THE STRATEGIC ADVISORY SERVICE
A monthly strategic rhythm to review, recalibrate and refine - giving you control over your growth.
Trusted by high-performing women scaling sustainably, on their own terms.
for female founders.
Take a week off every month using The 431 Method™
The Honest Business Advisory™ (HBA) is a strategy membership for female founders who want to move faster, lead smarter, and stay focused.
Using a proven 3-track method, it helps you clarify your next steps, access expert advice on how to get there, and stay accountable to your big-picture vision.
Think guided liver strategic planning + twice monthly access to expert advisory so you always know your next move.
HBA exists because founders don’t need more information - they need a space to elevate, a system to anchor, and a strategist who cuts through the fog.
Reality Check...
The HBA membership is powered by the Year of Clarity™ — our proven strategic live guided planning system that’s helped founders worldwide across industries achieve consistent, sustainable growth over the past four years.
Here's how the membership works...
This is a great investment if you don't need tons of 1:1 support but want to dip in to consistently being strategic in your business development without a huge time commitment.
Dedicated space in your diary to work on your business 3 times a month
Track 1: Complete your on-demand Business & Life Design modules to refine your flexible business model using The 431 Method™ and gain strategic clarity in just 2 hours.
Track 2: Join your monthly Boardroom meeting with May and fellow HBA members to review the past month, celebrate, plan the next 30 days, identify key gaps and get answers to the questions that have been keeping you stuck.
Track 3: Step into the Advisory Room twice a month to troubleshoot what’s not working, get tailored solutions from May, and leave energised with a clear next move. Bring a question or learn from the challenges other leaders are facing.
join here
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The Strategic Advantage
You’ve Been Missing.
Design the next version of your business around your dream life - not just your to-do list.
Get crystal-clear on what to focus on next with a proven, no-fluff planning system that actually sticks.
Access strategic advisory every month to protect, optimise, and scale what you’ve worked so hard to build.
YOUR BUSINESS CAN BE A POWERHOUSE THAT…
Funds the lifestyle you actually want - think business class travel as you explore the world, spacious time off, elevated experiences, and the freedom to be fully present where it matters most.
Scales steadily with intention - giving you more time in your zone of genius, where your insight drives results (not your hours).
Feels calm, not chaotic - a business that runs efficiently with clarity and conviction, where decisions are clean and leadership is embodied.
Moves with you - adapting as your desires, seasons and definition of success evolve. No burnout required. Just peace and targeted action.
MORE ABOUT ME
I collapsed on the living room floor in a puddle of tears - exhausted from months of trying to deny that I had a debilitating chronic illness and that my life needed to change. The powering through had finally caught up with me.
Shortly after, my first business was born (generating over 1,400 happy customers), and a couple of years later - following four years at business school and smashing the retail sales world - my boutique consulting firm opened its doors. Known for its direct, no-nonsense delivery, I’ve since helped bootstrapped female founders across five continents design and grow sustainable 6 & 7 figure businesses.
I've been helping women like you scale their businesses.
It all started when I realised something had to change...
Hi I'm MAY, MULTI-AWARD-WINNING FOUNDER, STRATEGIC ADVISOR & YOUR NEW GROWTH PARTNER
I specialise in designing and scaling life-first businesses that support the women who run them. Many of the wonderful women I work with live with chronic illnesses, mental health challenges, caring responsibilities - or are neurodivergent, like me.
I now work four days a week and take a week off every month - you could say I know a thing or two about helping women build profitable, thriving businesses.
So whether you're in scaling mode, feeling the urge to pivot, or needing to reconfigure things after a life change - make HBA your home.
You are welcome here.
May James
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Monthly Boardroom Reset Session
This is a 2 hour call where all HBA members join to review their month, reflect and then plan ahead. You'll bring your spreadsheet and body double with other members. Then we spend an hour answering questions + finding solutions to roadblocks stopping your monthly goals from being ticked off.
2x Advisory
Room Calls
Each 60 minute call has a light theme (themes repeat every quarter) e.g. sales, messaging, funnels, team, offer development etc. You bring any questions you have relating to the theme and leave with them answered or turn up + learn from the conversation from business leaders in the room.
Business Planning Spreadsheet
This is at the core of the Year Of Clarity™ Strategic Planning Method - you'll use your spreadsheet on your monthly boardroom call and throughout your month. It houses data from across the year for you to easily reference + use to make data driven decisions as you grow.
Design your Rich
Business & Life Modules
This is where you'll start in HBA - we need to know what we are trying to build / where you are going, before making any grand plans! In 2 hours you'll have your dream business + life redefined as a north star with everything leading back to that.
You'll get access every month to:
THE HONEST
BUSINESS ADVISORY
The space where decisions are strategic & solutions are delivered fast.
join NOW
PRICING
3 MONTH
MINIMUM COMMITMENT
monthly
£100
(+VAT)
Billed every month
ANNUAL
£900
(+VAT)
Billed annually
Monthly Leaders Boardroom Group Reflection + Strategic Planning Call
2 x Advisory Room Calls a month with May to get specific advice to your business questions as you scale
Business Planning & Tracking Spreadsheet
ENROLL NOW
SAVE 20%
GET 3 MONTHS FREE!
