One session. One problem. A flat fee.

Pick My Brain

One problem, one conversation. You bring the question and I'll give you a candid answer.

Good for

• A second opinion before a big decision
• A problem you've been chewing on for weeks
• Finding out whether a longer session makes sense

How it works

We meet over coffee, lunch or a drink. You host, and you set the topic.

Strategy Session

A focused working session on one decision. We work through it the way good decisions get made.

What we do

• Frame the decision: what are we really deciding?
• Lay out two or three genuinely different alternatives
• Gather what we know and name what we don't
• Weigh the trade-offs, in dollars where we can
• Decide, and agree on the first step

Good for

A key hire, a price change, a new line of business, a partner question, a big purchase.

Half-Day Planning Session

The owner and key managers, away from the office, setting priorities for the next ninety days.

What we cover

• Where the business stands today, and the few numbers that tell you so
• The three to five things that matter most this quarter
• Who owns each one, and how you'll know it's on track
• The obstacles in the way, and who clears them

Good for

Teams that haven't planned in a while, or that plan once a year and then forget the plan by March.

Process Mapping

We walk one of your processes from start to finish and find where it breaks.

What we do

• Pick one process: quoting a job, onboarding a customer, hiring, closing the month
• Walk it step by step, from the first trigger to the finished result
• Name every input, output and handoff
• Mark where work stalls, gets redone or falls through the cracks
• Decide where you need a written procedure or a checklist

Who should be there

The people who actually do the work, not just the people who manage it. They know where the problems are.

You leave with

A map of the process on the wall and a short list of the procedures and checklists to write first.

Annual Planning Retreat

A full day with your leadership team to agree on where the business is going and what this year is for.

What we cover

• Mission: what you do every day, for whom, and why
• Vision: where the business is headed, and what you'll say no to
• Your ideal customer, and why they choose you over the competition
• Your theory of value creation: employees, customers or shareholders first. Only one can be first.
• The goals for the year, who owns them, and the few measures you'll watch
• The exit, even if it's years away

How to get the most from it

Go off-site and make it a priority. If you have to close for a day, close for a day. Break bread together at lunch; it matters more than you'd think.

Annual + Quarterly Series

The annual retreat, plus three quarterly sessions to keep the plan alive.

Each quarter we

• Check the numbers against the plan
• Adjust priorities for what's changed
• Clear the obstacles that stalled progress
• Set the next ninety days

Why a series

Most plans die between January and March. A quarterly check-in on the calendar is the simplest way to keep yours working.

Partnership Planning

Partners agree on the hard questions before the attorney drafts a single document.

What we work through

• The exit plan: how each partner gets out, and when
• Governance: who decides what, and how ties get broken
• Partner duties and relative contributions
• Capital: who puts in money, and what happens when the business needs more
• Employees, family and new partners
• Looking ahead: expansion, changing priorities, the unexpected

How it works

I meet with each partner individually, then with all of you together. Partners who agree on these questions now have far fewer fights later.

You leave with

Clear agreement on the business terms, ready for your attorney to turn into partnership documents. I'm not a lawyer, and this doesn't replace one.