Franchise Unit Economics: A Pro Forma a Franchisee Can Trust
How to build franchise unit economics from a new location rather than your flagship: the ramp, the costs franchisees miss, and what the FDD allows.
Strategy & Consulting The edge your business needs — strategy plus execution.
CMA gives small and mid-market businesses the strategic clarity big firms reserve for big clients: tailored analysis, actionable plans, and a consultant who stays for the implementation.
The Outcome
What changes after we work together
Strategy is only worth what gets executed. You leave with a direction you can defend — and the help to ship it.
A decision you can defend
Go-to-market, feasibility, and strategy backed by analysis that holds up when the board or the bank pushes.
A plan that actually ships
Priorities, owners, and timelines — plus a consultant who stays through execution, not just the slide.
Clarity in weeks, not quarters
Senior strategic thinking without a big-firm retainer or a six-month engagement.
Who This Is For
For owners at a decision point
Growth has stalled, or it's coming faster than your structure can handle. You're weighing a new market, a new product, a big capital commitment — or you simply know the business could run better than it does. CMA works with solopreneurs, family businesses, and companies under 50 employees that need senior strategic thinking without a big-firm retainer.
Industry focus
Strategy and feasibility tuned to your industry’s real decisions:
Service 1 of 4
Small Business Consulting
Tailored consulting for the realities of running a small business: limited time, limited capital, unlimited demands. We identify strengths, address weaknesses, and build a strategic roadmap that optimizes your time and resources — then work beside you to execute it.
Led by a founder who has run a small business for over a decade, the advice is grounded in practice, not theory: what to fix first, what to ignore, and where the revenue actually is.
Service 2 of 4
Go-to-Market Strategy
Bring your business to market — and win it. Whether it's a first-product launch, a local business formalizing what works, or an established company entering a new region, CMA builds the strategy, positioning, and launch plan that turns market entry into market share.
Engagements are scoped to your stage, not a textbook: founder-led sales playbooks for your first 50 customers, market-entry feasibility for new geographies, or the pipeline architecture to repeat what's working across many markets. Go-to-market is now a full CMA practice of its own — see the complete Go-to-Market practice →
Service 3 of 4
Feasibility Studies
Before you invest, know if it will work. A CMA feasibility study answers the question every founder, investor, and executive needs answered first — with data, analysis, and a recommendation you can take to your board or your bank.
Every study is custom-scoped: new business launches, product or service expansions, real estate and site development, equipment investments, and more. Regulatory and compliance considerations are built into every study from day one — not bolted on.
Service 4 of 4
Project Management
Even the best strategy fails without strong execution. CMA project management brings clarity, control, and completion to your most important initiatives — launches, system rollouts, relocations, restructures, and expansions.
We coordinate teams, vendors, and stakeholders; track milestones in real time; and intervene early when risks appear. Engage us for end-to-end project leadership or targeted support during a critical phase.
Stop debating the plan. Start executing it.
How It Works
How an engagement runs
-
Intro Call
Thirty minutes on your situation and goals. We scope the engagement and fix the price.
-
Diagnose
Data, interviews, and on-site observation. We find the real constraint — not the assumed one.
-
Plan
A strategic roadmap with priorities, owners, timelines, and the numbers behind every recommendation.
-
Execute
We implement with you — building systems, coaching the team, and measuring results until it sticks.
Proven Work
Strategy work we have actually done
Real engagements, with the figures each one published — not a capability list.
Healthcare · Dermatology (M&A)
A California Dermatology Roll-Up: Verified Market Research and an Acquisition Strategy
11acquisition targets verified against primary sources
A verified market read, 11 screened targets, and a four-tier acquisition roadmap
Read the engagement
Retail & Franchising
Milly's: Turning a Beloved Women's Footwear Store into a Franchise System
3 streamsthe franchise revenue model — wholesale margin, franchise fee & royalty
Operational playbook, unit economics, and a phased franchise expansion strategy
Read the engagement
Building Products · Historic Preservation
Heirloom Windows: The Visibility Arbitrage in a Specifier Market
16competitors profiled across three tiers (4 / 7 / 5)
A mapped position and a specifier-outreach path to convert product quality into written specifications
Read the engagementRelated reading
From the Journal
Franchising a DFW Retail Business: What Has to Exist First
Before you sell a single territory, three things have to exist: documented operations, unit economics a franchisee can underwrite, and a revenue model.
Business Consulting in Dallas: When It's Worth It
A DFW owner's guide to business consulting in Dallas: the problems that justify a consultant, what it costs, the red flags, and how to hire right.
FAQ
Strategy & consulting questions
What does a small business consultant actually do?
A good consultant finds what is holding your business back — strategy, operations, finances, or market position — and builds the plan to fix it. At CMA that includes the execution: we implement alongside your team, on site when it counts, rather than leaving you with a slide deck and an invoice.
Is CMA a fit for a company under 50 employees?
Yes — that is the core of the practice. CMA specializes in solopreneurs, micro-businesses, and small to mid-market companies, typically under 50 employees. These businesses face fundamentally different challenges than enterprises, and the firm is built around that reality: fast engagement, fixed scopes, and advice calibrated to your resources.
What is a feasibility study and when do I need one?
A feasibility study answers "will this actually work?" before you commit capital — covering market demand, financial projections, regulatory risk, and operational viability, ending in a clear go / no-go recommendation. Commission one before launching a business, adding a location or product line, or making a major capital investment.
What does a go-to-market engagement include?
Market validation and TAM/SAM/SOM sizing, ideal customer profiling, positioning and pricing strategy, channel and sales motion design, and a 90-day launch playbook with owners and KPIs. Engagements are scoped to your stage — from first-product startups to regional expansion.
How are engagements priced?
Most strategy work is fixed-scope and fixed-price, agreed before we start. Ongoing advisory and project management can run monthly depending on what serves you better. The intro call is where we scope it — no obligation, no surprise fees.
Do you only work with Dallas-area businesses?
No. CMA is based in Dallas and works on site across Texas and the U.S., plus remote engagements nationwide. On-site presence is a core part of how we work when the engagement benefits from it — strategy lands better when your consultant has stood in your operation.
The Full Practice
Adjacent capabilities, same standard
Operations Platform A custom system that runs your business — built for you, and you own it Business Plans & Funding Investor-grade plans, pitch decks & funding Financial Modeling & Analysis Models, analysis, executive dashboards & project finance Market Research Sizing, competitor mapping & market-entry evidence Go-to-Market Strategy Positioning, pricing & the 90-day launch plan Fractional COO & Operations Embedded operating leadership and systems buildout Fractional CMO & Marketing Embedded marketing leadership — positioning, demand, and pipeline accountability Process Automation Cut the manual work out of your operation — built, governed, and measured Website Services Sites, landing pages & conversion — built, run, and improved Veteran Business Support Initiative Subsidized consulting for veterans, Guard & Reserve, and Gold Star families
The Journal, By Email
One email when we publish. That's it.
Engagement lessons, funding math, and operations playbooks — the same analysis we publish in the Journal, delivered when it's written. No gates, no drip sequences, no selling between the lines. Unsubscribe anytime.