28. The Weekly - Desire Path

On back rubs, reflections and making things easy.

Welcome to the Happy Medium newsletter, where I share inspiration and bite-sized musings on creative business each week. Enjoy!

Quick thoughts

Musings on business, creativity, psychology and more.

Desire Paths

A common misconception about process design is that it’s about forcing people to do things a certain way. Really good process improvement is about making it as easy as possible to do the right thing.

People will always choose the path of least resistance - this doesn’t always mean the most efficient route, sometimes it means the most well worn route.

If you can make the ‘right way’ the easiest way, you’ll find process improvement much easier. In practice this can be implementing a software that streamlines a task, creating templates for common or important milestones, or even just having a clear and structured filing system.

Anything you can do to remove cognitive load and decision making where it doesn’t add value will streamline your day to day leaving you more time to focus on the good stuff.

Human behaviour summarised in a single image

Thank you Katherine for the inspiration on this one ; )

EOFY Reflections

The end of the fin year is as good a time as any to reflect. Here are 5 questions to consider:

1. What were the highlights? What were the special projects, clients and events that excited you?

2. What took up a lot of time that was not worth the effort? Where did you spend a lot of time, energy or headspace that didn’t translate into meaningful growth?

3. How efficient were you? A quick way of calculating this is how much you earned divided by how many hours you worked. For example, you earned $100,000 and worked 1,824 hours (38 hrs x 48 weeks) then you earned $54 per hour. Efficiency = working less and earning more.

4. What trends can you see? Zooming out on the year can help you understand ebbs and flows in your business. Are sales higher or lower in certain months? Are there big expenses that can be smoothed out?

5. What do we want to leave behind and what’s next? This is a great to time to consider your goals for the next fin year, and make a note of the things you want to do less of.

Write it all down. And there’s no need to wait for the next year, you can do this annually, quarterly or even monthly.

Erased Studio

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Inspiration

Things that have inspired me this week.

Google

Acquired

This is a bit of a premature recommendation as I’ve just started this episode (it’s three hours long, I'm getting there) but I wanted to share because I’ve always been interested in humble, unrecognisable beginnings. Just starting something introduces momentum, even if it looks nothing like your end goal. Google started as “back rub” which is a terrible name and an even worse looking webpage:

Yikes.

To me, it’s the power of a strong idea that solves a real problem in a thoughtful way.

Check out the full episode below or via your preferred podcast app.

‘Transform or Die’: Can a Turnaround Expert Turn Kering Around?

Imran Amed, The Business of Fashion

Interesting analysis of what it takes to drive profitability in a creative market. When your business model is inherently trend based, structure needs to support evolution without being overwhelmed by it.

“And yet, within a few short years, de Meo not only steadied the ship but gave Renault real momentum: revitalising its portfolio of brands with emotional resonance, commercial discipline and clear strategic direction, he moved the business back into profitability and doubled its share price in five years.”

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Chaos to Clarity in 4 Weeks

When you receive a testimonial this lovely, you absolutely need to post it across all channels.

Thank you to the lovely Nadia at Platylobium.

Working with Madeleine from Happy Medium has been the most valuable time I’ve spent on the business.

Her Strategy Support program gave us exactly what we needed — clarity, direction, and a strong path forward for Platylobium. From the very first session, Madeleine created a space where we could unpack everything that wasn’t working (and what was!), then helped us prioritise the key issues and focus our energy where it really matters.

She has an incredible ability to listen, tune in, and truly get what our business is about. With her support, we were able to simplify our internal processes, identify and prevent scope creep, and refine our deliverables so they’re aligned with our vision and values.

Madeleine is personable, sharp, and seriously talented — she brought structure without rigidity, and clarity without compromise. I walked away from every session feeling lighter, more focused, and more confident in the direction we’re heading.

If you’re ready to feel calm, clear and in control, get in touch!

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That’s it for this week! As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts - you can DM me or leave a comment.

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