You bought the thing. You set up half of it. A month later nothing's resolved, and the subscription is still coming out every month because surely one day you'll finish it.

You're not doing it wrong. When things aren't working, a new tool feels like the right answer, because it's the visible, buyable part of the problem.

In this episode I give you a way to tell the difference between a tool that takes work off your plate and one that quietly adds to it. It's a five-step ladder I've built called the Tech Load Ladder.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why a new tool so often creates another gap for you to carry across, instead of closing one
• What the five rungs look like, from being the system yourself to tech that works as a strategic thinking partner
• The five questions worth asking before you sign up for anything new

One filter to take away from this episode: before you sign up, ask what this tool will take off you, specifically. Not what it could do. What it takes off your plate.

By the end you'll know where your most frustrating process sits right now, and whether a new tool is the fix at all.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Tech Load Ladder
• The Process Audit

Want to see more of what I get up to when I’m not podcasting?

• Hang out with me on Instagram @yaelkeon
• Book your Process Audit
• 1-1 Systems Consulting

There is no software in sight in that pantry, and that is far closer to how I think about systems in business. In this first episode of That Systems Show, I unpack what I mean by the word and why so many systems fall over.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why a system is a repeatable way of doing things, tech or not, and what changes when you stop looking at the tools and start looking at how they connect
• The three overlapping pillars behind The Sane Systems Blueprint, and which one nearly everybody skips
• How I ran a snack drawer through those three pillars, and the same three questions applied to a business process

The line I keep coming back to is this. A system built around your reality gives you consistency without you having to be the consistent one. That is the difference between something that looks brilliant in week one and something you are still using in month six.

By the end you'll have a way to look at the thing in your business that keeps falling over. And a far better answer than telling yourself to be more organised.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Sane Systems Blueprint companion blog post
• Want to see more of what I get up to when I’m not podcasting?
  • Hang out with me on Instagram @yaelkeon
  • Book your Process Audit
  • 1-1 Systems Consulting

Easy Email Marketing is now That Systems Show. Same Yael, wider lane.

In this short one I share why the name changed, what I kept finding under the bonnet of every email marketing job, and what you can expect from here: your strategy, your tech and tools, mixed with a dose of reality.

There's plenty coming. Episodes on what a system is and the misconceptions that trip people up, behind the scenes of this repositioning (which threw up a fair few systems problems of its own), and interviews inside other business owners' setups so you can see what's possible and pinch what works. Follow the show in your favourite podcatcher so you don't miss one.