One-on-one work for founder-led business owners who are ready to stop being the bottleneck, and start having options.

Engagement fees depend on the size and complexity of the business, the timeframe you're working to, and the level of involvement you need from me. I work with a small number of founders at a time, and pricing is discussed at the discovery stage once I understand what you're actually trying to solve.

If you're not sure you're ready, that's normal. Most owners arrive at this work after years of thinking they should be able to fix it themselves. The discovery call is free and there's no obligation. Worst case, you leave the conversation with a clearer picture of where your business actually stands. Best case, you stop carrying it alone.

A genuine, planned exit takes three to five years to do well. Some owners do it faster. Some take longer. The honest answer is: it takes as long as the gap between where your business is now and where it needs to be to run without you.

If you've left it late (illness, burnout, family pressure, or a sudden need to step out) there's still work that can be done in six to twelve months to stabilise things and protect what you've built. It won't be the exit you would have designed with more time, but it'll be a far better outcome than walking away with nothing.

The cost of waiting is real. The earlier you start, the more options you keep.

A coach helps you think. A broker helps you sell. An accountant helps you measure. None of them help you do the structural work that makes your business worth coaching, sellable, or accurately measurable in the first place.

I've sat in all three seats: as an owner, as a coach, and inside businesses doing the operational work. My job is the in-between: the structural redesign that takes a business from "runs through the owner" to "runs without the owner." Once that work is done, your accountant, broker, or coach can do their job properly. Most can't, because the business isn't ready.

If your accountant is telling you the business is profitable but you don't feel it, or a broker has told you the business won't sell as it stands, that's a sign the structural work hasn't been done yet.

One-on-one, online, over the course of several months. Every engagement begins with a proper diagnosis, three to four conversations where I get the full picture of the business, where it depends on you, and where you want to be on the other side.

From there, we work through five stages: diagnose the bottleneck, install the buffer, build the operating rhythm, systemise the eighty percent, and lock control into your numbers and decisions. We don't move through them in order. We apply the stage that releases the most pressure first.

You won't get a workbook to fill out or a course to log into. You get me, every step, asking the questions you've been avoiding and helping you build the structure that turns an owner-dependent business into one that runs without you.

Founder-led, established businesses turning over roughly $1M to $20M annually. Most of my clients are in their forties, fifties or sixties, have run the business for 5–25 years, and have reached the point where the business has outgrown the way they originally built it.

Industry isn't the deciding factor. I've worked across construction, automotive, professional services, retail, health and wellness, and family-owned operations. The pattern of owner-dependence is the same in every industry, and so is the way out.

What matters more than industry is the situation: you built it, you're tired, and you want options.

If any of these are true, the business is too dependent on you:

You can't take two weeks off without checking in. Decisions stop when you're not available. Staff route problems to you that they should be solving themselves. The business's quality drops the moment you're not watching. You earn less per hour than your team. Your accountant says the business is profitable, but you can't feel it. You've started to fantasise about closing or selling, not because you've lost interest, but because you've lost yourself in it.

Owner-dependence isn't a character flaw. It's the natural consequence of building something from scratch and never restructuring it for the next phase. The fix is structural, not personal.

Yes. In fact, most of the owners I work with don't end up selling.

Once a business runs without you, the pressure to sell usually disappears. What's left is a business that pays you, holds its value, and gives you back the life you originally started it for. That's a better outcome than a lump sum for most owners, and it's the one I help you design for.

Whether you eventually sell, hand the business to family or staff, or simply step back into an ownership role and let it run, the underlying work is the same: make the business optional to you. We figure out which exit suits you once you have the choice.

A soft exit is the process of removing yourself as the bottleneck of your business, gradually and deliberately, so the business can run, sell, or be handed over without breaking when you step away. It's different from selling because selling is one possible outcome. A soft exit is the work that makes any outcome possible.

Most owners think they need to sell. What they actually need is to stop being trapped. Once you've done that work, selling becomes one option among several, including keeping the business as an income stream that no longer needs you in it.