Swain & Co

Business should be joyful - not a constant source of stress.

Yet here you are - brilliant at what you do, successful by most measures, but wondering why running your business feels so damn hard some days.

Shh don't tell the advisors, but you don't need more advice. What you need is a fractional business manager - someone who gets it & helps you focus on what will actually make a difference.

Hi 👋🏻 that's where I come in - here to infuse your business with joy (and solid AF commercial outcomes).

Unlike VAs who handle admin, I bring strategic thinking AND execution. I'm your commercial sounding board who actually does stuff. We work together for 90 days to see what's going on (and getting pushed aside), what can be removed, changed, delegated or automated, then create the plan to get it done - whatever your business needs to bring your je ne sais quoi to the front & centre of the work you do.

What this delivers:
→ Strategic clarity without consultant waffle

→ Real-world solutions that honour your reality

→ Someone to bounce ideas off

→ Progress on things that actually make a difference

→ Systems & processes that stick

→ Change that sneaks up on you (humans need time to shift habits)

I specialise in 90-day resets & fractional partnerships for established consultants, plus support growing businesses preparing to hire their first manager.

The results? Clients go from 60-hour weeks to proper holidays, constant firefighting to strategic thinking, "how did I get here?" to "hell yes, I love this."

Ready to stop feeling like you're making it up on the daily?

→ Join my Monday office hours (12-1pm)

→ Book a virtual cuppa 

→ Visit www.alanaswain.com 

You bring your brilliance, I'll bring the practical support & strategic thinking. Let's make your business work for you, not against you.

Director

Me-Moir

Freeing trapped photos. Slayer of photo purgatory. 
Bringing back old school photo albums with convenience. 
Determined our next generation will know where they came from so they know where they are going.

TBH - life with one business and 3 kids under 5 is pretty hectic, so ye old Me-Moir is on the back burner until 2025 but I'm so excited to kick things back off and get more photos into your hands then!!

Chief Memory Officer

Your Business Club by Your Success Team

** Now included in my weekly office hours!!** 

Connection and help - by business owners, for business owners.  


When you're in small* business, there's common themes:

💰 You're not making enough money (or if you are, it's not in the right places at the right time and cashflow is bloody hard) 
⏰  You've not got enough time (for all the things, ideas and stuff you want and need to do) 
💡 You have SO many ideas and working out which are most impactful is HARD work
😔 It's bloody lonely at times and the rest of the online world looks like it's got it's 💩 sorted. 

We help with that. Your Business Club is built for connection and help - by business owners, for business owners.  

So who are we? 

Your Success Team is a collective of business experts, formed by  myself and my business partner Robyn Brown. We're heart based entrepreneurs, who have created NZ's first space built by business owners - for business owners.  

Because, at the end of the day, YOU as the amazing business owner you are, you want to make money from your talents, while living life on your (very unique) terms.  Which is why when we all get the chance to bring our talents, experience and grit to the table, we're going to be amazed at what we’ll create together. 

We're here to help you with truthfulness, doggedness and not a small dose of common sense, walking alongside you, supporting you to run a business where you’re no longer holding all the cards to your chest and trying to do this alone. 

Meet, learn, connect, thrive. Be blinking awesome and make business more fun!

Co-Founder & Business Owner

Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd

Created & embedded amazing capability programmes and initiatives that supported the overall development of Ballance's people across New Zealand, including creating a tailored embedded literacy programme, revamped onboarding experience and helping increase the insights from the Employee Experience survey platform.

Organisational Capability Advisor

Westpac New Zealand Limited

180 staff.  3 locations. 2.5 million phone calls per year. Thousands of emails each week.  I loved leading this great team who are the "voice" of Westpac. 

Customers from all walks of life need help in many moments of truth (or transaction) and chose to use us. So that meant I had the very great opportunity leading the team, creating the customer experience which created those moments of real connection with each customer, in the right way for them, treating them with warmth, empathy and respect, taking the fear or stress out of banking jargon and financial situations. 

Our challenge was to create an environment where our amazing people were in a position to be able to do that, for every customer, during every interaction, consistently.  Our diversity and empathy enabled that to happen, alongside the creation of new CX focussed capability programmes including onboarding and upskilling. 

