The Alternative Board Gordon

06/10/2026

Thinking about joining The Alternative Board but not sure how to start? It's easier than you'd expect.

First, give us a call. We'll have a chat about you, your business, and what you're hoping to get out of it. No pressure, just a conversation.

From there, we'll point you toward the right board meeting. There's more than one, and the boards are made up of different owners, so we'll match you to the group we think fits you and your business best. Getting that mix right is a big part of what makes it work.

Then you come along and sit in. You listen, you share what's going on in your world, and you get a real feel for how it all works before deciding anything.
And once you're in the right room, that's when the good stuff starts. We get to work helping you build your business, with a group of people around you who genuinely get it.

That's it. A call, a chat, the right board, and away we go.

📞 Andrew - 0400 165 828

29/09/2026

No business owner needs to do it alone. 🙌✨🙏

Owner isolation and burnout is quietly everywhere. Nobody really talks about it. That was the thread running through our last TAB meeting.

We say the quiet part out loud. The owners in the room had all felt it at some point. So the value wasn't a pep talk, it was hearing the stuff you don't admit to many people. The nagging question of whether you're actually making money. The realisation that most of it only happens because you're the one doing it. The habit of saying no to outside things until your whole world shrinks to the business.

None of it was "here's how to feel better." It was "yeah, me too, and here's what helped me."

That's the whole idea behind the board, experienced owners who carry the same weight and remind you that you're not the only one holding it all up.
Because running a business shouldn't mean going it alone.

29/09/2026

It has been a lovely privilege to provide a safe sounding board for over 100 clients through The Alternative Board Gordon since 2020.

Our Alternative Board at Gordon here in Sydney is built around a simple idea. A business only ever goes as well as the person running it is doing.
So alongside all the usual business talk, the leads and the revenue and the growth, we spend real time on you. Run by Andrew Lawrence, our board works with you personally, as well as the business, because how you're doing shapes how it does.

That means we actually ask how you are, and we mean it. Is your own cup full enough to pour from? The burnout, loneliness, worry and the anxiety that come with carrying it all get talked about openly here, instead of quietly building up where they cost you and the business both. And once that's out in the open, the business side gets clearer too, because you start seeing what's really been holding you and the company back.

The goal isn't just a better business. It's a better business and a better life, at the same time.

One for the business owners, when you work on your business, how often do you stop and work on how you're actually doing?

28/09/2026

Our Alternative Board at Gordon here in Sydney is built around a simple idea. A business only ever goes as well as the person running it is doing.
So alongside all the usual business talk, the leads and the revenue and the growth, we spend real time on you. Run by Andrew Lawrence, our board works with you personally, as well as the business, because how you're doing shapes how it does.

That means we actually ask how you are, and we mean it. Is your own cup full enough to pour from? The burnout, loneliness, worry and the anxiety that come with carrying it all get talked about openly here, instead of quietly building up where they cost you and the business both. And once that's out in the open, the business side gets clearer too, because you start seeing what's really been holding you and the company back.

The goal isn't just a better business. It's a better business and a better life, at the same time.

One for the business owners, when you work on your business, how often do you stop and work on how you're actually doing?

16/09/2026

There's a shift happening, and you can feel it in how business owners talk lately.

That was the thread running through our last board meeting. For a few years now, so much of business has moved online and become automated, and honestly a lot of it is brilliant. The tools genuinely make life easier, and nobody around our table wants to go back. But alongside all of that convenience, there's a quiet pull in the other direction, because the more that gets handled by a screen or an AI, the more people seem to crave the one thing none of it can replace, which is real human connection.

Not a webinar or a comment thread or a clever chatbot that says the right words back, but the feeling of sitting across from someone who actually understands the weight you're carrying, because they've carried it themselves. And that raises a question, how do you actually keep that human element alive in your business as everything around you becomes faster and more automated. It's easy to let it slip without noticing, and much harder to protect it on purpose.

One for the business owners, as more of your world becomes automated, how are you making sure the human side of your business doesn't get lost?

24/08/2026

Owner isolation and burnout is quietly everywhere. Nobody really talks about it. That was the thread running through our last TAB meeting.

We say the quiet part out loud. The owners in the room had all felt it at some point. So the value wasn't a pep talk, it was hearing the stuff you don't admit to many people. The nagging question of whether you're actually making money. The realisation that most of it only happens because you're the one doing it. The habit of saying no to outside things until your whole world shrinks to the business.

None of it was "here's how to feel better." It was "yeah, me too, and here's what helped me."

That's the whole idea behind the board, experienced owners who carry the same weight and remind you that you're not the only one holding it all up.
Because running a business shouldn't mean going it alone.

12/08/2026

"I'm out of my cave and talking to people again, as opposed to just AI."

That's what one of our members said after a recent meeting, and it stuck with me. Running a business, it's so easy to end up stuck in your own head. Heads down, not looking up, these days only really talking things through with a screen. What they loved was being back in a room with people who get it: talking business, talking competition, thinking out loud with owners on the same wavelength.

That's the bit AI can't give you. It has its place, but it doesn't replace real conversations with people who've been where you are. When did you last properly talk shop with people who just get it?

15/07/2026

Everyone tells you how to fund a business. Nobody tells you what it's like afterwards.

That was the conversation at our last Alternative Board meeting. And to be clear, nobody around our TAB table was there to tell anyone how to finance their business. That's not what we do.

What we do is share what actually happened to us. The owners in the room had taken on all sorts of finance over the years. So the value wasn't advice, it was hearing the things you don't find in a guide. The option someone hadn't even considered. The knock-on effect that only shows up months after the money lands. The pressure, the repayment reality, the decisions that get harder once you're committed.

None of it was "here's what you should do." It was "here's what caught me out so it doesn't catch you out too."

That's the whole idea behind the board. Not consultants handing down answers, but experienced owners opening you up to things you hadn't thought of, and challenges you might not see coming.

Because running a business shouldn't mean going it alone.

One for the business owners - what's something about business finance that caught you out afterwards, that you wish you'd known going in?

29/06/2026

Stop Procrastinating: The Power of Limits

We've been talking a lot recently about just doing it rather than procrastinating. And I've been thinking about why that's so hard for most of us.

The honest answer? We're usually drowning in too many things at once. Here's what I've noticed... if you simply set yourself three things to do in a day, and you'll find a way to finish all three. If you set too many you do a bit of everything and nothing to completion. When we have too much on our plate, we tend to expand the work to fill that space, overthinking, second guessing, adding complexity.

The truth is your brain can only handle so many high level decisions in a day. The ideal number of daily work tasks is three to five. So "just doing it" doesn't mean doing everything. It means being ruthless about what three things actually matter today.

Try it. Write down three priorities tomorrow. ONLY Three.
Then watch what happens. You might be surprised.

If you try it we want to hear all about it! 👇

22/06/2026

Here's some feedback we received recently. It's had me thinking about Friday's meeting all week. The conversations were honest, the insights were real, and genuinely inspiring.

A huge thanks to everyone. The willingness to share openly, that's what makes TAB work. I can't wait for next month.