All businesses have a cycle of life and death. Progress isn’t a guaranty, but change is. If a company doesn’t adapt and change, sooner or later it is going to die.

Many entrepreneurs business owners and company executives, especially those who have been successful in the past, are so close to their businesses that they don’t recognize what’s going wrong until it’s too late.

When the “big event” happens, it’s easy to see—an important client doesn’t renew their contract or a key supplier increases prices by ten percent, but the trends leading up to those big events—declining margins, a change in competitor’s strategy, or deteriorating customer satisfaction—are sometimes harder to recognize. This is often because business people don’t really understand how to use their financial statements as planning and operational tools.

I look at companies from the outside in. They each tell a story and the path to the next success.

From the small business owner whose market has changed, to the entrepreneur who is too in love with a technology, I help un-stick clients who are stuck.

When a business can’t grow I find out why. I begin by teaching clients to understand how to use the financials as a tool to manage margin, cash flow, and cost, rather than seeing them as penalty or something to be delegated to an accountant or tax advisor. Then I assess how sales and marketing can change the business’ opportunity curve and construct a recommendation tailored to the company’s situation and resources.