Financial strategies built specifically for independent firms. Not generic advice retrofitted to the industry.
Most founders of agencies and creative firms built their business on instinct, talent, and hustle. Those have a ceiling. At some point, it's not enough. Your business gets stuck. You need an expert who can not only guide you and your team, but also help you install the systems to make change stick.
Some symptoms include...
Relying on the bank account and tax filings — not current data — to judge whether the business is performing.
Compensation or hiring decisions made on gut feel rather than data, followed by months of anxiety about whether the business can support them.
A record revenue year with a bank account that doesn't match and no clear explanation that makes sense.
A key client leaves and there's a sudden, terrifying realization of how concentrated the revenue is and a mad dash to land more business.
An acquisition inquiry that surfaces the gap between what the business earns and what the financials show.
A senior team member asks a financial question in front of others that you can't answer with confidence.
Your financial reports tell you what's happened. Your CPA minimizes tax exposure. Your bookkeeper closes the month. Your controller makes sure your cash flow is sufficient. But unless you have a highly trained and strategic CFO on your team, nobody builds the operating layer that connects the numbers to the decisions to drive the future of the company. That's what I do.
Most founder-led agencies and creative firms don't have the people or the tools in place to use their numbers beyond closing the month. And if you're doing less than $25M in revenue per year, it doesn't make sense to hire this level of talent full-time. Your tax CPA, bookkeeper, controller, or wealth advisor simply don't have the industry expertise to build what you need.
You make hiring and compensation decisions on gut or your best attempt at predicting what clients will spend with you. You say yes to clients you should fire because the revenue feels necessary. You have a record year, but now you just have a higher bar to clear. The gap is a financial strategy problem, and the gap gets bigger as your business grows. And if you don't close the gap, things start to break.
"Your numbers should tell you where the business is going, not just where it has been. Most founders don't have that."
Most engagements start with the Financial Assessment. From there, the work usually moves into ongoing advisory — and branches based on where the business is headed.
A structured diagnostic that identifies the gap between the current financial infrastructure and what the business needs. Delivers a live operating dashboard and a prioritized action plan — not a report that gets filed and forgotten.
Ongoing retainer engagement. Monthly dashboard reviews, compensation and hiring decisions backed by real numbers, margin management. This is where the value compounds.
A dedicated session focused on the next 1–5 years: growth targets, enterprise value, and what has to happen operationally to get there.
For founders with a defined exit or succession horizon. Clean financials, a transferable operating model, and a financial narrative built to hold up under scrutiny.
Sell-side and buy-side advisory for creative firms. Deep industry fluency plus a CPA background that means the financial diligence goes further than most advisors in this space.
We only knew how the business was performing by what was in the bank account. Kathleen rebuilt our financial infrastructure so we had the information we needed at our fingertips. That allowed us to focus on growing the business, not worrying about cashflow.
— Founder, $5M Creative Production and Technology Firm
A founder-led creative firm with significant revenue but no financial clarity. Reports existed but nothing connected to decisions. Kathleen rebuilt the infrastructure, aligned the team around real numbers, and positioned the business for a sale that reflected what it was worth.
Read the full story →A 30-minute conversation about where your numbers are and where they need to be. No pitch. No package. No pressure.
Talk to Kathleen30 minutes · No obligation · Kathleen responds personally