How I work

I walk into messy
organisations and
create clarity.

Most organisations don't have a technology problem. They have an operational one. Duplicated work, decisions made without the right information, teams spending hours on things that shouldn't require a human. That is where I come in.

Book a conversation How it works

Twenty years. Here is what that looks like.

2
Founder exits, including a certified B Corp
$85m
Revenue scale as part of national healthcare executive team
800+
Person organisations navigated through complexity
Board
Director and governance experience across sectors

Where I tend to get called

Founder overwhelmed by the weight of their own growth
Team scaling from 5 to 25 people faster than the systems can carry
Reporting and accountability that nobody trusts
Too many systems, not enough process connecting them
AI curiosity with no clear implementation roadmap
Marketing that has drifted away from what the operation can actually deliver

The actual problem

This isn't a technology problem.
It never is.

The organisations I work with are not short on ambition. They are short on clarity. Someone is doing a job three people should share. A decision that should take an hour takes a week. Growth has stalled not because the market has changed, but because the operation cannot carry the weight of the next stage.

Technology can help. AI in particular can eliminate a significant portion of the manual, repetitive, coordination-heavy work that consumes most organisations. But tools don't fix broken processes. They amplify whatever is already there.

Before I recommend anything, I need to understand what is actually happening. Where time is being lost. Where decisions are slow or wrong. Where the founder is still the bottleneck they cannot afford to be. That diagnostic is the work. Everything else follows from it.

What I recognise immediately
The founder is still approving things they shouldn't need to
Nobody is sure who owns what
Reporting happens by accident, not by design
Onboarding a new person takes months, not weeks
The same information lives in five different places
Meetings produce conversation, not decisions
Growth has created chaos rather than capability
The team is working hard and the results don't reflect it
Sonja Ceri

Why boutique advisory works

The person you meet
is the person
who does the work.

Large firms pitch senior partners and deliver junior analysts. I don't have that option. I am the team. The thinking you get in the first conversation is the same thinking that shapes every recommendation, every system, every decision made on your behalf.

I carry no vendor agreements. When I recommend a tool, it is because it fits your business, not because I earn a margin on it. I work with a small number of clients at any one time, which means when something needs attention, you hear from me directly.

My background is commercial, not academic. Two founder exits, executive leadership at scale, board experience, a Masters in Economics. I think about your operation the way an owner would: what does this cost, what does it generate, what does it de-risk? If I cannot answer that clearly, I will not recommend it.

How I work

Four things that
never change.

Find the real problem first
I don't start with solutions. I start with questions. A structured diagnostic of your operation — systems, workflows, communication, decision-making — surfaces what is actually happening rather than what looks good on paper. The recommendation only comes after the diagnosis. In that order, always.
Build for adoption, not demonstration
The most common failure in any implementation is building something that nobody actually uses. Every system I design has to survive a normal Tuesday — when someone is tired, the inbox is full, and the shortcut is tempting. If your team cannot run it without help, it is not finished.
Keep the knowledge inside
When an engagement ends, your organisation should be more capable, not more dependent. I document what we build, train your team to operate it, and structure ongoing support so that you understand every system we have created. You should be able to explain any workflow to a new staff member without calling me.
Connect it all to commercial reality
Every recommendation I make answers one question: what does this save, generate, or de-risk? If we cannot answer that clearly, we do not build it. Operational improvement without commercial logic is just rearranging the furniture.

What I offer

Clear offers.
No ambiguity about what you are buying.

Education For teams starting the conversation
AI Foundations Workshop
A practical session for business owners and their teams. No jargon, no theory. You leave with a clear view of where AI is genuinely useful in your operation and what to do first. Available through Chambers of Commerce and industry groups across the Northern Rivers.
From $147 per person · Group and Chamber rates available
AI Masterclass
Deeper, topic-specific sessions for teams who want practical implementation rather than an overview. Topics include client communication, social media, bookkeeping, and back-office operations.
$2,500 per group session
Advisory The diagnostic and strategic layer
Operational Diagnostic
A structured review of your operation: systems, workflows, communication, and decision-making. I interview your key people, map what is actually happening, and produce a prioritised plan with clear commercial rationale for every recommendation — including where AI helps and where it doesn't.
$500 per person interviewed · Minimum $3,000
Fractional COO / CMO
Embedded senior strategic support for organisations that need executive-level thinking without a full-time hire. Operational redesign, AI governance, marketing strategy, reporting frameworks, and board-level advisory. For businesses, NFPs, and family offices navigating real complexity.
From $3,500/month · By conversation only
Implementation Building systems that actually run
Workflow & Automation Build
Custom workflow systems, automations, and internal tools built to your diagnostic recommendations. Designed to be operated by your team, documented properly, and maintained without creating dependency on outside help.
From $5,000 · Scoped after diagnostic
Essential Retainer
Your systems keep running. When something breaks, it is fixed within 48 hours. Minor updates included. This is a service level commitment, not a vague support arrangement — you know exactly what you are paying for.
From $500/month · Tiered by business complexity
Ongoing development For organisations building over time
Development Retainer
A monthly session to review what is working, identify the next system to build, and keep the operation improving. Includes 2–3 new workflow builds per quarter. Most clients see compounding value by month six — a business that runs considerably more of itself than they thought possible when we started.
From $1,500/month

Who this is for

Organisations ready to
actually change something.

I work best with

  • Founder-led businesses where growth has outpaced the operation
  • Medium businesses with 5–20 staff and genuine operational complexity
  • Not-for-profits that need to do more with the same team
  • Purpose-driven organisations that take governance seriously
  • Membership organisations with communication and reporting challenges
  • Family offices requiring governance and strategic advisory
  • Regional Australian businesses ready to modernise deliberately

What they say afterwards

  • Even the first conversation gave me more clarity than I've had in months.
  • I didn't realise how much time we were losing.
  • We had the first system running within a week.
  • My team actually uses it.
  • For the first time I can see what is happening in my business.
  • It's the clearest view of our operation we've ever had.

Work with me

Most people leave the first conversation with more clarity than they have had in months.

Even if we never work together, you will leave with a clearer view of the problem. No pitch. No proposal before we have spoken. Just a twenty-minute call.

Book a 20-minute call

No obligation. Entirely confidential. Northern Rivers NSW and nationally.