Work with me
What each level costs, what you’d commit to, and what happens after you get in touch.
Three ways to work together
Every engagement is priced by one rule: how much of my attention the work needs, and how much rides on the decisions. The hours are reserved for you, not billed by the minute or banked from month to month.
Advisory
From $3,000
a month · about 2 to 4 hours a week · a working session every two weeks or monthly
You bring me the decisions that carry the most risk, and we work through them together.
Fits when your team runs the work and you want a senior read on the big calls.
Ownership
Includes the fractional CMO seat$8,000 to $12,000+
a month · about 8 to 12 hours a week · a weekly working session
As your fractional CMO, I own a defined part of the business, usually marketing, sometimes a website rebuild, search or AI adoption. I set the plan and the budget split and direct your team and vendors on it. You keep the decisions we agreed you’d keep.
Fits when nobody senior owns the work, and it needs one person accountable for it.
Portfolio
$12,000 to $18,000+
a month · about 12 to 20 hours a week across the companies · weekly sessions plus portfolio reviews
One voice across several companies under the same owner or fund: marketing direction, shared vendors and hiring input.
Fits when an owner or fund wants the same thinking applied across its companies.
What moves the fee
Up
- A team I direct week to week
- Several agencies or vendors to direct
- A board I report to
- A launch or rebuild running alongside
- More than one business line
Down
- A strong lead carrying execution
- A settled plan
- Fewer moving parts
We agree on the fee before we start.
What the fee covers
The fee covers my time, whether that’s a fractional CMO seat, advising a website rebuild or steering your search program. Everything else is scoped and approved separately: agency and specialist work, your ad spend, and any hands-on work I do myself, which gets its own scope and price.
“Clients are never going to get mad about paying extra for anything, as long as they understand where the boundaries are up front and nothing comes as a surprise.”
So every one of those boundaries is written down before we start.
Who this is for, and who it isn’t
This works when
- Somebody in the room can actually decide: a founder, a chief executive or a leadership team.
- You’re roughly $5M to $100M in revenue.
- You have people who can execute, or the budget to hire them.
This doesn’t work when
- You only need hands. A good agency or freelancer is the better buy.
- Nothing has to change, or the decision is already made and you need a signature.
- There’s no budget for the work the plan will need. Waiting is a legitimate answer.
- You need someone in the building every day, managing people. That’s a full-time hire.
How it runs
The first month
Onboarding: I interview your leadership, sales and whoever is closest to the customer, get into your numbers and what each agency and vendor is actually doing, and you come out of it with my findings and where I think the attention should go next.
From month two
Working sessions on the cadence your level sets, time with your team and vendors in between, and results reported the way your leadership wants them: a dashboard, a deck for a board or leadership council, or the sessions alone.
Who decides
We agree on it at the start. I can own the plan, the budget split and which vendors stay, or decisions can run through you until you’re comfortable. It can change as trust builds.
When I’m away
The thinking is written down: the plan, the decisions and the review dates. Your team and vendors keep doing the work, so a week I’m away doesn’t stop anything. When I plan time off, I work ahead so nothing waits on me. If I’m ever out longer than that, you’ll hear it from me first and we’ll work out what’s fair.
Terms and onboarding
Every level has a one-time onboarding fee of half a month’s fee, invoiced with the first month. It pays for the heaviest month of the engagement: the interviews, the work in your numbers and vendors, and my findings on where the attention should go next. A six-month term halves it, and a twelve-month term waives it.
The first invoice is paid before onboarding starts. After that, I bill on the first of each month for the month ahead, due within 15 days.
Terms run three, six or twelve months. Three- and six-month terms run their full length, and every term renews for the same length unless either of us says otherwise before the last month of the term starts.
On a twelve-month term, the first six months are committed. After that you can end it with 60 days’ notice, and the onboarding fee that was waived, half a month’s fee, becomes due.
Your price is locked for the term. You can move up a level any time, and we agree on it before it happens. Moving down waits for the next term, and at each renewal we look at how much of my time the work is really taking.
| At $10,000 a month | Onboarding | First invoice | Total for the term |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | Half a month’s fee | $15,000 | $35,000 |
| 6 months | A quarter of a month’s fee | $12,500 | $62,500 |
| 12 months | Waived | $10,000 | $120,000 |
What happens when you get in touch
Send a note
A few sentences about the company and what you’re weighing. I read it myself and reply within one business day.
A 30-minute call
I want to hear where you’d rather be than where you are now, how sales and marketing work together today, and how badly things need to move. I’ll tell you what I’d do if it were my company and which level fits, or that it’s the wrong fit, and where I’d go instead. You’ll leave with a few ideas you can use either way.
A proposal within a week
The scope, the level, the term options with the onboarding fee spelled out, and who decides what. I walk you through it on a short call rather than sending it cold.
Onboarding starts
The first month’s interviews, then my findings and where the attention should go next.
Questions people ask first
What if I’m not sure what the problem is yet?
That’s common. Plenty of leaders know something is off before they can name it. Finding it is part of what onboarding is for.
Can we start small?
Three months at Advisory is the smallest way to work with me. If there’s a defined piece of work with a clear finish, like a review of your ads or a website proposal, we can scope it as a project instead.
How is this different from hiring an agency?
An agency is paid to produce. I’m paid for the direction and the judgment calls, and to hold whoever does the work accountable to them. That can include an agency you already have.
Why not just hire a full-time CMO?
If you need someone leading the function every day, a full-time CMO may be the right hire. This fits when you need senior leadership for part of the week, and I can help you hire a permanent leader and hand over.
How many companies do you work with at once?
Few enough that each gets the attention its level promises. If I don’t have room, I’ll tell you when I expect to.
Can you do the work yourself?
Rarely, and only as a scoped exception, like covering for a while after someone leaves or an agency is let go. It’s scoped and priced on its own.
Do you work with boards and investors?
Yes. A lot of this work ends up in front of a board, and I can help build the case in language they’ll accept. Portfolio is for owners and funds with more than one company.
Do you work with companies outside Houston?
Yes. I’m based in Houston and work with companies across the U.S. Most of it happens remotely, and in person when it’s worth the trip.
Start a conversation
Tell me a little about the company and what you’re weighing. A few sentences is enough, and you don’t need to choose a level yet.
What happens next
I read every note myself and reply within one business day, usually with a couple of questions about what you wrote and a few times for a 30-minute call.
On the call, we’ll talk about where you’d rather be, what’s in the way and how soon it needs to move. You’ll leave with my read on it, whether or not we work together.
There’s nothing to prepare. If you have a plan, a recent report or numbers you’d like me to see, send them after we talk.