“Whatever your big thing is, say it out loud” with Sophie Greenwood

I’ve known Sophie Greenwood for a few years now, and she’s one of those people who can take all the ideas flying around your head and help you work out what you actually want to do with them. A couple of years ago, she ran a capacity planning workshop for my Blueprinters that was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me too. Coming from the creative agency world, I’d picked up some pretty bad habits around saying yes to work and simply working more hours to fit it all in. So I knew a conversation with Sophie about planning, capacity and how we actually make our ideas happen would be an insightful one. Sophie Greenwood is the founder of Three Beams Thinking and a strategy and planning mentor for small, creatively minded businesses. In this episode, we talk about those bigger ideas we have for our businesses – the things we’d love to do one day but perhaps don’t say out loud because we’ve got no idea how we’d actually make them happen – and how planning can help you start bridging that gap. We also get into capacity planning, why so many of us overestimate how much we can realistically fit into our working week, and why having a plan doesn’t mean you have to rigidly stick to it when things change. And we talk about how Sophie has gone from chasing the next job, promotion or pay rise to being much more driven by curiosity and making room for work that excites her. **What you’ll learn in this episode:** - How to take a big idea and start turning it into something that feels achievable - Why understanding your actual capacity can help you make more realistic decisions about your time and workload - How to use a plan to give your business direction without feeling like you have to rigidly stick to it **About Sophie Greenwood** Sophie is the founder of Three Beams Thinking, and is a Leeds-based business planning and strategy mentor for small business owners, entrepreneurs and freelancers. After working full-time as Head of Operations for six years, Sophie became self-employed in 2022. She now supports small business owners to structure big ideas into action plans, understand their capacity, and really prioritise what will push their business forward. When she’s not surrounded by post-it notes, you’ll usually find her organising a networking event, or chasing after her two young children. **Links** Three Beams Thinking website Follow Sophie on Instagram Connect with her on LinkedIn Super Seconds Festival This podcast is hosted by Fliss Lee, brand coach and Head of Brand at Honest Folk. Fliss helps founders and freelancers build businesses that work for them. **Enjoyed this episode?** I write about building a business that works for you, brand, and doing things your own way in my newsletter. Sign up here. Connect with me on ⁠Instagram⁠ or ⁠LinkedIn⁠.