My Systems Need Systems: Confessions from a Systems Business Coach
I need to tell you something that might shatter your illusions about business coaches who specialize in systems.
My systems need systems.
And sometimes, those systems need their own systems just to remember they exist.
Before you fire me as your imaginary business guru, let me explain.
The Planner That Broke Me
I’m a bit of a fanatic about stationary supplies. In fact, I try to avoid being unsupervised in front of a wall of fancy pens because I have zero self control.
So naturally, when I started my business I had the most amazingly beautiful paper planner. I'm talking premium paper, color-coded tabs, perfectly aligned stickers, the works. I LOVED that thing. Like, genuinely got excited about it every morning.
I forced myself to use it even when farm chaos meant I was crossing out and rewriting the same Tuesday three times. Client call moved because of turkey drama? Cross it out, rewrite it. Emergency vet appointment for the barn cat that almost became a snack? Cross it out, rewrite it. Life happened and my entire week shifted? Cross out... everything.
My gorgeous planner started looking like a crime scene of crossed-out schedules, arrows in every direction, and frantic sticky notes trying to keep track of what actually needed to happen versus what I'd optimistically planned three days ago.
But I kept using it. Because organized people have beautiful planners, right?
Wrong.
The Digital Surrender
I can be really stubborn but when something important fell through the cracks, I broke. Finally, after spending more time maintaining my planner than actually using it, I surrendered. I went full digital.
And I couldn't believe how long I'd been doing it the hard way.
All of a sudden rescheduling was a breeze, I could shift everything in 30 seconds instead of endless erasing and rewriting. I didn’t even need to be at my computer, I could do it from my phone down in the barn.
The pretty planner that made me feel like I had my life together was actually making my life harder. But I'd been so attached to the idea of what an "organized person" looked like that I couldn't see it.
I was teaching clients to build systems that fit their actual lives, not their fantasy lives. Meanwhile, I was forcing myself to use a system designed for someone whose schedule doesn't involve escaped livestock emergencies.
The irony was not lost on me. Eventually.
The Bookkeeping I Don't Talk About at Parties
Want to know what else is hilariously ironic about being a systems coach?
I teach financial systems and minimum standards. I help clients set up robust tracking so they always know if they're profitable, where their money is going, and what needs attention.
My own bookkeeping practices? Up until last year, let's just call them "creative."
For longer than I care to admit, my financial tracking system was a delightful combination of:
Three different spreadsheets I couldn't always find
A mental note system that worked great until it didn't
Quarterly panic where I'd try to piece everything together
A vague sense of "I think I’m profitable?"
I knew what good financial systems looked like. I taught them to clients constantly. But implementing them for myself? That kept getting pushed to "next week" for approximately 47 weeks in a row.
The problem wasn't that I didn't know how to do it. The problem was that I didn't have a system to make myself do the thing I knew needed doing.
Meta, right?
What Actually Makes My Approach Different Besides the Chaos
Here's what years of building systems for my farm, my business, and my clients has taught me:
The best systems aren't the ones that look impressive. They're the ones that actually work when life gets lifey.
I don't teach perfection because I don't live it. I teach adaptation because that's what actually keeps businesses running when skunks move into your chicken coop, or kindergarten germs level your entire household.
I teach systems that work for your ACTUAL life, not your Pinterest-board fantasy life. Because I learned the hard way that the system that looks good (literally, that planner was gorgeous) isn't always the system that saves your butt on a Tuesday.
Many business coaches will show you their perfectly organized Notion workspace and immaculate calendar system. I'll show you the system that kept my business running while I dealt with farm emergencies, a sick kid, and equipment that always decided to break at the worst possible moment.
That's not because I'm special. It's because I've accepted that systems are living, breathing things that need to evolve with you and not monuments to productivity porn that look great but crumble when things get real.
The Quarterly Planning Fail That Humbled Me
Speaking of systems that need maintenance...
