FAQ

When your business operations are effective and your strategy is thoughtful and clear, you feel it in the day-to-day ease of your business:

You know what your priorities are, why they’re important to you, and how to achieve them.

You know how to measure, with specific data, whether you’re hitting your revenue and profit targets or not—and you know exactly what to do to bring in more revenue when you need it.

You feel confident you’re doing the right things every day to make your customers happy and your business successful.

When your operations are inefficient and you don’t have a clear strategy, you can feel that too—and it doesn’t feel great:

You have a lot of ideas, but not enough time to work on them. It’s not clear which ones are worth pursuing, so you don’t move forward with any of them.

You feel overwhelmed with the day-to-day work of running your business.

You don't have formal business education or prior experience with running a business. You wonder, am I doing this right?

The good news is that if running your business is feeling difficult for you now, there are simple, straightforward solutions any business owner can learn.

I’ll share my experience and POV as a former corporate strategy & operations professional and brick & mortar small business owner, and I’ll work closely with you to build a personalized path toward strategic clarity and operational ease in your business.

To learn more, schedule a free 30 minute intro call. I'd love to learn more about you and chat about how I can support you.

I start by meeting you where you are and understanding what's most important to you. We all define success on our own terms, and I strive to help you move closer to your personal vision of success by helping you attain operational and strategic clarity.

That may mean creating a detailed, personalized plan for you to achieve your most important business goals. Or, doing a business operations “audit” to find opportunities to improve the way your business works from the inside out. Maybe you just need to talk to someone experienced and knowledgeable about all things small business, to get some insight on a specific challenge like pricing, workload management, or financial processes.

My extensive background in corporate strategy and operations combined with my experience of being a small business owner gives me a unique point of view and empathetic approach to my work. For details about the specific services I provide, see my Services page.

I work with small business owners who want to take control of their approach to goal-setting, strategic planning, and building a strong operational foundation. My services are essential for a wide range of business owners including service providers, retail shop owners, artists & makers, and others. Most of my clients are solo-owners or partners.

I believe that business owners should have access to strategy & operations support no matter the size of their business.

First, we'll have a 30 minute intro call so we can learn more about each other, and you'll tell me about the challenge or situation you're seeking support with. I'll share my thoughts on what I can do to help and how we can work together to reach a resolution.

After our call, I'll share a custom proposal that specifies the scope, timeline, and pricing for our project based on our conversation.

If you accept the proposal, we'll sign a contract to finalize the project terms and get started! No matter what type of project we're working on, I remain fully focused on keeping your business information confidential and supporting you in achieving the business results you want.

My goal when working with a client on business planning is to create a personalized plan that will enable them to achieve their most important business goals.

Defining Values allows clients to pinpoint the personal motivations that shape their goals, and defining Guardrails helps us create sustainable strategies and tactics that won't lead to burnout. Values and Guardrails are powerful tools that should always be part of the decision-making process.

Read more about my business planning process here.

Please see my Services page for pricing information. Look for the "Investment" header on each service page.

Project scope and price will always be defined up front as part of the proposal and contract that I share before work begins.

30 minute intro calls are always free; schedule one here.

I'm based in Buffalo, NY, but I'm available to work via phone and/or video call with small business owners located anywhere in the US.

Feel free to schedule an intro call, or reach out at courtney@catbird-consulting.com.

Sure, please reach out to me at courtney@catbird-consulting.com and let me know what's on your mind. I look forward to hearing from you!