I’m the Kind of Person Who Loses Temp Jobs By Building Spreadsheets That Do My Job For Me

Hi, I’m Janelle.

I’m obsessed with process. Always have been.

I once saved my team two hours a day by moving one piece of paper. They were picking up the packing list, reading an item, putting the list down, getting the item, picking the list back up. Over and over.

I duct-taped a clipboard to their trolley handles.

Ugly solution. Real time savings.

Janelle Baird, Founder of Thrive Wellness Systems

That’s how I approach systems—I see where people are falling into holes, getting confused, dropping off. Then I build something that fixes it. Usually with string and bubblegum first, then proper tools once I’ve figured out all the moving parts.

The Long Way Around

From 2011 to 2023, I ran an ethical grocery delivery business. We were one of the first in our area to offer online ordering—farm-fresh food delivered to your door.

Our systems nearly killed us.

In 2012, I hired a full-time debt collector. She had loads of experience. Within months, she was writing off accounts because people just weren’t going to pay.

We were drowning in manual work—8 hours to process 60 orders, 12 hours a week just to reset boxes and update prices. Multiple expensive platforms that didn’t talk to each other.

So I learned to code.

Three years of 16-hour days. Replacing plugins one by one. Building custom solutions because nothing else would handle our complex workflow.

By 2015, the complete system went live. Order processing dropped to 15 minutes. We served 400+ customers weekly. Payment collection hit 100%. Bad debt disappeared.

I could breathe again.

I ran on those systems for eight more years, refining them, learning what breaks and what doesn’t, discovering what customers actually need versus what developers think they need.

8h → 15min
Order Processing Time
100%
Payment Collection
400+
Weekly Customers
$0
Bad Debt
Hard-won insights

What I Learned The Hard Way

Good systems aren’t just convenient—they drive retention and growth.

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The Skip Button

When I built a skip button that let customers postpone their order, I used to manually filter through and guess who wanted to be contacted. Then I automated it—skip twice, get a special offer. Customers stayed engaged instead of drifting away.

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The Customization System

When customers wanted to customize their boxes, the plugin was so clunky our site crawled. I built a custom solution. Retention skyrocketed.

The Sweet Spot?

Set-and-forget convenience that keeps customers engaged. Systems that work the way people assume they should—effortless but not invisible.

That balance took years to figure out. And a lot of ugly clipboard solutions.

The focus now

Why Wellness Practitioners Now

I closed the business in 2023. But the systems expertise? That’s what I do now.

I work with wellness practitioners because your business model needs what I built—complex booking flows, flexible pricing, client self-service, automation that feels personal.

You need systems that reduce your admin load while keeping clients connected.

I learned to code so I could build exactly what my business needed. You don’t have to. You just need someone who’s been in the trenches and knows what actually works.

That’s what you’re hiring.

Not theory. Not templates. Hard-won knowledge from twelve years of running on systems I built myself.

Systems workflow map showing how Thrive Wellness Systems connects your business processes
Working asynchronously from Melbourne

Working From Melbourne

I work asynchronously (Melbourne time, 15 hours/week), so there’s never pressure for calls. Just focused work and clear communication.

Ready to Stop Fighting With Your Tech?

Let’s talk about building systems that actually work for your practice.