Mess to Mission

There’s a question that’s been stirring in my head for a long time: who helps with just that one piece when it’s broken?

Not the full build. Not the $7,000 package. Just the one button that won’t work, the one automation that stopped firing, the one “do I even need this platform?” question.

In this episode, I’m introducing Systems Sanctuary, my new membership for women who are figuring out the behind-the-scenes of their business on their own. I share the WordPress button that almost broke me (shout out to Courtney Jones), why so many business owners end up paying thousands for setups they never use, and why a system can be technically impressive and still be wrong for the person using it.

Systems Sanctuary is a place for questions, resources, tools and guidance that fit your business and the way you work. It’s not done-for-you. It’s a community that rallies around you while you build systems around your business, not your business around a system.

In this episode:

• (0:00) Well, I finally did it, and the Marriott lesson behind it: bring a solution, not just a problem
• (0:30) What “systems” really means, and why affiliate links aren’t a strategy
• (1:29) The one-button WordPress meltdown, and who helps with one-off questions
• (3:51) The client who paid thousands for a setup she still doesn’t use
• (5:18) Habits, capacity and the Enneagram: build around how you actually work
• (5:47) What Systems Sanctuary is, and what it isn’t
• (7:38) Inside the membership: The Front Porch, The Key Finder, That Sunday Girl sessions, Spill It Sunday and the Founding Kickoff Call
• (8:36) November: building your command center to get your business to-dos ta-DONE
• (9:31) December: strategy, quarterly planning and guest speakers
• (10:30) Founding seats and how to join

Founding membership:

There are 20 founding seats at $57/month (or $570/year), and your founding rate stays locked in for as long as you’re a member. The waitlist gets in first on Sunday, Nov 1 at 8 AM ET. Doors open to everyone Monday, Nov 2 at 8 AM ET. Enrollment closes Wednesday, Nov 4 at 11:59 PM ET, or sooner if the seats fill.

Join Systems Sanctuary: www.lindspaulson.com/table

Love you, mean it.

In this episode:

• Why waiting until your business "feels broken" is like waiting for chest pain
• The four or five numbers that make up a business physical
• Real-world examples: the referral that quietly disappeared, the revisions eating a designer's week
• Why a slightly-off number is information, not a failure grade
• Weekly vitals: the Sunday Set check-in between your twice-a-year audits

What if onboarding a new client felt as easy as checking into a great hotel? Pulling from her years opening hotels with Marriott, Linds shows why repeat client questions are a systems problem, not a communication one, and walks through the five questions every onboarding process should answer in one clean handoff.

Ready to make your onboarding feel like a five-star check-in? Join the Systems Sanctuary waitlist: https://www.lindspaulson.com/table

IN THIS EPISODE

Why a great hotel check-in takes 30 seconds, and leaves you feeling cared for before you unpack

It's not a communication problem: it's a systems problem wearing a communication costume

One key, one handoff: why your onboarding shouldn't be spread across four emails

Your welcome packet, portal, and first email are your hotel signage

Why repeat client questions point to a step you can fix

The five questions every new client needs answered: what happens next, when it's happening, where to go, what you need from them, and what to do if they're stuck

Why you don't need a 50-page onboarding guide

Testing my own membership workflows (and why I'd have fired me)

Front desk and housekeeping: what hotel teams teach us about internal communication

Why retention matters just as much as acquisition

YOUR CHALLENGE THIS WEEK

Pretend you're a guest checking into your own business for the first time. Walk through your onboarding like you know nothing. Wherever you get stuck is where your next signpost goes.

JOIN SYSTEMS SANCTUARY

Systems Sanctuary is a monthly membership where we build systems like these together, starting with The Key Finder so you know exactly where to begin. Founding enrollment opens to the waitlist November 1: https://www.lindspaulson.com/table

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Follow Mess to Mission and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help another busy mom-preneur find the show.

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Linds Paulson is the founder of Sunday Ops Co. She helps busy women business owners build simple systems so their business feels easy like Sunday.

https://www.lindspaulson.com

Want to know about the systems I talk about on the show? Get the weekly Sunday Ops email to see what systems you can create to turn your mess into a mission.

https://lindspaulson.myflodesk.com/messtomission

Jessy Kyle is a dynamic singer, who has entertained crowds with over 3000 performances, stateside and abroad. Jessy has performed center stage at venues including Lincoln Financial Field, Madison Square Garden, The Pentagon, and the White House. Jessy is a Philadelphia fan favorite, having sung for the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, and Sixers for over 30 years.

