Purpose In Action · The first four weeks
Four weeks finding where the business depends on you
The work starts here. I spend four weeks inside your business, talking to every person who matters, so that what gets built afterwards is the thing this business actually needs. At the end you know where the dependency sits, what it is costing you, and what gets built first. A builder surveys the site before they dig, and nobody mistakes the survey for the job.
Why it starts with four weeks and not a proposal
I could sell you a framework on the first call. Plenty do. It would be the same framework the last business got, and about a third of it would fit.
Founder dependency never sits where the founder thinks it sits. It is usually two layers down, in a decision nobody was ever given permission to make. Four weeks inside the business is how that gets found, and finding it properly is what makes the build worth paying for.
You are not buying a diagnostic instead of the work. The assessment is the first four weeks of it.
If the four weeks do not show you clearly where the business depends on you and what to do about it, you do not pay.
What actually happens
I talk to the people who run it
A couple of conversations with each person in the leadership layer, not only you. Where the business depends on one person is visible in what everyone else cannot decide, and they will tell me that long before you would.
A working session with you
I feed back what I am hearing while it is still fresh, so nothing lands as a surprise at the end. You steer me towards anything you want dug into harder.
I follow what surfaces
The four weeks go deep on whatever is actually load-bearing in your business. There is no checklist to work through, because the checklist would be about other people's businesses.
What you have at the end
Not a document with recommendations in it. You have a build that is scoped and ready to start.
Where it depends on you
Named, specifically. Which decisions route through you, which seats have no owner, and which numbers nobody can see until it is too late to act on them.
What it is costing
In cash, in time and in the things that are not happening because you are the constraint. Where I can put a figure on it, I do.
What gets built first
The order of work, who owns each piece, and what changes when it lands. This is a build order rather than a wish list, which is why week five can start building.
I walk you through it in plain language, and you get it in writing. The written part is a specification for the work, not a set of suggestions for you to go and implement alone.
Who it is for
Founder- and partner-led businesses between £500k and £15M, in professional services, law firms, digital agencies and construction, where growth has outpaced the way the business is run and you have become the person everything routes through.
If the honest answer is that you need to hire someone rather than restructure, I will tell you. That distinction is worth understanding before you spend anything, including with me.
If you are thinking of selling in the next few years, it is the same four weeks. A buyer will go looking for where the business still depends on you, and it is better that you find it first.
What happens after
Most people carry on, because by week five we both know what needs building and I am already inside the business. That continues as Founder Operational Advisory at £2,600–£5,500 a month for three to six months, or as an embedded Fractional COO at £6,500–£11,500 a month where the business needs the seat filled.
You are not obliged to continue, and nothing in the four weeks is structured to trap you into it. But I would rather be straight with you: this is the start of the work, not a product you buy instead of it.
Frequently asked questions
Why four weeks, and not one?
Because the thing you are paying me to find is rarely visible in a week. It takes two or three conversations with the same person before you hear what they actually cannot decide. I have been asked for a one-week version and I have said no, because I do not yet know what I would honestly do in one week.
What if I stop at the end of the four weeks?
Then you stop. You keep what we worked out and nothing is owed beyond the fixed fee. It happens, usually because the timing is wrong rather than the work, and I would rather that than talk someone into a retainer they are not ready for.
How is this different from the free Clarity Call?
The 30-minute Clarity Call is a quick read of whether there is a fit at all, at no cost. The four weeks are the work starting: embedded in the business, talking to your team, ending with the build scoped.
How much of my time does it take?
A working session with you each week, plus access to your key people for a couple of conversations each. It is designed to surface what is really going on without pulling you or your team off the job.
What does it cost?
£4,500, a single fixed fee for the four weeks. It does not vary with the size of your business, it is agreed before anything starts, and it does not move afterwards. You should not have to book a call to find out what something costs.
Start with a conversation
A 30-minute Operational Clarity Call, which is a direct read of whether these four weeks are right for where you are. If they are not, I will say so.
Book an Operational Clarity Call →