During my time here with these great folks, we dropped out attrition from over 40% to  below 15%, increased staff engagement from the 30% mark to over 70% and onboarded some 70+ new staff within a 12 month period. 

This time also saw the implementation of a full onsite outsourced staffing model (with a further 30+ onboarded, meshing two sets of company values into one site) and the establishment of a cloud based telephony platform. Both required significant change and project management.

Senior Manager Service Contact Centre 

Got asked to come back to the Big Red W.  Hooray - nice to know I was missed.  Red suited me a bit better than Green did.  

What an great new team and role this was! We got cool stuff done, differently! Thinking outside the box to disrupt the norms, for employees, customers, and shareholder impact.  Key focus on CX,  NPS, Revenue and Team Engagement.  Knocked it all out of the park - so the aussies then came to steal our ideas! (more of the details below!) 

It was a huge privilege to set up & lead this amazing team of digital banking advocates.  We  were dedicated to transforming our customer service experiences across a number of interaction points - creating the best of two channels - branch and contact centre for our customers. 

Changing consumer expectations & technological advancements, mean banking relationships are firmly being place in hands of our customers - so that they choose when and where they do their banking.  What I loved about this role, was balancing the dynamic between forging personal connections, balanced with digital advancements, facing into the future while honouring our experience and past. 

Fair to say, I loved this gig.  There was also the HUGE transformation project sitting alongside the executive team and Mckinsey Consultants, with a focus on optimising revenue, decreasing wastage and expenses, and increasing staff and customer satisfaction (hit me  up if you want the war stories from this one - so many lessons, still a few bruises held, totally worth the ride!)

Digital Bank Manager and Change Leader

Kiwibank

Got shoulder tapped. How cool.  

Got to mesh two different brands into one team, in a change adverse community on Auckland's North Shore.  

Tons of fun, lots of learning.  Got to run a post shop and Christmas - ticked that off the bucket list! 

Had an amazing team that went through transformation, new learning and change at a pace that would make eyes water.  They nailed it.  Love them to pieces!!

Local Manager

Turned a team around - from bottom 5 branch to top 5 branch. 

They rocked it.  Loved being in a community, having an impact for my team and those around us.

Bank Manager

Saw all the ways money impacts us humans. 

Helped people suss their finances. Get out of debt. Get on top of bills. Learn how to budget. 

Buy homes, first homes, first investment homes.  Buy new cars, start savings accounts. Plan trips back to the islands to see family. Have money left over to send to family.  Got to see their joy. Loved it.

Customer Banking Consultant

Helped the Bank Managers run better teams, with more confidence. 

Sales training, reporting, analysis, performance management support.

(Did the "boring stuff" behind the scenes which enabled them to do the important stuff!)

Operational Support

Supported basically every branch managed in the country at some stage across their employee's lifescycle. 

I've hired right across NZ for them and loved it!!

Hr Administrator, Retail recruitment consultant

AER Recruitment

Helped small business owners, public sector managers and corporate HR to find the right people at the right time.

Recruiter

Bachcare Holiday Homes

Kept customers happy, the managers loving their work, the home owners proud to share their homes. 

AKA kept the lights on, the emails and phones answered, the cashflow going, the invoices going out and coming back in. Cleaned a few houses when it really got pinchy too - because, you know #startup life! (well, and an excuse to get to the beach!)

Office Manager

It's 3am and you're lying awake thinking about your business again. Sound familiar?

Your business looks successful (& on the good days, feels it) but here's what I know: your expertise got you here, but it won't get you to the next level. 

Business should be joyful - not a source of 3am anxiety.

Shh don’t tell the advisors, but I don’t think you need more advice right now. What you need is a fractional business manager. Someone who gets it, can see what's going on & helps you focus on what will actually make a difference. 

Yay, you found me! (And like many of my amazing clients, you might not have realised that such a partnership existed!) Think: your commercial sounding board who actually does stuff, not just gives advice. Not just a spare set of hands, I’m an external plan, with a brain, that gently keeps the progress going in the right places. 

While VAs handle admin tasks, I bring strategic thinking AND execution to help brilliant consultants like you master the bit that's actually hard (managing the business), because you're already great at doing the work.