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Monthly Leaders Boardroom Group Reflection + Strategic Planning Call
2 x Advisory Room Calls a month with May to get specific advice to your business questions as you scale
Business Planning & Tracking Spreadsheet
Business / Life Design Mapping Modules
Business / Life Design Mapping Modules
- EMMELINE LUC-UMANSKY
May has made the world of business and its related strategies approachable and doable for me as a new mum.
May’s shrewdness, practical knowledge, and forward thinking in the advice she has given me has helped me create an offer and prepare me to sell my 1-to-1 teaching programme.
This IS for you if:
You know your business is working - and you’re ready to optimise, tighten and grow without overcomplicating it.
You want to be surrounded by women who are quietly building brilliant things - not shouting the loudest, but making thoughtful moves, breaking moulds and playing a long game.
You are ready to achieve more and want to be a higher performing CEO as you know you have more potential within you.
You move quickly once decisions are made - but want space to think more strategically, zoom out and make sure those decisions are the right ones.
You struggle to apply insight without being handheld - members are resourceful, self-led, and keen to draw parallels between ideas and action.
You don’t see the value in refining or redesigning what’s already working — HBA is about intentional growth, not reactive change.
You aren't very self aware, get triggered easily or struggle with transfering group insights into relevant action points for yourself
You don't believe that coming back to the basic foundations of your business is critical for sustained success even as a seasoned entrepreneur
This is NOT for you if:
Become a Honest Business Advisory™ member
You'll make payment and you'll have an email land in your inbox explaining onboarding, add the HBA calendar with all the call times to yours.
Tempted to join us?
Boardroom Calls are 2 hours long.
Advisory Room Calls are 1 hour long.
There's always an implementation week every month where no calls take place.
01
Map out your refined Rich Life & Business
Log into the HBA portal & spend 3 hours working with me as we create your Rich Life & Business vision together + dive into The 431 Method™ to configure your new working schedule of 4 days a week, with a week off every month!
02
Attend your first call, plan your month ahead
Jump on the next upcoming call, bring any questions that have came up from your onboarding work. You'll meet other ambitious female founders, hear juicy bts scaling conversations + stay on top of your growth goals.
03
Here's how it works...
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Consultants across niches
Here are some of the industries who I have supported...
Agency owners both B2B & B2C
Coaches across niches
Brand Designers, Strategists & Studios
Education companies - traditional, performing arts
Podiatrists & physio clinics
Lawyers
Bookkeepers, Accountants & Virtual FD's
Home support services; cleaning, care
Membership site owners
Photographers
Artists, craft professionals & creatives
Scale Smarter, living a life you love.
This industry agnostic support method has worked & been loved by female founders across the globe.
watch this 1 minute video
Wondering what HBA might help you with?
join hba today
''The fact it is the same format month in, month out has been really helpful. YOC has enabled me to focus on further ahead, before I was very reactive in how I manage my business.''
- Vicky Smith, Clinic Director at Tayloredfit Physio
You get to make this work for you!
HOW DIFFERENT MEMBERS USE HBA...
One focused time a month where they are ONLY thinking about them + their business - only use additional calls when needed
Bring a new revenue stream idea, ask May for her thoughts / how she'd recommend rolling it out over the next 3 months
Use the spreadsheet in a meeting with their business partner to check in with each other, then use the Boardroom call as a forward planning tool
Accountability for ensuring they do what they plan to + don't fall off the wagon in the height of summer or start too many new projects
Use the spreadsheet daily, making a note of questions to ask May in the Advisory Room
Every quarter re-work through the business / life modules to refresh what they are working towards
Use the themed Advisory Room calls to get practical next steps that they need to take then have time allocated in their diary to implement
Have access to a business coach that they can get their toughest business questions and worries addressed 3 times a month
How you use HBA will evolve as you grow,
it's a constant in amongst the choas.
"It's a wonderful low touch support network to give your business the consistent MOT it needs every month.
I wouldn't change anything about it. "
-2024 member feedback
DREAM CLIENT CEO
She delivered on time and the photos look amazing. We doubled our sales in one month! I couldn't believe it. Have even more to say? OK but keep it short though!
I can't thank Madison enough
DREAM CLIENT CEO
She delivered on time and the photos look amazing. We doubled our sales in one month! I couldn't believe it. Have even more to say? OK but keep it short though!
The best course out there seriously
dream client ceo
She delivered on time and the photos look amazing. We doubled our sales in one month! I couldn't believe it. Have even more to say? OK but keep it short though!
Don't even think about it
MY COMMITMENT TO YOU
HBA SERVICE
Guarantee
Your business or portfolio of businesses is your pride and joy. It fuels your creativity and supports the beautiful life you've built. Trusting someone new to advise and guide you can feel daunting, especially when you've never met them before.
