About Suzanne

I help experienced women turn their expertise into a business that works - and makes a difference.

When I started my own business, referrals were consistent and valuable. I felt successful.

Then they slowed, and I found myself moving between feast and famine. Even though I had expertise people valued, I still had much to learn about building the business around it.

I appointed myself as my own client, drawing on business strategy, marketing, advertising and human behaviour to change how I saw my business - and how I led it.

Today, I help other business owners make that shift: bringing their expertise together with the self-trust, influence and practical skills to lead the business around it.

A business worth building.
One that rewards your work.

Purpose gives you a reason to build the business. Profit gives you the means to keep doing it, pay yourself and invest in what comes next.

Profit keeps the business alive.
Purpose makes it worth building.

A CHANGE IN TITLE .

A GAP IN SELF-BELIEF.

I thought I was going to be fired. Instead, I was promoted.

When I was called to the Managing Director’s office at George Patterson Advertising, my confidence was at rock bottom. Instead of losing my job - as I had feared - I became the first woman appointed to the Board

They saw someone ready for the responsibility. I didn’t.

My title changed, but my belief that I wasn’t good enough stayed with me.

Much later, I recognised that experience as Imposter Syndrome. Writing Liberate Leadership helped me understand how the way we see ourselves can limit what we recognise and contribute.

That experience shapes my work today: helping people recognise the capability they already have and develop what a new role requires.

About Suzanne

When I started my business, people were knocking on my door. Referrals were consistent and valuable. I felt successful.

Then the referrals slowed, and I found myself moving between feast and famine. Even though I had expertise people valued, I still had much to learn about building a thriving businessaround it.

So, I made myself my own client, drawing on my experience in strategy, marketing, advertising and human behaviour to see my business differently and change how I approached it. That thinking became Perspective | Possibilities | Performance.

Today, I help business owners make that shift too - bringing their expertise together with the skills and confidence to lead the business around it.

Seeing people find room for excitement, courage, collaboration and the contribution they wanted to make is what sets me on fire.

A business worth building. One that rewards your work.

• A business worth building. One that rewards your work.

Purpose gives you a reason to build the business - the difference you want to make to the people you want to serve.
Profit gives you the means to keep doing it, pay yourself and invest in what comes next.

• Profit keeps the business alive. Purpose makes it worth building.

I want both for the people I work with: pride in their contribution and a business that rewards their effort.

The experience behind my work

I thought I was going to be fired. Instead, I was promoted.

When I was called to the Managing Director’s office at George Patterson Advertising, my confidence was at rock bottom. My mind went to the worst possible outcome. Instead, I was promoted from Account Director to the Board - the first woman appointed.

They saw someone ready for that responsibility. I didn’t. My title changed, but my belief that I wasn’t good enough stayed with me. I didn’t recognise my existing capabilities or how to expand them to contribute to the Board. After 2 years of stress, I left.

Much later, I came to understand my experience of Imposter Syndrome as a case of mistaken identity. Writing Liberate Leadership: How the Imposter Syndrome Impacts Leadership and What to Do About It was my business therapy - and the beginning of the work I do today.

That experience, and building my own business, taught me the importance of recognizing our existing capability and developing what a new role requires.

How we work

A solid foundation for your business

To create a solid foundation, we explore your purpose and the key aspects of your perspective - identity, values and beliefs - to see how well they align with your vision for the business.

Purpose gives direction. Identity shapes how you see yourself, what you consider possible, the capabilities you recognise and the responsibilities you feel able to take on. When these pull in different directions, effort alone may not bring the results you want.

I help you question and reshape the beliefs that hold you back, recognise more of your capability and align your choices with what you want to build. A broader perspective opens possibilities: making your value clearer, approaching potential clients with greater confidence and taking on the decisions your business needs.

We turn that understanding into practical development - business development skills, management and leadership, useful systems and clearer financial information. Perspective opens possibilities. Putting them into practice supports performance and business success.

I’ll challenge you gently and respectfully, listening carefully and asking questions in ways that help you hear them, gain insight and move forward. We can explore difficult things without making you feel diminished.

Experience and programmes

What I’ve built from that understanding.

What I’ve built from that understanding.

For the past 20 years, I’ve developed programmes that put this approach into practice, including Soft Skills MBA, Skirting Leadership, Liberate Leadership and Emerging Leaders. I’ve also created a simulation to help managers and leaders explore how to improve their impact.

In 2008, I founded Purpose to Profit to serve organisations. My work with business owners draws on that experience, bringing together purpose, vision, business strategy and engaging leadership.

A small cross section of clients I’ve worked with

Client Experience

In their own words

These accounts reflect a small cross section of my work with business owners and people in larger organisations - recognising capability, building confidence and putting new understanding into practice.

“Suzanne has a way of cutting through the crap to get to the core of what’s holding me back. She taught me to unpack my mind as if it were a dusty old kitchen cupboard and took me through a thorough spring clean, uncovering the old expired beliefs that no longer served me, and replacing them, all the while helping me to re-connect with my purpose and values, ensuring they are guiding my strategies and day-to-day decisions. The tools I have learned have truly helped me to become unapologetically, unashamedly me. It’s incredibly liberating. And good for the business too.”

Jacqui Nolan-Neylan, Co-Founder, Revvies Energy Strips

“The coaching sessions were conducted in an extremely safe and confidential environment allowing me to look at very specific situations, to recognise the underlying mindset and patterns of behaviour that were contributing to the challenges I was experiencing in the workplace and to use tools to handle these situations differently, creating very different and more positive outcomes.

I have great confidence that I now have the tools and resources to lead effectively at work.”

Lisa Fleming, General Manager - HR, Admin, Finance & Licensing, Alternate Care Pty Ltd at the time of coaching

“Your Strategy and Marketing workshops are stimulating, educational and experiential. Your coaching embeds their learning and challenges both their thinking and actions, equipping my top clients to step up as leaders and take their businesses to the next level.”

Russell Irving, National Manager Dealer Sales

“Your presentation was, hands-down, one of the most consummate performances I have seen ever. Purposeful, masterful, to the point, engaging, and flexible. And your workshop was a practical and tangible introduction to the reasons for and surprising power of positive psychology.”

Edward King, Senior Scientist, CSIRO

How would you like to move forward?

If you want your business to make a difference and reward the work you put into it, I’d like to help you move towards that. We can explore what’s holding you back, build on the expertise you bring and develop what you need to lead the business forward.

You can work with me individually or explore Built on Purpose™.

Explore Built on Purpose

Work with Suzanne

If you’re unsure where to begin, start with the free Feast or Famine Business Diagnostic. It helps you
see what’s working, what may be keeping your business reactive and where to focus next.

Explore the Feast or Famine Business Diagnostic

Thoughtful challenge.

Practical change.

We begin with how you see yourself, what matters to you and what may be limiting your choices. Then we connect that understanding to the decisions and practices your business needs.

I’ll listen carefully, ask questions that help you see differently and challenge you gently and directly. We can explore difficult things without making you feel diminished.

The work brings perspective, possibilities and performance together - in your positioning, relationships, commercial decisions and day-to-day actions.

Experience changes the questions you ask.

I’ve led in marketing and advertising, been the first woman appointed to the Board of George Patterson Advertising, and experienced the rollercoaster of building my own business.

For more than 20 years, my work has brought together mindset, leadership and business strategy. I help people recognise what they bring - and develop what their next role requires.