Your First Step
A practical guide to leadership with a side of sarcasm
Your First Step is a practical leadership guide for new team leads, supervisors, and managers who weren’t handed a manual, and are just trying not to spiral into a to-do list-induced meltdown.
What’s Inside
✔️ What to do when you inherit a team you didn’t pick
✔️ How to lead without losing your mind (or your coffee)
✔️ How to get buy-in without bribery, begging, or forced fun
✔️ Task lists, time management, and how to delegate before you combust
✔️ Managing upward when your boss is a ghost, a tyrant, or both
✔️ Giving feedback without becoming a micromanager (or a menace)
✔️ How to let someone go without spiraling into guilt or a TED Talk
✔️ When to say nothing, when to say “You’re fine,” and when to say goodbye
This isn’t a textbook. It’s a practical guide, built from real-life leadership chaos with just enough sarcasm to keep you awake.
Drop your email below and I’ll send you a heads-up the second it’s live.
No spam. Just:
A reminder to buy during launch week (because that part actually matters. I’ll explain why below).
A direct link when it’s ready.
Why I’m Pushing Early Sales
Amazon’s algorithm rewards momentum, meaning if a bunch of people buy the book during the first few days, it gets shown to even more people.
That’s how I get the little “Best Seller” badge. And no, it’s not just for bragging rights. That badge makes the book more visible, more credible, and helps it help more people without me constantly shouting on the internet.
So if you’re planning to grab a copy… doing it early makes a huge difference.
This book is for you if…
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First Time, No Manual
You’ve just been promoted, or voluntold, and you’re trying to figure out what “leadership” actually means in real life. You don’t want theory. You want someone to just tell you what works without pretending you have an MBA.
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Team Lead
You’re still doing the work alongside everyone else, but now you're also answering questions, solving problems, and modeling what “reliable” looks like. You need something that helps you lead without turning into a miniature middle manager.
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Supervisor
You’re in charge of the daily chaos, schedules, reminders, late shifts, passive-aggressive sighs, and somehow expected to keep everyone moving without losing your mind. You need tools that work between “Can I leave early?” and “I forgot to tell you the fridge exploded.”
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Manager
You're juggling deadlines, people problems, and three spreadsheets that disagree with each other. You’re not just running a team you’re building the structure that keeps it from collapsing. This book helps you manage without becoming a bottleneck or a martyr.
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Running on Caffeine
You’re juggling too many tasks, tabs, people, and moods. Your coping strategy is coffee, a color-coded calendar, and the occasional dramatic sigh into the void.
Spoiler: Get to Stage 2 -
Allergic to Fluff
You don’t have time for management jargon, inspirational wall quotes, or personality quizzes disguised as leadership tools. You just want to be good at your job and not make people cry in the process.
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Neurospicy, Sharp, or Just Tired
You process the world a little differently. Whether it’s ADHD, high sensitivity, masking fatigue, or straight-up burnout, you need tools that actually work in your brain, not just in a workbook.
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Designated Adult (Against Your Will)
You weren’t promoted, you just started doing the work and now everyone turns to you when stuff hits the fan. You don’t have the job title, but you’ve definitely got the group chat.
Take a browse through some of the page…
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About the Author
Sherrilee Franks has spent the last 20 years managing teams, operations, and the kind of logistical chaos that makes normal people fake a Wi-Fi outage. From historic ranches and remote heli-ski lodges to high-stakes events and full-throttle property management, she leads with equal parts strategy, sarcasm, and very strong coffee.
She’s been promoted too fast, left cleaning up messes she didn’t make, and inherited more dysfunctional systems than she can count. Somewhere between fixing the printer and rewriting the policies from scratch, she figured out what actually works—and what just sounds good in a corporate memo.
Her leadership style is upside-down (sometimes literally), and this is her first book. She wrote it for anyone who’s ever sat at their desk thinking: “Is this normal? Am I the problem? Should I be Googling this?”
Answer: You're not the problem. Yes, someone should’ve given you a guide. No, it’s not cheating if you Google it.
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Testimonials
“Every new supervisor should get this on Day One. It’s sharp, honest, and actually useful when things go sideways.”
— Senior HR Specialist
“It’s a quick read, but it sticks with you. Especially the parts about feedback and managing up.”
— Department Supervisor
“This book covers what most onboarding programs miss.”
— People & Culture Manager