About

I’m Frances Schagen and I’ve been on a journey my whole adult life to figure out business – small business.  I may never get there, but I learn something new every day. And I’m really enjoying the journey. If you are interested, I invite you to follow along.

You don’t need more information. You are drowning in information. You need to know what’s relevant to you and  how to adapt it to your business. Only then do you need the relevant information so that you can execute. Think of me as a guide who knows the lay of the land, most of the languages and many of the people. Kind of like Gandalf or ObiWan without the robes, or funny hat, or wand, or light saber. I don’t know what’s next for you, but I know someone who has been where you are, or I know a strategy, tip, trick, hack or process that will help you.

I’m the business innovator geek who watches the videos and TED talks, reads the books and listens to the podcasts, so you don’t have to. I can point you to the one resources you need when you need it.

I play with business models. I see the business lessons in the movies I watch and the novels I read. I think about business strategy every where I look . I don’t have the answers for you, but I know what questions you should ask, where you can look for the answers and who you should meet. I can give you the 3 things you should think about as we figure it out together. I can help you decide what order to do it.

My calling in life is:

 To unite business owners into a community where we help each other.

I’ve read 1000’s of books, been to some of the coolest global gatherings, met some of the most amazing people.

I’ve played in several industries including food service, building and business services. I’ve had various other jobs, too like a contract to plant 130,000 trees and heading off to sea on a research vessel.

Volunteering has been a big part of my life and still is. It is where I get to do things I’m not qualified to do, but manage to pull off anyway. It has offered me amazing opportunities for growth and travel.  I work to support my volunteering habit.

I’m fascinated by what it takes to create entrepreneurial ecosystems that make your business effortless. During 15 years running Crystal Clear Bookkeeping Ltd, I helped 100’s of business owners and produced business events. This has been the perfect laboratory to discover what works and what doesn’t. I took all I learned and wrote the book,  Your Effortless Business.

The businesses I work with are established and in traditional fields. The owners are driven to find a way to make their business work effortlessly in the new economy. They believe that success is a continual journey not a destination.

Business becomes complicated when we think we need to be a marketing expert, a financial whiz, an HR pro and an operations guru. No one can do all that. Instead, when we focus on creating an environment that supports, building a team and letting them help, developing a business model that delivers and pays well and using technology to automate we end up with an effortless business.

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Strategists look at the present, envision something new, and develop approaches to make their vision a reality.

I love working with you if you have been in business for a long time and you aren’t getting the results you used to get. You have a service-based business (and who isn’t these days), you know that you have more to offer the world than you are right now and you have a bigger vision for your life and business.

You have more ideas than time to execute. What you need is a way to evaluate the ideas within the context of the changes society is going through. That’s where I can help you.

THE NEW ECONOMY

Business is changing: the way we engage with customers and the way we deliver service is changing. The good news is it means opportunity. Lot’s of opportunity!

The New Economy is about connection, sharing, doing good in the word and telling your story. It’s about creating a business model that does all that and makes a decent profit. When you are giving your best to the world, revenue follows.

YOUR EFFORTLESS BUSINESS

Have you been in business for more than 10 years? I empower business owners to engage with the world around them through the power of technology. No business lives in a vacuum and if you try to manage your business as though it’s all about you, you will have a constant battle trying to match your reality with what is going on around you. I will help you design your business to take advantage of your ecosystem. I will help you find the Sweet Spot where you give maximum value with minimum effort.

More Customers! People tell me they don’t need to work on their strategy, all they really need are more customers. Here’s the thing, you will get more customers when you work on your strategy! Working on your marketing gives you more and better marketing, not customers. When your business is working well, your customers will do your marketing for you.

I write about how traditional business can harness the new ways of doing business and build entrepreneurial ecosystems. I share my own journey – the good, the bad and the embarrassing.

I speak on making your business effortless, the New Economy and building entrepreneurial ecosystems at workshops, conferences, retreats and other live events.

MY STORY

I did something radical in the fall of 2011, I set aside the first hour of every day to work on interesting projects. The first project was to figure out how we as small business owners got to this point and how to get us where we want to be.

Two months later I had developed the basics of Your Effortless Business concept.

These are thoughts that had been rattling around in my head and in my work with my clients, but I hadn’t taken the time to write them into a cohesive package – until that fall.

I shared these thoughts and found they resonated with others and I hope they resonate with you. It’s not information that we lack. All the information we need is available. It is support, accountability, cheer leading and inspiration that we need. All of these come from being part of a group.

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