Life first - Always!
Three programs. One philosophy. Life first.
Grounded Academy courses are built for real business owners in real situations — not theory, not motivation, not one-size-fits-all advice.
Every program starts in the same place: with the person behind the business. Because a business built around your life looks completely different to one built around a revenue target — and it performs differently too.
Whether your business community is just starting out, established and overwhelmed, or ready to work smarter with the tools available to them right now — there is a program built for where they are.
Business Clarity
For established business owners who are overwhelmed, overworked and ready to get back in control.
Built for the business owner who started with a dream and somewhere along the way ended up working for their business instead of the other way around. This program cuts through the noise and gives participants clarity — on what they actually want, what their numbers really say, and what to do about it.
Participants walk away with:
A clear picture of the life their business needs to support
Their real financial position
The specific levers in their business to close the gap
A 90-day action plan
COMING SEPTEMBER 2026
What's covered:
Module 1 — Who You Are and What You Actually Want
Personality, working style, and the life goals the business needs to fund. No business strategy works if it's built on someone else's definition of success.
Module 2 — Financial Truth
Where they actually are. Real revenue, real costs, real break-even including what they need to live. Most business owners have never seen this number clearly.
Module 3 — The Gap and the Levers
The distance between where they are and where they want to be — and the specific opportunities already inside their business to close it.
Module 4 — 90-Day Plan
A clear, prioritised, step-by-step action plan. Not a wish list. A plan with deadlines, decisions and accountability built in.
Format: Self-paced online modules. Available through council partners or direct purchase for individual business owners.
AI as your
Thinking Partner
For business communities who want to use AI to work smarter — without needing to be technical.
Every hour a small business owner spends on tasks AI could handle in minutes is an hour not spent on clients, growth, staff, service or life. Business owners who aren't using AI aren't just working harder than they need to — they are falling behind the ones who are.
This is not a course about technology. It is a course about how to use it. AI doesn't replace the business owner — it amplifies them. The quality of that partnership depends entirely on the quality of the context brought to it. The technology is the same for everyone. The results are completely different because of what each person brings.
More efficiency. Better reach. Stronger message. More time. More value for customers. A better business and a better life.
Participants walk away with:
A personalised AI profile that turns generic responses into genuine thinking partnership
Practical AI skills across the tasks that consume most of their time
A Decision-Making Spreadsheet built for real business use
The confidence to use AI as a business tool — not a toy
What's covered:
Module 1 — Setting Up Your AI Partnership
Before writing a single prompt — know yourself. Build a master profile across 40 questions in 8 areas. Paste it into any AI session and immediately get responses that understand your context, your values and how you actually work.
Module 2 — AI for Your People and Culture
Job ads that attract the right people. Interview questions. Staff communication. KPIs and performance frameworks. Onboarding documents. All of the people work that takes hours — done in minutes.
Module 3 — AI for Your Operations
Standard operating procedures. Process documentation. Customer service responses. Supplier communications. The operational backbone of a business — built with AI as your writing and thinking partner.
Module 4 — AI for Your Marketing and Growth
Social media content. Email campaigns. Website copy. Customer research. Competitive analysis. Marketing that sounds like you — because you trained your AI partner to know who you are.
Format: Self-paced online modules. Available through council partners or direct purchase for individual business owners.
COMING late 2026
Business Start-up — Building Grounded Businesses From Day One.
For business communities with new and aspiring business owners who want to build it right from the start.
Most business owners learn what they should have done in year one by year three — when it's expensive to fix. This program gives participants the foundation that takes most people years to figure out. Built by someone who has started more businesses than she can count and finally worked out what actually matters.
We recommend completing ‘AI as your thinking partner’ prior to taking this course.
Participants walk away with:
Clarity on who they are, how they work and what they're building — before spending a dollar
A tested business concept with real market feedback
A complete business plan ready to present to a bank, investor or grant body
The legal, financial and operational foundations that protect them from day one
A realistic life-first launch plan they'll actually follow through on
What's covered:
Module 1 — Know Yourself First
Your business should be built around your life — not the other way around. Before anything else, get clear on who you are, what you want and what your business needs to deliver to make that life possible.
Module 2 — The Idea and the Market
Testing the idea before committing. Minimum viable thinking. Real market feedback before spending money finding out the hard way.
Module 3 — Your Ideal Customer
Who they are, how they think, what they want and what makes them choose you. Build around them and everything else follows.
Module 4 — Brand, Story and Market Position
Who you are in the market and how you talk about what you do. Your story is your greatest business asset.
Module 5 — Creating Your Own Demand
Positioning, visibility, authority and trust. Not chasing customers — attracting them.
Module 6 — Sales Without Selling
Natural sales conversations. How to listen, close and turn a first sale into a long relationship.
Module 7 — Keeping Customers and Creating Advocates
Exceptional service, reviews, referrals and word of mouth. Turning happy customers into your best salespeople.
Module 8 — Building Your Team and Getting Help
When to hire, who to hire, where to get support. The four foundational roles every business needs — planned from day one.
Module 9 — Your Business Model and Numbers
Pricing, costs, break-even. The numbers that tell you whether this is worth building.
Module 10 — Structure and Foundations
Business structures, registrations, insurance, banking. The non-negotiables that protect the business and the person behind it.
Module 11 — Your Business Plan
A clear, honest, practical plan built from everything covered in this program. Participants leave with a real document, not just a template.
Module 12 — Your Grounded Launch Plan
A realistic, life-first 90-day launch plan. Built around real energy, real resources and the life actually being lived.
Format: Self-paced online modules. Available through council partners or direct purchase for individual business owners.
COMING early 2027