ReachDesign

A bit of the why today. 🌱

People sometimes ask why my first session is koha — pay what you can, starting at $34.

Here's the honest answer. When I started out, the businesses who needed help the most were often the ones who couldn't justify another invoice. Money was tight, the admin was drowning them, and "get some help" felt like a luxury.

Koha means "gift", but it's also about reciprocity, you give what feels right and what you can. I wanted the front door to Reach Design to be one anyone could walk through, no matter what kind of month they're having.

One hour, no jargon, real next steps. That's the koha.

If that's you right now, my inbox is open. 😊

For years I ran this business without anyone to talk it through with. No mentor, no peer group, just me figuring it out at the kitchen table.

I know now how much easier those seasons would have been with a room full of people who actually understood what I was carrying. That's the gap Ara fills.

If you've been doing this alone too, Ara Hui is a small monthly group where that changes. First session 17 September, theme Setting Up.

reachdesign.nz/services/ara-hui

Ara is open, two ways to get real, practical support as a small business owner.

Ara Hui: a small monthly group, 90 minutes on Google Meet, capped at 6 people. First session 17 September, theme Setting Up. $75 per person +GST.
Book here: https://reachdesign.nz/services/ara-hui

Ara Kōrero: the one on one version. Sixty to ninety minutes, kanohi ki te kanohi over Google Meet. Just you and me, working through your questions, your challenges, your next moves. Clear notes and follow up threads after we log off.
Book here: https://cal.com/vernette-shapland/ara-korero

You don't have to figure it out alone.

Real story for you. 🔧

A landscaper down the line rang me sounding pretty flat. He was quoting heaps of jobs but only winning about half and he couldn't figure out why.

Turned out it wasn't his prices. It was his follow-up. Quotes went out, then... nothing. No reminder, no check-in. People forgot, or went with whoever called them back first.

We set up one simple thing: a follow-up nudge three days after every quote. Same wording every time, takes him two minutes.

His win rate jumped. Same quotes, same prices, he just stopped letting them go cold. 👊

Small system, real money. That's the stuff I love about this mahi.

Where might your quotes be going cold?

Quick tip for a frosty Thursday. ❄️

If you can't find a file in under 10 seconds, it's not a you problem, it's a naming problem.

Try this simple format for everything you save:
YYYY-MM-DD_ClientName_WhatItIs
So: 2026-08-06_JonesPlumbing_Quote

Boring? Yep. But it sorts by date automatically, it's searchable, and anyone on your team can find it. No more scrolling through "final_FINAL_v3".

What's your worst file name right now? Go on, share it, I promise I've seen worse. 😄

Kia ora and welcome to August. 🌱

New month, and here in the Wairarapa it's proper winter with frosty mornings, olive trees bare, the kind of quiet that's actually good for one thing: sorting the mahi you never get to when things are flat out.

That's what August is for around here. Not big flashy changes. Just tidying up the systems that have been bugging you since summer, the double-handling, the "where did I save that file", the invoices that pile up.

This month I'll be sharing quick tips, real client stories, and a bit of the why behind Reach Design. If there's one admin thing driving you spare right now, tell me in the comments, I might build a post around it. 😊

Kia ora,

July is almost done. ☀️

Quick check-in: the thing you said you'd sort by the end of the month — did you?

No judgement either way. Just worth noticing.

If it didn't get done, ask yourself why. Was it actually the right thing? Was it too big? Did something else need to come first?

That information is gold for August. Don't skip the noticing. 🌱

Here's a 15-minute Friday habit that genuinely changes things:

Three questions:
1. What went well this week?
2. What didn't?
3. What's the one thing I'll do differently next week?

That's it. No spreadsheet. No app. Just a notebook and 15 minutes.

Do it for four weeks and you'll see the same problems stop showing up. 😊

A client came to me last quarter saying "I have no idea how my business is actually doing month to month." She had the data , it was just scattered across three places.

We provide a solution for a simple monthly dashboard. Twenty minutes on the first of every month and she knows exactly where she stands.

Now she makes decisions based on what's actually happening, not how she feels about it. 💪

That's what a good system does. It gives you the truth.

Kia ora,

Someone asked me last week why I offer koha pricing. Why not just charge a flat fee?

Honest answer: because the people who need help with their systems most are often the ones who feel like they can't justify spending on it. 🌱

Koha means "gift" but it's also reciprocity. You bring what you can, I bring what I can, and we both leave with something. That feels right to me.

It's not a discount. It's how I want to do business.