What is a CFO Advisor?

A CFO Advisor is someone that meets with business owners on a regular basis and guides them on how to have a growing and successful business.

We call it a 'CFO Advisor' because it requires someone that understands financials (like a CFO would) but also someone that can get a client to take action (like an advisor would).

A CFO Advisor simply advises. They do not perform the role of a 'CFO' for a business.

Why do business owners want a CFO Advisor?

Because most business owners don't understand financial concepts.

But they know enough to know that businesses live and die on one thing: cash flow. And...cash flow is a financial concept.

So, business owners crave someone in their lives that can:

Guide them on what to do to not fail.
Guide them on what to do to have a growing business.
Guide them on what to do to have a successful business.

All three of things require one thing: the ability of the business to generate positive cash flow on a regular basis.

What is The CFO Project?

We're a step-by-step mentorship program where we'll train and mentor you to become a high-earning CFO for small business owners.

We'll show you how to launch your own CFO Advisory practice or add a CFO Advisory service to your existing tax or bookkeeping practice.

Over the course of 12 months, we'll provide you with training, systems, tools, a community and real mentors so that you can gain freedom, confidence and stability by becoming a high-earning CFO to small businesses.

What is a Productized CFO Advisory Service?

We recommend that you provide, a 'Productized CFO Advisory Service' instead of a 'Fractional CFO Service'.

Here's the difference:

A Fractional CFO is someone that takes on the role of CFO for a company but on a part-time basis. You are actually doing the job of a CFO, just not full time.

Because of this, you could take on multiple clients, however, each client will feel like a part-time job (because it literally is).

Inevitably, each client will want you to spend more time with them (and you'll want to oblige because you want to keep the client happy). Unfortunately, this results in overwork and burnout.

In contrast, a Productized CFO Advisor is someone that simply advises. They do not perform the role of a 'CFO' for a business.

A CFO Advisor meets with business owners on a regular basis and guides them on how to have a growing and successful business.

They do not 'do'. They are not executing anything on behalf of the business.

We use the word 'Productized' because you are getting the best of two worlds: (1) you're able to sell a service, which is inherently more valuable than a product, and (2) you're able to deliver it like a product, which is more scalable than services.

In The CFO Project, we teach a Productized CFO Advisory method called The One Clear Path (see below).

What is The One Clear Path?

This is a system that we've developed over the years to provide a Productized CFO Advisory Service (see above).

We call it that because it's one clear path that a CFO Advisor could take to help each of their clients get results.

Instead of customizing an engagement with each client, you're performing the same steps with each client - thus it's scalable.

This system leads any sized business, in any industry, in any location from Point A (at the bottom left)...

…to Point B (at the top right) where the owner understands the entire business from a strategic and financial standpoint and knows what to do about it so they can have a growing and successful business…every single month.

What size business do you recommend we try to get as CFO Advisory clients?

We recommend you go after businesses doing between $500k and $5mm (or more) in annual revenue.

There's a couple of reasons for this:

Businesses earning less than $500k (in revenue) probably will not be able to afford a $1,500-$5,000 per month CFO Advisory service. Most businesses of this size simply need to work on generating revenue.
Businesses earning more than $5mm (in revenue) typically has someone on their team that can perform many of the functions of a CFO Advisor.

However, as with anything, there are exceptions to this. We've worked with businesses doing less than $500k and with businesses doing a lot more than $5mm in annual revenue.

At the end of the day, what you want to look for are businesses ran by business owners who would like help.

What if a business owner already has a bookkeeper or accountant? Do they need me?

Most bookkeepers record the past and most accountants ensure the taxes are filed.

These two functions have almost nothing to do with helping a business survive.

Think about it, almost every failed business in the last 50 years had either an accountant or bookkeeper.

And...if you asked those accountants or bookkeepers if they did their job, they would resoundingly say "yes".

But the business still failed. What's the point?

