90 Days to Cash & Control™

Your Business Is Working. You Shouldn't Have to Spend Five More Years Making It Better.

You've built a successful company. You're making good money, and the business isn't going anywhere.

But how much better could it be?

Are you charging enough? Are your margins where they should be? Are you paying yourself what you should? And why are you still making decisions someone else should be handling?

We spend 12 weeks getting underneath your business, figuring out what's working, what isn't, and where the biggest opportunities are. Then we start doing something about them.

We start with finance. But we don't stop there.

12 weeks · Starting at $15,000

Let's Talk About Your Business →

Client Stories

Here's the Kind of Thing We Find.

She Thought She Had 10 A-Players. A Year Later, She Said She Had 1½.

We started working with a business owner who told us she had ten A-players on her team.

Fast-forward about a year, and she told us she had one and a half. She wasn't even sure that the half was in the right seat.

That doesn't mean nine people suddenly became bad employees. But when you start looking at what people are responsible for, what you're paying them, and what they're actually producing, you can get a pretty different picture of your team.

Sometimes the team you think you have isn't the team you've actually got.

The CEO Had Become the Company's Administrator.

We worked with a CEO who was spending way too much time dealing with vendor payments, accounting questions, and employees who couldn't seem to make decisions without involving him.

This guy had a company to run. Instead, he was spending his time on $25-to-$50-an-hour decisions rather than the things only he could do.

So we started putting some rules in place around cash, payments, and who makes which decisions.

The goal? Get the routine stuff off his plate so he can get back to running the company.

We Found a $60,000 Payroll Problem Nobody Had Caught.

We had a construction business owner with an employee making roughly $120,000 a year.

The employee was being paid through a company the owner held personally, even though the work benefited a business he owned with other partners.

That raised the question of whether the cost should be shared between the businesses. We identified roughly $60,000 a year in payroll expense that could potentially be allocated to the other company.

Nothing fancy. Just understanding how the companies actually worked and asking why things were being done that way.

These aren't the kinds of problems you're going to solve by getting another monthly financial report. You find this stuff when you actually get into a business and understand how it works.

Think there may be more inside your business? Let's talk.

Brian's Story

I've Learned More About Some Businesses in 12 Weeks Than I Did in Two Years.

I've been providing CFO services for years. Traditionally, we'd meet once a month, review the financials, talk through a few things, and do it again the next month.

Nothing necessarily wrong with that model. But you can work with a company for two years and still not really know half of what's going on inside the business.

That is one of the reasons we built 90 Days to Cash & Control.

Instead of meeting once a month, we're working with the owner every week for 12 weeks. We're digging into the financials, asking questions, and figuring out how the company actually operates. We're also doing the analysis and preparation between those conversations.

We start finding things that probably never would've come up in a normal monthly CFO meeting.

We're not going to find and fix every problem in 12 weeks. Hell, if I spent 90 days digging into Upside, we'd find plenty of things we should be doing better.

But we'll understand your business a whole lot better, know where we need to focus, and already be working on some of those things.

The financials tell us where to start. They don't tell us where to stop.

The Roadmap

So What Are We Actually Doing for 12 Weeks?

We're going to spend 12 weeks getting into your business. We'll have a plan going in, but we're also going to find things along the way that we didn't know to look for.

That's part of the point.

Weeks 1–4

Figure Out How the Money Actually Works.

We start with your financials. What's reliable? What needs to be cleaned up? What does it really cost to operate the business?

We want to know how much cash the company needs, what your break-even point looks like, and what you should reasonably be paying yourself.

We're also going to talk about what you're trying to accomplish personally. Maybe you want to double your income, hire a leadership team, or eventually sell the company. Those goals matter when we're figuring out what the business needs to produce.

We're working toward a clear picture of your operating costs, cash needs, and the financial model we'll use to start making decisions.

Weeks 5–6

Find Out Where You're Actually Making Money.

Now we're looking at margins, pricing, labor, overhead, and what different parts of the business are producing.

Maybe you've got a service line that's not nearly as profitable as you thought. Maybe your pricing hasn't kept up with your costs. Or maybe you're carrying more overhead than the business really needs.

