When your business starts to grow faster than your systems, things break. You spend your days putting out fires instead of focusing on what actually matters. Your calendar is packed, your inbox is overflowing, and every new client feels like a brand new puzzle you have to solve from scratch without a picture for reference.
This is where many service providers get stuck. They’re great at what they do, but their backend can’t keep up. That’s exactly what happened to Emani Guy, CEO and Founder of Made New Marketing! Her story is a powerful reminder that building business systems for growth isn’t a luxury. It’s the difference between constantly scrambling and finally stepping into your role as the leader of your business.
Emani started her business after an unexpected layoff pushed her into entrepreneurship. She had the skills, the drive, and the clients. What she didn’t have was structure behind the scenes. She spent her first year operating on hustle alone, saying yes to every client request and answering messages at all hours.
Without clear boundaries or sustainable systems, the weight of her success started to take a toll. Burnout showed up in real ways, including physical health challenges that forced her to confront the truth. She wasn’t running her business. Her business was running her…into the ground.
The turning point came when she decided to get clear on her vision and rebuild her backend intentionally. Her first step, she joined the Mind Your Time Society. Instead of trying to serve everyone, she took time to refine her services and messaging so her business reflected where she wanted to go, not just where she was. This clarity made it possible for her to design her business systems for growth that actually supported her goals.
She already had a digital filing system in place. So Emani focused on creating a structured onboarding process using Airtable, which allowed her to give clients a smoother, more professional experience while saving herself hours of manual work. Instead of reinventing the wheel for each client, she built one system she could duplicate, adapt, and refine.
Another key shift was in her calendar. Like many service providers, Emani thought being available meant being reliable. But that mindset was costing her time, energy, and control. She started setting meeting boundaries, stacking calls on specific days, and protecting space to focus on admin work and client deliverables. This single change created more breathing room than any productivity hack could. It’s a reminder that business systems for growth aren’t just about tech or tools. They’re about structure that protects your time so you can lead with clarity.
She also embraced the idea that pivoting isn’t failure. When something in your business starts to feel stuck, it’s often a sign that your systems and structure need to evolve to match your next level. Emani took the time to reassess her goals, clarify her ideal audience, and realign her operations accordingly.
But this wasn’t an overnight shift. It took months of intentional work. But the result is she now has a business that supports her vision instead of draining her energy. She now has clear systems for onboarding, scheduling, and marketing, and the confidence to lead her company from a place of strategy, not survival.
Here’s the truth. If you want sustainable growth, you can’t build it on a shaky foundation. Hustle can get you started, but it won’t take you where you want to go. Building business systems for growth gives you the structure to scale without losing your sanity or sacrificing your health. It creates space to think strategically, serve your clients better, and actually enjoy the business you’re building.
Start by getting honest about where your systems are failing you. Then commit to building one structure at a time, focusing on clarity and client experience. It doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs to work.
If this resonates, take it as your sign to pause, assess, and reset. There’s a better way to grow your business than running on adrenaline. Build the systems that will carry you forward, and everything else becomes lighter. Join us inside the Mind Your Time Society and get access to the roadmaps and resources Emani used to go from scrambling to strategic.
If you would like to hear the expanded version check out the podcast episode below.
5:12 – Why Emani’s early business days were marked by hustle, burnout, and a lack of systems and what finally made her take a step back to realign
9:04 – The turning point: how gaining clarity on her vision and services shifted everything in her business
15:02 – How using Airtable and client-focused systems transformed her onboarding experience, improved retention and made service delivery smoother
20:14 – How putting boundaries around her calendar helps protect her energy, create admin days, and work more strategically
28:32 – How embracing pivots and revisiting systems quarterly helped Emani rebuild her confidence and set her business up for sustainable growth
31:46 – The role the Mind Your Time Society resources played in helping Emani document, refine, and reset her systems to support her vision for the future
Related Episodes Mentioned:
EP 218 – Systems Reset Series: Being Great at What You Do Isn’t Enough (And That’s Not Your Fault)
EP 219 – Systems Reset Series: Your Client Onboarding Shouldn’t Be a Guessing Game
EP 220 – Systems Reset Series: Why a Messy Calendar Costs You More Than Time
EP 221 – Systems Reset Series: From Scrambling to Strategic — Your Next Step as a Consultant
Resources Mentioned:
⏰ Ready to see where your time is really slipping away?
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Join The Mind Your Time Society, your space for guided resets, copy-paste scripts, and a 90-Day Roadmap that makes boundaries stick. You’ll get the tools and support you need to reclaim your calendar, protect your energy, and finally feel in control of your time.
