How We Work
What hiring CMA is actually like.
From first call to final handoff — the engagement journey, with what you get at every stage and a real engagement showing each one.
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Day 1
The intro call
Thirty minutes on your situation: what you’re trying to make happen, what’s in the way, and an honest read on whether CMA is the right instrument. No deck, no pitch theater.
What you get: A straight answer — including "you don’t need us" when that’s true.
The solar developer’s first call established exactly what lenders would require — which defined the entire engagement before a dollar was committed. See the engagement →
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Within days
Scope & fixed price, in writing
We define the deliverables, the timeline, and the exact price — published rates where they exist, fixed quotes where the work is custom. The number you agree to is the number you pay.
What you get: A written scope you can hold us to.
Every engagement on this site — from a single business plan to an embedded CFO seat — started as a fixed scope, not an open meter. See the engagement →
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Week 1–2
Embed & diagnose
We start inside the business — on site when the work benefits from it. Workflows get mapped as they actually run, numbers get pulled from the real systems, and the team gets met where they work. The diagnosis comes from the floor, not a questionnaire.
What you get: A picture of the business as it is — often the first one the owner has seen.
At a Texas footwear retailer, the operating knowledge lived entirely in the founders’ heads. Watching the floor run was the only way to document what made it work. See the engagement →
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The engagement core
Build & implement
Plans written, models built, processes redesigned, systems stood up — with your team, not around them. We lead the work and own the timeline. Strategy and execution are one engagement, not two invoices.
What you get: Working deliverables: documents capital can act on, systems your team actually runs.
Wyld Blue didn’t receive a recommendations memo — vendor terms were renegotiated, the line was repriced, and inventory operations were rebuilt, in the business. See the engagement →
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Before we leave
Transfer & hold
The system has to survive our absence. SOPs documented, dashboards live, the team trained and running the cadence — measured against the baseline from week one, so "done" is a number, not a feeling.
What you get: A business that runs to a documented standard — and proof that it does.
The franchisor engagement ended with an operating playbook a stranger could run the store from. That’s the transfer test every engagement has to pass. See the engagement →
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Optional
The operating rhythm
Some clients keep us in the rhythm — a fractional seat, monthly support, a standing dashboard review. It continues exactly as long as it earns its keep, with no payroll lock-in.
What you get: Senior attention at the cadence your business actually needs.
At Meredith Gill Designs, the CFO seat became the standing arrangement — the founder designs, the machinery runs underneath her. See the engagement →
Or take the 60-second fit quiz first.