Private consulting · Working closely with a few founders
Most strategic and holistic advice stops at the business. Mine starts with you. I look at the whole picture, your life, your business and the values underneath both, because the decisions that really matter are rarely only commercial. Not a traditional board member, but a strategic partner in your corner who tells you the truth and raises the quality of every call you make, on a monthly engagement built for a growing business, not a FTSE 100 budget.
I am a director at eba, and this private advisory sits alongside that role. It is my own work, focused on founders, strategy and operating systems. For accountancy or full-service business advisory, I will introduce you to the eba team.
Who it is for
It is for founders who are past the startup stage and running a real business. Who have outgrown the advice of their immediate circle. Who are making decisions with real consequences and carrying them mostly alone. The work requires honesty, from both sides.
What we work on
The packages
Stop Firefighting
£500
per month
For founders who want a qualified, independent perspective on their business every month, and someone to call on between sessions when a decision cannot wait.
Right for you if you are solid operationally but want someone in your corner, thinking about your business alongside you.
Or £5,000 a year, which is two months free.
Get It Built
£1,000
per month
For founders who are actively scaling and need more than a monthly check-in to do it without making costly mistakes.
Right for you if you are growing and the decisions are getting harder, and you need someone thinking at that level alongside you, consistently.
Or £10,000 a year, which is two months free.
Runs Without You
£1,500
per month
For founders who want a genuine non-executive director experience, properly embedded in how the business thinks and moves.
Right for you if you want a genuine strategic partner, not just a consultant. Well suited to founders in or around Cheshire.
Or £15,000 a year, which is two months free.
When you want a finish line
£6,000
fixed, and it ends on the day it says it ends
Ninety days, fortnightly, to build the system your business runs on and get the first three things off you. Fixed scope, fixed end date, and everything we write is yours. This is Runs Without You at pace, with a finish line.
After the first fortnight you will have the map and the first thing off you. If that fortnight has not earned its keep, stop there and the rest does not happen. You decide that, not me.
When advising is not the job
£3,500
a month, minimum three months, two places
A day a week, in the business rather than advising it. I take a function, run it, hire into it, and hand it back working. Usually a fixed piece of work rather than something open ended.
The first month decides it. If at the end of it you would rather I was not in the business, we stop and the other two months do not happen. I would rather find that out in week four than in month three.
I take six consulting clients at a time. Past six the work gets thinner and everybody feels it, and the point of building it this way was that earning more should not mean working more hours. If the six are full I will tell you, and you can wait or I will point you at something else.
The work and where it has got to, what is waiting on you, your documents, and the conversation about the job in the same place as the job. It is not an extra.
Book a short call and we will work out what fits. No commitment.
Straight answers
A coach mostly asks you questions. A consultant usually hands you a report and leaves. This sits closer to a non-executive director: someone in the room with you who has run real businesses, will tell you the truth, and stays involved month to month as the decisions play out. Less theory, more judgement, and skin in your actual situation.
Think about the cost of one wrong hire, one mispriced offer, or six months spent on the wrong priority. The fee is small next to a single avoided mistake or one decision made with more confidence. A full-time exec at this level is sixty thousand a year and up. This gives you that calibre of input for a fraction of it, and you can start at the entry tier and see the value before you commit further.
Very little, and it is built to give you time back, not eat it. One focused call and a short planning block a month at the entry level, more if you want it. The whole point is a calmer, lighter way of operating, not another thing on your plate.
The work is rarely about industry knowledge, it is about clear thinking, strategy, focus and structure, which carry across any business. I have built and run several of my own across different sectors, got some badly wrong, and rebuilt. If I genuinely do not think I can help with your situation, I will tell you on the first call.
Usually it did not help because the person had never run a business, or they showed up once and disappeared. I have been there, made the expensive mistakes, and come back from a full reset. You get honesty, continuity, and someone who treats your business like it matters, because I know exactly what it feels like to carry one.
We talk through where the business is, what is weighing on you, and where you want to get to. No script, no pitch. By the end we both know whether this is the right fit. There is no obligation, and if it is not right, I will say so.
Yes, and most people do. Start with Stop Firefighting, get a feel for how we work, and step up to Get It Built or Runs Without You when the moment is right. It is month to month throughout, so you are never locked in.
Cancel any time before your next billing date, with no notice periods and no penalties. There is no minimum term and never has been. I would rather you stay because it is working than because you feel stuck.
Completely. What you tell me stays between us. Candour only works if you can be fully open, so confidentiality is the baseline of how I work.
Not sure where you stand?
Take the Founder Operating Audit. Ten honest questions, two minutes, and an instant read on how you are really operating and where the biggest gains are. No commitment, and a good way to see whether this is for you.
Take the free audit →Every engagement starts with a call to work out whether it is the right fit on both sides. I work with a small number of clients at any one time, and if I do not think I am the right person to help, I will say so.
Get in touchPrefer to run it yourself first? Visit ElliottOS, my life operating system →
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