What this looks like:
I work alongside you for 90 days to see clearly what’s going on (and getting pushed to the side), what can be removed or changed, delegated or automated. We'll create a plan to get it done together. We can integrate AI, overhaul (or tweak!) your business model, or put check out the ways we can put better processes in place to protect your mojo. The work we do together is designed to do whatever your business needs to bring your je ne sais quoi to the front and centre and turn down the noise of the other stuff.

Most business advice assumes you have unlimited time OR resources. 

I know better. 

I work with your reality: the mental load of running everything, the challenge of letting go, the fact that you're still doing while improving, oh and LIFE will keep life-ing! 

My approach is very hands on, because humans take time to shift our habits.  

Results my clients see:
"After the first conversation there was a glimmer. The next week I had a solid, tangible plan & progress like I hadn't made in 18 months."

"Everyone needs an Alana in their life! She's been game-changing for my business."

Ready to infuse your business with joy (and some solid AF commercial outcomes, too?)
Join my free Monday office hours (12-1pm) where business owners swap ideas & get feedback
Book a virtual cuppa to explore working together
Visit www.alanaswain.com for more details
Not ready yet? Follow me for practical insights, energy & overuse of weird analogies

Alana Swain

On Saturday I braved a just mum + trio of cuteness outing to town, which included The “Best Hot Chocolate in the World” (according to my middlest child) at my friend Sean's cafe.

The table over from us, an older couple were sat, with that “Ah, we so appreciate this isn’t our chapter anymore, but we remember it fondly” look on their faces.

Because I am great at random conversation, of course, we struck up a conversation. "wow, are these all yours?" followed by "how do you manage work with all of them?"

(mostly, it’s beautiful chaos, I was VERY clear about that!)

We got talking about running a business that lets me work 40-ish weeks a year with most school holidays off.

Hard? Yes. Joyful? Darned straight. 

I acknowledged the very great privilege, the hard work, the joy but this was made so much easier to share when the WHY behind that effort and those decisions was sat right there (grubbily popping jam and hot chocolate all over their cute, dimpled faces, the Best Hot Chocolate in the World Moustache proved the point)

She could see how hard, how joyful, how All The Things it was for me, because she had been there and done that, her way, herself.

I believe that we don’t, in general, have enough role models shining a light from the next chapters. Sitting with us, going "yes, I know this bit is hard, I am here, how can I help?" 

As we race into the last week’s of 2025 (some of us wearing hot chocolate moustaches!), I'm curious:

🔦 Who have been those role models for you this year? What have they taught you?

🌈 What brought you structured or chaotic joy in business – the kind where even though it was hard, you're grateful for it?

😻 Where does your greatest joy come from right now, and is your business designed to help that flourish?

My last two office hours for the year are today (Monday 12pm) and then next week on Monday 15th. If you’d like some random conversations, come join us, message me and I’ll pop you the link.

Here's to the serendipity of random conversations and the people who remind us we're not alone in this (and, the best hot chocolates in the world!)

A selfie photo taken of Alana and two of her three children. The middlest holds a huge cookie in front of his face, the youngest has hot chocolate on her face and smiles at the camera. 

As a small town kid, I love community.

I love watching the magic of "oh you're those people" as the links of connection start, usually from who we are, not what our jobs or role title are.

A business ecosystem grows well when it grows together. 

Yesterday evening Jade Maddox and I hosted the first Tauriko Business LinkedIn event that builds on what we have created in our LinkedIn Local Tauranga community.

In person connection, favouring conversations about kid wrangling, racing cars, roading, favourite coffee stops and the excitement of new additions to the neighborhood that all mean so much more than a shallow transactional business card handover. 

This is how networking should be! 

With only 20% of the Tauriko estate developed, there is so much growth in our business community yet to come, and if the feedback we've already received is anything to go by, this is a cool group of humans determined AND excited about the potential for building a strong, connected and collaborative business community.

We're working through feedback from our questions now and will be back with details for our next event soon!

There truly is something special about the spirit and connection of in person events that really reminds me of how cool humans can be.

Thanks heaps for joining us Leeann Bassett Heather Lowery-Kappes Nikki Bollen Alex Slack Tania Swain Deborah Jamieson Shane Meys Amanda Meys Willem de Bod Kate Anderson Leith Swinney Amanda Gilbertson and everyone else I've no doubt forgotten to tag!

