Operations & practical AI for owner-run businesses

How many customers did you miss last week?

Most owners can't answer that, and that's the problem. I find where inquiries, time and money are leaking out of your business, then build the system that stops it. I ran my own company for nine years, so I've made most of these mistakes myself.

Tell me what's not working
Rome
2006–09
U.S. Embassy to the Holy See. M.A. Government & Politics.
Washington, D.C.
2010–15
U.S. Commercial Service. USAID via Chemonics.
Albuquerque
2016–25
Founder & CEO, Blush & Whimsy. Oscars, GRAMMYs, QVC.
Windsor Castle
2018
Society of Leadership Fellows. Fellow, RSA.
Texas
2021–26
OSI Systems (NASDAQ: OSIS). Global security and healthcare technology.
Frisco
Today
Founder, AI Discovery Group and Planidex. IATAN accredited.
Micaela Brown
Who you'd be working with

Hi — I'm Micaela.

I spent nine years building a cosmetics company from an idea to several million in revenue, and I ran its front desk the whole time. I answered the messages at eleven at night. I lost a wholesale account because an email sat unread for three days.

I've now done the same thing twice. I'm an IATAN-accredited event producer, and I built Planidex because event planning ran on spreadsheets and hope.

You'll deal with me directly. There's no team behind this that you'd get handed to.

How I work
Sound familiar?

You're not losing customers loudly. You're losing them in the gaps.

01

Somebody called at 2pm

You were with a client. Nobody called back. You paid for that lead twice — once to get it, once when it left.

02

The answer exists. Just not there

The question landed with your front desk. The person who could answer it sits somewhere else.

03

It works because Sarah remembers

She's great. She's also on vacation next week, and nobody wrote down what she does.

04

You bought software

Now there are two places things get lost instead of one, and nobody's sure which to check.

Formed by
U.S. Commercial ServiceUSAIDOSI Systems Royal Society of ArtsWindsor CastleBritish American ProjectIATAN
Working together

Three ways to start.

01

Executive Decision Intensive

One decision is holding everything up and your team keeps relitigating it. You get it in writing: what to do, in what order, and who owns each piece.

7–10 days
From $10,000
02

Operating Systems Diagnostic

You know you're losing money somewhere but can't point at it. I follow your customers all the way through, find where they fall over, and put a number next to each one.

3–5 weeks
From $25,000
03

Executive Corporate Workshop

Built around your actual situations, not case studies. Everyone leaves with a memo they can act on Monday morning.

One day · plus travel
From $15,000
See all engagements
Field notes

Things I keep seeing.

On handoffs

The gap is never in the pitch

It's in the handoff nobody owns — between the person who answered and the person who can act.

On automation

AI can't fix a job nobody owns

Automating an undefined process gets you a faster undefined process.

On spend

You already bought the tool

Most businesses don't need more software. They need the software they have to talk to each other.

AI can't fix a job nobody owns.

Field notes · On operations
Your move

Let's talk.

Write me four lines about what's breaking. I read everything myself, usually the same day. If I'm not the right person, I'll say so and point you at someone who is.

Tell me what's breaking