These three guides cover the full life of a consultation: getting ready, choosing who to talk to, and acting on what you hear. They are written for busy Canadian owners and managers, and they work whether you book with us or with someone else. Each takes about ten minutes to read and gives you something to do the same day.
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After the consultation: a decision log that keeps advice working
Advice only pays off when it becomes a dated action with a number attached. A simple decision log records what you decided, why, the first step and the measure that will prove it right or wrong.
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How to prepare for a business consultation in about an hour
An hour of preparation can double what you get from a consultation. Gather five numbers, write one sentence about the decision you face, and list what you've already tried.
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Questions to ask before you pay any business consultant
Before you pay any consultant, ours included, ask who will do the work, what they've done that you can check, how they'll measure success and what happens if you want to stop.
Prepare for your consultation
How to prepare for a business consultation shows you how to build a one-page brief in under an hour. It covers the five numbers almost every advisor will ask for, how to estimate them if your bookkeeping isn't tidy, and how to write your main question in one sentence.
What you'll learn:
- Which numbers matter most and where to find them.
- How to calculate your close rate and the value of one more customer.
- How to frame a question so the answer is a decision, not a lecture.
- What to leave out so the call doesn't drown in history.
Vet any business consultant
Questions to ask before you pay any business consultant is a buyer's guide. The words "business consultant" on a card tell you very little on their own, so the checking falls to you.
What you'll learn:
- The questions that separate real experience from confident talk.
- How to check a consultant's claimed results yourself.
- The warning signs in a proposal, from vague scope to promised outcomes.
- Where a business consultant's advice should stop and a licensed professional's should start.
After the call: keep a decision log
After the consultation: a decision log that keeps advice working deals with the most common way consultations fail: good advice, never acted on. It shows you how to record each decision, the reasoning and the number that will prove it right or wrong.
What you'll learn:
- A simple four-column log you can start in a spreadsheet.
- How to turn a recommendation into a dated first step.
- When to review a decision, and what to do if the numbers go the wrong way.
- How to keep a partner or manager aligned without another meeting.
How the guides connect to our services
The guides map onto the formats we offer. Preparation is what makes the free first conversation productive. Vetting is what you should do before any defined-scope business review, with us or anyone else. The decision log is the backbone of ongoing advisory, where Ali keeps one with you month by month.
Which guide to read first
Start with the guide that matches where you are right now, not the one at the top of the list.
- You haven't booked anything yet and want to know what to bring: read the preparation guide first. It's also the shortest route to a productive free call.
- You're comparing advisors or holding a proposal: read the vetting guide. It gives you twelve questions and a list of red flags to check against the document in front of you.
- You've already had a consultation, with us or anyone else, and the notes are sitting in a drawer: go straight to the decision-log guide. It will take you fifteen minutes to set up, and it's the one most likely to save you money this quarter.
A useful habit for any of them: read with a pen, and write down the one thing you'll do this week. If a guide doesn't produce at least one action, it hasn't done its job, and we'd like to hear why.
Who the guides are written for
They're written for the person who signs the cheques, or the manager who has to recommend where the money goes. We assume you know your business far better than we do. What the guides add is the outside perspective of an advisor who has sat through many of these conversations: the questions that matter, the mistakes that repeat, and the simple tools that make advice stick.
A note on what the guides won't tell you
The guides cover business decisions: growth, marketing, pricing, follow-up and operations. They do not cover legal, tax, accounting or lending questions, and nothing in them should be read as advice in those areas.
If you'd like to talk through what you've read, the contact page explains how to reach us by call, text or email.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to read the guides before booking?
No. A short message is enough to book. The guides simply help you get more from the 30 minutes, and from any paid time that follows.
Are the guides only useful if I work with you?
No. They are written to be useful with any consultant or advisor. The vetting guide in particular includes questions you should ask us too.
Can I share the guides with my team?
Yes. The preparation guide works well as a checklist for whoever pulls together your numbers, and the decision-log guide is meant to be shared with anyone who carries out the decisions.