Consulting
Every business owner could use a few extra hours to pursue opportunities or address challenges.
Small business leadership support
I’m Stephen Sloan, an experienced business leader available on an hourly basis for advisory and project work.
Read blog entries on small business leadership here
While every organization is unique, basic principles and constraints apply to them all. I focus on finding what’s common and what’s unique quickly and then create a mutually agreed-upon plan of action.
Current clients include:
- Non-profits working on community building
- Internationally renowned designers
- Building contractors
- Consumer products entrepreneurs in start up mode
- Realtors and property managers
- Mental heath professionals with a rapidly growing set of products and services
Projects have included:
- Business and personal planning
- Does your business own you or do you own it?
- Is it supporting the life YOU want?
- Are you running a successful, but not personally sustainable business?
- Financial analysis and crisis management
- Do you understand what your financial statements are telling you?
- Do your financial statements drive your allocation of time and resources?
- Have you gotten into trouble and need to get back in control and turn around quickly?
- Strategic and tactical decision making
- Evaluating opportunities for growth- are they authentic, realistic, and executable?
- Do you need to make decisions regarding equipment, computers or software? Are you relying on sales people to help you ?
- Marketing and web strategy
- Are you hiding your light under a basket?
- Are letting technology work for you? Are you letting it work against you?
- Could you used someone with decades of face-to-face, tele-sales, and web selling experience to help refine your approach?
- Are you sending a lot messages? To the right people? Speaking to what they are listening for?
- Location and real estate decisions
- Facing a move/stay or lease/buy decision?
- Personnel issues and crises
- Do you have key personnel capable of helping your goals?
- Are you paying too much for the work you really need?
- Are you leading your employees or are they leading you?
- Change planning and management
- Are you faced with big complicated changes (moves, layoffs, large shifts of operational or marketing focus)?
- Does the work of properly planning the changes while running daily operations seem overwhelming?
- Family, key employee and partnership issues
- Do you have tough decisions to make about long-time employees or even family members in your business?
Contact me for a 30 minute no-cost, no-obligation sample consultation
Terms:
$150 per 1 hour block, invoiced weekly, net 10 days.
Buy in bulk and save. Reserve the hours you need and receive priority in scheduling when you buy a pre-paid 20 hour block for $2,000, that’s a discount to $100 per hour.
With these rates I strive to find a balance between being affordable to those who need help, but too expensive for day-to-day responsibilities.
Over the years, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for leaders of small organizations, their joys, sorrows, and anxieties. While I find great satisfaction and meaning in helping leaders, I’ve learned that I am most effective and most fulfilled when I remain free to pursue what’s next after a project’s completed.
For products and services I resell: 50% mark up.