Jessy is a motivational speaker and 3-time cancer survivor. Jessy shares her dynamic journey with fearless authenticity, soulful humor, and undeniable passion. She is committed to improving the lives of all people. Jessy is on the boards of The HEADstrong Foundation, The Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, and the Center City Girls Academy.

Jessy is an inventor and entrepreneur who recently launched her revolutionary bra line, The Betterly Bra Company®. Betterly is the only patented and custom fit bra that solves bra problems. The wearer gets their best fit every time. Betterly is Made in North America.

Jessy and her husband own Pop Pop’s Ice Cream Shoppe in the Somerton section of Northeast Philly.

https://jessykyle.com/

https://www.betterlybra.com/

https://www.instagram.com/jessykyle?igsh=Z3lzcTBnZDFvdm10&utm_source=qr

Have you been told your labs are "normal" while you're exhausted, gaining weight, and not sleeping? Integrative health practitioner Ashley Cruz Arata lost half her thyroid, gained 40 pounds, and kept hearing "normal" until an oncologist asked if she'd ever tried natural medicine. She left a decade at Amazon to help women find the root cause.

This episode is for education, not medical advice. Talk with your own provider about your care.

Ashley had to learn the tech and email side of business from scratch. If that's the part you dread, that's exactly what I help with: https://www.lindspaulson.com

IN THIS EPISODE

• A fall on black ice, a CT scan, and the thyroid nodule nobody was worried about
• Why weight gain, hair loss, and broken sleep were early thyroid signals
• "Normal" vs. optimal lab ranges, and why normal includes people who are already unwell
• The three hormone buckets: thyroid, reproductive, and stress
• How gut health affects thyroid hormones and estrogen clearance
• The minerals your thyroid needs to work: iodine, selenium, and zinc
• Why integrative health means the best of both worlds, not ditching your doctor
• Losing two father figures to cancer in one year, and deciding not to wait for "later"
• Leaving Amazon and learning the business side as she went
• You are the expert on your own body

ABOUT ASHLEY

Ashley Cruz Arata is a Certified Integrative Health Practitioner who helps women over 35 get to the root cause of hormone and thyroid imbalances using functional lab testing and natural approaches. After years of hearing her labs were "normal," she healed her own body and now helps women feel seen in theirs again.

CONNECT WITH ASHLEY

Free guide, Normal Isn't Optimal (the hormone lab guide that shows what "normal" labs are missing): https://ashleycruzarata.myflodesk.com/normalisntoptimal

Website: https://ashleycruzarata.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleycruzarata/

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LOVED THIS EPISODE?

Follow Mess to Mission and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help another busy mom-preneur find the show.

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Linds Paulson is the founder of Sunday Ops Co. She helps busy women business owners build simple systems so their business feels easy like Sunday.

https://www.lindspaulson.com

Want to know about the systems I talk about on the show? Get the weekly Sunday Ops email to see what systems you can create to turn your mess into a mission.

https://lindspaulson.myflodesk.com/messtomission

What happens when grief, postpartum, and a demanding career all land in the same season? MaKenzie Byram shares how gut health and Human Design helped her come back to herself, and how she now helps moms move out of survival mode.

Content note: this episode includes discussion of suicide loss and postpartum depression. If you are struggling, call or text 988 (US) to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

If your business is running you instead of fitting your season of motherhood, that's exactly what I help with. Start here: https://www.lindspaulson.com

IN THIS EPISODE

• How an elimination diet in 2015 introduced MaKenzie to gut health, long before it was mainstream
• Postpartum anxiety and depression with her first baby, and why she leaned on professional support
• Losing her dad to suicide while nursing a six-month-old, and going back to work two weeks later
• The gut-brain connection, and why physical health was the first thing she could control
• Building an in-house recruiting department, then hitting a wall after baby number three
• Human Design explained simply: start with your type, strategy, and authority
• Why "let me think about that" changed her decision-making as an emotional authority
• The Gut Code: receive, rhythm, regulate, release, and restore
• Parenting three kids with three different Human Design types

BOOKS MENTIONED

The Plan by Lyn-Genet Recitas: https://amzn.to/3T6U7Wz

The Whole30 by Melissa Urban: https://amzn.to/4hpORqp

The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman: https://amzn.to/3TRvBJe

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

ABOUT MAKENZIE

MaKenzie Byram is the host of Regulating and Raising, a podcast helping moms move out of survival mode and into a life they recognize as their own. After a decade in corporate talent acquisition and a postpartum season that left her depleted, she found her way back through gut health, Human Design, and nervous system work. She teaches that moms aren't broken, they're dysregulated.