This year, I had three absolutely phenomenal quarters. I set clear focus areas, worked my plan, hit my goals. I was crushing it. I felt like I'd finally figured out this business thing.
Then Q4 rolled around.
I didn't fully complete my quarterly plan. I had reasons, good ones, even. But the truth is, I just didn't do it. And you know what happened?
I didn't hit my goals.
Shocking, right? The systems coach who skipped her planning system didn't achieve the outcomes that require... planning systems.
I made my bed, and now I'm lying in it. Slightly uncomfortable, learning some lessons, wondering why I thought I could skip the thing I literally teach people to do.
The universe has a wicked sense of humor.
I firmly believe that it’s only a failure if you choose not to learn from it and this failure taught me something crucial about systems. They only work when you work them. And working them requires... systems to remind you to work them.
Which brings me to my final confession.
I Need Systems FOR My Systems
Here's what I've finally figured out after years of building, breaking, and rebuilding business systems that bend:
My systems need their own systems.
The systems that got me here won't get me to my next destination. They need updates, iteration, maintenance, evolution. Which means I need a system to remind me to:
Review which systems are still working
Identify which ones are starting to crack
Schedule time to upgrade before they break completely
Actually do the upgrades instead of just noting that I should
It's systems all the way down.
My quarterly planning system needs a system to ensure I actually complete my quarterly plan. My beautiful digital calendar needs a system to make sure I'm not just filling it with tasks but actually protecting strategic time. My financial tracking needs a system to ensure I'm not waiting until tax time to care about my numbers.
Even my minimum standards! Those bare-minimum non-negotiables that keep my business running on the worst days shift seasonally and need a periodic check to make sure they're still the right minimums.
The irony is almost poetic. The systems coach whose systems need systems to maintain the systems.
Why This Actually Matters Beyond My Embarrassment
If you're reading this thinking "Great, even the expert can't get it right, what hope do I have?" I have good news.
This IS getting it right.
Good systems aren't static. They're not set-it-and-forget-it. They're not "build it once and you're done forever."
Good systems are living things that grow, adapt, and evolve with your business.
The planner that worked when I was a solopreneur with an infant didn't work when she became a toddler and we bought a farm. The bookkeeping that was "good enough" at $50K revenue wasn't going to cut it at $100K. The quarterly planning that crushed three quarters in a row needed its own system to ensure it happened in quarter four.
This isn't failure. This is exactly how systems are supposed to work.
They're supposed to show you what needs upgrading. They're supposed to break in ways that teach you something. They're supposed to require maintenance and iteration.
And yes, eventually, you need systems to maintain your systems. Because that's what sustainable growth actually looks like.
The Beautiful Truth About Imperfect Systems
As I sit here at the end of 2025, looking back on a year of systems that worked, systems that broke, and systems that taught me things I didn't want to learn, here's what I know for sure:
The best systems aren't the ones that never break. They're the ones that break gracefully and get back up again.
My gorgeous paper planner broke under the weight of real life, but it taught me that pretty doesn't equal functional. My bookkeeping chaos finally forced me to build the system I'd been avoiding. My quarterly planning fail reminded me that even the systems coach needs systems to maintain her systems.
And honestly? I wouldn't have it any other way.
Because the systems I teach my clients aren't born from perfection. They're born from repeatedly face-planting into my own limitations, learning what actually works under pressure, and building infrastructure that can handle the beautiful chaos of running a real business in a real life.
So yes, my systems need systems. And that's not embarrassing, that's evolution.
The systems that got you here won't get you where you're going next. And that's exactly how it should be.
Ready to build systems that evolve with you instead of breaking under pressure? My Systems Sprint helps you create infrastructure that bends without breaking—because I've learned the hard way what works and what doesn't.
And if you're wondering whether your systems need their own systems? The answer is probably yes. Let's talk about it: Book a Systems Assessment.
P.S. If you're heading into 2026 with systems that are starting to crack, now's the time to address it. Not when they break completely in March. Learn from my Q4 fail and build the maintenance system before you need it.