Simplify, Simplify - Liz August

10/14/2026

Charlotte of Nicely Consulting came to us with a clear vision: a site that actually shows what she does and makes it easy for the right clients to find her. Now it does.

This one was a true team effort. Judi 411 wrote the copy, which gave the whole design its backbone. When the words are this good, the layout practically falls into place. Working alongside Judi made this project better at every step, just as it always does when we collaborate together!

Charlotte, thank you for trusting us with your site. It's polished, it sounds like you, and it's ready to work as hard as you do.

Go take a look (www.nicelyconsulting.com) and tell Charlotte what you think 👇

09/14/2026

Most service providers protect their expertise with willpower (saying no to free consulting and hoping people respect it). Mine is protected with a system.

I wrote about how I built a 15-minute Chemistry Call process in 17hats that pre-qualifies leads, sets boundaries before anyone even books, and converts nearly 50% of free calls into paid Strategy Sessions. No sales scripts or mastering objection handling. Just an intake form, a time-locked calendar, and automated workflows doing the heavy lifting while I sleep.

If your discovery calls are eating your time and not turning into clients, the fix probably isn't your pitch - it's your system.

Read the full breakdown: https://issuu.com/17hats/docs/the_journey_september_2026/25

09/07/2026

"Attention to detail is not something I have...so I bought it." 👏
Honestly, Nic Frick said what a lot of us are thinking. Knowing your gaps and actually doing something about them? That's not a weakness — that's strategy. If you're ready to stop talking about the work and start doing it, let's connect.

09/03/2026

Quick audit question: when's the last time you actually looked at your tech stack, not just the CRM and email tools, but everything?

There's one category almost nobody checks: content tech, especially podcasting. People start a show with whatever gear a YouTube video recommended and whatever platform a friend used, and it works, technically. But "works" and "intentional" aren't the same thing.

If you've got a show already, the tech's usually fine, it's the coordination (guest booking, scheduling, follow-up) that's the actual mess. That's something my team and I handle, most people just never know to ask.

If you don't have a show yet and keep meaning to start one, my friend Kasey Brown at Teal Hat Communications is opening her Launch Squad on Sept 15, built so you launch with a plan instead of guessing. Look into her free Mic Check call if you want a taste first.

Either way: what's in your tech stack that's never actually been looked at twice?

08/27/2026

Have you ever seen this art exhibit before? It's called "Can't Help Myself."

That robot can't help itself.
Neither can you.

You hire a VA. Still chaotic.
You buy a new tool. Still broken.
You take a course. Still stuck.

And you do it again. And again. Because you're solving the wrong problem.

Before you hire anyone or buy anything else, you need a diagnosis. Not a guess.
Consider a Strategy Session: https://www.simplifysimplify.me/dwy

08/20/2026

You added five tools this summer. But have you actually connected them?

Most businesses end up managing complexity instead of reducing it, because nobody ever maps how their systems actually work together.

Book one Strategy Session before September. One hour, one clear plan, so your backend can carry what's coming in Q4: https://www.simplifysimplify.me/dwy

08/13/2026

Just got back from a week in Maine, staying on a pond next to a kids' sailing school. Watched the lessons most afternoons, and the boats capsized constantly. Completely normal part of learning to sail.

What stuck with me wasn't the capsizing, it was the counselors. Totally calm every single time. They'd steer their motor boats over, help the kids flip the sail boats, instruct them on how to bail it out, then send the kids back off. No panic. I’m sure they’d drilled it, so when it happened, it wasn't a crisis, it was just a process.

That's what I try to build in a Strategy Session. Your business is going to hit rough water sometimes, that's normal. The goal isn't to never capsize. It's to already know exactly what to do when you do.

Book a Strategy or Sanity Session, link in bio.

08/10/2026

Reposting this from my client Judi 411 because it's the exact thing I see on the systems side too.

People come to me thinking they need a new CRM, a better website, a different tool. Sometimes they're right. More often, the tool isn't the problem, it's just where the symptom showed up. The real issue is usually something underneath that never got fixed.

Judi sees this in words. I see it in backends. Same diagnosis, different lens.

Go give her a follow if you haven't already!

Most people who reach out to me think they have a writing problem.

Their website doesn't sound like them anymore. Their LinkedIn profile feels dated. They keep rewriting the same paragraph, convinced the next version will finally be the one that clicks.

Sometimes they're right.

More often, the website is the symptom. It's revealing that the business has changed, and the language hasn't caught up yet.

That's why I almost never start by talking about copy. I'm much more interested in what's changed.

What conversations are you having today that you weren't having three years ago?

What do clients thank you for that your website barely mentions?

What do people consistently misunderstand about what you do?

The answers to those questions almost always tell me more than the words on the page.

I've learned that people like to work through those questions in different ways.

If you're someone who likes to sit with a good question and figure things out on your own, I created the Voice Clarity Workbook for exactly that. It's a self-guided way to uncover what's changed and where your message may have fallen out of step with your business.

If you're the kind of person who likes to gather a little more information before deciding what's next, I've put together an overview of my Make It Easy to Refer You process, including how the Voice Clarity Intensive fits into it.

And if you're reading this thinking, I'd rather just talk it through with another human, book a Clarity Call. We'll spend a few minutes figuring out whether a Voice Clarity Intensive is the right next step.

However you choose to begin, begin with clarity. Everything else gets easier after that.

08/07/2026

My last name is August and I still dread this month. But I've learned to spend it wisely: finishing the stuff I meant to finish, so September doesn't feel like a sprint through a wall. If you need clarity on what to actually fix before fall hits, I write about that in this week’s blog post. https://buff.ly/mC7XrwJ

08/05/2026

I love collaborating with MBN! Hope you enjoy my guest blog.

🫣 If you can’t take a Friday off without feeling like your whole business is going to fall apart, this one’s for you.

In this blog post, Simplify, Simplify - Liz August breaks down why most service-based business owners aren’t disorganized - they’re just running their business from memory. She explains why the fix isn’t a new tool, but rather, it’s finishing the setup you already started.

🖥️ Read it here. https://massachusettsbusinessnetwork.com/youre-not-disorganized-youre-running-your-business-from-memory/