Fractional COO
Hire me early so you don't have to hire me later.
A fractional COO is the operations lead you don't hire full time. I build the systems your company runs on, your team runs them, and then I leave.
Book a free 20-minute callHas the owner become the system?
Does every question come to you? Do decisions get made in meetings and then nothing happens? Do the numbers in the system match what is actually in the bank or on the shelf? Are good people tired because nobody is sure who owns what?
Most companies wait until that is big enough to need a full-time operations person. What if you brought someone in earlier?
What the work covers
- Who owns what, and who decides.
- A weekly rhythm that turns decisions into action.
- Hiring and onboarding.
- Procedures and an operations manual.
- A performance review system.
- Training for your leads.
Read, Build, Hold, Hand it over
Built to end. Every engagement says how it ends before it starts. If the report doesn't show you something you didn't already know, tell me and I refund it.
Read
What is actually going on, in writing.
Build
The systems your team will run: roles, decisions, hiring, procedures, the review rhythm.
Hold
A few months on retainer, to see whether it holds when the week gets busy.
Hand it over
Your company runs it without me. That is the point.
Scope and price are set together on a free 20-minute call.
Book a free 20-minute callNot a fit yet?
Then I say so plainly, and I give you the path to get there. No upsell, no hard feelings.
What is never included
- Managing your people for you. Your team runs the systems; that is the point.
- Staying on forever. Every engagement has an end, written down at the start.
- Submitting anything for you, or taking a share of any grant or loan.
- Posting jobs, finding candidates or interviewing for you.
Questions owners ask
How is this different from hiring a COO?
A full-time COO is usually hired once the mess is big enough to need one, then stays to manage it. I come in earlier, build the systems with your team, check that they hold, and leave.
How long does it take?
It depends on what the Read finds. Every engagement says how it ends before it starts: the Build, then a few months of Hold, then the handover.
What does it cost?
Scope and price are set together on a free 20-minute call. Every price is written down before any work starts.
Do you know my industry?
Probably not as well as you do. Does it matter? The patterns that keep an owner stuck look the same in a clinic, a warehouse and a contractor's office: decisions that do not turn into action, roles nobody can name, numbers that do not match.
Do you work in person?
Around London, Ontario, yes. Everywhere else in Ontario, by video, with a visit when the work needs one.
What if we are not a fit?
I say so plainly, and I tell you what would need to be true first. Sometimes that is a smaller step you can take on your own.
How it starts
Find your stage
A few questions, then the free guide for a company your size. Yours to use, whatever you do next.
A free 20-minute call
You tell me what is going on, and I ask questions. No pitch.
The Read
A written reading of your company and where to start. If nothing is worth doing, or you are not a fit yet, it says so.
Yours to take
A free template
Not ready yet. When there is one worth giving away, it goes here, free.
Related writing
Nothing here yet. See what I have written so far.
Want to talk it through?
Twenty minutes, free. You tell me what is going on and I ask questions. If I am not the right help, I will say so.