8 years ago I waddled off my contact centre floor to become two people. 

I *had* been trying to slow down 

I was determined to work right up (because "first babies are never early!") 

I ended a call with the Head of ER, having pushed a meeting out to the new year

I phoned my boss to tell him I was off to turn into two people. 
 
My to do list still had two pages on it with things I was petrified of letting my team down by leaving undone. 

And then, voila, one first baby = 2.5 weeks early. 

Go figure! 

Guess what? My team? They were all fine! 
My to do list? I did the compliance related essentials about 6 weeks later while the little guy slept and then the next day, took him in for a visit to see the team. 
The rest? It just had to wait. 

It's still waiting. 

Because, I never went back to that job. 

So, that to do list? It taught me so much about what's really important. 

Yes, we can do so much, but we often over inflate what we HAVE to do. 


For many, this week is the last working week of 2025, and so you might be like me, scurrying around, trying to put a neat bow on your to do list. 

Trust me when I say - unless you work in a life and death space (in which case, why are you here on Linkedin?!!) - it DOESN'T MATTER as much as you think it does. 

No-one is going to die. 
Things will keep moving along
Things can even stay sat right there ready for when you come back to it in the new year. 

There's no prizes for waddling out as the busiest person heading into maternity leave and there's no prizes for how you finish the year. 

And now, I'm off to go celebrate my eldest's big 8th birthday because that's what today's all about, and every year, he gifts me with that reminder and the perspective. 

What can you stop trying to finish perfectly and just stop this week?

(📷 from Arna Taani of me preggers with third baby 3.5 years ago)

Photo of heavily pregnant Alana hugging her belly while sitting meditating in the sand dunes. She wears a fuschia jumper, black pants and white sneakers.

Surprising fact: next week, I'm 2 years off FB and Instagram. 

AND my mental health, focus and presence have never been better. 

It started as my usual offline summer month, and I just kept going. 
And, I don't miss it! 

My relationships with my friends are stronger because our catch ups need to be crafted to work on text, phone, real world settings.  
People check to tell me things rather than presuming I saw it on a scroll fest
The advertisers can't get me in their #girlboss shenanigans so I chase less shiny squirrels and end up in a toxic email marketing funnel 😂

This year? I added a paper subscription to HBR to my digital one and OH BOY do I love learning when I can get the pens out and scribble in the margins. 

Now, I take a magazine or paperback with me, so in moments like this one, I can read for a few minutes before someone arrives. 

Micro learning, stacking up. 
Moments of calm in my *often* full life
Tactile, conscious consumption of a media & therefore message of my choice

It's a small shift that's oddly powerful when compounded and I am enjoying how more offline time will shape my summer. 

I usually have a good 3-6 weeks without podcasts or non fiction and let my brain craze on utter frivolity. 

It makes my future self perform better, with rest & reflection. 

Yes, there's always something new to learn. Yes social media is a powerful form of connection BUT those both have downsides to our overall long term performance as leaders, business owners, humans navigating the world. 

What could you throw away for the summer and see how you benefit from not being "always on"?

Photo of a magazine open on a wooden table. The magazine shows text with a picture of a lion to the right. There are colourful pilot pens and an iced mocha sitting beside the magazine. 

"It's helpful having something to point to"

This month, I've done a roaring trade in Brain Vacuums.

(This is an excellent and smart time of the year to have your brain cleared out and things to focus on made explicit!)

The number one thing people comment on? 

How powerfully it is to have something clear to look at, point to, and talk through.

Yes, we live an age of incredible productivity tools and transcription aids.

But the best tools I bring are these colorful ones: post its, big paper, coloured pens.

It never ceases to amaze me what comes out when there's something to point to!

Are you also a mad fan of colour and writing /mind mapping /doodling to think your way to clarity? 

Or could it be something new to try to help aid your 2026 plans?

#planning 

👋 here to help with the how to bring those big business ideas to life.(Also vacuuming brains since ages ago 🧠🥰 !) 

📷 Credit to Becker McGuire featuring the always colourful and big idea generating Miraka Davies

Alana and Miraka sit in front of a wooden table both have post it notes they are writing on. They sit in front of a colorful pink, red and purple wall l.

