A field guide for small-business humans

Your business is not a cat toy. Stop batting every problem around.

Clear, useful advice for the wonderfully messy business of running a small business. Written by humans. Stress-tested by cats with zero respect for your calendar.

Find your next move

A gray business cat acts out the small-business lesson: The workday margin nobody puts on the invoice. — Today's agenda: untangle the yarn. Then the business.

Business advice for people with too much to do and not enough opposable thumbs.

Useful ideas, zero guru fog

The latest field notes

Five-minute reads. Nine lives not required.

Operations · FIELD NOTE

The workday margin nobody puts on the invoice

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about the workday margin nobody puts on the invoice, with a clear next step.

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A business cat clears scattered strategy cards to reveal one focused experiment in a training studio.

Strategy · FIELD NOTE

What Bruce Lee and your business have in common (besides a lot of people giving advice)

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about what bruce lee and your business have in common (besides a lot of people giving advice), with a clear next step.

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A departing office cat hands a step-by-step process binder to a colleague at a workstation.

Operations · FIELD NOTE

If your best employee quit tomorrow, would your process leave with them?

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about if your best employee quit tomorrow, would your process leave with them, with a clear next step.

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A small cat team reviews a simple dashboard and marks one decision on a wall calendar.

Strategy · FIELD NOTE

Your monthly business review is not a meeting. It is a reality check.

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about your monthly business review is not a meeting. it is a reality check, with a clear next step.

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An accountant cat maps coins and payment boats across a calendar to check whether payroll arrives on time.

Money · FIELD NOTE

Profit looks great. Can you make payroll on Friday?

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about profit looks great. can you make payroll on friday, with a clear next step.

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A business owner cat takes a day off while teammates confidently run a well-organized workshop.

Sustainable growth · FIELD NOTE

A sustainable business should not need you to be its emergency system.

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about a sustainable business should not need you to be its emergency system, with a clear next step.

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A shopkeeper cat guides a customer through a clear three-step path to the checkout.

Customers · FIELD NOTE

The customer who says 'I get it' may still not know what to do next

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about the customer who says 'i get it' may still not know what to do next, with a clear next step.

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A shop owner cat rearranges a storefront display so a visitor can immediately see what is for sale.

Marketing · FIELD NOTE

Your homepage answers the question customers ask two clicks too late

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about your homepage answers the question customers ask two clicks too late, with a clear next step.

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A repair-shop cat compares a small coin pile with the hidden hours behind a profitable-looking job.

Money · FIELD NOTE

The profitable sale that quietly steals your whole afternoon

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about the profitable sale that quietly steals your whole afternoon, with a clear next step.

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A business owner cat removes a fee-shaped doorstop and listens as a customer heads for the exit.

Customers · FIELD NOTE

A cancellation fee is not the same thing as a retention strategy

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about a cancellation fee is not the same thing as a retention strategy, with a clear next step.

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Four office cats simplify a messy folder handoff with one shared checklist and central inbox.

Operations · FIELD NOTE

If one handoff needs four apps, the process may be the problem

A candid, practical field note for small-business owners about if one handoff needs four apps, the process may be the problem, with a clear next step.

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