We're going to identify the handful of things that could make the biggest difference, put numbers behind them where we can, and decide what to work on first.

Not everything needs to be fixed tomorrow. But we should know what matters.

Weeks 7–10

Put Some Rules in Place and Start Making Changes.

This is where we start getting things out of your head and into a process your team can follow.

How much cash do we need to keep in the business? When can we hire? What can department heads spend without asking you? Which numbers should someone actually be watching every week?

We'll start putting some financial guardrails in place and work through the biggest opportunities we've identified. Maybe it's pricing. Maybe it's labor. Maybe you've got too much overhead or people doing work they shouldn't be doing.

We're not going to hand you 25 things to fix and hope you figure them out. We'll prioritize what matters, start making changes, and figure out what needs more time and attention.

Some things we can address during the 90 days. Others are going to take longer, especially when we're changing how people operate or make decisions.

Weeks 11–12

Figure Out What's Changed and What Still Needs Work.

We'll go back to where we started. What have we fixed? What's improved? What did we learn? What still needs attention?

We'll review the financial picture, the decisions we've made, what's been put in place, and which opportunities deserve attention next.

By this point, we'll also have a pretty good idea of what kind of support your business needs going forward. For many companies, that means continuing together as their CFO team. We'll tell you what we recommend based on what we think the company needs.

The point is to finish the 90 days with a much better understanding of the business, real work underway, and a clear direction for what happens next.

Outcomes

What Should Be Different After 90 Days?

We're not going to fix every problem in your business in 12 weeks. But we should be a hell of a lot further along than when we started.

By the end of the 90 days, there are four things I want you to have a much better handle on.

Know What the Business Actually Costs to Run.

You should have a much clearer picture of your operating costs, break-even point, cash needs, and what you can reasonably pay yourself.

We work toward financial information you can trust and a model you can actually use when making decisions. Not just another monthly P&L.

Know Where There's Room to Improve.

We'll have looked at your pricing, margins, labor, overhead, and the economics of different parts of the company.

You should have a prioritized list of the opportunities worth pursuing, with supporting numbers wherever the information allows.

More importantly, we should already be working through some of them.

Start Getting Financial Decisions Off Your Plate.

We'll start putting rules around the decisions that shouldn't require your involvement every time.

That might mean cash reserves, hiring decisions, spending authority, owner distributions, or the numbers your team is responsible for watching.

We won't change how everyone operates overnight. But we can start building a better way to run those decisions.

Have a Clear Plan for What Comes Next.

We'll review what's improved, what's still underway, and what needs more attention.

Some opportunities will take six or twelve months, sometimes longer.

You'll have a clearer set of priorities, the decisions we've made, and the work that still needs to happen.

I don't want you spending $15,000 or $30,000 just to get another spreadsheet. We should be making better decisions, getting some things fixed, and knowing where to go next.

Let's Talk About Your Business →

Fit, Investment & Participation

Is 90 Days to Cash & Control Right for Your Business?

Most of our clients are doing somewhere between $3 million and $30 million in annual revenue.

Some are growing like crazy and having trouble keeping up. Others have owned their companies for 10 or 15 years, make good money, but aren't nearly where they thought they'd be by now.

Some have accounting problems. Others have perfectly good financial statements but still don't know whether they can afford their next hire or why their margins aren't better.

You don't need to be in financial trouble to work with us. But you do need to be open to having someone challenge how you're running certain parts of the business.

We're going to ask questions. Sometimes we'll agree with you. Sometimes we'll tell you something you probably don't want to hear.

If you're looking for someone to tell you everything you're doing is great, we're probably not the right group.

The Investment

Starting at $15,000

Most engagements range from $15,000 to $30,000.

The price depends on the complexity of your business, the condition of the financials, and how much work needs to be done.

A company doing $4 million with one entity and decent books is a different engagement than a $20 million company with five entities and financials nobody trusts. We're not going to charge those two companies the same amount.

If there's significant historical accounting cleanup needed, we'll figure out what actually needs to be fixed and whether that work should be handled separately.

How Much Time Do We Need From You?

Typically, 30–45 minutes each week for 12 weeks, plus some involvement from your team and occasional requests for information or decisions.

We do most of the analysis and preparation between meetings. We're not going to give you 25 homework assignments every week.