People often ask me how I am such a connection queen, and here, the fantabulous Lizzie Davidson makes (as per usual) an excellent point - befriending those who might be deemed our competitors are often (ahem, nearly always) our best alllies, advocates and ongoing referral partners as we grow our expertise led businesses. 

So yes, I've got strong muscle memory in connecting others (you can't unlearn being a recruiter!) and yes, I take the time to know the human, to sense the vibes they bring, and see who they'll benefit from knowing and then offer to connect them to someone awesome who might help in some small way..... 

But also? 

I do this thing - I regularly get out of my own way and connect, befriend and learn from those who work doing much of the same mahi I do. And in that spirit, some of my very best business collabs have been born (looking at you in particular Robyn Brown Christopher Miller and Elise Enriquez!) 

What's your stance on collabetition? (did I just make that word up?!)

Sweary Scottish content specialist for solo pros | DIY your website copy with me in March

I’ve always had a big old soft spot for LinkedIn coach Leeann Bassett because she invited me for a virtual coffee when I was a green lil newbie all wet behind the ears. And she was so nice to me, even although we actually do a few of the same things and could even be considered competitors (LE GASP!)

Slight tangent … be more Leeann.

Befriend people who do the same thing as you.

Especially if they’re new to the scene.

Or especially if they’re established and brilliant at what they do.

Or especially, ESPECIALLY if they provoke that slightly queasy feeling in your tummy. You know the one … that feeling that means, gosh I wish I could be more like them. That's your sign to go make a new mate. 

Anyways, I digress.

In July, I got to know Leeann better because she joined the group of solo pros who DIYed their website copy with me.

And she was THE most wonderful addition to the group, especially in week 4 where we looked at ways to drive traffic to your newly bedazzled site.

But Leeann has had a bit of a tough year. She admits she’s always tended to push hard, over-deliver and take on a lot. So not long after we wrapped up the programme, she hit a wall and had to take a break from the grind because she’d stretched herself too thin.

And boy do I get it. So, it was delightful to go to my neglected LinkedIn DMs and discover a note from Leeann with a link to this FREAKING MAGNIFICENT sales page.

Check it OUT - https://lnkd.in/g4AKyhSA

This is a masterclass in how to sales page. Clear, concise, friendly, helpful, easy to understand, great testimonials, not to mention the scorching hot pictures of Leeann looking like an absolute baddie. 

Leeann is rightly quite flippin' pleased with her efforts, and it's already attracting the right folks to her yard. Let's hear it for sales pages that sell.

If your sales pages are not this magnificent, I can help. DIY your website copy with me in March when I take a group of solo legends through what makes a great website for a solo coaches and consultants. 

Link in me featured items if you want to know more.

PS. Sign up to the waitlist by February 1 to save $250 smackers.

PPS. If you need LinkedIn content support in 2026, check out this offer from Leeann. Seriously. It’s a banger.

Still buzzing! Check out these pics from our biggest event yet LinkedIn Local Tauranga

And the jazz hands have been recharged for our new, hyper local Tauriko version which kicks off tonight! 

Pinching myself this is "Work!!" 

Thanks to all of you who have been part of bringing this community to life - I am so grateful to you all 💚

We are still buzzing from Friday - what a way to wrap up our events for 2025. 

The view = best in town 
The company = we'd argue the same! 
The conversation = the right mix of smarts, humour and practical insight

As our first panel interview, and with a record new crowd thanks to our incredible new hosts at Tauranga Club, truly this event was a highlight! 

These amazing pics from Anita Burgess capture the spirit of the day so well, don't you think?

Thanks go to our brilliant speaker line up Belinda Thomas Julian Thompson Karrina Mountfort and Steve Naudé you are all so smart, and full of instantly relatable wisdom around this fast changing world of AI, we think we can attest that everyone in the room took something away that they can use in their daily navigation of a new way of working in the world of AI. 

Thanks for a brilliant year - keep an eye out in your inboxes for the next event in February and we'll sprinkle a few bits of insight from our panellists over the next few weeks for you to ponder on. 

Leeann Bassett Alana Swain

One of the most joyful parts of being a fractional manager is the sense of connectedness that comes from being IN the team.

