Direct business work from Stan's home base.
Stan is based in Sacramento.
Business advisor in Sacramento, the Bay Area, and beyond
Business advisor for owner-led companies.
Work directly with Stan on business growth, management, money, team, and operations. Together, you compare options, choose a practical path, and work through implementation.
One relationship can combine coaching, consulting, and advisory. Stan is based in Sacramento and works virtually with owners across the United States, including the Bay Area. On-site work is available when the scope calls for it.
All corporate work starts with an inquiry and is quoted separately.
What working together feels like
Work through the decision together.
We compare the facts, options and consequences together. You keep company authority and agree who will act. At the next conversation, we review what happened and adjust.
Sacramento and the Bay Area
Can I work with a business advisor in Sacramento or the Bay Area?
Work virtually with Stan or agree on-site work for your company.
Work with owners and teams.
Virtual and on-site work can be agreed with Bay Area owners and teams.
The business itself
What business problems can Stan help me work through?
Choose the question closest to your business. These are examples of possible work; participation and outputs are agreed for your situation. Each link opens a practical guide. Ongoing advisory connects the issues when more than one is involved.
ManagementWhy does every decision still come back to the owner?
Work may have moved to the team while the authority to decide, approve, or handle exceptions stayed with the owner.
- In the work
- Stan and the owner choose one repeated decision, identify who decides, who supplies facts, who must be informed, and who holds a real veto.
- Working output
- A decision-rights record, one live test, and the next authority change if the first test fails.
GrowthHow do I grow without creating more chaos?
Growth can stall in demand, the offer, follow-up, pricing, delivery, cash timing, team capacity, or owner approvals.
- In the work
- Stan and the owner locate the first growth constraint, choose one reversible test, and state the measure and stop condition before more money or capacity moves.
- Working output
- One growth test with an owner, timing, evidence, and a rule for continuing, changing, or stopping it.
MoneyShould I use debt or equity to fund growth?
Debt changes cash pressure, guarantees, and limits. Equity changes ownership, voting, control, and the company's future.
- In the work
- Stan and the owner compare the funded use, downside cash case, time horizon, control cost, and the questions that belong with lenders, investors, accountants, and attorneys.
- Working output
- A business comparison and specialist question set. Financing, legal, accounting, tax, and investment terms remain with qualified professionals.
TeamHow do I reduce key person dependency?
The risk appears when the business cannot reproduce a person's authority, access, relationships, knowledge, or judgment when they are unavailable.
- In the work
- Stan and the owner choose one important outcome, identify the backup, move the required access and authority, and test the work during a planned absence.
- Working output
- A transfer plan and a live result that shows what continued, what failed, and what must move next.
OperationsWhy do our business processes keep failing?
A written process can describe the normal steps and still fail when an exception appears.
- In the work
- Stan and the company trace one real instance from the first signal to the final result, including the exception, decision owner, capacity, handoff, and proof of completion.
- Working output
- An operating path with one outcome owner, stated limits, an exception route, and a close condition the team can test.
Who owns what
What does a business advisor do during the work?
Agree the work and responsibilities before starting.
01
Understand the situation
Stan
Connects the facts and identifies missing evidence.
Owner and company
Supplies records, access and the people involved.
Evidence of movement
A defined question and its unanswered parts.
02
Make the call
Stan
Compares options and their trade-offs.
Owner and company
Makes the decision and assigns resources.
Evidence of movement
A decision, an owner and the first action.
03
Move the work
Stan
Works through the sequence and dependencies.
Owner and company
Carries the agreed actions inside the company.
Evidence of movement
Named responsibilities and a review point.
04
Adjust from evidence
Stan
Examines changed evidence and possible adjustments.
Owner and company
Brings current facts and makes the next decision.
Evidence of movement
A next action and the reason for it.
Scope rule: all corporate work needs an inquiry and a separate scope and quote. Any staff management, operating authority or delivery responsibility must be agreed explicitly.
Working with your company
Bring the right people into the work.
A company-sponsored engagement can involve the owner and relevant leaders. Start with an inquiry. Agree the sponsor, participants, access, timing, outputs and fee before work begins.
Illustrative example: an owner wants a second location. Sales sees enquiries in the new area; the delivery lead says the existing team is stretched. The owner sponsors the work and keeps the expansion decision.
Open, hire or wait?
Compare a new site, more capacity at the current site and a smaller demand test. Stan helps the group connect the choices and their consequences.
Bring evidence from each function.