If you’ve been following along with the Systems Reset series, you’ve heard me talk about why being great at what you do isn’t enough, why onboarding shouldn’t be a guessing game, and how your calendar can either protect or break your boundaries. But today I want you to hear from someone who has lived through all of this and came out stronger on the other side.
I’m going to be talking to a client, colleague, and friend who’s also a member of the Mind Your Time Society. Her story is such a powerful example of how getting clarity, setting boundaries, and putting systems in place can completely transform your business and your life.
Welcome to the Mind Your Time Podcast. I’m Shannon Baker, your coffee-loving host and business operations strategist. If you’re a service provider who’s great at what you do but stuck with misfit clients, messy onboarding, or draining workdays, this show is for you. Each week I share both strategies and practical insights rooted in my POWER In Motion Framework to help you streamline your back end, protect your time, and lead your client experience with confidence. Skills got you clients, but systems will take you further. So grab your cup of coffee or your favorite drink, and let’s dive in.
Let me start by saying if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t had a guest episode in years. One reason I made that decision is simple: it’s my podcast and I can do what I want. But more importantly, I didn’t want to bring guests on “just because.” My goal is for every episode to provide real value.
Today’s chat is with Imani Guy, the CEO and founder of Made New Marketing. I consider her a friend and trusted colleague, and she’s also my content manager and a member of the Mind Your Time Society. Before I turn it over to Imani to tell her story, I want to give you a little background on how we met, because it really emphasizes the power of collaboration.
I have a client who’s been with me practically since I started my business. She’s an event producer, and I manage her business and provide logistical on-site support at her events. In 2023 she produced a conference, and Imani was on that client’s team. We hit it off immediately and kept in touch after the event.
A few months later, I was hired by that client to clean up their back office, and Imani and I got to work together more closely. When I launched my membership, Imani was one of the first people to join. At that time, her business wasn’t quite ready to fully benefit from the resources inside. But that would soon change.
First, I want to say thank you, Shannon, for having me on this podcast. This has been a long time coming with us working together and a long time coming with me being here. Hello everyone. Like Shannon said, I’m Imani Guy, founder and CEO of Made New Marketing.
I started my business back in October of 2023. I had been working freelance in the marketing industry with a client Shannon and I shared. At the time, I thought, maybe I could be an entrepreneur—but I wasn’t ready to take that leap of faith. I loved the stability of my nine-to-five.
But in September of 2023, right before flying out for our client’s conference, I got an email saying I was losing my job. Suddenly, I had a decision to make. Would I try to find another marketing job, or step into entrepreneurship for real? Finding a job was hard, so I took a leap of faith and started my business. Now, I’m celebrating two years in business and entering my third year—a real testament to taking the leap and not looking back.
I remember that first year. You had all the pieces you needed to start your business. You were good at your work, your skills were developing, but one thing you told me was that your lack of systems was holding you back.
Yes. I remember when I first met Shannon—it was right after I lost my job. I was frantic. You look up how to start a business and all you find is “get your EIN, form your LLC, set up your business bank account.” Some may give you tools, but no one really shows you how to structure it in a way that works not just for you, but for your clients.
I had the skills and talent, but I didn’t know how to build a business that was scalable. Boundaries and systems were the two biggest missing pieces. I barely slept. I was answering client calls at 10 and 11 p.m. I had no real foundation, and it showed.
One of the things I remember from that first year is that the overwhelm started affecting your health. Yes. I was experiencing extreme burnout. I was in and out of doctor’s appointments for weeks with chest inflammation caused by stress. I was only 24 or 25 at the time. I’d be trying to work from bed, squeezing in calls on the way to appointments. It was like something out of those scenes in movies where someone’s pushing through work while their body breaks down.
That experience taught me how important boundaries are. As entrepreneurs, we often believe that saying no will make clients leave. But if something happens to you, they’ll just find someone else. You have to prioritize your health. I didn’t truly start implementing Shannon’s advice until early this year when I finally hit a wall.
I also remember another big shift you made—getting clear on your messaging and services. Once you had that clarity, how did things change?
Tremendously. When we first sat down together in March, you asked me about my vision and mission. At that point, I was just focused on getting clients and rebuilding my income. I was trying to serve everyone, which isn’t sustainable. That conversation forced me to look ahead and think about what I wanted my business to become in the future.
That was when I started to pivot. I realized if I wanted a five-year vision to happen, I couldn’t keep operating with no structure. I needed systems and a solid back office. That conversation was the turning point.
And that’s just the beginning.