I understand the feeling...I've been there myself, numerous times, wondering whether or not to trust someone and yes, it can feel risky. But the growth and transformation that happens from working with the right advisor and coach is immeasurable.
Just like you, I am always in the drivers seat of my success trajectory not the fabulous support I place around me. When I hear my clients saying 'I wish I found you sooner' - I know I have a duty to find more incredible women like them.
So, here’s what I want you to know:
I’ll always tell you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear and at times that may not always be easy to digest or motivating but it'll always come from a place of love & kindness.
To get the most from HBA, you need to show up ready to lead your business forward, ask questions, absorb insights, and most importantly, be fully committed to implementing them.
HBA doesn't exist for those who just like to talk (that's the easy part)... it's built for ambitious, action wired entrepreneurs who are creating an extraordinary life with a business that not only supports them, but also makes lasting, positive impact on/in the world.
See you in the Advisory Room soon!
HBA
SERVICE GUARANTEE
May James
x
"the spreadsheet has been awesome for me - it keeps me on track. I am better at congratulating myself on achievements
which I have never ever done before. "
- Stephanie Owen, MANAGING DIRECTOR of SO-PODIATRY
Q
&
A
How does HBA really work?
It gives you space to actually do the work. Put simply, this membership gives you the space + time to evolve as a business owner every month. The monthly Boardroom sessions allow for you to strategically reflect & plan, whilst the Advisory Room sessions enable you to get practical advice + next steps on the HOW part, meaning you aren't just planning then getting stuck in the implementation, I am there to make the 'doing' way quicker.
When are the calls?
Monthly Leaders Boardroom Calls take place on the first Monday of every month (roughly) at 5pm UK TIME for 2 hours. Advisory call 1 takes place on the following Tuesday at 11am UK TIME for 1 hour. Advisory call 2 takes place the week after Advisory call 1 on a Monday at 5pm UK TIME for 1 hour. There is then an implementation week every month where no calls take place.
All calls are housed within a Google Calendar for you to easily add it to yours (linked in your onboarding email).
For July 2025 the calls are: 7th at 5pm, 15th at 11am, 21st at 5pm.
For August 2025 the calls are: 4th at 5pm, 12th at 11am, 19th at 5pm.
For September 2025 the calls are: 1st at 5pm, 9th at 11am, 15th at 5pm, 29th at 5pm.
How much time do I need?
This membership is purposely designed for time-strapped women. The more time you allocate, the more you will get out of it including the time you need to implement your plans however it is designed to be flexible. You need 2 hours in your diary to attend the monthly Boardroom Sessions as a bare minimum.
What happens if I can't join the sessions live?
Most sessions are recorded and uploaded into the HBA membership space where you can watch them at your leisure for up to 3 months. It is recommended that you show up live - members who attend live do get more out of the membership. However, you can leave any questions you have for me on a specific upcoming call thread which I will answer live on the call, so if you can’t make it live you don’t miss out.
Do you offer refunds?
No, we don't. Please be sure to read this page throughly & spend sufficient time consuming our content so you can make an informed purchasing decision.
How long do I have to be a member for?
3 months is the minimum contracted time should you choose monthly billing (12 months if you opt for annual billing), it is recommended to be inside of HBA for at least 12 months to see optimum results however due to this being an ongoing implementation support tool, HBA is designed for you to stay year upon year. Some of our members are entering into their 4th consecutive year due to the effectiveness of this work on their organisations.
I can't afford to join but I know this is what I need.
If our monthly payment option is out of reach for you, but you know you are ready to utilise all that HBA has to offer to grow your business; please email support@mayjames.com with the subject line HBA SCHOLARSHIP and we will be in touch. May believes that all female founders should have access to high level business support, she particularly welcomes anyone from underrepresented communities / with protected characteristics. Please do not get into debt to join The Honest Business Advisory.
What will I learn / what is the curriculum?
Apart from some core business / life design learning there is no curriculum in the membership as HBA is an implementation, coaching and accountability container - meaning it is designed for people to learn through doing and experiencing. It is a Strategic Planning System that you install into your business every month paired with an advisory support service. You will of course learn lots about growing and scaling a sustainable business by being inside but this will be done from you yourself being coached and watching others (members actually report this as being one of the most valuable pieces from HBA).
How long will this take? I need this like yesterday.
The magic of HBA is that you can start seeing results in your business from month 1. Become a member; work through your rich life & business learning, set up your spreadsheet, join the next call and then start implementing straight after. Most members feel a real shift in their business after their first 3-4 months, depending on what scale of results you are wanting to see it may take 6-12 months of consistent implementation and refinement.
3 MONTH
MINIMUM COMMITMENT
monthly
£100
(+VAT)
Billed every month
ANNUAL
£900
(+VAT)
Billed annually
Monthly Leaders Boardroom Group Reflection + Strategic Planning Call
2 x Advisory Room Calls a month with May to get specific advice to your business questions as you scale
Business Planning & Tracking Spreadsheet
ENROLL NOW
SAVE 20%
GET 3 MONTHS FREE!
ENROLL NOW
