Hi, I'm Emma.
I help business owners build the business they want, and the life that goes with it.
I founded and run Why Lab, an online education platform that supports early-stage business owners to get clear on their why, set the right goals and build a plan to get there.
And I own a franchise of The Alternative Board in Brisbane South West, where local business owners meet every month to work through each other's biggest challenges, with one-to-one coaching alongside.
Before that, I spent over twenty years leading sales, operations and transformation in the UK and Australia. I've owned and run a construction business too, so I know what it's like when it's your name on the door.
Because I believe business should serve your life, not the other way around.
Why I became a coach.
The person behind the business
Behind every business is a human being. Someone with ambitions, responsibilities, hopes and fears. Someone who probably started out with a vision of what they wanted to create, not just financially, but for themselves and the people they care about.
And somewhere between the day-to-day demands, the people challenges, the financial pressures and the endless decisions, that original vision can get lost.
I’ve seen business owners work harder and harder, build increasingly successful businesses on paper, and yet find themselves with less freedom, less time and sometimes less enjoyment than they had when they started.
I’ve come to believe that building a successful business and building a fulfilling life shouldn’t be competing ambitions.
Why I made the change
That belief also played a big part in my own decision to become a coach.
After years in senior leadership roles, I knew I wanted to do work that felt more personally meaningful. Work that fulfilled my own sense of purpose: making a genuine difference in people’s lives.
Looking back, those had always been the most rewarding moments of my career. Not necessarily the biggest commercial achievements, but the moments when I’d helped someone see something differently, overcome a challenge or realise what they were capable of.
But I also wanted something different for myself.
I wanted the freedom to choose who I worked with and to do meaningful, challenging work on my own terms. Most importantly, I wanted to put my family first. Not at the expense of professional fulfilment, but alongside it.
I wanted to create a working life that reflected my own priorities and values. And in many ways, that’s exactly what I now help other business owners do.
Success looks different for everyone.
For one person, it might mean doubling their revenue, building a leadership team and creating a business that can thrive without them.
For another, it might mean working four days a week, being home for school pickup, taking a proper holiday or simply sleeping better at night.
Neither is more successful than the other.
What matters is whether the business you’re building is actually helping you create the life you want to live.
What I bring.
Commercial know-how
I love the commercial side of business: understanding what makes an organisation tick, unpicking problems, challenging assumptions, making sense of the numbers and finding better ways of doing things.
The question that makes you stop and think
What I enjoy most is the conversation that makes someone stop and think. The question that challenges an assumption. The moment something clicks and a problem that seemed overwhelming suddenly feels manageable.
Somewhere to think out loud
Leadership can be lonely. When you’re the person everyone turns to for answers, there aren’t always many places where you can admit you don’t have them. That’s the space I want to create.
Honest conversations
I’m not there to tell people how to run their businesses or pretend I have all the answers. I’m there to ask questions, challenge thinking, offer ideas and, when necessary, have the conversations that others might avoid.
I don’t believe great coaching is about creating dependency on a coach. It’s about helping people become more confident, capable and intentional in the decisions they make for themselves.
I became a coach because I wanted to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, while creating a life that was meaningful to me. And there’s something incredibly rewarding about helping other people do the same.
A track record of transformation.
I've spent my career helping organisations change and grow: turning around results, merging businesses, taking teams through big change and growing revenue in tough markets.
- $1.2m lossturned around to almost break-even in 12 months as COO of the Australian College of Pharmacy, by growing revenue and streamlining operations
- 120% growthin digital advertising revenue year on year as Sales Director at Fairfax, while delivering the Fairfax of the Future transformation
- 100,000 peopleacross 300 locations, in the largest IT transformation in Federal Government in over a decade, while I was at PwC
- 4,000+community pharmacies supported as National Manager at the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, with full financial and operational accountability
I'm at home in the numbers.
With an honours degree in business and finance and years of running P&Ls, I help owners understand what their numbers are really telling them, and which levers to pull.
From budgets and cash flow to the five-year financial projections behind a capital raise, I make the numbers make sense, so you can make decisions with confidence.
Where I've been.
Over twenty years in sales, operations and transformation, in big organisations and small ones, in the UK and Australia.
Sales leadership
From advertising sales in the UK to Sales Director at Fairfax Media, growing revenue in a fast-changing, highly disrupted market.
Fairfax Media, Domain, Newsquest London
Leading transformation
At PwC and in government consulting, I led change on major programs for Defence, the Australian Federal Police and across Federal Government.
PwC, Canberra Consulting
Running the business
As a COO and General Manager, I've run operations, people and the numbers, from a national training business to a prop-tech company.
Australian College of Pharmacy, Pharmacy Guild of Australia, prop-tech
Owning the business
I've owned and run a construction business, and today I own Why Lab, a business training platform, and a franchise of The Alternative Board in Brisbane.
Construction, The Alternative Board, Why Lab
Qualifications: Honours degree in Business and Finance, Oxford Brookes University. Prosci Certified Change Practitioner. Diploma of Leadership and Management.
“I've worked with Emma on numerous occasions, across a collective of significant business projects. I have always found her insights, experience and recommendations to be on-point and undeniably outstanding. Her capabilities and guidance speaks for itself when you are the recipient, and I couldn't recommend her more highly to anyone looking for someone to be by their side, or to lead them to a successful outcome!”
Leisa, real estate business owner