WELCOME TO ZOE PLUMLEY'S BOOK COLLABORATION!

Meet Zoe

Hi, I’m Zoe Plumley. I’m a Business Coach and Strategic Implementation Partner, and I believe that knowing isn’t the same as doing.

You can have the ideas, the training, and a notebook full of plans, but moving forward means turning those things into action. That’s where I come in.

Through Zoe Ellen HQ, I help business owners move from feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure where to start to making meaningful progress.

My work brings together strategy, coaching, training, accountability, and practical implementation support. Together, we work out what matters, simplify what feels complicated, and get things done.

You’ll often find me with my cheerleading pom-poms in one hand and my metaphorical poking stick in the other. I’ll celebrate your progress, help you navigate the difficult bits, and give you a nudge when you need it. Sometimes you need encouragement. Sometimes you need someone to challenge the reasons you’re putting something off. Either way, we move forward together.

My approach is shaped by both professional and lived experience. My background spans nearly 15 years in the NHS, building and managing a freelance agency, running an inclusion consultancy, and delivering training and events.

Today, I bring that experience into my membership, group programmes, individual support, and strategy and implementation events, creating space for people to put their plans into practice.

As a domestic abuse survivor, disabled business owner, and unpaid carer, I understand that taking action isn’t always straightforward. Life doesn’t pause while you build a business, and our capacity isn’t the same every day. I help people find ways forward that respect their circumstances while keeping sight of what they want to achieve.

Supporting others runs through my life, from my longstanding involvement in Scouting to supporting charities and community causes. I care about helping people recognise what they’re capable of and giving them practical support to take their next step.

I know what it’s like to rebuild, to change direction, and to keep going when life looks nothing like you planned. That’s why this work matters to me. I want you to be able to look at what you’ve achieved and say, “I did that.” And I’ll be right there, pom-poms in hand, reminding you that you did.

Join my book collaboration as a Co-Author

My vision for this book is to create something honest, hopeful, and genuinely useful. A book that brings together lived experience and practical expertise to explore how we move forward, turn ideas into action, and make things happen when life is anything but straightforward.

Because knowing what to do and actually doing it can be two very different things.

There are often reasons behind that gap. Caring responsibilities, health challenges, self-doubt, difficult experiences, or ways of working that simply don’t work for us. Sometimes we need a different approach.

Sometimes we need support. And sometimes hearing how someone else found their way forward helps us see a possibility we couldn’t see before.

Through honest stories, practical ideas, and shared learning, this book will explore what helps people take action.

From finding the confidence to start, to adapting when circumstances change, to creating the habits, support, and structures that help us follow through. I want readers to recognise themselves in these pages, feel understood, and come away with something they can put into practice in their own lives or businesses.

This collaboration is for people who care about others and understand that progress won’t look the same for everyone. You don’t need to have everything figured out, and your story doesn’t need a neatly wrapped ending.

Your contribution might be something you’ve helped others put into practice, a way of working you’ve developed, or an experience that changed how you approach taking action.

If you can help someone move from “I want to” towards “I’m doing it”, your perspective belongs in these pages.

Who are we looking for?

We’re looking for contributors who can share what helps people turn intentions into action, especially when the usual advice doesn’t account for their reality.

You might recognise yourself in one or more of these:

Business coaches, mentors, and accountability partners

You help people move from talking about their ideas to putting them into practice. You can share what helps someone get unstuck, make a decision, or follow through.

Business owners who have built things differently

You’ve started, adapted, or rebuilt a business around disability, chronic illness, neurodivergence, caring responsibilities, or a significant life change. You can share the practical choices that made it work for you, including what you had to rethink along the way.

People who help make the doing easier

You might be a virtual assistant, operations specialist, project manager, or someone who helps with systems, technology, AI, or productivity. You turn complicated processes into manageable steps and help people free up the time and energy to move forward.

People who support confidence and mindset

You might be a coach, counsellor, therapist, or wellbeing practitioner who helps people navigate self-doubt, perfectionism, fear of failure, or overwhelm. You understand what can sit behind someone feeling stuck and how to support them to take their next step.

People with lived experience of starting again

You’ve found a way forward after domestic abuse, bereavement, burnout, illness, redundancy, or another life-changing experience. You don’t need to share every detail of what happened to you. Your contribution could focus on what helped you rebuild, make choices, and begin taking action again.

Carers and parents who have found a way that works for them

You know what it means to work towards something of your own while supporting someone else. You can share how you make decisions, adapt expectations, ask for help, or keep moving when your time and capacity are unpredictable.

Educators, trainers, and people supporting career changes

You help people do something with what they’ve learnt. Perhaps you support people leaving the NHS or public sector, returning to work, starting a business, or discovering a new direction. You can share how you help them turn learning and experience into practical next steps.

Community leaders, charity workers, and volunteers

You bring people together and turn a shared ambition into something that happens. Whether you’ve launched a local project, built a support network, or helped others access opportunities, you know what it takes to move from “someone should do something” to getting it underway.

You don’t need to be a coach, an established author, or someone with a huge following. You do need something useful to share: an honest experience, a practical approach, or a lesson that could help someone else move forward.

The thread connecting every chapter is simple: what helped you, or the people you support, turn “I want to” into “I’m doing it”?

Together, we can create a book that readers return to when they’re stuck, when life changes, or when they’re ready to do something that matters to them. A book that leaves them thinking, “I can see how to move forward now”, and helps them take that first step.