Welcome to Herding Cats

Two long-haired cats, one standing beside a wicker pram and one sitting inside it, in a black-and-white photo.

👋 Hello! I’m Olivia.

I started Herding Cats to help creative businesses.

Many creative people go into business for themselves. They love the creative part, but haven’t yet mastered the operational side. Their business has grown to a point where they desperately need more structure around their people, operations, or leadership – but they’re not big enough to justify a full-time hire. They’re also wary of becoming too corporate, and losing the vibe that makes it a fun place to work.

They need someone who understands how creative businesses actually work.

Someone who:

brings clarity without killing the culture.
builds practical systems without overcomplicating things.
understands that behind every brilliant piece of work is often a very human system trying its best to hold everything together.

My experience spans design and branding, advertising, tech, and education. I’ve seen good businesses struggle to grow because they’re missing the right operational foundations. And I’ve also seen the huge benefits that come when those foundations are in place.

Find out more about me – or how I work.

Who this is for.

I work with creative businesses who are doing great work, but know the back end needs attention.

Maybe the team has grown quickly.
Maybe the founder is carrying too much.
Maybe the people side feels too informal.
Maybe the systems are patchy.
Maybe the business is ready for its next stage, but the foundations need strengthening first.

If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you’re in the right place.

I can help in three areas:

People Ops →

If your team is growing and things are starting to feel messy, let’s sort out the structure around it.

Business Ops →

Business feels harder to operate than it should? Let’s fix the systems behind it.

Founder Support →

If you’re holding a lot in your head and don’t have a good place to work it through, we can fix that.

Why “Herding Cats”?

Because that’s often what building or running a creative business feels like.

You’ve got clever, independent, highly capable people doing excellent work, often with strong opinions, different working styles, and a healthy resistance to unnecessary bureaucracy.

I get it. And I genuinely love that about creative businesses.

The goal isn’t to flatten what makes them special. It’s to create structure so the business can function, grow, and support its people properly – without losing its spark.