CONNECT WITH MAKENZIE

Website: https://www.cleanmomedit.com

Instagram: @thecleanmomedit

Free training, The Reason You Mom the Way You Do: https://thecleanmomedit.myflodesk.com/freebie

The Clean Mom Edit Club ($33/month): https://www.skool.com/the-soft-motherhood-collective-8849/about

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LOVED THIS EPISODE?

Follow Mess to Mission and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help another busy mom-preneur find the show.

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Linds Paulson is the founder of Sunday Ops Co. She helps busy women business owners build simple systems so their business feels easy like Sunday.

https://www.lindspaulson.com

Want to know about the systems I talk about on the show? Get the weekly Sunday Ops email to see what systems you can create to turn your mess into a mission.

https://lindspaulson.myflodesk.com/messtomission

Can you homeschool your kids and still build something of your own? Former kindergarten teacher Erin Meinel ran two businesses straight into burnout, laid them both down to homeschool, and came back with a personal brand that flexes with every season.

Feeling pulled between motherhood and the business you're building? Let's make room for both: https://www.lindspaulson.com

IN THIS EPISODE

• From a decade teaching 4K and kindergarten to sleep coaching and a branding agency
• Why running two businesses with preschoolers led straight to burnout
• The book that gave Erin language for what she saw in classrooms: Hold On to Your Kids by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté
• Laying down two working businesses to homeschool, and what she did in the in-between
• Why a personal brand can ebb and flow with your season of life
• Integration over balance: you don't have to pick just one identity
• Pivoting without fear: the right people stay in your corner
• The four to five homeschool anchors that make days predictable and calmer
• The one thing Erin wishes she'd known: look for problems you've already solved

THE BOOK ERIN MENTIONS

Hold On to Your Kids by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté: https://amzn.to/4huwH5k

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

BUILDING YOUR OWN MARKETING PLAN?

I plan content in Rella (https://getrella.com/?via=lindsey) and send emails with Flodesk (https://flodesk.com/c/2RCUL7). Both are affiliate links.

ABOUT ERIN

Erin Meinel spent over a decade as an early childhood educator before building two businesses of her own, one of which hit six figures in its first year. After two years as a marketing manager for a faith-integrated brand, she now teaches homeschool moms how to build and market a personal brand that fits their life and season. She hosts the Homeschool Moms Make Money podcast and lives in Wisconsin with her husband and two boys.

CONNECT WITH ERIN

Exclusive for Mess to Mission listeners: https://erinmeinel.com/mess

Website: https://erinmeinel.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/erinmeinel

Substack: https://substack.com/@erinmeinel

Homeschool Moms Make Money podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/homeschool-moms-make-money-homeschool-routines-work/id6790794941

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LOVED THIS EPISODE?

Follow Mess to Mission and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help another busy mom-preneur find the show.

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Linds Paulson is the founder of Sunday Ops Co. She helps busy women business owners build simple systems so their business feels easy like Sunday.

https://www.lindspaulson.com

Want to know about the systems I talk about on the show? Get the weekly Sunday Ops email to see what systems you can create to turn your mess into a mission.

https://lindspaulson.myflodesk.com/messtomission

Why is pivoting your business scarier than starting one? Business and identity coach Nora Virginia walked away from a multiple six-figure program three days before launching $15K in ads, and rebuilt her business to run part-time after becoming a mom.

Ready to hand things off but don't know where to start? Building the systems and SOPs that make delegation possible is exactly what I do: https://www.lindspaulson.com

IN THIS EPISODE

• What an identity coach does, and why strategy alone doesn't get executed
• How seven years at a startup built Nora's figure-it-out resourcefulness
• Buying someone else's 10,000 hours: why she has worked with coaches since day one
• Busy vs. productive: will that hour in Canva actually make you a dollar?
• Eating the frog, the phone blocker that exposed her avoidance habits, and asking "why am I avoiding this?"
• Why pivoting is harder than starting, and the program she shut down right before launch
• Rebuilding for part-time hours: the 20% of work that drives 80% of results
• How her assistant turned maternity leave into an SOP for every task in the business

BOOK MENTIONED

Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy: https://amzn.to/3TVwS1Q

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

SYSTEMS I USE TO DELEGATE

Turn a screen recording into a written SOP with Kommodo: https://kommodo.ai/?via=lindsey

My client workflows, forms, and follow-ups run through Dubsado: https://www.dubsado.com/?c=linds2026

Both are affiliate links.

ABOUT NORA

Nora Virginia is a business and identity coach, breathwork facilitator, and host of the top 2.5% podcast Glow Up to Blow Up. She helps entrepreneurs building personal brands scale to six and seven figures by expanding their identity into the version of themselves capable of creating the success they want, paired with timeless business strategy.

