Shifting Lives business plan 2026 to 2027

Speaker notes for slide 1

This presentation brings together the two parts of our business plan for Shifting Lives: the plan itself, and the step-by-step plan for each part of the business. Everything is in plain English. Prices and income figures are suggestions and estimates to be tested, not promises.

Speaker notes for slide 2

Our main recommendation is to reorganise the business into five parts. Access and Care can earn money straight away. Learn, Work and Connect should start later, one at a time, and only when the earlier parts are working. In our base case the new and reorganised services earn about $486,000 in the first 12 months, and about $90,000 of that comes from the first two Work training groups. By October 2027, Access, Care and Learn together would earn about $57,000 a month.

Speaker notes for slide 3

Shifting Lives has two paid services, no income that repeats on its own, no funding options for clients, and growth that is limited by David’s time. Its strengths are real: David’s lived experience, Nicholas’s systems skills, and a free check that already brings in enquiries. The main problems are that most income needs a new customer each time, most of the work depends on David, and not enough people know about the business yet.

Speaker notes for slide 4

Shifting Lives has already been advised to focus on a few things first and to fix how customers find the business. We agree with that. We differ on what to do with the marketplace and platform ideas: instead of putting them on hold, we suggest starting them in small steps. Each service started in the first months is designed to support the platform later, so if Shifting Lives goes ahead with Connect, nothing built in the first year is wasted.

Speaker notes for slide 5

The business will have five parts that share the same basic systems. Access is website accessibility services at fixed prices. Care is counselling that more clients can afford. Learn is an online learning platform where healthcare practitioners publish courses that everyone can use, including people who use screen readers, captions or Easy Read. Work trains blind and low-vision adults for office jobs and places them with private and government employers. Connect is a counselling marketplace, similar to BetterHelp, for people who want a practitioner who understands disability. Practitioners qualify for Connect by completing a course on Learn.

Speaker notes for slide 6

Access and Care come first because they bring in money and clients now. Learn then attracts practitioners. Connect is built after that, when both groups already exist. Work starts only when an employer has agreed to take part, because employers pay for it, not the trainees. The parts also help each other: Access and Care pay for the first year, Learn brings in practitioners, and Connect matches those practitioners with clients who come through Care and through referrers. Work delivers its training on Learn, sells accessibility checks to employers through Access, and sends trained testers back to Access.

Speaker notes for slide 7

This is the overview for the step-by-step part of the plan. For each part, the next slides show three things: what is sold and at what price, the steps from first contact to income that repeats, and a timeline for setting it up. In the step lists, the steps that earn money are marked.

Speaker notes for slide 8

Today, each piece of work after the free check is quoted separately. Under this plan it becomes four clear steps with published prices. Every fix is checked by a blind tester, which automated tools and accessibility widgets cannot offer. The main customers are allied health clinics, NDIS providers, education and training providers, and professional services firms. Software companies and web agencies come next. The aim is that a small clinic can say yes without a formal buying process.

Speaker notes for slide 9

Access makes money at four points: the Journey Test, the fix package, the monthly Access Care plan, and extra services such as training. The free check is how most customers first come in, and each later step is offered after the step before it.

Targets for moving to the next step: 100 websites checked a month; 20% of free checks book a Journey Test; a call within 2 working days; 50% of Journey Test clients buy a fix package; a quote sent the same day; 60% of fix clients sign up for Access Care; sign-off within 2 weeks of the fixes; no more than 3% of Access Care clients leave each month; and 1 extra service a year for every 4 Access Care clients.

Speaker notes for slide 10

How to set up Access. Publish the price list and service pages in November. Add a “Book a Journey Test” link to every free-check report, and call each enquiry within 2 working days. Start contacting providers directly: check 100 allied health and NDIS provider websites a month and send each one its results. Sign a contract with a development partner for fix packages. David checks every fix. Run Access Care by hand with the existing scanner until the client portal is ready at the end of March 2027. Hire 2 to 3 paid testers with disability, and sign up 3 web agencies as partners.

Speaker notes for slide 11

Care keeps David’s counselling at the centre. ACA members at Level 3 or 4 can apply for a provider number from ARHG, which lets clients claim rebates from funds such as Bupa, Medibank, ahm and HBF. For 2026 to 2027, the NDIS pays up to $156.16 an hour for counselling, and up to $193.99 an hour for rehabilitation counselling if David qualifies. EAP and workers’ compensation pay less per session but send a steady flow of clients without marketing.

