06of 08Engagement
Five stages.
Then a rhythm.
Engagements start quickly and stay predictable. Here is exactly what happens, when it happens, and what it costs to find out whether it is worth doing.
- First conversation
- Thirty minutes, no charge
- Time to first session
- Inside two weeks
- Terms
- One-page engagement letter
- Notice
- Thirty days, either side
Before anything else
Nothing here requires a procurement process. There is no pitch, no multi-stage sales cycle, and no proposal that arrives a fortnight later with a cover page. One call establishes whether the fit is real; a short review establishes what the work actually is; a one-page letter puts it in writing.
The arc
How an engagement
gets underway.
- 01
The introduction
Thirty minutes · no charge · no proposal deck
A conversation about the business and the decision in front of you. By the end of it you will have a straight answer on whether this seat is the right one, including if the answer is no.
You end up withA recommendation, given plainly
- 02
The financial checkup
First two weeks
I read what you actually have — bank and card activity, the sales and payment-platform reports, the chart of accounts, the overhead, the current forecast if one exists. The purpose is to find where the numbers are misleading you, not to grade the bookkeeping.
You end up withA written findings summary, ranked by consequence
- 03
Scope and terms
Before any work begins
A short engagement letter: what is in scope, what is delivered each month, the cadence, the fee, and the notice period. One page you can actually read, not twelve you have to have reviewed.
You end up withA signed engagement letter
- 04
The first ninety days
Months one to three
The build. A maintained cash forecast, margin analysed to something honest, and a reporting pack that answers the questions you actually ask. This is where most of the visible change happens.
You end up withLive forecast, margin baseline, first monthly packs
- 05
The standing cadence
Every month after
Close reviewed, forecast rolled, pack delivered, working session held. Between sessions, available for the decisions that will not wait for the calendar.
You end up withA CFO seat that stays filled
The checkup
A reading first,
then any advice.
Stage two, set out in full. Nothing is recommended until the money has been followed end to end, which means reading the activity itself rather than the summary someone else made of it. Estimates are fine where an exact figure is slow to find — what matters at this stage is the shape, not the decimal.
What the review reads
- Recent business bank and credit-card activity
- Sales and payment-platform reports
- Products, services, and what they currently cost to deliver
- Rent or lease, and the recurring overhead behind it
- Inventory, supplies, and materials spending
- Card processing and platform fees
- Business debt and recurring subscriptions
- How, and how often, you currently pay yourself
- Tax reserves and business cash reserves
- The commitments already made for the next six to twelve months
What you end up knowing
- 01
Revenue
What the business is actually bringing in, read by line rather than as one total.
- 02
Expenses
What it costs to operate, with the processing fees and subscriptions that hide in the margins counted in.
- 03
Profit
What the business keeps once the real cost of running it is in the number.
- 04
Owner pay
What you can reasonably take out, and on what schedule, without starving the business.
- 05
Tax reserve
What to set aside deliberately each month, rather than discovering the figure in April.
- 06
Next moves
Where to cut, where to invest, and what to leave alone because it is already working.
The monthly rhythm
What a month
actually looks like.
A retained engagement runs on a published calendar. You know when the pack arrives and when we sit down, which means the reporting stops being something you have to chase.
- Days 1–5
- Close reviewed with your bookkeeper; statements checked before anything is built on them.
- Days 6–10
- Cash forecast rolled forward, variances against plan explained, KPI set updated.
- Days 10–12
- Reporting pack delivered — the numbers, the reading, and what now needs deciding.
- Days 12–15
- Working session: we go through the pack, the open decisions, and the next ninety days.
- Continuous
- Available between sessions for pricing, hiring, capital, and anything with a deadline attached.
The one-time option
One pass through it,
and a plan to work from.
Not every company wants a standing seat, and some should not start with one. The Business Financial Reset is the same diagnostic work taken to a conclusion and handed over — fixed scope, one fee, no retainer behind it. Where it goes well it becomes the first month of a retained engagement. Where it does not, you keep the plan either way.
What it delivers
- Financial health assessment
- Income and expense review
- Profitability snapshot
- Pricing reviewed by product or service
- An owner-pay recommendation
- A tax reserve target
- A monthly operating budget
- A ninety-day financial action plan
Terms
The commercial part,
said out loud.
- How are fees structured?
- A flat monthly retainer for retained work, or a fixed fee for a defined project. Both are quoted on the introductory call and agreed in the engagement letter before anything starts — the figure depends on the size of the business, transaction volume, the number of accounts, payroll and team complexity, the condition of the records, and how much support you actually want. No hourly billing, no surprise invoices, and no charge for a phone call.
- What is the commitment?
- Retained engagements run month to month after an initial ninety days — long enough for the work to produce something, short enough that you are never locked into an arrangement that has stopped being useful. Thirty days notice on either side.
- Do you need to replace our systems?
- Almost never. I work in the accounting system you already have. If the stack is genuinely holding the reporting back, I will say so and cost the change — but a migration is a project, not a precondition.
- Remote or on-site?
- The recurring work is remote, which is what makes the economics work. On-site attendance for board meetings, lender conversations, or planning sessions is arranged when it matters.
Next step
Thirty minutes,
and a straight answer.
Bring one question you cannot currently answer from your own reporting. If a fractional CFO is not the right answer, you will hear that on the call — there is no proposal waiting at the end of it.
- Direct
- jordynsfinance@gmail.com
- Telephone
- 469-248-7336
- Reply
- Within one business day
- Calendar
- Thirty minutes · no charge
- Elsewhere
- @jordynsfinance