Ben Meer, the productivity guru Forbes has dubbed the "Systems Guy," is the man CEOs and top industry leaders are quietly hiring to fix their overworked lives. A new New York Post profile reveals how the former Ernst & Young consultant turned a humble 2022 blog into a seven-figure company — powered by a free newsletter, System Sunday, with more than 252,000 active subscribers and coaching clients paying tens of thousands of dollars.
From Ernst & Young to Seven Figures
Meer did not set out to become a productivity guru. After earning his MBA from Cornell, he joined Ernst & Young as a consultant in 2019 and was assigned to write an internal newsletter. At the time he was going through a breakup and threw himself into the writing — and his manager suggested he become a writer. He later told the Post he was "a little bitter" at the advice, having "just spent $150,000 on an MBA" and wanting to be seen as a great strategist.
He returned to writing during the pandemic, launching a blog in February 2022 about using systems to improve everyday life — and things took off. "We hear things like 'trust the process,' but I spent years trusting the process when I didn't actually have a process," he told the Post. His company now brings in seven figures, and Forbes calls him "The Systems Guy." He has also signed a major book deal with Pan Macmillan for How to Be Good at Life.
Tiny Systems, Big Results
Meer's advice is simple but effective. He charges his phone in the living room so he sleeps better and avoids endless late-night scrolling. To watch less TV, he removes the batteries from the remote control — forcing himself to get up off the couch to put on a second episode.
His coaching work goes deeper. He will not name clients, but he told the Post he helped a creative director get home in time to put his kids to bed, and worked with a senior product leader at a major tech company who started an advisory practice and eventually quit her job to run it full time. He now works as an executive coach to founders, CEOs, and authors.
A Newsletter — and a Partnership — Empire
Meer and his fiancée, Jade Bonacolta, are building a quiet powerhouse together. Bonacolta is a former Google marketing leader whose own newsletter, The Quiet Rich, has 312,000 subscribers and who has 482,000 LinkedIn followers. Together they run Archimedes, a 12-week program for building a following on LinkedIn, with a listed price of $3,299.
The Takeaway
Ben Meer proves you don't need more motivation to fix your life — you need better systems. While titans of industry pay tens of thousands for his coaching, the core ideas are free in System Sunday: design your environment so the right choices are the easy ones. Start tonight — charge your phone in another room.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Silly Fun (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: New York Post: Titans of industry are turning to this 'Systems Guy' to keep their lives running smoothly; Success Story: Ben Meer – Forbes Creator & Founder of System Sunday; The Bookseller: Pan Macmillan snaps up 'How to Be Good at Life' by Ben Meer in major pre-empt