More than one in five Australians had a disability in 2022, and a named program like Adjust is easier for referrers to recommend and for funders to pay for. Associate counsellors should be ACA Level 3 or above, or registered with PACFA, and ideally have their own experience of disability. They also become the first practitioners on Connect.

Speaker notes for slide 12

Care makes money from each counselling session, each place in an Adjust group, each workplace session, and a share of the associate counsellors’ fees. Most clients will come through referrers, such as plan managers and support coordinators. That is why the last step is to report back to the referrer: it does not earn money directly, but it brings the next client.

Targets: 10 active referral partners by month 6; reply to enquiries within 1 working day; funding agreed before the first session; a review every 6 sessions; 8 people a group, every 2 months; 1 workplace session every 2 months from month 4; a self-help course offered to every client who finishes; and every referrer hears back.

Speaker notes for slide 13

How to set up Care. In November, apply for an ARHG provider number and decide how to work with the NDIS. Publish fees, a “Ways to pay” page, and an enquiry form that does not ask for health details. From month 3, hire a part-time client coordinator to handle enquiries, funding paperwork and NDIS invoicing. Design the Adjust group program in December and run the first group in January. Brief referral partners every month: plan managers, support coordinators, rehabilitation providers and disability organisations. Recruit associate counsellors from February. The first one starts seeing clients in March.

How long ARHG takes to approve the provider number is outside Shifting Lives’ control, so private and NDIS clients will carry the first months.

Speaker notes for slide 14

Learn is a website where healthcare practitioners publish courses that anyone can use, whatever their disability. Set-up starts in month 4 with Shifting Lives’ own courses, and sales start in month 6. Mental Health Academy, for example, has more than 600 courses and a newsletter that reaches more than 80,000 therapists, so Learn should not compete on the number of courses.

Users are practitioners who publish; practitioners who learn, since ACA has more than 20,000 members and each needs 25 professional development points a year; clients and families; and organisations that buy staff training. Practitioners must complete the Accessible Practice course before they can join Connect.

Before Learn opens to other practitioners, around month 9, three things must be true: 75 or more paid enrolments, 10 or more practitioners on the waiting list, and the Accessible Practice course recognised for professional development by at least one association.

Speaker notes for slide 15

Learn makes money from course sales first, then from yearly team licences, and later from a 30% share of courses that other practitioners publish. Free lessons and webinars are how most people first come in. Step 6 does not earn money in Learn itself. Its value is the practitioners it sends to Connect.

Targets: 300 practitioners on the mailing list by month 6; 1 in 10 webinar attendees buys a course; reminder emails on days 7 and 21 to help people finish; the Accessible Practice course offered to every graduate; 1 to 2 team licences every three months from July; 80% of licences renewed; and 10 or more practitioners on the waiting list to publish by July.

Speaker notes for slide 16

How to set up Learn. After checkpoint 1, choose and set up an existing online learning platform in February and March. David tests it with a screen reader. Record the first three courses from February to April, with captions, transcripts and Easy Read summaries. Run a free monthly webinar for practitioners from February to build the mailing list. Start selling courses in April. From March, ask at least one professional association to recognise the courses for professional development points. Offer team licences to Access clients and NDIS providers from July. Open a waiting list for other practitioners in May, and let them publish after checkpoint 2.

Building the tools for other authors continues after October 2027, as part of the technology package called “Learn for other practitioners”.

Speaker notes for slide 17

Work builds on David’s training in rehabilitation counselling. It also brings employers to Access, because their own systems will need to be checked. People with other disabilities can be added once the model works. Graduates who go into accessibility testing can also join the Access testing team, which takes routine testing off David. An assistive technology trainer, ideally someone who is blind, runs the training on contract. David designs the program and provides career counselling, so Work adds only a few hours a week to his workload.

Speaker notes for slide 18

Prices are suggestions and exclude GST. The idea of charging a share of the worker’s salary for 2 to 3 months still works, but the employer pays it, in two parts over the first 13 weeks. Fees charged to employers must be confirmed in writing before the work starts. Where an employer signs a yearly contract, the contract covers the training fee, so the employer does not pay twice.

