How I work

My deliverable is impact on your bottom line. I advise and help set direction, your team handles implementation.

I'm not a fit for stay-in-your-lane environments. I question everything and often approach from a unique perspective. If those are hard to accept now, let's save both of us the disappointment.

Where I usually start

I like to dive right in and help fix a pressing problem. But I also want to understand the overall goals and learn about the entire operation, particularly in the areas of:

Cash flow

How fast money shows up after a sale, and how long it sits with someone else first.

Commissions and fees

What you pay partners, platforms and resellers for customers you could reach yourself.

Wasted capital

Stock nobody's buying. Vendors charging for work you could do cheaper. Good people busy on the wrong things.

Marketing and sales

Leads sales doesn't trust, and sales never telling marketing what actually closes.

Single advisory call

$500 60 min

A 60-minute call about a challenge, opportunity or decision. Bring the situation and we'll work through it together.

No ongoing commitment
Book additional calls as needed

Biweekly

$1,500 a month

An ongoing outside perspective to help you think through decisions and keep things moving in the right direction.

60-minute call every two weeks
Email access between calls

Weekly

$3,000 a month

For businesses facing bigger decisions, more frequent guidance or wanting faster growth.

60-minute call each week
Email access between calls

Monthly arrangements have a three-month minimum, since real value comes after understanding, which takes time.

See if we're a fit

Start with a free 30-minute call. We'll go over what's going on, and I'll tell you whether I can help. The paid options above are for actionable advice, but you'll probably leave this call with ideas too.

Some past highlights

Here's a few hits I'm proud of, but let's be honest, not every swing is a home run and swinging for the fences comes with higher risk. I love hitting easy singles that bring in consistent wins. All clients always kept confidential.

+87%direct revenue in six months

Multi-location boat tour operator

Revenue channel mix and cash flow

Most bookings came through in-market partners and online agencies who took a commission and paid months after the tour. Rather than simply chasing more bookings, I shifted the focus to direct reservations, which pay at checkout. That immediately improved cash flow and reduced dependence on intermediaries. Partner revenue fell 12% that year due to economic conditions, but total revenue still grew, to $2.7M.

$794Kin two years, starting from zero

Vacation rental startup

Customer acquisition and channel development

No brand recognition and they needed cash fast. Paid search brought in the first bookings, then organic and other channels took over until 96% of total revenue came from unpaid channels.

-82%shipping costs

Shipping overhaul, DTC frozen perishables

Logistics, packaging and cost structure

Carrier bills were over $600K a year, mostly heavy packages sent by air. While those bills were still large, I negotiated 40% off published rates. Then we built a check for which orders could arrive by ground in two days, redesigned the packaging to last longer in transit, and tested it. Ground worked well enough that spoilage insurance cost more than the occasional lost box, so we dropped it. A second shipping location covered the rest of the country with ground. Carrier billing fell to about $110K a year, and the 40% discount carried over to ground.

-58%occupancy cost

Commercial building purchase

Capital allocation and occupancy cost

I directed the purchase of a building then leased out part of it to cover half the payment. Occupancy cost for the company fell by 58% and the company owned its building and a divisible lot in a growing RS zone, instead of renting.

$146Kof written-off stock sold

Hardware distributor

Turning dead inventory into revenue

Sold literal piles and piles of nuts and bolts and other low-cost parts that had sat for years and were already written off. We created pages for the parts buyers were searching for, and sold online at retail vs wholesale. That was a lot of nuts and bolts! Approx 10% annual revenue increase to reinvest into higher volume and margin products.

+24%revenue, while traffic fell 70%

Automotive publisher

Monetization that doesn't depend on traffic growth

Ads were paying $1.82 per thousand pageviews when I started. After my changes, that climbed as high as $9.17. Over the same stretch, Google sent the forums about 70% less traffic. Revenue still grew 24%, roughly $315K more than the same traffic would have earned at the old rate.

+444%revenue in the first year

Influencer & DTC

Product strategy, distribution and revenue diversification

Most of the income came from affiliate links and low-dollar DTC, and that market had a ceiling. I bundled digital products to raise order value and started selling higher-priced gear directly instead of sending buyers elsewhere. The bigger move was advising them to negotiate for exclusive US distributorship of a product line they already endorsed. That product made up 78% of online sales in its first year.

A little about me

I've been building, growing and running businesses since 1995. My experience spans marketing, ecommerce, travel, distribution, operations and business development. I've worked inside businesses, built my own, and helped other owners figure out what to do next.

I've never been interested in doing things just because that's how they've always been done. I like understanding how a business works, questioning assumptions, and finding better ways to get results.

These days I advise owners and their teams. I bring the outside perspective. They bring the knowledge of their business and make things happen.

More about me