In three weeks you get a rebuilt P&L and a fix list with dollar values on it
The Margin Map is a fixed-scope financial diagnostic for $5 to $50 million owner-operated businesses, $7,500 flat. If it doesn't identify at least 3 times its fee in margin opportunities, you don't pay.
What you get
The scope, the price, and the timeline are all fixed. You get three deliverables, and there's no hourly meter running.
A rebuilt P&L by provider, crew, customer, or product line
Your P&L probably totals everything into one bucket. I rebuild it so you can see profit by provider, crew, customer, location, or product line, down to cost attribution per case or job. If there's a surprise in your numbers, this view is where it shows up first.
A 13-week cash forecast
A rolling forward view of cash so tight weeks stop being surprises. Collections, payroll, and big outflows lined up week by week, a full quarter ahead, built around how cash actually moves in your business. For inventory businesses, that means the forecast models purchase-order timing and what's committed to suppliers, alongside collections and payroll.
A dollar-valued fix list
Every finding gets a number: what it's costing you and what fixing it is worth. Ranked by value, so you know what to do first, whether you do it with me or without me.
How the 3 weeks run
Week 1: Data in
You give me read access to your books and your operating data, whether that's a practice management system, a job tracker, or a stack of spreadsheets. Your time commitment this week: one kickoff call and a few emails.
Week 2: Rebuild
I rebuild the P&L, build the cash forecast, and start putting dollar values on what I find. Expect a few honest questions midweek as we tie numbers out together.
Week 3: Findings
You get the full Margin Map in a working session rather than a PDF dropped in your inbox. We walk through every finding, every number behind it, and what we'd fix first.
The price, and why it's flat
The price is $7,500, flat. There's no hourly billing, no scope creep, and no proposal dance. You know the full price before we start, and the guarantee below means the math has to work in your favor.
For scale: market rates for a full-time CFO run from $275,000 to $500,000 all-in depending on company size, and a year of fractional CFO work runs $90,000 to $150,000. The Margin Map is the cheapest way to find out what that kind of help would actually be worth in your business.
The guarantee, both halves
There are two parts. First, if the Margin Map doesn't identify at least 3 times its fee in margin opportunities, which is $22,500, then you don't pay the fee at all. That means no payment is owed, rather than a credit toward future work. Second, if you continue to a retainer after the Map, the full $7,500 is credited to your first month's invoice.
What happens after the Map
Owners who want help executing the fix list move into a retainer. There are two, both month-to-month, no annual contract.
Advisory
$7,500/mo
The command center gets built and kept honest: live dashboard, a close process that lands on time, a KPI flash every week, an operating review every month, and me across the table for every big decision.
Executive
$12,500/mo
Everything in Advisory, plus executive coaching and a heavier seat at the table: I'm in the room for hires, bank conversations, and the big strategic calls.
Retainer capacity is capped at 5 clients so the work stays personal. When all 5 seats are taken, Margin Maps still run, and new retainer starts go on a waitlist until a seat opens.
There is no pressure to continue. The Margin Map is designed to stand on its own, and if you take the fix list and execute it with your own team, I consider that a good outcome.
Questions owners actually ask
Why does a diagnostic cost $7,500?
Because you're paying for the work itself rather than a sales conversation. You get a rebuilt P&L, a 13-week cash forecast, and a dollar-valued fix list, and each of those deliverables stands on its own. The guarantee also means it identifies at least $22,500 in margin opportunities or you don't pay at all.
We already have a bookkeeper and a controller. Why would we need this?
Keep them. Bookkeepers and controllers record and reconcile what already happened, and good ones are worth every dollar. The Margin Map is forward-looking. It shows where margin hides and where cash is headed over the next 13 weeks, and it tells you what to fix first. In most engagements your bookkeeper becomes more valuable, because the books finally have a structure that answers owner questions.
How is this different from an audit?
An audit checks whether your statements are accurate and compliant, and it's built for lenders, investors, and the IRS. The Margin Map asks an operator's question instead: what are your numbers telling you about profit and cash, and what is it worth to act on them? And if a sale is anywhere on your horizon, the same rebuild doubles as a stress test, with the P&L recast the way a quality of earnings team will want it, add-backs flagged, and numbers you could put in a data room.
What happens after the 3 weeks?
You'll have the fix list either way. From there, three honest paths: you execute it with your own team, we execute it together on a month-to-month retainer, or you sit on it for now (some owners do, and the list holds its value if you come back later). If you continue to a retainer, the full $7,500 is credited to month 1.
How does the guarantee actually work?
Every finding on the fix list carries a dollar value with the math shown: the assumption, the source number, and the annualized impact. Add up the list. If it doesn't total at least $22,500, which is 3 times the fee, you tell me and you don't pay. You judge the math yourself, with the sources in front of you. And the second half still applies either way: if you continue to a retainer, the full $7,500 is credited to month 1.
How much of my time does this take?
Plan on 3 to 4 hours across the 3 weeks: a kickoff call, a few questions by email, and the findings session at the end. Your office manager or bookkeeper is usually the person who already knows where everything lives. They spend a few hours in week 1 getting me the exports, and the goal is that they end the engagement with better tools than they started with. If you run a seasonal business, we schedule the three weeks around your peak, not on top of it.
Will you look at our billing company and collections?
For healthcare practices, yes. The Margin Map includes a look at collections performance, denial patterns, and aging receivables, because for a practice that's where margin hides. If your biller is performing, the Map will show it. If they aren't, you'll see that too, with numbers.
Do you work with private equity?
Only on your side of the table. I don't take referral fees from private equity firms, brokers, or anyone else. If PE ever comes calling, you'll want your own math before you sit down, and building that math for you is the work I do.
Do you only work with healthcare practices?
No. Healthcare is the flagship specialty, especially physician practices, OBLs, and ASCs, because that's where I've built this down to case-level detail. But the method is the same for any $5 to $50 million owner-operated business. Margin hides in the same places, usually underpriced work and cost drift, buried under a P&L too summarized to show either.
We're a franchise system. Does this work for us?
Yes. The unit-level rebuild is the same build as the case study's per-provider P&L, with locations in place of providers. For a franchisor, that means every unit benchmarked against the system and a unit-level P&L clean enough that the royalty math holds up on both sides of it. For a multi-unit franchisee, it means your unit economics laid against the rest of the system. If you're building an FDD Item 19, I support that work alongside your franchise counsel. And I've owned and operated a home-services franchise myself since 2023 and managed the financials for a franchise brand, so I've seen the royalty report from both sides.
Can't my CPA do this?
Ask them. Most CPAs are excellent at tax and compliance and will tell you straight that forward-looking margin and cash work isn't their lane. If yours does offer it, compare deliverables: a rebuilt P&L by provider or line, a 13-week cash forecast, and a dollar-valued fix list, in 3 weeks, at a flat price, with a 3x guarantee.
Book the call
Pick a time and we'll spend about 30 minutes on whether the Margin Map fits your business. If it doesn't, I'll say so on the call.
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