Who buys and who funds it. Government employers: Australian Public Service agencies can advertise jobs only for people with disability, under the APS “affirmative measure”. Private employers: banks, insurers, utilities and large service companies with back offices and inclusion targets; the JobAccess Employment Assistance Fund can lower their costs. Partner programs: Inclusive Employment Australia replaced Disability Employment Services from 1 November 2025, and its providers are paid when a person stays in a job for 12, 26 and 52 weeks. NDIS Employment Assistance pays up to $83.87 an hour in 2026 to 2027.

Speaker notes for slide 19

Work has two groups of customers, but only one of them pays. Employers or funders pay at six points: the yearly contract, the training fee, getting the workplace ready, the placement fee on the first day, the placement fee after 13 weeks, and monthly support. Trainees never pay.

Targets: 10 employer conversations by January; a first employer signed by checkpoint 1; 2 applicants for every place; the payer confirmed before training starts; 5 of 6 trainees finish; systems checked before the first day; 4 of 6 graduates in jobs within 8 weeks; 80% still in the job at week 13; and the employer contract renewed for year 2.

Speaker notes for slide 20

How to set up Work. From November to January, talk to 10 employers, 5 private and 5 government, and 2 Inclusive Employment Australia providers. From December to March, design the 12-week course on Learn with an assistive technology trainer on contract. Sign a first employer by the end of January, which is checkpoint 1, and confirm every fee in writing before any work starts. In February and March, find trainees for the first group through providers, referrers and NDIS participants. Run the first training group of 6 from April to June. At the same time, Access gets the employer’s systems and staff ready. Place graduates in jobs from July, support them for 12 months, and start the second group of 8 in August.

Graduates from the second group start jobs from November 2027, so their placement fees fall in the second year.

Speaker notes for slide 21

Connect should be a marketplace for people who want a practitioner who understands disability. It should not try to be a general service like BetterHelp. General platforms already exist in Australia. Talked, for example, lists checked psychologists and counsellors at $150 to $260 a session. Its search lets people filter by type of therapist, funding, language and community, but not by accessibility or experience with disability. Connect fills that gap.

Speaker notes for slide 22

Connect will be built in three stages, and money is spent on software only after a version run by hand shows that clients will come. What makes Connect different: every practitioner completes the Accessible Practice course on Learn; blind and disabled users test the platform against the WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standard; and clients can search by funding, such as NDIS, health fund or EAP, by format, such as video, phone or text, and for practitioners with their own experience of disability. Reviews follow Ahpra rules, so they cover only the service. Commission prices are suggestions.

Speaker notes for slide 23

Connect makes money from each session and from the fees that practitioners pay. While matching is done by hand, Shifting Lives earns its 30% share of each associate counsellor’s session. Once the online platform launches, it earns a commission on every session booked through it, so every repeat session earns money again without extra sales effort.

Targets: 25 or more requests a month by July; matched within 2 working days; 70% book a second session; funding checked every 6 sessions; 20 or more active practitioners by checkpoint 3; every client asked for a review after session 3; and a Journey Test offered to every new practitioner.

Speaker notes for slide 24

How to set up Connect. From November to January, talk to 10 practitioners about Connect and start a waiting list. After checkpoint 1, set up a request form and a process for matching clients by hand in February. Matching starts in March. Match every request within 2 working days with David or an associate counsellor, and track how many clients book a second session. In June and July, plan the platform and complete a privacy impact assessment. After checkpoint 2, build the first version of the platform from August to December, and test it with 10 practitioners in November and December. Launch it to the public in January 2028, then review the results at checkpoint 3.

Speaker notes for slide 25

This shows our base case for the first 12 months, from November 2026 to October 2027. It shows income only, excluding GST. It does not include David’s current counselling income, costs, or any income from Connect. Access grows steadily as Journey Tests, fix packages and Access Care plans build up. Care starts in January. Learn starts in April. Work income arrives in larger amounts: training fees when each group starts in April and August, and placement fees on the first day in July and at week 13 in October.

Speaker notes for slide 26

Access brings in 53% of the first year’s income, so it should be set up first. About $90,000 comes from the first two Work training groups. By October 2027, Access, Care and Learn together would earn about $57,000 a month, and 30% of that would be income that repeats every month or year. Costs will be added once we know today’s figures and the prices for the technology work.

The main assumptions: Journey Tests average $1,500, rising from 2 to 6 a month; half of tested clients buy a fix package, at an average of $3,600; 60% of fix clients take Access Care, at an average of $199 a month; associate counsellors rise from 1 to 5, at 6 sessions a week each and a 30% share to Shifting Lives; and course sales rise from 10 to 40 a month, at an average of $199.