CONNECT WITH NORA

Website: https://www.noravirginia.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamnoravirginia/

Glow Up to Blow Up podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/15mqJPnmWqp3heIwbDKdpe

It Factor Interactive Workshop: https://www.noravirginia.com/itfactor

Daily Future Self Activation: https://www.noravirginia.com/activation

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LOVED THIS EPISODE?

Follow Mess to Mission and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help another busy mom-preneur find the show.

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Linds Paulson is the founder of Sunday Ops Co. She helps busy women business owners build simple systems so their business feels easy like Sunday.

https://www.lindspaulson.com

Want to know about the systems I talk about on the show? Get the weekly Sunday Ops email to see what systems you can create to turn your mess into a mission.

https://lindspaulson.myflodesk.com/messtomission

What do you do when your six-figure business looks great on the outside and you're falling apart on the inside? Amy Stout took a sabbatical, lost her biggest clients, let go of her whole team while pregnant, and rebuilt a simpler business that now earns more with half the expenses.

If your business was built in a way that runs you into the ground, I help you rebuild the systems so it doesn't: https://www.lindspaulson.com

IN THIS EPISODE

• Landing her first client by cold pitching 10 influencers: email, a personal video, and a follow-up
• How a virtual assistant business grew by referral into a six-person team
• Why highly customized services are hard to scale
• Burnout that showed up in her body: fatigue, eczema, asthma, and more
• Taking a seven-week sabbatical, and coming back to clients leaving
• Finding out she was pregnant, and deciding to let go of her entire team
• How one client's advice led to a new ads offer that signed four clients in a month
• Expenses cut in half and profit tripled after the pivot
• Why pivoting is a skill, not a failure

ABOUT AMY

Amy is a mom, entrepreneur, and the host of The Peaceful Entrepreneur, a podcast about building a business (and a life) that doesn't burn you out. She runs ABIDE Outsourcing, an ads agency serving Amazon influencers.

CONNECT WITH AMY

The Peaceful Entrepreneur: https://www.thepeacefulentrepreneur.com

ABIDE Outsourcing: https://www.abideoutsourcing.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyamyelizabeth/

ABIDE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abideoutsourcing/

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LOVED THIS EPISODE?

Follow Mess to Mission and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help another busy mom-preneur find the show.

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Linds Paulson is the founder of Sunday Ops Co. She helps busy women business owners build simple systems so their business feels easy like Sunday.

https://www.lindspaulson.com

Want to know about the systems I talk about on the show? Get the weekly Sunday Ops email to see what systems you can create to turn your mess into a mission.

https://lindspaulson.myflodesk.com/messtomission

What if the most faithful move is walking away from something that's working? Board Certified Behavior Analyst Lauren Elliott built a debt-free, profitable two-location practice, then sold it after five years to get her margin back.

If your business has taken over every part of your life, let's build it back around your life instead: https://www.lindspaulson.com

IN THIS EPISODE

• What a behavior analyst actually does (and the Criminal Minds question)
• How a psychology class turned an international business major toward mission work at home
• Opening a practice in 2020, with a waitlist one month in
• Running two locations debt-free and profitable from day one
• Feeling guilty wherever she was: at one clinic, the other, or at home
• The phone call from her assistant that made her decide to sell
• Selling to a national organization in under six months, exactly five years to the day after opening
• Why margin matters: you can't serve well with nothing left to refill
• What's next: a lifestyle blog, homesteading, and mentoring new BCBAs

FINDING YOUR PEOPLE

Lauren talks about why community with other women in business matters so much. Rally is one I love (affiliate link): https://letsrally.circle.so/rally?affiliate_code=a2c73b

ABOUT LAUREN

Lauren Elliott is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), entrepreneur, writer, wife, and mom. She blends biblical truth with practical insights from behavioral science to help individuals and families build healthier habits, strengthen relationships, and move from surviving to thriving. Her message: your mess doesn't disqualify you; it may be the very thing God uses for your mission.

CONNECT WITH LAUREN

Lifestyle: https://www.simplyelliott.com | Instagram @elliott_lauren

Behavior analysis content and consultation: https://www.laurenrelliott.com | Instagram @lre.bcba

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LOVED THIS EPISODE?

Follow Mess to Mission and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help another busy mom-preneur find the show.

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Linds Paulson is the founder of Sunday Ops Co. She helps busy women business owners build simple systems so their business feels easy like Sunday.

https://www.lindspaulson.com

Want to know about the systems I talk about on the show? Get the weekly Sunday Ops email to see what systems you can create to turn your mess into a mission.

https://lindspaulson.myflodesk.com/messtomission