Christine Hansen started her career as an English language and literature teacher after she graduated with a BA and MA In English literature. After ten years she started her career as an entrepreneur and it took her two businesses until she found her absolute sweet spot of being a business consultant helping entrepreneurs being more efficient and creating more time by using streamlining strategies and automation through technology.

Christine expresses, “I adore what I do. I am someone who is always interested in learning more and new things. So this year in October I started a Global Executive PhD at the ESCP Business School in Paris with a focus on entrepreneurship.

This has truly helped me to understand that I am representing the best of both worlds, entrepreneurship and the flexibility of mind that comes with it, as well as the rigor and structure I brought with me through my academic career.”

Helping Entrepreneurs

Christine founded her main company Sleep Like A Boss in 2015 and Christine Means Business in 2020.

She says, “After I sold Sleep Like A Boss in 2022 it was clear to me that I only wanted to focus on business consulting. It is what I am good at and I can easily relate to my clients and their journey because I have lived it myself. The challenge is to help these entrepreneurs see how urgent getting help is.”

“As I am not only selling “revenue”, or “more money” as most business coaches do, it hasn’t been easy to position myself clearly and it is still a journey to find the perfect articulation. And yet I can see the difference of more time in their business and a lesser workload. A leaner business is a relief as it offers more time for a great client experience and allows the development of new ideas as well, a craving every entrepreneur brings with them.”

Christine currently works with entrepreneurs who run successful small businesses but who start to hit a wall because for them there aren’t enough hours in a day. All of them started their business without a lot of knowledge of management and they often don’t feel comfortable with technology or they are simply not interested in it.

As a result, they still do every task themselves and that combined with a reluctance to outsource actually puts them at risk of burning out and stifling development.

When they come to her for help, they are very much aware of that and then her company audits their business, which is quite daunting for them, and then re-structure everything to be as efficient as possible, which often includes a hiring process of freelancers.

Christine believes, “The gig economy is very helpful in that instance as hiring full-time employees is often too risky for most of my clients at that stage. It offers a lot of flexibility and at the same time is a huge relief and initiates the process of making the company more scalable and less dependent on the founder.”

“While I am not certain that the tastes have evolved, the customer has gone through the first stages of entrepreneurship in this case. They launched, verified their idea and are successful with a steady stream of clients. This next stage of how to handle this workload is not as often talked about and not being a big corporation these businesses often fall through the cracks.” she says

Consulting versus Coaching

What Christine does is truly consulting versus coaching. She comes in and starts with a judgment-free audit to establish how the company is being run. In that instance, it is comparable to major auditing firms.

She then goes in and explains what can be rendered more efficient and simple and what tools or gig positions may be used.

After a discussion with her client, they then go and implement the changes. She supervises and supports and advises along the way. This is about a three-month process.

After that they evaluate with clear KPIs they set beforehand on what is working and what might not be and take it from there to implement new changes or not.

Once they have done that evaluation it is up to the client whether they want to continue to work with her on a retainer basis for new projects, which can be setting up a podcast, writing a book, developing a course or another passive income product for example.

This service isn’t really represented in the small business world. You mostly find coaches versus clear efficiency consultants.

“At the moment I am happy with working privately with my clients but I constantly think about how I can create a support program or app. Most likely there will be an application with daily reminders and small motivational checklists for my clients but that is not for the near future.”she notes

Honest and Cooperative Leader

Christine has two main freelancers who work for her and it is very clear that expressing gratitude goes a long way as well as being well organized so that they can plan their workload in advance as well.

She rarely has last-minute deadlines or over-the-weekend tasks out of respect for their time.

“As we have clear SOPs it is a relaxing and enjoyable process for everyone involved. I also don’t skimp on salary as long as the KPIs we define are being respected which makes for no drama and smooth rides.” she says

Christine is very transparent about her company constantly evolving and she doesn’t make any promises she can’t keep. She doesn’t flaunt “getting you to multiple 6 figures”, headlines that are so popular in the online space.

She set clear KPIs so her team can objectively evaluate progress and that way she is being held accountable too. Again something severely lacking in the online business coaching/strategist industry.

Apart from that she asks for feedback and keeps her systems flexible to be able to change for the better.

Words of Wisdom

Always ask for accountability markers on both ends, yourself and someone you hire to support you with your business. We are often too polite in the beginning and get side tracked by shiny sales copy and blindly trust. We shouldn’t. Be smart. Expect the best and agree on clear results and consequences if the promises aren’t delivered.