Particularly in the run up to xmas, the little micro moments of joy that sit in the staff room (we see you Cadbury Favourites!!), in the waiting room, in the fun xmas rituals shared together.   These moments stack up in my week to bring me joy that can't be measured just in my outcomes, revenue or impact.

For many solo pros, consultants or business owners just starting out, it is these moments that people miss, and one I am so grateful for every week I get to be part of the very clever pediatric crew at Nurture Paediatrics every Thursday.

Amanda Meys lets me run amok with big ideas, spreadsheets, performance conversations AND lets me have about 567 laughs by the end of each day with her incredible team. 

All the while, she gets to stay in her zone of utter genius helping little humans feel better navigating pain and working through injuries. 

They say when you have work you get to pinch yourself over, that you've found your space to do your best, and this is here, helping great specialists with big ideas bring a big dream to life and dent an industry. 

What micro moments of joy make you the most gleeful in your work (and does it include tequila like my Xmas wish?!) 

#lovewhatyoudo #santaletters 

👋 here to help with the how of business growth & performance.

Do you have a place that recharges you to your very core?

Perhaps it's a place, perhaps it's people. 

This weekend, we spent the weekend in one of my places.  

This cove, a little spot (known only to locals) on Auckland's Whangaparāoa Peninsula, is mine. At full tide, you are out within metres to deep water, surrounded by Pohutukawa trees that cling to the cliffs, a bay and space of beauty. At low tide, you can walk round either end of the Bay to the bigger beaches close by. 

Bliss. 

Me and the kids had our first sea swim for the year. I was a teeeny bit sad that I don't get to wander down here every day any more (but then Auckland traffic in the rain the next day made up for that 😂)

As we race into the busiest month for many people , knowing what recharges you is an important part of your planning. 

I'm planning on keeping sandy toes as regular an occurence as I can throughout summer. 

It's one of my "best me" ingredients. 
Helping me show up better for those around me - family, friends, clients, community. 

I believe you can do more of your best when you are fuelled with joy - infusing better decisions, greater presence and better momentum in most spaces of life (and certainly in business!) 

Where might you find spaces, places and people to fuel you with joy this December?

#joyasstrategy #planning

👋🏻 my joyful office hours (likely to be renamed the Overthinking Club in 2026) is live at 12 today - if you'd like to join us (where snorts of laughter are often to be found) then we'd love to have you! Pop me a message and I'll send you the link - zero expectations, free, full of joy & great humans are always welcome!

Photo shows a bay of water, with a silhouetted shadow of Alana standing in the shade of pohutukawa trees. The water  is in the sunshine and the sky is blue. 

Dear Adulting Human who hires others:

Other Humans will Suck

It’s a truth you need to make peace with if you want to grow with a team: no-one will do it quite like you.

And that’s ok

But yes, it does suck (quite often)

Love, Me

(PS that's the something I can help with. I can't fix it, but I can help make it easier!)

See you there tomorrow (I'm bringing my jazz hands and will be caffeinated ready to go with some (hopefully!) on point questions to bring the brilliance of this panel to life

There's a handful of tickets left if you haven't got yours - get into it!

Is the sun going to come out tomorrow for THIS view to shine alongside the beautiful company that is our community of LinkedIn local Tauranga?

Oh we hope so! 

But, if not, there's caffeine, good company, great conversation and we are SO excited to welcome you all to arguably one of the best views in town as our new venue hosts Tauranga Club welcome us up! 

We're hosting an AI expert panel interview, so bring a friend, your questions and grab one of the very lucky last tickets thanks to the bigger capacity! 

Leeann Bassett Alana Swain Karrina Mountfort Steve Naudé Julian Thompson Belinda Thomas Anita Burgess Marie Roberts see you all tomorrow and let's bring the vibes to this great venue!

What impact would a 23% impact have on your average customer order?

And what if that compounded over 23 months?

What shape might your business be in with that kind of shift?

One of my epic clients has leaned in to a HUGE list of things that fit his chosen approach to "take time but no extra investment of cash".  

The strategy? 

To increase the overall customer value (retention, order size, overall stickiness and advocacy) and as a result of what we've been working on these last 6 months, his average customer order is up 23% (and raced up 68% last week thanks to the introduction of bundled products!) 

Bloody proud of you Blair Coates for the mahi you've done leading into the crazy e-comm silly season! 

