Your numbers should be telling you something. If they're not, that's the problem.
Most independent agencies under $25M don't need a full-time CFO — and can't justify one. What they need is someone who's already worked inside this industry, built financial infrastructure for firms like theirs, and can step in at exactly the level the business requires.
Most clients start with the Financial Assessment — a 30-day diagnostic that shows you what's actually happening in the business and what to do about it. From there, the work typically moves into ongoing advisory, where the financial infrastructure becomes a tool your team uses to make decisions. Strategic Planning and the Exit Readiness Program are available whenever the business calls for them.
The Financial Assessment
This is where every engagement starts. I look at your current financial infrastructure and identify the gap between what you have and what the business needs. I work alongside your existing financial and accounting team rather than replacing them.
A live operating dashboard and a prioritized action plan. Not a report that gets filed and forgotten. A working view of the business you can actually use, built in the first 30 days.
Any owner who isn't sure their numbers accurately reflect what's happening in the business or doesn't feel they have the most comprehensive information to make the best decisions. This is the right starting point regardless of where you are in your relationship with the financials.
Strategic Financial Advisory
This is the core of the work and where most clients spend their time with me. Once the Financial Assessment is complete, we shift from getting the systems right to using them to run the company. Monthly dashboard reviews, compensation and hiring decisions backed by real numbers, margin management, and budget accountability by department.
This is where the value compounds. The longer we work together, the more the financial infrastructure becomes a tool your team uses to make decisions, not something you have to interpret on your own.
Monthly dashboard reviews with real interpretation — not just numbers, but what they mean and what to do next. Compensation and hiring decisions backed by actual margin data. Budget accountability by department. And a financial partner who's seen these problems before and knows the shortest path through them.
Owners of independent agencies and creative firms who want a highly experienced and specialized financial partner to stand with them as they build what's next. Most clients move here directly after the Financial Assessment.
Strategic Planning
A dedicated session focused on the next one to five years. Where is the business going? What does the financial infrastructure need to support that? How do we build enterprise value? This steps back from the day-to-day and focuses entirely on the forward view.
A forward-looking plan covering growth targets, enterprise value, and what has to happen operationally to support both.
Current Strategic Financial Advisory clients, as a high-value annual or semi-annual touchpoint. Also available for former clients or founders who aren't ready for a full retainer but want structured, forward-looking planning.
Exit Readiness Program
A structured program for founders with a defined horizon — a sale, a succession, or a transition to largely passive ownership. This goes deeper than the retainer, with a specific end state in mind: a business with clean financials, an operating model that doesn't depend on you personally, and a financial narrative that holds up under scrutiny.
Founders who do this work before they're in a transaction are in a meaningfully different position than founders who bring in an advisor after a buyer has already shown interest.
A transferable operating model, clean and compelling financials, and a financial narrative built to hold up under buyer or successor scrutiny.
Founders with a specific exit or succession horizon who want to walk into that process from a position of strength instead of starting the work after a buyer is already at the table.
The financial work and the transaction are part of the same path
Founders who come out of the Exit Readiness Program go into a transaction knowing their numbers, having already answered the hard questions buyers will ask. I run the full M&A process — sell-side, buy-side, and everything in between — with the same CPA depth and agency-specific fluency that makes the financial advisory work effective.
Results from real engagements
A look at how creative and technology firms have used the Financial Assessment and ongoing advisory to build better businesses.
I already have a CPA that I work with. Why would I need to work with you?
Most CPAs close your year end and minimize your tax exposure, and they're probably good at it. But minimizing your tax exposure isn't always in alignment with building a valuable firm. What they're likely not doing is telling you whether you can afford that next hire, what levers you can pull for growth, or what your company would sell for in today's market. Those are different questions, and they require a different kind of work. While I am a CPA, my work and training are focused on growth, transformation, succession planning, and M&A.
I'm not planning to sell. Why would I need this?
The goal isn't to prepare you for a sale. The goal is to run a business that pays you what you want, lets you make decisions with confidence, and stops requiring you to be in every decision. Whether you sell in five years or never, those outcomes matter right now. A business that could be sold is a business that's running well. That's what we're building, regardless of your exit plans.
Not sure where to start? That's what the conversation is for.
You don't need to know exactly which service is right for you. We'll talk through where the business is today and figure it out together.
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