In 2019, I was on the cusp of landing my largest client ever - a $4,500/month retainer.

For me, this was the dream. The sales process had been flawless. It was shaping up to be a true advisory-only engagement.

I was legit nervous.
Sweaty palms, anxiety through the roof, the whole 9.
I wanted the "yes" so badly I could taste it.

Then, right at the finish line, the buyer dropped a series of bombs:

"This sounds exactly like what we're looking for, Michael. But would you be able to help us with some technical issues we're having with invoicing?"

My brain screamed "Nooooo!", but my mouth said: "Absolutely!"

He smiled. "Great. We also need a hand with some treasury functions. Is THAT something you can help with?"

"Uh huh!"

"Amazing. Last question... can you handle our merchant processing setup?"

"Don't worry. We can help with that too."

He signed on the spot (obviously). 

30 days into the relationship, I wasn't a Fractional CFO. I was the neighborhood handyman. And I was miserable.

The Handyman vs. The Surgeon

Think about the local handyman. One day he’s fixing a toilet, the next he’s painting a fence.

He says "yes" to everything because he trades time for money. He is helpful, but exhausted. His income is capped. He can't scale because he never does the same thing twice.

Now, look at a heart surgeon. They don't fix knees. They don't look at rashes. They perform one specific procedure better than anyone else, and they charge a TON for it.

Most Fractional CFOs are acting like the handyman.

We get on a sales call and ask the most dangerous question: "What do you need?"

Then we retreat to craft a custom proposal. A little bookkeeping, some tax work, a cash flow forecast, maybe an ERP implementation.

We think saying "yes" proves our value. In reality, we're just killing our ability to scale.

When every client has a different scope, every day is a fire drill. You can’t build processes because every process is unique. You can’t hire help because you need a genius to figure things out on the fly. You end up working nights and weekends, hitting a revenue (and profit) ceiling you can’t break.

I learned this the hard way. Eventually, I realized that to build a firm that ran without me, I had to stop customizing and start productizing.

Today, I only sell one scope of work. One.

It changed everything. Here is why simplicity is the ultimate superpower.

1. Simplicity is Easier to Sell

Sales calls are stressful enough without inventing a price on the fly.

When you customize, you are guessing. You guess the time, the value, and the price.

Clients smell that uncertainty. When you say, "Well, I could do X, or maybe Y..." the client hears, "I don't have a plan."

Simplicity breeds confidence.

When I get on a call now, I know exactly what I’m selling. I know the deliverables, the cadence, and the price.

I can look a prospect in the eye and say: "This is our proven process. We do A, B, and C to drive this specific result. The investment is $X per month."

That clarity is attractive. Business owners don’t want a menu of options; they want a solution. They want to know you have a roadmap.

By selling one standard scope, you aren't just selling "finance help." You are selling a product with a predictable outcome. That is infinitely easier to close.

2. Simplicity is Easier to Scale

You cannot automate a process that changes every time.

If Client A gets a weekly cash flow forecast, but Client B gets a dashboard of custom KPIs, and Client C gets a whole other report - you have zero standardization. You are reinventing the wheel every month. This is the enemy of scale.

When you sell one scope of work, you can build processes for everything.

Suddenly, you can build assets that work for you:

• A standard agenda for every monthly CFO meeting.
• A rigid template for your reporting packet.
• A unified onboarding checklist.
• Pre-written email templates.

Dare to dream! 

Scale comes from repetition. It comes from doing the same thing so many times that you can do it in your sleep, and then building a system so your team does it for you.

If you want to grow past $30k a month without killing yourself, you have to stop treating every client like a special snowflake. Your advice should be personal, but your process must be standardized.

3. Simplicity Makes it Easier to Hire

This is the big one.

When your firm relies on custom scopes, you are forced to hire unicorns - CFOs who are technically brilliant in 15 different areas, good with clients, and can figure out messy back-offices.

When you have a fixed scope, you know the exact skill sets you need to look for, you know exactly how to interview for those skills, and you know exactly what to screen for.

You can imagine how much easier onboarding the new hire is from there.

4. Simplicity is More Profitable

Complexity kills margins.

Every time you switch contexts, learn new software, or clean up a mess outside your scope, you are leaking profit. 

Efficiency = Margin.

When you do the same scope 50 times, you get incredibly fast at it. What used to take 4 hours now takes 45 minutes.

But here is the kick: You don’t lower your price just because you got faster.

That is the beauty of productizing. You charge for the value of the deliverable (peace of mind, strategy), not the hours. As you get more efficient, your effective hourly rate skyrockets.

If you are constantly customizing, you will never achieve that efficiency. You’ll always be burning hours and eroding profit.

My Challenge to You

I know what you’re thinking. "But Michael, if I say no to custom work, I’ll lose clients!"

Maybe. You might lose the wrong clients. You know, the ones who want the cheap handyman. But you will attract the right clients who respect your expertise and the results you can deliver.

So here is my challenge:

You're a surgeon. Knock it off with the handyman scopes! 

Look at your client roster. Where is the variation? Pick your "Super Bowl" deliverable (for me, it’s the monthly CFO call). Build your entire scope around delivering that one thing exceptionally well.

Strip away the rest. Stop selling hours. Start selling a system.

It’s scary at first and it certainly isn't super sexy - but simplicity pays.

Your coach,
Michael