And, for my friends who need something local, NZ based, made with love and looking for Xmas gift ideas (both for family OR clients), I can HIGHLY recommend Nudi Point!

Go nudge that average order up for us even higher, would you? 😍

#customerlove #nzmade #businessgrowthdone

Every year I spend *far* too long compiling this list

BUT y'know, it's become a helpful ritual to full stop the year. 

A year where lots I didn't get round to, I kept reading. 

On track for 52 books by year end (maybe 53, depending on what my family might gift me for Xmas) 

Here's how I read:
- I have a paperback book on the go beside my bed. Usually from the library because then I feel I need to finish it before it's due! 

- I borrow e-books from the library (again, I'll read before due)

- I often have up to 8 books in physical format on the go at any one time (I'm a grazer for non fiction and like to dip in and out until I find something I want to go all in on) . I buy something when I want it and sometimes don't read it in full for ages (I'm NOT looking at you, Bird by Bird, I will finish you next year, I promise!) 

- I swapped social scrolling for e-books and it changed my habits for the better. Libby is now usually my most used app on my phone in any week (followed by my Yoga one, so, I'm happy with what that represents) 

- I let my kids catch me reading, and this way they have a love of books

I read fast (though not anywhere near as fast as Daria Williamson) I read broadly, I read based on recommendations and I read based on the serendipity of a good spine or cover (I'm judgemental like that!) 

And, here's the summary of my 2025 non fiction reads - including some most recommended at the end as a few people have been asking me for some inspo of late. 

I hope it offers something of value as the holiday mode starts to beckon - you'll find me trying to convince my kids to do something that allows me to read quietly under a tree!! 

What books have you read this year that I should add to my 2026 "to read" list? 

#bookworm

This summer, up and down NZ, in family businesses, the next generation of future entrepreneurs, innovators, founders and big dreamers have started in a less than glamourous summer job. 

Whether starting out on the workshop floor, aiding the others in order to meet summer shut down dates, or starting out in the office learning the basics of workflow and information flows while helping reconcile, tidy up and lend a hand on reception. 

These cool humans, with role models around them who are the very spirit of courage, (their parents, aunts or uncles, neighbours, friends, god parents) will learn more this summer than they are likely to ever in a class room. 

Learning the courage, flexibility, on the ground skills needed for business is (in my mind) done best when it’s done in the real world. 

One of the reasons I most love working with family business, is the reminders, like seeing the kids come into the lunchroom with PPE on (all of a sudden so much more grown up than they were a month ago!) of this learned wisdom. 

It sits on every main street, in every industrial estate, in the vans, trucks and vehicles travelling trades around town and across regions. 

Small family business (and the plucky humans running them!) are such an essential part of our business ecosystem. 

- Your decisions to purchase from them are deep and mean so much

- They buy local, support local and have their own supplier networks that help fuel your neighbourhood

- Their kids may well inherit this pluck, and craft their own (or take over the existing) business

- The things that are learned here are incredibly hard to replicate anywhere else.

In a world of convenience - it seems so very easy to choose online, to buy with fast delivery or a 78% discount promised. 

But, this summer, and heading into the peak Xmas spending season, I’d encourage you to support as local or as family owned as you can - to support this next gen of business owners (and their hard working role models & parents!). 

We need to foster this kind of smart, real world, gritty solution thinking because the problems we are yet to face as a human race are ones these kids need the tenacity, intelligence and courage to face into. 

(And, they aren’t going to get that just from books, or the big corporations) . 

I’m really curious to learn from you all, what did your summer job teach you as a kid? 

(mine: to talk to people from all walks of life, and to give a seemingly gazillion ways to get to Cathedral Cove while watching the reality of a business ecosystem from the main street view at the Whitianga Information Centre. 5 summers of that - well before any tripadvisor or even google maps, those lessons have stuck!!)

Dollop

I only recently launched dollop - 28th Aug 2023 to be precise. For the last 6 or 7 years I've been working for myself as well as the day job and I finally felt the need to have something a bit more professional for prospective clients to see what I do and can do... so along came dollop. 

dollop is a small, yet friendly multi-disciplined design studio based in sunny Tauranga here in New Zealand.  We popped over from the UK in 2019 for a year but liked it so much we pitched our flag and stayed. Thanks for letting us stay New Zealand. 

