Three things broke in your business this week. Three different problems? Or three symptoms of the same upstream issue you keep missing?

In this episode, I show you why you keep rebuilding the same systems without fixing anything and how to trace problems backward to find what's actually broken.

In This Episode:

00:00 - Why do the same problems keep breaking no matter how many times I fix them?

02:47 - What does "upstream" actually mean in my business systems?

03:53 - What is the GIGO rule?

05:18 - How do I trace a problem back to its real source?

07:28 - What questions should I be asking instead?

Next steps:

Download The OOO System Breakdown

About Diane:

Diane Mayor is a fractional COO who helps 7-8 figure founders escape Success-Induced Chaos. With 10+ years in investment banking and nearly a decade running small business operations, she thinks like a COO and understands money like a CFO. She specializes in operations designed around how founders actually work—not someone else's template.

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It's the first Monday of 2026. You open your email. 217 unread.

You try everything: archive and pray, skim and hope, delegate to your VA. Nothing works.

In this episode, I map an email management system twice - once without a VA, once with a VA - to show you why adding people to broken systems makes them worse, not better.

In This Episode:

1. 00:00 - Why do my inbox management "solutions" keep failing?
2. 01:27 - How do I break down the system?
3. 07:40 - Why does hiring a VA usually make inbox overwhelm worse?
4. 11:22 - How does a VA become a constraint?
5. 13:01 - How do I actually redesign this system?

Next steps:

Download The OOO System Breakdown

About Diane:

Diane Mayor is a fractional COO who helps 7-8 figure founders escape Success-Induced Chaos. With 10+ years in investment banking and nearly a decade running small business operations, she thinks like a COO and understands money like a CFO. She specializes in operations designed around how founders actually work—not someone else's template.

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LinkedIn

Most operations consulting asks "What's broken?" then hands you a template and hopes it sticks. It doesn't stick because they're asking the wrong question. The question isn't what's broken—it's what order do we fix it in.

Learn the Order of Operations methodology and why sequence matters more than strategy.

1. 00:00 - Why don't operations templates stick?
2. 02:23 - What are the two parts of Order of Operations?
3. 03:37 - What happens when I try to delegate before fixing my economic model?
4. 04:46 - What happens when I try to redesign offers while I'm still the bottleneck?
5. 06:36 - How does Order of Operations use systems thinking?
6. 07:50 - What changes when I resolve friction in the right sequence?

Next steps:

1. Read the full article
2. Work with Diane

About Diane:

Diane Mayor is a fractional COO who helps 7-8 figure founders escape Success-Induced Chaos. With 10+ years in investment banking and nearly a decade running small business operations, she thinks like a COO and understands money like a CFO. She specializes in operations designed around how founders actually work—not someone else's template.

Website

LinkedIn

Every founder wants freedom, but most are building it in the wrong sequence and that's why it never sticks. You can't buy back your time if your business is bleeding money. You can't redesign your work if you're still the bottleneck.

Learn the four levels of freedom and why you can't skip levels.

1. 00:00 - Why doesn't freedom stick when I try to build it?
2. 00:58 - What are the four levels of the Freedom Stack?
3. 02:57 - What is Financial Freedom and why does it have to come first?
4. 04:10 - What is Time Freedom and why can't I buy back my time first?
5. 05:21 - What is Creative Freedom and when can I redesign my work?
6. 06:35 - What is F*ck Off Freedom?
7. 07:30 - What happens when I try to skip levels?

Next steps:

1. Read the full article
2. Work with Diane

About Diane:

Diane Mayor is a fractional COO who helps 7-8 figure founders escape Success-Induced Chaos. With 10+ years in investment banking and nearly a decade running small business operations, she thinks like a COO and understands money like a CFO. She specializes in operations designed around how founders actually work—not someone else's template.

Website

LinkedIn

You're bleeding money, working 70-hour weeks, and hating your work even though clients are happy. These aren't three separate problems. They're three friction points where your core systems (Owner, Operations, and Offers) are misaligned.

Learn where friction lives and what happens when all three hit at once.

1. 00:00 - Why am I successful but miserable?
2. 01:13 - What are the three core systems in every business?
3. 02:17 - What is Bleedout and how do I know if I'm experiencing it?
4. 03:15 - What is Burnout and why does hiring more people make it worse?
5. 04:48 - What is Boreout and why do I resent clients who pay me well?
6. 05:53 - What is Success-Induced Chaos?

Next steps:

1. Read the full article
2. Work with Diane

About Diane:

Diane Mayor is a fractional COO who helps 7-8 figure founders escape Success-Induced Chaos. With 10+ years in investment banking and nearly a decade running small business operations, she thinks like a COO and understands money like a CFO. She specializes in operations designed around how founders actually work—not someone else's template.

Website

LinkedIn

You've tried everything - hiring people, documenting processes, and raising prices - and every fix creates a new problem. Because you're treating symptoms in isolation instead of understanding the system.

Learn how systems actually work and why symptom fixing keeps you stuck.

In This Episode:

00:00 - What is a system and how does it work in business?

02:18 - What are the elements of a good system?

03:55 - What is the feedback loop and why do most founders skip it?

05:01 - Why doesn't raising prices fix profit margin problems?

05:54 - Why does my team wait on me for every decision?

07:16 - What's the difference between symptom fixing and systems thinking?

Next steps:

1. Read the full article
2. Work with Diane

About Diane:

Diane Mayor is a fractional COO who helps 7-8 figure founders escape Success-Induced Chaos. With 10+ years in investment banking and nearly a decade running small business operations, she thinks like a COO and understands money like a CFO. She specializes in operations designed around how founders actually work—not someone else's template.

Website

LinkedIn

Order of Operations is the podcast for founders who are tired of fixing the same problems over and over. This is your introduction to operational diagnostics. Learn to think in systems, diagnose where friction lives, and resolve problems in the sequence that creates freedom.

The first episodes (The OOO Framework Essentials) teach you:

1. Systems thinking
2. The three frictions (Bleedout, Burnout, Boreout)
3. The Freedom Stack
4. Order of Operations methodology

Then starting January 5th, weekly episodes apply these frameworks to real operational problems.

Order of Operations gives you the diagnostic tools to stop fixing symptoms and start resolving root causes. Whether you're scaling past 7 figures or building toward it, this show will help you escape operational chaos.

About Diane:

Diane Mayor is a fractional COO who helps 7-8 figure founders escape Success-Induced Chaos. With 10+ years in investment banking and nearly a decade running small business operations, she thinks like a COO and understands money like a CFO. She specializes in operations designed around how founders actually work—not someone else's template.

Website

LinkedIn