Sales brings enquiries and lost orders. Delivery brings workload and missed commitments. Finance checks cash assumptions; the owner sets spending limits.
Test the disputed assumption.
If sales cannot distinguish interest from firm demand, the sales lead tests that first. The delivery lead checks whether a hire would release usable capacity.
Let contrary facts count.
Confirmed demand and a ready site manager could bring expansion forward. Weak demand could stop it. The team records what changed and the owner makes the call.
Follow the company growth assignment and its worked example or use the project brief when part of the work becomes a separate assignment.
Portfolio-company support
Work with management on the next move.
An owner, investment sponsor or operating partner can inquire about business advisory or a defined project with a portfolio company's leaders.
Start with the company and the work: growth, a leadership handover, capacity or a change that is not moving.
One company. Named responsibilities.
Agree who sponsors and pays for the work, which managers participate, what Stan carries and what the team owns. A sponsor's request does not automatically give an outside advisor authority over staff.
A useful update.
Illustrative: management is testing a faster sales-to-delivery handoff. The agreed update records what changed, the orders tested, exceptions still open and the decision needed from the sponsor.
Agree access, conflicts, confidentiality and who receives updates before starting. Any interim or fractional responsibility is a separate appointment with its own scope and quote.
Use the portfolio-company mandate example to shape the discussion, then ask about work with management.
Corporate work
Inquiry first. A quote for your assignment.
Tell Stan what the company needs, who is involved and when. The proposal sets out the work and fee.
For corporate work, start with an inquiry. Consulting, advisory, fractional leadership, board work and on-site assignments each have a separately agreed scope and quote, including any travel.
Send an inquiryFor an overview of the work, see company advisory services. For individual support, one-to-one work is $1,500/month, every two weeks, month to month.
Fit and boundary
When should an owner hire a business advisor?
Check the contribution your company needs.
This work fits when
- The decision crosses management, money, team, growth or operations.
- The business needs continued help while the work moves.
- The owner and team can supply the facts and carry agreed actions.
Choose another route when
- The question needs a qualified legal, accounting, tax, financial or technical specialist.
- The project needs a staffed delivery team.
- Direct staff management is required; agree that operating role separately.
Before hiring any advisor
What should I ask before hiring a business advisor?
Ask these five questions before you accept a scope.
Which business decision or change will this relationship stay with?
What does the advisor own, and what remains with the owner and team?
Which facts, records, people, and access are required?
What evidence will show that the work is moving?
What changes the scope, pauses the work, or ends the engagement?
Direct access
Who will I work with?
Work directly with Stan and, where agreed, the relevant leaders, partners or specialists.
Questions owners ask
Questions about working with a business advisor.
Open the answer you need.
What does a business advisor do for an owner-led company?
A business advisor works with the owner across the company rather than inside one narrow function. With Stan, the work connects management, growth, money, team, and operations to a clear decision, an implementation path, named ownership, and evidence of movement.
Does Stan implement the plan?
Stan stays involved through implementation by turning decisions into ownership, sequence, checkpoints, and follow-through. The owner and team execute inside the company. If the work needs Stan to hold direct operating authority or delivery ownership, that role is defined and quoted separately.
Is business advisory the same as coaching or consulting?
The labels overlap. Coaching can strengthen the owner, consulting can investigate or complete an agreed assignment, and advisory can stay across several decisions over time. Stan may use coaching, consulting, and advisory inside one relationship when the business need requires it.
How much does business advisory with Stan cost?
Corporate advisory starts with an inquiry. We agree the scope, responsibilities and fee before work begins. The $1,500/month price applies only to individual one-to-one work.
What information is useful at the start?
Useful information includes the decision in front of the company, relevant numbers, current commitments, the people involved, what has already been attempted, and the date or consequence that makes the work matter now. The owner also needs time to make decisions, supply current evidence, and carry the responsibilities that remain inside the company.
When is another specialist a better fit?
Legal, tax, accounting, regulated financial, transaction, and technical delivery work belongs with the appropriate specialist. Stan can work with the owner on the business decision around that specialist and keep the larger implementation path connected.
Does Stan work with business owners in Sacramento and the Bay Area?
Yes. Stan is based in Sacramento and works with owners in the Bay Area and across the United States. Meetings can be virtual or, when the scope calls for it, on-site. Individual one-to-one work and separately quoted corporate work are both available.
Work with Stan
Ready to work with a business advisor?
Tell Stan what the company needs and who is involved. All corporate advisory starts with an inquiry and a separate scope and quote. For individual support, the one-to-one route remains separate.