We specialise in a number of ‘designy’ things:

• Website design and build.
• Brand development ( logos, brand look, telling of the brand story ).
• Graphic design.
• Illustrations.

Business Owner

Tuskany

Senior Digital Designer

Travelopia

My role has a big UX / Visual design cross over with my time spent looking at ways to optimise the user journey for customers using our holiday websites. I work across two sites on projects both large and small dealing with external agencies and internal senior stakeholders within the business.  I've recently led the visual design and UX side of things for our luxury holiday finder with the brief to give customers a wider range of inspiration to the holidays we have on offer https://www.sovereign.com/luxury-holiday-finder/ 
Recently soft launched with a view to making a variety of round 2 UX improvements the tool is generation a lot of use and interest from our customers and is looking to be picked up by other brands under the company umbrella. 

I also played a big part in an online quote document for customers to share or use once they've spoken to one of the team over the phone. 

In my time at the company i've also worked on re-brands and a variety of customer documentation and print material.

TUI Travel PLC

My days are varied, interesting and often I’ll be working on two or three projects at once.  

I look at ways we can improve the user experience of our sites across devices, be that engaging the customer when browsing holidays and destinations or looking at ways to improve the booking flow. I spend my time researching, jotting down ideas and eventually presenting these to stakeholders. Once the design is approved my tasks also include testing, iterating and ensuring that the solutions we present are clean and easy to use, fit the brand and suit the business’ commercial needs as well as the customers. 

I think the digital experience a customer has should be held with equal importance to the visual design. It’s always interesting to watch user testing and from that, look for ways to improve the journey or AI. It’s always fantastic to see how little improvements and alterations can make a positive difference.   
Jobs will either be assigned to me or I’ll take on the research myself and look to get hard evidence of an area of the site that isn’t performing very well and offer ways of improvement. 

I have worked my way up to a higher position of responsibility in a short time and have been lucky enough to play a key role in larger projects such as leading the creative process of internal re-brands, leading the creative design of new projects, site platform changes and site improvements.

I have built up excellent working relationships with key stakeholders within the business as well as gaining a high level of trust within the digital, development and project teams.

I am confidently able to take on a brief and come up with a variety of well thought out creative and feasible solutions be that working on my own or within a team, often pitching these ideas and designs to key people within the business. I’ll always communicate with the development teams to make sure that what I’m designing is within scope and fits within their timeline.

Senior Digial Designer

Freelance work

- Branding for new and existing companies - From logo design, style guides and user friendly websites
- Logo design - Creating memorable logos that adhere to the brand. 
- Website design - Working with the client to create a user friendly site that works across devices.
- Illustration - Fun illustrations for childrens' books and posters. 
- Print material - From business cards to flyers I'll create eye catching and clear designs to suit the business need.

Freelance projects

CSC Media

• Managing the day to day running of two childrens websites
• Creating the content for the sites. Show promotion, games, interactive activities, banners
• Working on wireframe and designs for new site developments and improvements 
• Creating new “branded” areas for the websites and working with the TV team to encourage TV and website interaction.  Seeing the project through from ideas to final design and putting it together in our bespoke development cms tool. 
• Working with a team of developers to implement site design improvements
• Working with external clients and agencies on sponsored campaigns and site and game design.

Senior Web Editor

Key Skills
Web design, UX design, UI design, Product design from brief to launch,  print design, illustration, brand design, marketing and graphic design. 

And... Empathy, collaboration, understanding of business and user needs and communication 

I'm Senior Designer with over 9 years of experience delivering high quality creative solutions, products and designs to businesses big and small. 

I pride myself on a can do attitude and a great team ethos which allows me to communicate and work well with colleagues, key stakeholders and clients and ultimately deliver a great user friendly design that meets the need of the business and the customer. 

I've lead creative projects and brand direction, clearly and confidently presenting my design rational to clients from ideas through to completed products.

I've worked with and continue to work for start ups or smaller but established businesses to help bring their brands and ideas to life as well as making UX enhancements to their websites and applications.
I also work with authors to illustrate their children's books -I've now 5 published books to my name. 

I'm often on the look out for exciting opportunities so please say hi. 



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Alana Swain

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