Trudy Heins - Strategic Business Consultant

07/09/2026

I had a bit of a go a while back about what lands in my inbox, and especially in my DMs. Plenty of you agreed with me.

So here is the other half. What actually gets a reply.

Trudy, you work with service business owners on pricing and structure. I do the same on the compliance side for accounting practices. Same client, different problem. Worth fifteen minutes to see whether there is any referral overlap?

Or this one.
Trudy, I am looking for a consultant for a six month piece of work. Structure and pricing, service business. Are you taking on new clients?
Four lines at most. They tell me who they are and what they want before I have to ask.

The ones that do not work are not too pushy. They are written by someone who has never had to explain what they do to a person who does not already know them.
Two lines. What you do and who it is for.

If you cannot write that right now off the top of your head, the problem is not your outreach.

06/09/2026

This week I've been tested, really tested. Not by work. By my values, and that internal righteousness clock that ticks no matter what.

I found myself in tears yesterday morning. Alone, before a conversation that was long overdue and one that I could no longer avoid.

You need to know I'm not a crier. It's just not how I roll. So when tears appear, it's a sign. And I'm pragmatic enough to know it's not middle age hormones.

No one had wronged me. It wasn't a cause for blame. But there was a decision sitting unmade with someone close to me, and I'd been quietly carrying the weight of waiting for it.

Worse, I'd stepped into the fixer role that comes so naturally to me. Those who know me know I'm a solutions driven woman. I took control of something that was never mine to decide. My input was wanted and it was valued. But input was all it was ever going to be, and I'd been behaving as though it could finalise things.

This one was personal. The pattern isn't.

I see values quietly compromised in business all the time, and it's rarely dramatic. It's the theft from government dressed up as harmless because no one's really paying. It's hiding behind the rules to justify a client experience you know could be better. It's taking advantage of a client's ignorance to skim a little more income, because they'll never know the difference.

None of that gets called a values problem. It gets called commercial reality, or good business, or everyone does it. The clock still ticks.

So I had the conversation. I named what was being compromised for me. I was heard, we worked it through, and we came out the other side with a solution.

Over decades in business I've made a number of decisions on values that cost me money at the time. Walking away from roles, ending partnership arrangements that no longer sat right, saying no to revenue I could have taken. Every one of them was better for the business long term, and better for my peace of mind. I've never regretted one of them.

Every one of those decisions cost me something at the time. That's how I know they were values and not preferences.

So I ask you. Where is your internal values clock feeling compromised?

04/09/2026

My client Jodie Muller from Better Finance Solutions left me this last week and it reinforced why I do what I do.

"Since working with Trudy, I have grown so much, not only as a business owner but personally as well. She has helped me build confidence in myself and my decisions, and that confidence has given me strength in so many other areas of my life. My business is growing, but more importantly, I feel like I'm growing with it."

Then she went one better and referred me a new client. Someone I'm really looking forward to working with.

That's the power of word of mouth. Someone who has done the work with you, putting their own name behind you.

I have got one consulting spot opening in September. Six month retainer.

And if you know someone struggling in their business right now, please give them my name. That's how the good ones find me.

https://calendly.com/coach-yhhy/exploration-chat-with-trudy

03/09/2026

I'm Secretary on the board of a charity. It's unpaid. I said yes anyway.

That seat has taught me something worth sharing.

So many smaller charities are operating under governance written for a much smaller version of themselves. A constitution from years back, when it was a few volunteers and a bank account. Now there's staff, programmes, money moving across borders, and real obligations attached to all of it.

Nobody updated the rules, because everyone was too busy doing the work.

Sound familiar?

Because that's most businesses too. Your structure evolved. Nobody designed it. And it holds up fine until the day it doesn't.

When did you last look at the bones of your business?

01/09/2026

Being capable of doing everything in your business doesn’t mean you should.

I loved this conversation with Moriah Riona about letting go, building the right team and creating the space to actually lead.

🎙️ Fempire Rising Podcast Season 4 | Episode 9 | From Chief Everything Officer to CEO

Out now. Listen via the link in the comments.

01/09/2026

I had a client tell me recently they needed to hire another one of a particular role. By the end of that conversation, the role had changed completely.

That's the difference between someone who is fully across your business and someone filling a brief.

A recruitment agent takes the role description and goes and finds you a person. Nothing wrong with that. But it assumes the role you've written is the one you actually need.

I'm on retainer. I know the numbers, the gaps, the culture, who is carrying what and who is quietly checked out. So my first question is always why.

Why that role.
Why now.
What breaks if you don't hire.
What happens to your existing team on day one.

The most expensive hire you will ever make is the one that fills a gap you didn't have.

I'm not an order taker, and that's the whole point.

Hiring this year? Let's talk first.

https://calendly.com/coach-yhhy/exploration-chat-with-trudy

31/08/2026

31/08/2026

Have you accidentally become the Chief Everything Officer in your own business?

You make the decisions.
You fix the problems.
You keep things moving.
And somehow, everything still comes back to you.

This Wednesday on Fempire Rising, I’m talking with Moriah Riona about what changes when you stop trying to do everything yourself and start stepping properly into the role of CEO.

It is a conversation about growth, delegation, mindset and learning where your time actually matters most.

Episode 9 | From Chief Everything Officer to CEO

Coming this Wednesday.

28/08/2026

Past episodes here if you'd like to listen first https://www.buzzsprout.com/2554208

I am booking the last of the Season 5 guests and I would rather hear from you than go looking.

The season is Beyond the Founder.

Every business starts with a founder, and the best ones grow beyond one. It is about what happens when you build something that keeps working without you in every decision. Building a team. Bringing in a partner. Stepping back from the thing you made. Sometimes trying that and getting it wrong, which is honestly the better conversation.

If you are a solo operator or your business runs entirely on your personal brand, this one is not for you, and that is completely fine.

There will be other seasons. 30 to 45 minutes on Zoom, edited properly, released weekly from 16 September, and promoted across our database and channels of around 5,000 women in business. You get the link, the show notes and tiles to share.

We start recording in two weeks. Comment, message me, or email [email protected]. And if her name came to mind while you were reading, tag her.

28/08/2026

I am booking the last of the Season 5 guests and I would rather hear from you than go looking.

The season is Beyond the Founder.

Every business starts with a founder, and the best ones grow beyond one. It is about what happens when you build something that keeps working without you in every decision. Building a team. Bringing in a partner. Stepping back from the thing you made. Sometimes trying that and getting it wrong, which is honestly the better conversation.

If you are a solo operator or your business runs entirely on your personal brand, this one is not for you, and that is completely fine.

There will be other seasons. 30 to 45 minutes on Zoom, edited properly, released weekly from 16 September, and promoted across our database and channels of around 5,000 women in business. You get the link, the show notes and tiles to share.

We start recording in two weeks. Comment, message me, or email [email protected]. And if her name came to mind while you were reading, tag her.