Speaker notes for slide 27

Referrers and partners bring people who already trust the person who sent them. First actions: add a “Book a Journey Test” offer to every free-check report, and call each enquiry within 2 working days; check 100 allied health and NDIS provider websites a month and send each one its results; sign up 3 web agencies as partners; offer the funded training session to employers that buy a check; tell plan managers, support coordinators, rehabilitation providers and disability organisations about Adjust; list the service on health fund and NDIS provider directories once registered; run a free monthly webinar on accessible practice; and turn each of David’s videos into a short course lesson and a newsletter.

Website changes in the first month: prices on every service page, a “Ways to pay” page, separate starting pages for organisations, clients and practitioners, and a booking link in every email.

Speaker notes for slide 28

The plan covers 24 months and has three checkpoints. A checkpoint is a review where Shifting Lives compares results with targets, and the next part starts only if the targets have been met. Access and Care start now, and planning for Work starts at the same time.

Speaker notes for slide 29

A checkpoint is a review where Shifting Lives compares results with targets. The next part starts only if the targets have been met. At checkpoint 1, Learn, associate counsellors and matching by hand start only if Access sells at least 4 Journey Tests in a month and at least one funding option is set up. The first Work training group starts only after a first employer signs. At checkpoint 2, Learn opens to other practitioners and the Connect platform is built only if all the checkpoint 2 targets are met. At checkpoint 3, Connect grows only if the first version of the platform meets its targets.

Speaker notes for slide 30

These ten numbers show whether the plan is working. Month 1 is November 2026. The targets match the base case in the income section. Track them in one shared sheet and look at them in a 30-minute review every week.

Speaker notes for slide 31

Why these matter. David’s time limits both the testing and the counselling. Five parts with two people is a lot to run at once. Practitioners leave a marketplace with no clients, and clients leave one with no practitioners. Under the Privacy Act, health information is “sensitive information”, with stricter rules on consent. If registered health practitioners join Connect, Ahpra does not allow testimonials about clinical matters, and the website owner is responsible when it controls the reviews.

Speaker notes for slide 32

Why these matter. Automated scans miss problems, and overseas regulators have taken action against “one-click” accessibility widgets. Some Connect clients may arrive in crisis. NDIS and health fund rules change over time. Building platforms can use up cash. And graduates who are not hired, or who do not stay, are let down, which also hurts the reputation of the business.

Speaker notes for slide 33

In the first year, Shifting Lives needs five kinds of extra help, plus a technology partner. David focuses on sessions, supervision, Learn courses and final testing. Nicholas runs Access work, the monthly support service, Learn and partners. The client coordinator handles bookings, funding paperwork, NDIS invoicing and matching clients by hand. Paid testers take routine testing off David. Associate counsellors see the clients David cannot fit in. The outreach contractor contacts providers, referral partners and agencies. The trainer runs the Work training, so Work adds only a few hours a week for David. Chapter 247 Infotech, once approved, handles fixes, the monthly support service, setting up Learn and building Connect.

Speaker notes for slide 34

If Shifting Lives approves this plan, Chapter 247 would deliver the technology in six packages. Each package is linked to a checkpoint, and each is priced separately after a short discovery stage. Foundations and the Access Care service can start as soon as the plan is approved. Learn courses and Work tracking need checkpoint 1. Learn for other practitioners and the first version of Connect need checkpoint 2.

Speaker notes for slide 35

These four principles apply to every technology package. Accessibility and privacy are built in from the first day, not added later. Learn and Connect share their basic systems, so the second product costs less to build. And we use ready-made tools first, building custom software only when it becomes the product itself.

Speaker notes for slide 36

These are the six decisions we need from David and Nicholas to start. None of them commits Shifting Lives to building software yet. Phase 2 discovery is a short stage to scope and price the first two technology packages.

Speaker notes for slide 37

None of these first steps needs new software. For Work, talk to 5 private and 5 government employers, and approach one employer to be the first partner.

Speaker notes for slide 38

To start, we need the six decisions on slide 36. After that, the first 30 days are mostly paperwork, pricing and conversations, and need no new software. Chapter 247 can begin Phase 2 discovery for Foundations and the Access Care service as soon as the plan is approved.

Speaker notes for slide 39

Income figures are a base case built from the assumptions in the business plan document. They show income only, excluding GST, and do not include David’s current counselling income, costs, or Connect platform income.