For makers, studios & by-appointment businessesCustom orders & bookings without the chaos ꥟
I build the systems behind made-to-order and by-appointment businesses (ordering, booking, e-commerce, and team workflows) so you can stop being the bottleneck.
Sound Familiar?
Requests live in your DMS
Texts, Instagram messages, emails, voicemails, sticky notes. Every custom order or appointment request starts in a different place.
Only you know where things stand
Deposits, deadlines, design changes: it's all in your head, so you can never fully step away or take a rest.
Your team needs you for everything
Every question turns into a check-in, and your day disappears into “quick” meetings.
Your website can't take a custom order or booking
People love your work, but there's no simple way for them to start an order or book a time online.
You know it needs fixing ꥟ You just don't have the bandwidth .
When you're already stretched to the max, a systems project is work on top of the work, so it keeps getting pushed to "someday."
And it's near impossible to see your own blind spots. When you're inside the business every day, the workarounds start to feel normal.
That's the part I take off your plate. I do the heavy lifting of finding what's broken or bottlenecked. Then I build the fix for you.
Improving your business doesn't have to cost you time you don't have.
Built for businesses that run on custom orders, consultations & appointments ꥟
What I build ꥟
Custom order systemsIntake forms, quotes, deposits, production timelines, and client updates, all in one place.
website & e-commerceA site that sells your ready-made pieces and makes starting a custom order easy.
booking WorkflowsOnline booking for consults and appointments, with intake forms, deposits, reminders, and rescheduling, without the back-and-forth emails.
Email & newslettersKeep past customers coming back, with emails that sound like you.
Team Guides & WorkflowsClear SOPs and processes so your staff can handle orders without a meeting for every question.
photography systemsA simple, repeatable setup so new work gets photographed and listed fast.
Free Checklist ꥟
Where are your orders & bookings leaking?
A 15-minute checklist to find the gaps costing you time and money, from first inquiry to rebooking.
꥟ 42 quick yes-or-no checks across 7 key areas
꥟ A simple score that shows you the leaks
꥟ Know exactly which area to fix first
Two ways to work together ꥟
Pick the path that sounds most like you.Path 1
I know where the knot is, I just need it untangled. Fast.
Pick a fixed-price project. We start with a quick scoping call to confirm the fix.
$750 Booking Tune up We tune your booking flow together so it brings in more bookings and repeat visits, and quietly grows your email list, referrals and reviews along the way.
custom order tune up $850 Together, we shape your custom order process around how you actually work, from the first request to the final payment with an emphasize on efficiency, positive cash-flow, and reliable and timely results that convert into positive reviews, referrals and repeat buyers.
$165 Deep Untangle Sesh 90 minutes with a thought partner for that one tricky problem that won't budge. We work through it live on screen share, and you leave ready to finish it yourself. Book Here ꥟
Path 2
Something's off, but I'm not sure what. Help.
We find the leaks first, then fix them in the right order.
Step 1
Untangle seshFree20 minutes to talk through what feels stuck.
Step 2
Systems Audit$1200I look at your business as a flywheel and review every part that keeps it spinning: ordering, booking, website, email, reviews, referrals, cash flow and how you track your numbers. Interviews with you, your team and a client fill in the gaps. Your plan ranks every fix by impact and effort, so you start with the changes that pay off most for the least work.
Step 3
From $750Project BuildI build the fixes from your plan. Defined scope, clear timeline.
where both paths can leadOngoing Ops Partner
Keep me on call as your part-time right hand: troubleshooting when things come up, and building out the next piece of your business together.
From $1100 / month
Hi, I’m Kate ꥟ Fractional Business Manager
I ran a luxury made-to-order business for 14 years.
Now I'm the part-time systems person for makers, studios and by-appointment businesses, without the cost of hiring someone full time.
My Brand, Crown Nine, was named꥟ Best Jeweler, SF Bay Area · 7x7 Magazine
꥟ Top 100 Shops · San Francisco Chronicle
꥟ Best Jewelry Store · Time Out Magazine
I’ve been in your shoes
I founded Crown Nine, a custom fine jewelry studio in Oakland and Sebastopol, and built every system behind it: custom orders, consultations, our online shop, photography, staff training, and a gallery of 30+ rotating artists. I know what it's like to be the person everything runs through 𓃵
Built for ADHD Brains
I have late in life diagnosed ADHD, and so do a lot of the owners I work with. My trauma-informed approach builds systems for an interest-based nervous system, so they keep working on low-focus days instead of depending on willpower 。𖦹°‧
Systems Thinker
As a permaculture designer, I study the whole system before changing any part: keep what's thriving, cut what drains you, and set things up to tend themselves. Off the clock, I'm a mom, musician, and herbalist nerd in Sonoma County 𓅪
Credentials ꥟From people I’ve worked with ꥟
Bookings Filled
Within a few weeks, I had tripled my client load and filled my practice. She is a coach and ally in getting your gifts and offerings into the world.
Coby Leibman ꥟ Somatic Counselor, Trauma & grief worker100 subs per week
Working with Kate to redesign my website was one of the most empowering and inspiring experiences of my life. I learned so much about myself through the process. We streamlined my bookings, designed email systems, and created a lead funnel that has been adding over 100 new segmented subscribers to my email list each week.
