These guides are written like field notes: short steps, tables you can copy and examples you can check with a calculator. Each one tackles a decision owners across the capital region face every year. Use them alone, or use them to prepare for a conversation with us so the paid time goes further.
All three follow the same pattern. They start with the question, give a method in numbered steps, work through an example from a typical Greater Victoria business, and end with the mistakes we see most often.
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How far should your business travel across Greater Victoria?
Work out what an hour of travel really costs you, decide which areas to serve at standard price, which to serve on set days or with a travel charge, and when a second base starts to pay.
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How to set a marketing budget from your own numbers
Start with the revenue you want, divide by your average sale and close rate to find the enquiries you need, then decide what you can afford to pay for each one. The budget follows from that.
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How to write a growth plan that fits on one page
Rank your work by margin per labour hour, pick three targets, write down what you will stop doing, and track six numbers monthly. That is a growth plan you will actually use.
The one-page growth plan
The one-page growth plan shows you how to put a year's priorities on a single sheet. It walks through ranking your lines of work by margin per labour hour, choosing three targets, writing a stop list and setting up a monthly scorecard.
It is the do-it-yourself version of our twelve-month growth plan. Owners who complete it before a first call usually save an hour or two of discovery.
What you will learn:
- why revenue rankings mislead and margin per hour doesn't
- how to choose targets you can actually measure monthly
- what belongs on a stop list and why it matters more than the target list
A marketing budget built from your numbers
The marketing budget guide replaces "a percentage of revenue" with a budget worked back from the customers you need. It starts with your target revenue, average sale, gross margin and close rate, and calculates how many enquiries you need and what you can afford to pay for each.
It pairs with our marketing spend review, which does the same work on your real accounts.
What you will learn:
- how to calculate an affordable cost per enquiry
- how to spread spending across Victoria's uneven seasons
- how to run a 90-day test without wasting the budget
Expanding across Greater Victoria
The service-area guide helps you decide how far to travel, what to charge for distance and when a second base makes sense. It covers the core, the West Shore, the Saanich Peninsula and the islands, with a worked drive-time cost model.
It links naturally to the operations review, because drive time is one of the costs that review measures.
What you will learn:
- how to price travel time honestly
- when clustering bookings by area beats charging more
- the break-even point for a second crew or location
Why these three topics
They are the three decisions that most often go wrong quietly. A plan that ranks work by revenue, a budget copied from a percentage and a service area that grew by accident rarely cause a crisis on their own. Instead, they erode margin a little every month, and the owner only notices at year-end when the bank balance doesn't match how busy everyone felt.
Each guide gives you a way to catch that erosion with numbers you already have. None of them needs special software; a spreadsheet and a few hours of honest record-checking are enough.
What these guides are not
They are planning tools, not professional advice on tax, law, lending or regulated work. Where a decision touches those areas, such as a lease, a hiring contract or financing for a second location, take your numbers to the right licensed professional. The guides help you arrive at that conversation with clearer questions.
How to use these guides with your team
Work through one guide per quarter with your managers or partners. Print the tables, fill them in with real figures and argue about the answers. The arguments are the useful part.
If the numbers raise a question you can't answer, that is a good moment for a single advisory session. For more on how we work, see the about page.
Frequently asked questions
Are these guides free to use?
Yes. Read them, copy the tables into your own spreadsheet and use them with your team. They are written so you can get value without ever hiring us.
Do the guides apply outside Greater Victoria?
The methods do. The examples and the geography are specific to the capital region, because that is where travel time, seasons and customer mix shape the answers.
How current are they?
Each guide shows its publication date. The worked examples are illustrative and don't depend on programs or rules that change, so they age slowly.