Fractional COO/CTO · Engagement Brief
Your business grew.
Your systems didn't.
I find what's costing you most, in your processes, your people, and your tools, and I fix it inside the business. Sometimes that's a new workflow. Sometimes it's the custom software you've been told you need but couldn't get built. Same engagement, same person doing the work.
How it works
Start with a conversation. If there's a fit, we move to a scoped audit that pays for itself. No open-ended retainers until you've seen the results.
Free Discovery Call
We talk about your business. What's working, what's broken, where you're stuck. If I can see a path to helping, I'll tell you what I'd do and what it costs. If I can't help, I'll say so. This isn't a sales pitch disguised as a consultation.
Build the Systems That Run Without You
I map your full operation, how leads come in, how quotes go out, how work gets scheduled and delivered, how you get paid. Every constraint gets identified and priced in dollars and hours lost. Then we work through them in priority order.
Could be a quoting system. Could be the CRM that's been collecting dust, finally configured. Could be cross-training so one person's vacation doesn't shut things down. Could be a custom tool when nothing off the shelf will fit. You see what needs doing. You pick what we tackle next. No surprises.
Ongoing Ops Support
At this point the business has real systems in place. The retainer keeps them maintained and evolving, including any software we built together. New problems get caught before they compound. You stay focused on the work that actually needs the owner's attention.
Seen enough?
30 minutes. I'll ask about your business and you'll know if I can help.
Where the leaks are
Six places where money and time leak out of a service business. The audit prices the leakage at each one, then we work through them in priority order.
Lead flow
How leads come in, who handles them, where they go cold.
Quotes & sales
Response time, who can close, win rate, pricing consistency.
Scheduling & dispatch
Routing, capacity, the calls that go unbooked.
Delivery & quality
Production handoffs, rework, the things that come back.
Billing & cash
Collections speed, AR, margin visibility by job and service line.
People & roles
Documented processes, training paths, single points of failure.
When off-the-shelf won't fit
Custom software, scoped to the leak.
Sometimes the constraint isn't the workflow, it's the tool. The CRM that doesn't match how you actually sell. Five SaaS subscriptions that won't share data. A field crew that needs it on mobile while the vendor only built a desktop UI. When that's what the audit surfaces, I design and build it inside the same engagement, no hand-off to a dev shop.
Backend & data
Authoritative data models and the API your apps, integrations, and reports consume.
Web apps for staff
Office and admin UIs that handle the boring-but-critical work fast and without errors.
Mobile for the field
Apps that survive backgrounding, dropped devices, dead cell zones, and offline shifts.
Search & reporting
Real search across years of data. Reports that show margins by job, not vanity metrics.
Integrations & identity
Bridges to your accounting, CRM, and identity provider, one login, one source of truth.
Infrastructure
AWS, CI/CD, monitoring, backups, malware scanning. The plumbing that keeps it running.
Built like a product, not a project. Reviewable commits, staging environments, tests alongside the work, modernization on a steady cadence. You own the code and the data on day one. When the engagement ends, the system doesn't.
Ready to find the leaks?
A scoped audit prices the leakage and gives you a fix plan you own, whether or not we work together after.
Proof of Craft
Operator and builder.
My credential is operational, not academic. Since 2016 I've run Heartwood Mushrooms, a specialty gourmet farm on Manitoulin Island. Grain-to-fruit, no purchased substrate, every production system designed from scratch. I've led operations for a national non-profit and served as the technical operator for service businesses across three industries.
I'm also the primary developer on a B2B platform I've maintained for over 8 years, 1,900+ commits, owned end-to-end. So when the constraint turns out to be the software itself, I don't hand it off. I design it, build it, and stand behind it for years.
About Heartwood →Client work
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Hypnotherapy practice
Shelley Murphey Hypnotherapy
Ongoing operational support for a hypnotherapy practice covering systems, client flow, and business infrastructure.
Read case study → -
Men's addiction counselling and life coach
True North Men's Coaching
A Starter-tier engagement with an established men's coaching practitioner that started as business advisory and surfaced something more valuable: a clearer relationship with his own ambivalence about the work, and the trust gap between effort and outcome.
Read case study → -
National non-profit network
ManKind Project Ontario
A year of systems and operations work that flipped a national non-profit from a decade of flat growth to sold-out events and waitlists, with the marketing operation self-funded by the organization's own programming.
Read case study → -
Lawn care & landscaping business
Hooper's Lawn Care
Built operational infrastructure and business systems for a growing lawn care company preparing to scale through the season.
Read case study →
Is this for me?
I work with a specific kind of business. If this doesn't describe yours, I'd rather we both save the time.
Good fit
- Service or trades business doing $1M to $10M a year
- 5 to 20 employees
- Owner-operated (you're still in the day-to-day)
- Revenue is proven but operations and tooling haven't kept up
- You've already tried hiring, buying software, or just working harder. It didn't solve it.
- You want someone who does the work, not someone who tells you what to do
Not a fit
- Under $500K in revenue
- Over $10M with internal ops and engineering teams already
- No employees. Solo operation.
- Looking for a website or marketing help (that's not what I do)
- Want recommendations but won't implement them
- Pre-revenue or still figuring out product-market fit
Not there yet? Here's how I can help you. →
Find what it's costing you.
30 minutes. Let's see how I can help you.
Book a free 30-minute callOntario, Canada