Abbey Joy ꥟ Ayurvedic wellness for breast, womb & hormonal bodyDid the part we couldn’t
I've described it to people as a spiritual experience. Kate wrote all our copy, put together our packages, gave us the pricing — she did the parts we couldn't quite do ourselves. Her process includes these beautiful questions about our values, who we want to work with, who we don't. It was profound.
Katie Phillips ꥟ SUPERNOVA where extraordinary songs beginQuestions owners ask me ꥟
Don't see yours?
Book a free call and ask me directly.
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Every audit follows the same process, so nothing gets missed. First, you complete a detailed intake that goes much deeper than the free checklist, covering every step from first inquiry to final payment. Then I interview you, one or two members of your team, and ideally a client, so I can see your business from every side, including the blind spots you can’t see from the inside.
Gathering everything takes one to two weeks, depending on everyone’s schedules. A few days after the last interview, you get a written plan showing where things are leaking and what to fix first.
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Far less than doing it yourself. The audit needs only your intake and one interview, and the plan is yours to keep. If you like it and want me to build it out, that’s a separate, optional step. Most overhauls take one to five months, depending on how much needs rebuilding. Along the way, you’re only needed for occasional updates, quick decisions, and a few check-in meetings. I do the rest.
Tackling this on your own would mean taking on the equivalent of a part-time job on top of everything you already do.
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No! Your industry probably has specialized software that works well, and I build around it. The truth is, most businesses have too many tools, not too few (hello to all my friends who are signing up for another subscription at 1am thinking it will suddenly solve all your problems…)
My job is to cut the ones that overlap and get the rest talking to each other automatically, so information flows on its own instead of being copied by hand. This is the heart of my whizzyness.
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Yes! My sweet spot is owners who are just starting out, going through a transition, or running a small team of fewer than 15 people. If you’re solo, good systems matter even more, because there’s no one to hand things off to.
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Perfect. If you already know what's broken, you can skip the audit and book a Tune-Up. We start with a quick scoping call to confirm the fix. If I spot something bigger underneath, I'll tell you honestly, and you decide what to do.
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Everything I build is yours. As we wrap up, I train you and your staff to run and maintain the system on your own. Most businesses don’t need more than that, because I build systems to be simple to keep up. But sometimes a business grows as its systems improve. If you’d like someone on hand to oversee the routine pieces or take on new projects, you can bring me on as your ongoing ops partner. For example, once you see how streamlined booking keeps clients coming back and raises what each client is worth over time, upgrading your email and text messaging often becomes the obvious next move.
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Yes buddy! I work with businesses anywhere over video. If you’re in Sonoma County, I can also come to you for hands-on work, like setting up an in-house product photography station with cameras, lighting and a styled set. That way a new arrival you just unpacked or a cake you just finished can be on your online shop or social media the same day.
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If you’re already using AI tools or agents, I can work with them and fit them into your systems. I’m also a big believer in doing things the old-school way when that works better (if often does!). Many business tools now have AI built in even if you don’t want to utilize AI, so it may show up in your systems, but I will get your consent before doing anything that has an AI. And I will never run your private proprietary business or client information through an AI tool, unless there is a clear directive and reason to do so that outweighs the exposure risk and you are consenting.
A more typical case for my own AI use for supporting a business is when I set up an automation in Zapier, I might use its built-in AI helper to connect the steps, but I don’t share your client data with it.
As AI shows up in more of the tools you use, owners need to pay closer attention to what they’re exposing. I’ll be the member of your team watching out for that, so your hard-won knowledge and skills stay yours.
And if you’re anti-AI, I can 100% help you keep your business operating on the fundamentals done elegantly.
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Yes! I have ADHD myself, and so do a lot of small business owners. I design systems for an interest-based nervous system: fewer steps to remember and as much automation as possible, so things keep running even when your focus is elsewhere. My approach is also trauma-informed. There's no shame about the current mess, and we move at a pace that feels manageable in the body.
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I have two ways to work together. If you already know what is broken/knotted up, then we can get started right away.
Tune-Ups: $165 to $850.
Fixed-price fixes you can book without an audit:
Deep Untangle Sesh $165
Booking Tune-Up $750
Custom Order Tune-Up $850.If you aren’t sure what is wrong and you need someone to help diagnose what’s up, then we start with an audit. The audit can be a stand alone service, or the beginning of us partnering on a build — totally up to you and your budget and bandwidth.
Systems Audit: $1,200 flat. Includes your detailed intake, interviews with you, your team and a client, and a written plan. If you hire me to build any part of the plan within 60 days, half your audit fee ($600) is credited toward your project.
Build projects: from $750. Every project gets a flat price based on your audit plan, so you know the total upfront. A full overhaul over several months typically runs $3,000 to $10,000. Payment is split: half to start, half on completion.
Ongoing ops partner: from $1,100 a month. That covers 10 hours of my time each month. Busy month? Extra hours are $110 each.
Got a knot in your business? Let’s untangle it ꥟
free 20-minute call. You'll leave with at least one thing you can fix this week.