So you’re stuck
You built a business that works.
You want to keep growing.
You’re working on four ‘needle-moving’ projects right now. Half of them you started after hearing a podcaster say that their way is the golden ticket to growing fast, not because they complement what’s already working for you.
And still, your revenue has plateaued somewhere around $200K, maybe $250K. You want to double it (hello big goals!). Right now you just can’t see the path to get there, because you’ve realized that what got you here isn’t going to get you there.
Your ambition has outgrown your playbook.
Buy another course
Sign-up for a different mastermind
Hire a coach who focuses on your mindset and accountability only
Spend thousands on a 'signature approach' growth strategy, only to realize two months in that it requires you to do shit you hate
What you don’t need to do:
Instead, you need a partner.
Someone who can look at your whole business with fresh eyes and tell you what’s fine as is, what’s missing, what needs changing, and what order to tackle it in. Someone who helps you design a plan built around your strengths, and then sticks around supporting you while you make it happen.
You’ve proven that people want what you do. Now let’s make your business fit you perfectly.
My Story
Hey, I'm Melissa Rose.
I’m a Strategic Business Partner to women growing service-based businesses to $500K and beyond.
You have outgrown the way you’ve been running things, and you are trying to figure out what comes next. I can help.
I’ve spent 13+ years running a business.
I left a master's program to rescue a struggling e-commerce company, taught myself SQL (a computer programming language) so I could finally see the sales data, diversified a supply chain, sold on Amazon, and made an 8-figure company profitable for the first time in years with a team of twelve. I’ve experienced first hand how seemingly small things break when the foundation wasn’t built to hold the growth.
Back then and when I started Operate Light, I wanted something I couldn't find. Someone to know me, like really know me, and my business. Not a coach or consultant, but a partner who could show me what I was too close to see, talk through my ideas, tell me the truth, offer subtle reframes that got me thinking differently. Someone to talk through having the third and final hard conversation with a client. Someone I could share wins with and someone to remind me why I was doing this when self-doubt started telling me stories. I would have loved to have a me in my corner.
I couldn't find her, so I became her. I must have built the right thing, because most of my clients stay with me for years.
Of course there’s another reason I do this, too. I believe the world needs more women running high income businesses. Doubling your revenue is the first step to getting there, and I want to be the partner who helps you do it.
What makes me different
I put my money where my mouth is. When your revenue grows, so does mine.
I don’t care about business trends and I don’t follow other people’s business “rules”.
I’ll tell you what I see, with honesty and kindness.
I look at your business in three ways:
Humanly. I care about you, not just data, numbers and performance.
Structurally. I can spot a system failure before it happens (thanks to my INTJ + software engineer brain!).
Operationally. Having run a company at scale, I see when something is working well, needs changing or is somewhere in between.
There’s no one right way to grow a business.
I often hear women say, “So-and-so says that if I want to make $500K, I need to do these three things.”
No. Well, not really. Let me explain.
Every business on the planet, no matter what you do, needs to do the core things: sales, customer delivery, marketing, accounting, paying taxes. But it’s a failure of imagination to think that successful businesses do it the same. There are a multitude of ways to grow your business.
What works depends on your business and on you, which is exactly why generic advice hasn’t helped.
Together we design a strategy that fits you, and I’ll make suggestions about what to work on first and in what order, because the sequence often matters. Then I stick around for the messy part when our ambitious plan meets the real world and needs a little adjusting.
When your business is aligned with you, you’ll be happier. And growth will feel easier.
The short version of why I can help:
Helped dozens of service-based businesses grow.
Ran a multi-million-dollar business.
Degrees in business and computer science, and time in a psychotherapy master’s program.
Project management certifications (PMP, DASM, CSPO).
Here is what tends to happen for the women I work with.
They settle into a strategy designed for their strengths and the way they like to work.
They work the same or fewer hours, because their efforts are focused and intentional.
They stop doing shit they hate.
They make and keep more money.
They feel supported.
My client Kristen put it best a few months into our partnership: she no longer feels like she is doing it alone. That is the part I care about most. Nine months in, her revenue was up 65%, and she's on track to hit $500K this year. All while her summer has been spacious.
Since I’ll be getting to know you…
A few fun facts about me
I enjoy cooking and baking, and have quite the cookbook collection (current count: 112), including a first edition Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book that was my late grandmother’s.
We have a container garden in our backyard and a seed growing setup in our basement where we start fruits, veggies, herbs, and flowers from seeds. I love trying less mainstream varieties that I can’t find in local garden centers.
Our dog Lola Bean is a sweetie and too smart for her own good. No really, we’d like it if she could dumb it down a bit and chill on the herding. She prefers to keep my husband and me on schedule (hers) and in one place, so she can keep an eye on her humans (sheep?). Haha.
I have an 8ft long glass whiteboard in my office that I use to think through client problems and design solutions. Sometimes, if I’m stuck, I’ll lay on the floor in front of it to change my perspective. Sounds silly, but it’s a direct line to my creativity.
Let’s find out if we’re right for each other.
If any of this sounds like the kind of support you need, let's talk. Book a call and tell me where your business is and where you want it to go.
If I am not the right partner to get you there, I will say so. Either way, you’ll leave knowing if we’re right for each other.