Who Has Your Back? A Letter to the Small Business Owner.

Every day, small business owners across the country are making decisions that impact their families, their employees, their communities—and yet most are making those decisions in isolation. They carry the weight of the business on their shoulders, solve problems on the fly, and often do it without anyone truly in their corner.

If this sounds like you, then this article is for you.

I once worked with a business owner who had worn every hat in the company. Sales, operations, customer service, marketing—he was responsible for it all. When we met, he told me what he really needed wasn’t just a consultant or a project manager. He needed someone he could talk to. Someone who could listen to his ideas, help him prioritize, and most importantly, put those ideas into motion.

He didn’t need theory. He needed partnership.

Most business owners I meet don’t lack ambition. They’re not short on ideas. What they lack is bandwidth. They lack that one person who understands the full picture and has the operational skill to take a vision and turn it into something executable. More often than not, they’re left turning to the only people who will listen: their spouses, their friends, their siblings, their golf buddies. And yes, those conversations can be helpful—but let’s be honest. They’re not always productive.

Business owners do rely on spouses, partners, and friends for support. But those conversations usually aren’t about gaining business clarity. They’re for venting. They’re for letting off steam after a long day of being everything to everyone. What business owners truly need is someone who is aligned with their vision, understands the business terrain, and can act, not just listen.

There’s a difference between someone who hears your frustrations and someone who knows how to operationalize your ideas.

What most small business owners need, but rarely ask for, is that right-hand person. Sometimes it’s a key employee. But more often than not, it needs to be someone from the outside. Someone who isn’t caught up in the internal politics or limited by the same old way of doing things. Someone who can come in, assess what’s happening, and build new systems without disrupting the core values of the company.

If projects and processes aren’t getting done, if ideas are stacking up and going nowhere, you don’t have a creativity problem: you have an execution problem. That’s where an outside operational leader becomes essential. Someone who can take your big-picture vision and translate it into something concrete.

That’s where I come in.

This is what I love to do. My mantra has always been: Guiding Your Success, One Strategy at a Time. And while that might sound polished, the truth is simpler: I love helping people build something that lasts. I love stepping into a chaotic situation, finding the pieces that aren’t working, and getting things back on track. My goals are your goals and that, to me, is pretty powerful

I get a real thrill out of being the person a business owner can count on. Someone who isn’t just giving them advice—but who is giving them capacity. When I say I have your back, I mean it. I’m here to make sure the business doesn’t just stay afloat, but moves forward with confidence, structure, and clarity. I believe in growth and building structure. I become your business partner and advisor so that we can put a great plan together for your business.

Because let’s face it: the person running the company doesn’t always have someone running with them. I think of my father who was an entrepreneur. Yes, he had a foreman and a brother in the business but neither of them could be counted on to put a strategic plan in place for the business. They did not challenge my dad the way he needed to be challenged to continue the growth of the company.

There’s a loneliness to leadership that most people never talk about. You can have a team, you can have advisors, but if no one is truly accountable for helping you lead the business, then you’re doing it alone. And doing it alone leads to burnout, stagnation, and missed opportunities.

What a Fractional COO brings is more than operational know-how. We bring presence. We bring partnership. We bring peace of mind that the vision you’ve been carrying doesn’t have to stay locked inside your head.

We show up. We execute. We clear the clutter. We make sure your business works the way it’s supposed to.

And if you’re reading this and it hits a little too close to home—if you’re tired of trying to explain your business to people who don’t really understand it, or if you’ve got a list of ideas you haven’t had time to act on, then maybe it’s time we talked.

Because whether you’re ready for a full-time operational partner, or you just need someone to start working through the chaos with you, the important thing is that you don’t have to do it alone.

If this topic resonates with you, we should chat. While a Fractional COO may be essential to the viability of your organization, perhaps just having a business partner there for you to start is the way to go. Together we can build something and bring more to your organization than you ever thought possible.

Let this be the conversation that finally puts someone in your corner.

I’m The COO Guy. I’ve got your back.