Writing
Laura’s Notes
Real notes on building and running a business: systems, tools, experiments and what works and what doesn’t. Including my own mistakes, which are plentiful and well documented.
LinkedIn newsletter
on LinkedIn
Laura’s Notes on LinkedIn
Every week in your LinkedIn feed: one idea, one story, and usually one confession.
Substack
on Substack
Laura’s Notes on Substack
Longer, more personal essays on running a firm, straight to your inbox.
Recent notes
Start with one of these
Do you run your business on panic or champagne?
On the rollercoaster, and not making decisions at the top or the bottom of it.
I love getting paid to meddle in other people’s business. Literally.
The typewriter, the pocket money, and my first approval workflow.
When a good idea isn’t the right one
Walking away from something precisely because you can see how well it could work.
Are you paying for the software, or the promise of it?
My yearly tech stack audit, and my emotional attachment to subscriptions.
Do you suffer from the “I’ll just do it myself” syndrome?
On refusing to buy a dishwasher because tonight’s plates are faster by hand.
How much of your business is built on “should”?
The first note. On cutting the things I was doing because some version of me said I should.
From the archive
Older articles
Written before the Notes had a name. Some of it I’d still say exactly the same way.
January 2026
The Invisible Mental Load of Small Business Founders
Running a small business is often described in terms of tasks and results. We talk about projects delivered, clients won, systems built, and goals…
August 2024
Steps to Launching a Successful Business From Idea to Reality
Turning a great idea into a thriving business is a journey filled with creativity, strategy, and hard work. From validating your idea and creating a…
August 2024
The Art of Saying No
In the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship, saying “yes” to every opportunity can lead to burnout and inefficiency. In this blog, Laura Plantak…
July 2024
3 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Business
Starting a business is an exciting journey, but I wish I had focused more on certain insights when I was starting six years ago. Reflecting on my…
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