We're glad you're here
The Lever is a New Zealand owned business operations agency. We work with leaders across New Zealand and Australia who know what needs to happen but don’t have the capacity to make it happen. We step in, own the work and keep it running, regardless of who comes and goes.
This page is about who we are, and why we work the way we do.
I built this because I needed it.
I built a seven-figure VA agency from scratch and ran it for over 28 years. From the outside it looked like success. From the inside I was the one making every decision, answering every question, sitting at the dinner table mentally answering emails while the people I loved were talking.
I wasn’t struggling because I wasn’t good enough. I was struggling because my business had outgrown its structure, and I was still trying to keep it together through sheer force of will.
The turning point wasn’t a strategy session. It was the moment I realised I hadn’t built a business. I had built a very expensive, very exhausting job.
What I built next was different. EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System, gave us a weekly rhythm, clear priorities every 90 days, and a way to actually solve issues instead of circling them. I stopped being the answer to every question, and a leadership team grew that didn’t depend on me being in the middle of everything. We still run The Lever on it today.
The Lever exists because I wanted to create the support I wish I’d had. All those years running a VA agency taught me exactly what more hands could fix and what they couldn’t. They move the work. They don’t take the weight. So The Lever is made up of partners who own it and see it through.
I am the founder behind every engagement. The standard I hold is the one I expect for myself.
Justine
The people behind your work.
The Lever is not one person. Justine is the founder and the standard-setter. But the people who make this work, the BOMs, the bookkeepers, the graphic designers and marketing specialists are women who have built businesses, led teams, and know what it actually costs when things don’t run.
They’re not contractors. They’re partners. And they treat your business the way they would want their own treated.
Justine Parsons
Justine sets the standard, holds the vision, and is the reason The Lever works the way it does. Every engagement is built on what she would want for herself.
Who you’ll work with.
Handing over your business takes trust, and we don’t take that lightly. Your Business Operations Manager isn’t another pair of hands for you to manage. She’s a partner who owns the work. She plans it, puts it in the right hands and sees it through. She notices what’s slipping before you do, and tells you straight when something isn’t working. Behind her is our specialist team, and every match is made carefully, on expertise, values and how you work.
Administration & governance
bookkeeping
Brand & Design
Marketing
Administration
communications
digital marketing
tech & web
What exceptional service means to us
We asked our team. Their answer: we see what you need before you ask. You never have to chase us for an update. And working with us is never the hard part.
The people we’re proud to work with.
Here are a few of them. Each one is a relationship, not a job, and some have been with us since 2016.
The thing nobody names.
Most leaders feel it. Almost none of them say it out loud.
The moment you start seriously considering handing the work over, a quieter question shows up. Not whether you can afford it. Whether it will actually come off your plate, or whether you’ll end up managing that too.
Most leaders have been burned before. The hire who needed more explaining than the job took. The contractor who did exactly what was asked and nothing more. The project that came back half done. After enough of that, it starts to feel quicker to just do it yourself.
It’s a fair question, and we’d rather you asked it. The honest answer is that it depends who you hand it to. That’s why we match you carefully, agree the scope and price before anything begins, and keep you across it every week. You’ll know what’s happening without having to chase it.
You stay in charge. You just stop carrying all of it.
When you're ready, we're here.
Start with a free 30-minute call with Justine. Tell her what you’re trying to achieve and what’s in the way. Ask her anything. She’ll tell you honestly whether we’re the right people for you. If we’re not, she’ll point you somewhere better. If we are, you’ll leave knowing exactly where we’d start.
Want to know more first? > See how we can help you.