A Clear, Practical Approach to growing your business



No fluff. No complicated tech. Just strategy, systems, and execution that work together.


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THE PROBLEM



When Businesses Grow, Complexity Follows



Revenue is coming in. The team is busy. Marketing activity is happening. But as businesses grow, founders often start to feel something else:


• Growth feels scattered

• Teams are busy but not aligned

• Systems that once worked are now strained

• Decisions take longer than they should

• Marketing and operations aren’t pulling in the same direction


What worked at $100K or $1M doesn’t always work at the next stage.


More effort won’t solve this.


Clear structure will.


How does it work?

My Approach



Growing businesses rarely struggle because people aren’t working hard enough. They struggle because the structure behind the work hasn’t kept up with the growth. Over the years I’ve found that most challenges fall into a few predictable patterns.


GROWTH EXPOSES WEAK SYSTEMS


What worked when a company was small often starts to break as revenue and teams expand. My first step is understanding where systems and processes are creating friction so the business can operate more smoothly.


STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS MUST WORK TOGETHER


Marketing, revenue goals, and daily operations can’t live in separate silos. When they’re aligned, decisions become clearer and teams move faster.


SIMPLER BUSINESSES SCALE BETTER


Many growing companies add complexity instead of removing it. Often the most valuable work is simplifying priorities, clarifying responsibilities, and focusing on what actually drives revenue.


GOOD SYSTEMS PROTECT PEOPLE


When the right systems are in place, founders stop carrying every decision and teams can work with more clarity and confidence. That’s when a business becomes both more effective and more sustainable.


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Experience that shapes my approach





I’m a systems‑minded operator who helps founder‑led businesses run smoothly so they can grow without burning out their owners or their teams.

Many people first met me through my jewelry business. What looked from the outside like a creative product brand was, for me, a full operating lab: product development, vendor relationships, inventory management, e‑commerce, customer service, and all the behind‑the‑scenes systems that kept orders moving and clients happy. That experience taught me how to design and run a complete business engine, not just a beautiful product.

Since then, I’ve taken those same skills into other environments: helping a tennis facility scale its operations and support a 3x revenue increase, improving membership systems and automation for a 30,000‑member association, and working with a national retailer on smarter purchasing, inventory structures, and budgeting.

In each role, my job has been the same at its core: understand how work really happens, then build the tools, workflows, and processes that make it easier, clearer, and more reliable.

Today I work as a fractional operations lead for founder‑led businesses in roughly the $1M–$10M range.

I come in for a focused period, map the real workflows, simplify and align the tools, and put in place practical systems and documentation so the business can function without every decision and exception landing on the owner’s desk.

I care most about businesses that are doing good work, have real momentum, and are feeling the strain of success. My role is to turn that strain into structure – so the founder can step out of constant fire‑fighting and the team has a clear, calm way of operating day to day.

-Michelle



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RECENT WORK





Built a national consumer goods business from ground up, developing all product, marketing and revenue systems






Implemented systems that supported a 3x revenue increase for an expanding tennis facility





Improved retention and automated member operations for a 30,000-member organization





Helped a national retail chain improve sell-through and streamline inventory planning across multiple locations


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Copyright 2026 Michelle Rhodes Strategic Advisory