But here's what we expect from you.

Show up. Be present. Be willing to have some uncomfortable conversations and make decisions.

If we're spending 30 minutes talking about your business and you're answering emails or working on another screen, we're probably not going to be a good fit.

Nobody knows your company better than you do. We need that knowledge, and we need you engaged in the process.

We're going to put a lot of time and effort into understanding your business and helping you make it better. We expect you to take it just as seriously as we do.

What Happens After the 90 Days?

By then, we'll know your business pretty damn well. We'll understand the financials, the people, what's working, and where more attention is needed.

Some things we'll have already started fixing. Others might take another six months or a year to work through.

That's where an ongoing CFO relationship can become really valuable. We've already done the foundational work. Now we can keep helping you make decisions, work through bigger opportunities, and make sure the changes we've started are actually being used.

Not every business needs the same level of ongoing support. We'll tell you what we recommend and why.

The 90 days give us the foundation. The ongoing relationship is where we can really start building on it.

FAQs

A Few Questions You Probably Have.

I already have an accountant. Why would I need Upside?

Most of our clients already have an accountant. Some have really good ones.

Accurate financial statements and good accounting are important. But who's helping you figure out what to do with that information?

Can you afford to hire? Are you charging enough? Why aren't your margins better? How much should you be paying yourself?

More importantly, who's helping you do something about it?

That's where we come in.

Why is my business making money but always short on cash?

We see this all the time.

You've spent years building the company, you're generating real revenue, and somehow you're still putting your own money back into the business from time to time. That gets old pretty quickly.

Maybe customers are paying too slowly. Maybe you're growing faster than your cash can keep up with. Maybe your pricing, debt, or overhead is eating up more money than you realize.

Just because your P&L shows a profit doesn't mean that cash is sitting in your bank account.

We want to figure out what's happening, how much cash the business actually needs, and what decisions need to change so you're not constantly dealing with surprises.

Do I have to go through 90 Days to Cash & Control before hiring you as my CFO?

Generally, yes.

I don't believe we can give you really good CFO advice if we don't understand how your business actually operates. That's the whole reason we built the 90-day process.

By the time we're finished, we should have a much better understanding of your cash, margins, pricing, people, and how the company works.

Some businesses are further along and don't need the entire 12 weeks before moving into ongoing CFO support. We've had clients make that transition earlier.

We're flexible on the timeline. But we're not interested in collecting a monthly retainer before we've done enough work to actually help you.

My books are a mess. Do I need to clean everything up first?

No. That's often part of why people call us.

We've worked with companies doing millions in revenue that couldn't produce reliable financial statements. The question is what actually needs to be fixed.

Some things need to be cleaned up immediately. Others can wait. Spending $20,000 perfecting old accounting records might make absolutely no sense if it isn't going to help you make better decisions.

We need numbers we can trust, but we also have a business to run.

If there's substantial accounting cleanup needed, we'll identify it and figure out the best way to handle it. That may be a separate project rather than part of the 90 days.

Is this just another consultant giving me spreadsheets and homework?

I sure as hell hope not. That's a pretty expensive way to get another spreadsheet.

We're going to do plenty of analysis. But the analysis isn't the product. Making better decisions is.

We're going to challenge your assumptions about pricing, expenses, hiring, profitability, and how the company operates.

We're also not interested in spending 90 days complaining about what you or your previous accountant did wrong.

What's done is done. Let's figure out what needs to happen next.

What happens after I reach out?

We'll review what you share about your company and follow up to schedule a conversation if it looks like we may be able to help.

We'll talk through where the business is today, where you're trying to get it, and what's getting in the way.

We'll give you our initial thoughts and tell you whether 90 Days to Cash & Control looks like the right place to start.

If we don't think it's the right fit, we'll tell you that, too.

Final Step

Let's See What We Can Find in Your Business.

You probably have a few things you'd like to fix. My hunch is there are some others we haven't even talked about yet.

Let's have a conversation about where your company is today, where you're trying to get it, and what's been getting in the way.

We'll ask some questions, tell you what we think, and see whether 90 Days to Cash & Control makes sense.

We'll review your application within 1 business day and follow up to schedule a call.