Why we still take ourselves away once a month with an A3 pad and some coloured pens

One thing Matt and I have always believed is that if we're going to tell other businesses to do something, we should be doing it ourselves first.

It's something that's always been important to us. We don't want to sit here giving advice from a textbook or talking about theories we've never tested. After nearly two decades of helping businesses grow, we've learned a huge amount about what works. But we've always believed the best advice comes when you're prepared to put those ideas into practice yourself too.

Our half-day strategy sessions are probably one of the best examples of that.

The funny thing is, they were never originally designed as a service.

Long before Coastal Media existed, and certainly before we started offering strategy sessions to clients, Matt and I had developed a habit of taking ourselves away for half a day whenever we needed to make sense of something. We'd find somewhere with a good view, take an A3 pad and a collection of coloured pens, order a couple of coffees and spend a few hours getting everything out of our heads and onto paper.

And when I say everything, I mean everything.

Ideas. Challenges. Dreams. Frustrations. Questions. New opportunities. Problems we couldn't quite solve. Things we wanted to improve. Things we wanted to stop doing altogether.

Somehow, once it was all out on paper, things always became clearer.

Over the years we've used these sessions to shape every part of Coastal Media. The original business idea started in one of those sessions. So did decisions around who we wanted to work with, what services we wanted to offer, how we wanted to market ourselves, how we could improve our operations and what direction we wanted the business to take next.

Even now, we still do it every month without fail.

When I look back at the growth of our business over the years, I honestly think a huge amount of it comes down to those regular strategy days. Not because we've had some revolutionary ideas, but because we've consistently given ourselves the space to think.

That's something so many small business owners struggle to do.

When you're running a business, it's very easy to spend all your time reacting. There's always an email to answer, a customer to help, a social media post to create, a problem to solve or another task waiting for your attention. The days disappear incredibly quickly and before you know it, months have passed without ever taking a step back and asking yourself whether you're focusing on the right things.

That's exactly why I love these sessions so much.

What started as something that helped us build Coastal Media has now become something that's helping lots of other businesses do exactly the same.

Every single strategy session I run is different because every business owner arrives with a different set of challenges, ideas and ambitions. Over the last few months alone I've worked with artists, makers, holiday cottage owners, glamping businesses, therapists, salon owners, architects, shop owners and people who are either just starting out or have been successfully running businesses for more than 16 years.

The businesses might be completely different, but the feeling people arrive with is often surprisingly similar.

Their heads are full.

Full of ideas. Full of possibilities. Full of things they know they need to do but haven't quite worked out how. Full of opportunities they're excited about but haven't had the time to explore properly.

Often they know something needs to change, improve or move forward, but they can't quite see the route from where they are now to where they want to be.

That's where the session starts.

With an A3 pad.

Some coloured pens.

And everything coming out of your head first.

I don't arrive with a pre-written agenda or a corporate workshop pack. We start with whatever is on your mind and work from there. Sometimes we spend most of the session talking about marketing. Sometimes it's operations. Sometimes it's pricing, customer journeys, confidence, content, growth plans or simply trying to bring order to what feels like complete chaos.

Most of the time it's a combination of several things because businesses rarely fit neatly into one category.

What I love is watching people arrive feeling overwhelmed and leave feeling clear.

Not because I've magically solved every problem for them, but because we've worked through everything together and identified what actually matters. Quite often the biggest breakthrough comes from realising what doesn't need your attention rather than what does.

One thing that always makes me smile is when people tell me they were nervous about booking because four hours sounded like a long time.

Every single person who has said that has also told me afterwards that four hours was exactly the right amount of time.

The reality is that it takes time to get beneath the surface.

If we only had an hour, we'd spend most of it talking about the obvious stuff. Four hours gives us the space to follow ideas, challenge assumptions, connect dots and uncover the things that are often making the biggest difference behind the scenes.

And despite being a half-day session, the goal isn't to leave with a huge strategy document that ends up gathering dust in a drawer somewhere.

The goal is clarity.

It's understanding what to focus on next, what to stop worrying about, and how to move forward with a plan that feels realistic, achievable and exciting.

To be completely honest, these sessions are probably my favourite part of what we do at Coastal Media.

Sitting around a table with a coffee, coloured pens scattered everywhere, working one-to-one with brilliant Norfolk business owners whilst looking out at the sea genuinely brings me more joy than I can properly put into words.

The feedback people give afterwards still blows my mind every single time.

I've spent nearly two decades helping businesses grow. Earlier in my career I worked alongside PwC helping redefine the strategic approach to working with small businesses for one of the UK's largest advertising agencies. I learned a huge amount during that time, but somewhere along the way I also realised that strategy doesn't need to feel corporate to be effective.

In fact, I think the opposite is often true.

The best conversations usually happen when people feel comfortable enough to be honest.

That's why these sessions often feel less like consultancy and more like a really good conversation. People regularly tell me it feels like talking to a friend, just a friend who understands business, asks good questions and helps them make sense of what's already sitting in their head.

Quite often people leave realising they knew the answers all along. They just needed the time and space to find them.

Until September 2026, these sessions are taking place at The Cliftonville in Cromer, either at the beautiful window table overlooking the sea or in one of their private meeting rooms if you'd prefer complete privacy and no background noise. Then, from September, we'll be moving into a dedicated new space at Letheringsett Watermill, which I'm incredibly excited about.

Because if there's one thing I've learned from all those years of taking ourselves away with an A3 pad and some coloured pens, it's that environment matters.

A change of scenery creates a change of perspective.

And sometimes that change of perspective is exactly what your business needs.

If you've been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, pulled in too many directions or simply know there's more potential in your business than you're currently unlocking, a half-day strategy session could be exactly the thing you need.

The sessions run from either 9am–1pm or 2pm–6pm and cost £250 including VAT, with teas and coffees included throughout.

If you'd like to book one, or simply have a chat about whether it would be useful for you and your business, just drop me a message or send me an email at gabriella@coastalmedia.biz

Every business owner leaves with something slightly different, but they all leave with more clarity than they arrived with. And helping people find that clarity is one of my favourite things in the world.