In our view, a business owner needs their financial professional (accountant or bookkeeper) to not only record the past and ensure taxes are filed but also ensure the business stays in business.

If a businesses' accountant or bookkeeper is not doing that then, yes, they do need you.

**What makes The CFO Project unique?**

We know that becoming a great CFO Advisor is not a one-time event. It's a process that involves understanding various concepts, actually performing those concepts with real clients, and having support when you run into challenges with your clients.

This is why we are not just a course. Rather, we are a done-with-you mentorship program that provides training, support, & resources.

We want you to truly become a great CFO Advisor. So, as we built (and continue to improve) the training, support and resources, we did so with three ideals in mind: practical, pragmatic and intentional.

We are practical in that the way we teach makes sense. When it comes to working with business owners, we cannot confuse them. Therefore, the way we help them must not be confusing.

We are pragmatic in that what we teach works in the real world - not 'in theory'. We walk the talk. Everything we teach has been proven to work in our own CFO Advisory practices.

We are intentional in that we carefully think through what we teach, how we teach it and how our members can use it to improve their CFO Advisory practices.

What will I be doing for each client as their CFO Advisor?

Your ultimate goal, for each client, is to help them have a successful business.

Success is defined in two ways: (1) however the client views success and (2) how you, the CFO Advisor, defines success.

In our program, we'll show you how to help your clients be a success by using a system called The One Clear Path (see above).

The One Clear Path takes as little as four hours per month per client, to complete.

Here's what a typical month would look like for each client:

1-3 hours per month: Preparing for the monthly CFO Advisory call with your client.

1 hour per month: Conducting the monthly CFO Advisory call with your client (where you'll show them how to be a success).

1-2 hours per month: Responding to any calls or emails that your client may have throughout the month.

What's the difference between a CFO Advisor and a business coach?

As mentioned above, businesses live and die on one thing: cash flow. And...cash flow is a financial concept.

Therefore, the best possible person to help business owners with financial concepts are financial professionals...period.

There are a lot of well-meaning business coaches or consultants who may have had success in a particular industry or skill (e.g., sales) but have no clue about how the advice they give will impact a businesses' cash flow. Many coaches don't even know how to read a Balance Sheet!

A business owner wants someone in their lives to guide them towards success. And since 'success' is based on a financial concept (cash flow), a financial professional is in the best position to guide them.

Why do I need to offer advisory services?

A few reasons:

Business owners are begging for it.
Businesses are failing at an alarming rate.
It's a great way to differentiate your practice from your competitors.
AI (artificial intelligence) is going to replace a lot of the manual entry that bookkeepers and tax preparers do.
You can charge a lot more for it (the average The CFO Project member is charging approximately $2,000 per client per month).
Advisory clients have a very high retention rate. You can get off the 'marketing roller coaster'.
A lot of accounting software on the market is trying to automate your job away.
You won't have to rely on tax season to pay your bills.
You can do more interesting (and impactful) work.
AI (and software) can never do what business owners really want: a human to understand them, guide them, be their sounding board, their confidant and their advisor.
You'll have more of a work-life balance. You won't have to spend months (or weeks) at a time working really long hours. And you won't be at the mercy of your clients' deadlines.

Can bookkeepers do this?

Yes. So can CPAs, accountants and Enrolled Agents.

Why? Because all of these types of professionals know how to read financials and understand accounting enough to understand what's going on in a business.

So, bookkeepers can do this because they (along with accountants) possess the one needed skill that is a pre-requisite to becoming a CFO Advisor: the ability to read financials.

What do I need to do to be qualified to provide CFO Advisory services?

You'll be qualified to provide CFO Advisory services once you're able to help business owners:

Understand the current state of the business.
Strategize where to take the business from a financial and strategic standpoint.
Guide the business towards being a growing and successful business.

This is exactly what we do in The CFO Project. We equip you with a system for understanding the current state of the business, a system for strategizing on where to take the business and a system to know how to guide the business owner towards owning a growing and successful business.