How I can help

I’m most useful when a business is basically sound, but has become harder to run than it should be. Maybe too much still depends on you, everyone is busy but the profit isn’t quite keeping up, the systems are a mess, responsibilities are fuzzy, or the business has simply accumulated a lot of stuff that nobody would deliberately design that way.

That’s usually where I come in.

I look at what’s actually going on

Not what the org chart says, not what the software vendor promised and not what everyone has simply got used to. I look at the business as it really works: people, customers, money, systems, processes, decisions and all the odd little workarounds that have quietly become “the way we do things”.

Then I start asking questions. Some sensible, some annoying. Usually both.

Sometimes the problem is obvious. Sometimes it isn’t.

You might know exactly what needs fixing, or you might just have a nagging feeling that the business shouldn’t be this difficult.

Maybe the business has grown and the way you run it hasn’t quite caught up. Maybe every awkward decision still ends up back on your desk. Maybe people are working hard but nobody is entirely sure who owns what. Maybe turnover is going up while profit is standing in the corner pretending not to notice.

Either way, we can work out what matters, what doesn’t and what’s actually worth fixing first.

I’m not selling you a system

I don’t have a trademarked seven-step process, I’m not going to make you walk over hot coals and I’m not going to tell you that every business needs to double in size.

Sometimes growth is exactly the right answer. Sometimes growth just makes an existing problem bigger, more expensive and considerably harder to ignore.

I prefer better before bigger.

What that can look like

It might be a one-off review of the business, a specific improvement project, or ongoing support from someone outside the day-to-day operation who knows enough to challenge you properly.

I can help with things like making the business less dependent on you, sorting out messy processes, clarifying who is responsible for what, looking at where time and money are disappearing, reviewing how the team works, or simply helping you step back and see the business more clearly.

The format matters less than the problem.

Who I work with

I’m mainly interested in established owner-managed businesses and charities. Builders, engineers, trades, service companies, technology businesses and specialists are all fair game.

I don’t really care whether you fit windows or build networks.

Well, obviously I care. Presumably you care quite a lot.

What I mean is that the product changes, but the business around it often has the same ingredients: people, customers, money, systems, decisions and the occasional completely baffling process that nobody remembers inventing.