How an engagement works

Stage 1

Discovery Call

Free · 60–90 minutes

The first conversation. We understand your situation, establish whether the problem is solvable (most are), and give you an honest assessment of fit. You evaluate us. We evaluate the engagement.

What we're listening for:

• — Whether your books are clean or nonexistent
• — Whether you can describe your true profit margin
• — What systems you're using — or aren't
• — What's keeping you up at night
• — Whether you've tried to fix this before

If the engagement is right for both sides, we move to Discovery.

Stage 2

The Ground Truth Report

$3,500–5,000 · Fixed fee · 2–4 weeks

Learn more about the Ground Truth Report →

The core deliverable. We triangulate your real financial picture from every available source — POS systems, bank statements, supplier invoices, payroll records, manual documents — and produce a complete picture of where your business actually stands.

The Ground Truth Report includes:

• — Business Reality Summary — what the business actually is vs. what the owner believed
• — Financial Baseline — true revenue, true margins, true cost structure
• — Risk Register — identified risks with urgency ratings
• — Opportunity Map — highest-leverage areas for improvement
• — Implementation Roadmap — recommended sequence of next steps with indicative costs

This is a fixed-fee engagement. We are not billing hours. We are delivering clarity — and clarity has a specific value to a business that has been operating without it.

Stage 3

Implementation

Scoped from Discovery findings · Typically $5,000–$30,000+

The Ground Truth Report produces a roadmap. Implementation is authorized in phases, based on what Discovery reveals. No client commits to full implementation scope upfront.

Implementation may include:

• —Accounting system setup and configuration
• —Chart of Accounts design for your specific business structure
• —Bank feed automation and coding rules
• —Operational systems buildout
• —Custom software development
• —AI integration and workflow automation
• —For clients who want it, a private query system trained on their own business data — so instead of digging through reports, the owner can ask a question and get an answer specific to their actual numbers
• —Staff documentation and training

Stage 4

Ongoing Retainer

$1,500–3,000/month

For clients who want a trusted advisor available for ongoing decisions, monthly financial triage, system maintenance, and continued buildout. Fractional Chief of Staff availability without the full-time cost.

30-day cancellation notice. No minimum call volume — the value is availability, not a monthly deliverable.