These guides are written for Burnaby owners who want to fix the business, not just read about it. Each one gives you a method, a worked example with numbers you can replace with your own and a list of common mistakes. You can use them without ever contacting us. If you get stuck, or want a second pair of eyes on the result, the first 30-minute consultation is free.
All three guides focus on the operational and planning problems we see most often in owner-run firms. They complement the work described on our services page.
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Hiring capacity math: when your next hire will pay for itself
Hiring is the largest recurring commitment most small firms make. This guide shows how to find the role that actually limits growth, cost a new hire properly and check payback before you post the job.
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The owner-dependency scorecard: how much does your business need you?
A 10-question scorecard that shows how much of your company runs through you, what that costs, and a 90-day sequence for handing work off without things falling apart.
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How to run a quarterly planning day that people still follow in month three
One day every three months, a fixed agenda and a one-page output. This guide gives you the preparation list, the hour-by-hour plan, worked examples of good priorities and the traps that make plans fade.
The owner-dependency scorecard
The owner-dependency scorecard measures how much of your company runs only through you, then gives a 90-day plan to reduce it. It takes about 15 minutes to complete and covers ten areas, from pricing and approvals to customer relationships and knowing the numbers.
What you will learn:
- how to score your business from 0 to 30 and what the score means
- how owner dependency limits capacity, costs sales and lowers what a buyer or successor would pay, with a worked example
- a month-by-month sequence for handing off work safely
- the five delegation mistakes that send work straight back to the owner
Read this first if: you cannot take a week off, every quote waits for you, or you are starting to think about succession or sale.
Hiring capacity math
Hiring capacity math shows how to work out which role actually limits your output, whether a cheaper fix exists, and when a new hire will pay for itself. It walks through a capacity table, a first-year cost estimate with ramp-up and a payback calculation.
What you will learn:
- why capacity is set by the busiest role, not by headcount
- three ways to add capacity before hiring
- how to cost a hire properly, including the supervision time it consumes
- how a hidden second bottleneck, often the owner, can cancel out the benefit of a new hire
Read this first if: everyone is busy and you are about to post a job ad. It is business planning, not employment advice; for employment standards and contracts, speak with the right professional.
How to run a quarterly planning day
The quarterly planning day guide gives you a preparation list, an hour-by-hour agenda and a one-page output template. It is the simplest planning habit we know of that holds up in a busy small firm.
What you will learn:
- what to prepare in the week before, and who should prepare it
- how to review the scorecard without jumping to solutions
- how to turn vague goals into specific, owned priorities, with examples
- why the stop list matters more than the priority list
Read this first if: plans in your business tend to fade after a few weeks, or you have never set formal priorities with your team.
Where the examples come from
The worked examples are illustrative, built from patterns we see often, not from any named client. Every figure is there so you can follow the arithmetic and then replace it with your own. Where a guide touches on a local factor, such as travel time between Burnaby's town centres and business districts, it links to our areas page for context.
How the guides fit together
The three guides form a sequence: understand the dependency, fix the capacity, then plan around both.
| Guide | Main question | Time to apply |
|---|---|---|
| Owner-dependency scorecard | How much does the business need me? | 15 minutes to score, 90 days to improve |
| Hiring capacity math | Who limits output, and should we hire? | About an hour with your numbers |
| Quarterly planning day | What are our three priorities for the next 90 days? | One day each quarter |
If you want help applying any of them, our business diagnostic covers owner time and capacity in one review, and monthly owner advisory can include facilitated planning days. For costs, see the pricing page. For questions about how we work, see the FAQ.
Frequently asked questions
Are these guides free to use?
Yes. Use the scorecards, tables and agendas in your own business as often as you like. They are written so a busy owner can apply them in an afternoon.
Do the guides apply outside Burnaby?
Mostly, yes. The methods work for owner-run firms anywhere. We use Burnaby examples because that is who this site is for, and a few points, such as travel time across the city, are local.
Will you add more guides?
We plan to, as we see the same questions come up in consultations. If there is a topic you would like covered, call, text or email and tell us.