Why it matters
Large companies do this every quarter. Small businesses almost never do.
A large company would not change its software, its prices or its marketing without an analysis first. It has analysts on staff, or it hires a firm. The analysis tells it where the money really goes and what is worth fixing.
You have had to decide the same things from memory, from a software salesperson's demo, or at eleven at night. The work was always out of reach for a business your size, because it took a team to do it.
It does not take a team of people any more. We build an AI team around your business, and Chris directs it. So the first analysis costs you nothing.
What it answers
The questions you have not been able to answer.
- Am I really profitable, and on which work?
- Am I charging enough?
- Who owes me, and how slowly do they pay?
- Why do customers stop coming?
- Who is drifting away right now?
- Where do my best customers come from?
- Is my marketing paying for itself?
- How many calls and messages never got an answer?
- What do empty slots, missed calls and unbilled work cost me in a year?
- Is everyone's time well used, mine included?
- Is my software helping or hurting?
- What breaks if I take a month off?
- Which AI tools are worth it for a business like mine?
- If I fix three things, which three?
What is in it
Fourteen parts. The first page gives you the answer.
- The short versionWhat is working, where you are losing money, and the three things to fix first. One page.
- What you asked forYour own answer to one question we ask on the first call, word for word.
- What we looked atEvery program we read, how far back, and how sure we are of each part.
- The shape of your businessWhere the revenue comes from, how much rests on a few customers, and how the year rises and falls.
- Where the money comes from and where it goesProfit by type of work. Work done and never billed. How long you wait to be paid.
- Who stays and who driftedWhen customers stop coming, and what they had in common.
- How new customers find youEvery source, what each one costs, and what each customer is worth.
- How fast you answerMissed calls, slow replies and quotes nobody followed up.
- What customers sayYour reviews, what people praise, and what they complain about.
- How your week runsHours paid against hours that earned money, your own included.
- Your software and your recordsEvery tool you pay for, what it duplicates, and where two of them disagree.
- What breaks if you are away for a month
- What AI is worth using hereAnd what is not worth it yet.
- Your options, the three things to fix, and your scorecardEvery option with its cost, including doing nothing.
We counted it in your own records.
It is a projection, and we show the assumption so you can disagree with it.
What we read
We read the software you already use.
- Jane
- Acuity
- Jobber
- Housecall Pro
- LMN
- OwnerRez
- AppFolio
- QuickBooks
- Square
- Stripe
- Your phone system
- Website inquiries
- Google profile
- Ads
- Reviews
Your scheduling or job software, your books, your payments, your phone system, your website inquiries, your Google profile, your ads and your reviews.
The strongest findings come from putting two of them side by side. Finished jobs against invoices shows work that was never billed. Missed calls against the schedule shows bookings that were lost.
What we need from you
One conversation and one sign-off.
A conversation
About how your business runs day to day.
A signed data handling agreement
And a login to read your software.
A meeting to go through it
In person if you are in Santa Cruz County.
You do not gather files, fill in a questionnaire, or learn anything new.
What it costs
The first Business Analysis is free. It is yours to keep whether or not you work with us afterward. If the right advice is to change nothing, that is what it will say.
What happens after
If you want us to do the work, it is $500 a month.
We start on the three things to fix. You get a report every Monday. Every three months we run the Business Analysis again and put the new numbers beside the old ones, so you can see what is working and what needs adjusting.
See one
See a sample for a business like yours.
Each sample has a first Business Analysis, the list of numbers we track, and a quarterly Business Analysis. We run a new analysis every three months. The quarterly sample shown is the second one, so the numbers have had time to move. The businesses are fictional and the figures are invented.
Questions
About the analysis.
How long does it take?
About one week from the first conversation to the finished analysis.
Is it really free?
Yes. You keep it whether or not you work with us.
Is this a sales pitch dressed up as a report?
No. It states every option with its cost, including doing nothing and doing it yourselves.
Is my data safe?
We work under a signed data handling agreement and read only what the analysis needs. If you do not go further, our access is removed.
I am not in Santa Cruz. Can I still get one?
Yes. We meet local owners in person and work with businesses across the United States remotely.
My business is very small. Is there enough to analyze?
Usually more than owners expect. A solo practice with a few years of bookings holds thousands of records.
Do I need to be using particular software?
No. We read what you have. If your software cannot tell us something, the analysis says so.
Is this bookkeeping or tax advice?
No. Your bookkeeper keeps the books and your accountant handles tax. We read the books to understand the business.