Start a Managed Business Operating Practice

1. 1

   Pick the businesses you will operate for

   Choose one kind of owner you understand (local services, coaches, e-commerce) and list the ten operating problems they pay to make disappear. Specific beats general in every client conversation.

2. 2

   Design a paid operations audit

   A fixed-fee audit of their systems is your entry product: what is manual, what leaks leads, what never gets followed up. It pays for itself and ends with the retainer pitch built in.

3. 3

   Build your own operating layer first

   Set up your own CRM, automations, and SOPs before you sell them to anyone. A practice that runs on documented systems sells those systems credibly.

4. 4

   Make it official

   Entity, EIN, business bank account, and a consulting agreement ready before the first engagement.

5. 5

   Sell three audits at founder pricing

   Offer the audit to owners in your niche and over-deliver. Each audit ends with a written list of the systems you would run for them; that list is the retainer proposal.

6. 6

   Convert audits into monthly operating retainers

   Recurring retainers are the model. Document every client's operations as checklists and automations so each new client takes fewer hours than the last, and grow the roster only as fast as delivery stays excellent.

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