Notes
Notes from the operational forest
Plain writing on operations, systems, and what makes a business worth more when it runs without you — plus honest audits of the books behind the practice. Nothing to sign up for; I publish here, you read here.
I scored myself 53%. The textbook said hire a team. I'm a small business. So I'm adapting it.
I ran the CEPA Personal Readiness Assessment on my own business and got a Below Average. Here's exactly how the scores split, and how I'm adapting the framework to the size I actually am.
I passed my exit-planning certification. Here's what I'm using it for
I earned my CEPA, the exit-planning credential. Here's what it actually means, and why I want to bring that kind of analysis down to the size of owner it usually skips.
Build AI that takes care of the owner, not just the business
Most AI sold to small business is pointed at squeezing more output from it. But in a small business, the owner is the system — the better build supports the owner as much as the business.
The Wealth Ladder — a book audit
Six rungs, one lever each — and then two hundred pages of charts proving that people who climbed did, in fact, climb. It promises the how and hands you a reference book.
Just Keep Buying — a book audit
A correct, well-charted, slightly dull nap of a book. The right idea — time in the market, not timing it — told to people who already have it.
My own site was nearly invisible to AI. Here's what I fixed
I ran my own website through the exact AI-search audit I'd run for a client. Technically healthy — and still invisible. Here's what I found, and the fixes (mostly free).
Hidden Profit — a book audit
Finally, a small-business finance book that teaches without judging — written for the owners the genre usually assumes already have the cushion. The email-gated templates, Hearth would knock off the desk.
The Business Exit Companion — a book audit
A working manual, not a bestseller — and it aged well for exactly that reason. Build for the exit from day one; make the business legible; score, find the gaps, work the gaps.
Profit First — a book audit
The mechanic is real and worth keeping. The packaging is the kind of thing a self-respecting cat actively rejects. Get it from the library, read the appendix, return the rest.
Your Money or Your Life — a book audit
The founding document of the financial-independence movement. The book itself naps; the tools you extract from it earn the windowsill. Harvest the tools, take the framework at a discount.
Your business is worth more when it runs without you
What happens if you take two weeks off? The answer is what the business is worth — plus the $1.2M of phantom deadstock that wasn't really there.
What does an operations consultant actually do?
Not a workshop, not a slide deck. The real distinctions — vs management consultant, coach, fractional COO — and what the work actually looks like.
Practice Notes
Field notes from the work itself — the patterns I keep seeing in how small businesses run, break, and get themselves ready for whatever comes next.
Book Notes
Honest reads on the books behind the practice — operations, exit planning, money, transitions — stripped to what actually holds up in the field, and what's aged past its era. Every claim cited to chapter and page.
Follow along
This site has no login, no account, and no newsletter sign-up. If you'd like to follow what I publish on Forest Notes — and the sharper, looser register on the bureaucracy of it all — I run Rogue Bureaucrat over on Substack. Read it there →
Reading is a fine place to start
When you're ready to do something about what you're reading, the door's open.