's creating the most friction (and what's just loud), so we start with the thing that's slowing you down the most.
Map
Then I map the workflow, so you can see what happens when and what connects to what, including the steps you do on autopilot.
Build
Then I build what works: simple SOPs, a cleaner client onboarding process, and automation only where it takes something off your plate. You get it back set up so you can run it.
I abandon tools too
I have to practice what I preach, which is the hardest thing. It's much easier to give the advice than to take it.
For me it's always a physical planner. I'd plan the whole week out, never get any of it into a system I use, and then look at the list like, cool, nothing's getting done on this. I also started my business in ClickUp, and it just fizzled out. Whenever I saw that bookmark I felt this weird guilt about it.
So when you show me the tool you're paying for and never open, or the dashboard you set up and never went back to, I've been there. I'm going to read it for what it tells us about how you work, and we go from there.
meet Princess Lay-a
Behind the dashboard
When I'm not building systems in Notion, I'm building them in the garden: labels, routines, and a suspicious amount of "what happens if I try this?" energy. That's pretty much how I work with clients too. We change one thing, give it a week or two, see what it did, and then decide what's next.
I'm based in Bellevue, Nebraska, and I work with clients everywhere.
What I stand for
Built for a tired Tuesday
I don't do "hustle harder." I build workflows you can keep up with on a tired Tuesday, because a setup that needs your best day to run is going to fall over on a regular one.
Clarity first
A lot of the anxiety comes from not knowing. Once you can see what's happening, what's next, and what "done" looks like, everything gets a whole lot calmer.
The system supports you
If something takes perfect focus and 17 steps to keep up with, it isn't helping (I wouldn't keep up with it either). We simplify until it feels doable on a rough day.
A partner who's straight with you
I help you decide, build, and run the thing. If something's an issue, I'll tell you it's an issue. And if it's outside my lane (legal questions, for one), I'll say so fast and point you to someone good if I know one.
A good next step is the quiz
It's free, and you come away with a clearer look at how your business is running right now.
Already know you want hands-on help? Explore services
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