QUEST ADVISINGText Max (210) 880-5690What a business advisor actually does in the room.
For the owner of a $5M to $15M company.
You built the company and it makes money. You still describe it the way other owners your size do: "Everything still runs through me." The estimates, the hires, the call nobody else will make. You have thought about letting someone in, and you have probably paid for help before.
Most pages on this question give you a job description: a SWOT, a business plan, a "sounding board". The plain version for an owner your size is shorter. A business advisor sits down with you, asks questions until the real problem is named, tells you what he thinks, and leaves you with the steps that come next.
Below is what happens in the room, what you leave with, and how to tell a good advisor from a bad one, without signing up blind.
If you would rather ask than read, start a conversation with Max Kozlovsky of Quest Advising. You say what is going on, in your own words, and he asks the questions. It starts with fifteen minutes. Nothing to prepare.
The first thing you bring up is the one making the most noise. The questions keep going to the cause under it.
He does not report to you, so he can say the thing nobody on your payroll will.
The steps that come next, whether or not you hire him.
Every call that matters still lands on your desk
At your size the hard part is not effort. It is a few calls a year: a key hire, a price, a person who is not working out. You make them mostly by yourself.
The people who know the business well enough to push back all report to you. One owner said it this way: "I don't have anyone experienced enough around me to sanity-check my decisions." Another: "I need someone to just say it."
The decision waits, or you make it without a second read and find out later.
The help you have probably tried
Each of these was a reasonable move.
A consultant studied one question and left a document. That is what a consultant is for. The decisions that followed came after he left, and you had to make them.
A coach works on the owner and asks questions. That helps, until you need a straight read and get asked how it made you feel.
A room of owners your size meets once a month. Good company, but it is a long wait when you need an answer this week.
AI gives you a fast second read at any hour. It answers the questions you know to ask, not the ones you did not think to ask.
If you are choosing between them, Who to hire between $5M and $50M lays out what each one is built to do. This page is about the advisor.
Owners, in their own words
Tell Max what is going on in a sentence or two. He reads it himself and texts or calls back, typically the same day, or early the next.
What happens in the room
It starts with fifteen minutes
Nothing to prepare. You say what is going on, in your own words. Max asks the questions. He tells you either way whether this is his kind of problem and whether the timing is right. At the end you both know if it is worth sitting down for longer.
Then ninety minutes, out of your office
It happens away from interruptions. Only the people who decide are in the room, you and any co-owners. Zoom if you are not local.
Max asks the questions until the real problems are named, the root causes under them, and the steps that come next. You leave with all of it, whether or not you hire him. He talks about how he works only after that part is done.
He starts with you, then the business
Max explains why in his own words: "Years with owners taught me to listen to what a person says, what they leave out, and what that means for the business."
He takes the problem apart until the root shows
Max breaks the first problem down to find what sits under it.
He tells you what he sees
He does not hand over his answer first. He builds it from what you say, and he separates what you know from what you assume.
Then he says it. In his words: "When they think they are growing and everybody's happy, I can see where they're going to stall, what's not scalable, and how they are going to plateau, so I tell them that."
The plan stays yours
When you say something that matters, Max repeats it back in your own words and gives it a name, so the plan is in your language and not his. He does not install a system whole. Two or three things this company needs this quarter, not a binder. You end up with a plan your team can say back to you.
It starts with fifteen minutes. At the end you both know if it is worth sitting down for longer.
What a business advisor does in the room, and what he does not do
| What he does in the room | What he does not do |
|---|---|
| Builds his answer from what you say | Does not arrive with the answer already written |
| Says the part you did not want to hear | Does not only agree with you |
| Works with the people who decide, you and any co-owners | Does not run your team |
| Builds the plan from your words, so your team can say it back | Does not do the work for you. Nothing changes unless you and the team do it |
| Looks across the whole business as one person | Is not a room of peers and is not the expert in your trade |
What you hear in the first sitting
Three questions Max asks owners. The first is how every conversation opens.
- What is going on? Say it in your own words.
- "If we got paid, would we still have this problem? How much does that solve?"
- "Do you know that, or do you think that?"
How to tell a good advisor from a bad one before you pay
The titles advisor, consultant and coach are not regulated, and they overlap. Skip the title and run these checks on anyone, Max included.
Has he run a company? One owner's test: "You don't want advice from someone that's never started a company." Max started Quantum Golf, and Pakta, a machine-learning pricing company whose technology sold to Compaq.
Did he tell you something you did not want to hear in the first conversation? An advisor who only agrees with you the first time has shown you what the rest will be like.
Do you know how the meetings go before you agree to anything? Ask who talks, what gets asked and what you leave with, and expect a plain answer.
Does he say when it is not a fit? Ask who he is not for. Max's answer: owners who want it done for them, who have all the answers, or who are in it only for the money.
Can you say back what you left with? After a real sitting you should be able to tell your team the problem and the next steps in a few sentences.
The short version
- A business advisor asks questions until the real problem is named, tells you what he thinks, and leaves you with the next steps.
- He does not do the work, run your team, install a system whole or hand you a binder.
- With Max it starts with fifteen minutes, then ninety minutes out of your office with only the people who decide. You leave with the next steps, whether or not you hire him.
- Test any advisor before you pay: has he run a company, did he tell you something hard, does he say when it is not a fit.
Take the checks above to whoever you are considering. They work even if you never talk to Max. If you want to talk to him, start a conversation, or text him.
Questions owners ask
What is the difference between a business advisor and a consultant?
A consultant is hired for one specific question, studies it, delivers the answer and leaves. An advisor works with the owner across the whole business and stays through the decisions that follow. The titles are not regulated and they overlap, so ask what the person will personally do.
Is a business advisor the same as a business coach?
No, though the titles overlap. A coach works on the owner, mostly by asking questions. An advisor asks too, and then tells you what he thinks about the business. With either title, ask whether he has run a company.
I have paid for help before and nothing changed. Why would this be different?
You should test it before you agree to anything. Dr. Bryan Stuckey of Perrin 410 had paid for management consultants and seminars and called himself "kind of dubious". He described Max as "Very patient, very thorough, quite demanding, but realistic." One limit holds with every advisor: nothing changes unless you and your team do the work.
I do not have time for another meeting.
Fair. The first conversation is fifteen minutes and there is nothing to prepare. If it is not worth sitting down for longer, that is the end of it.
Can AI do this instead?
For part of it, yes. AI is fast, there at any hour, and good for a second read on anything you can describe. An advisor's job is the questions you did not think to ask, and telling you when he thinks you are wrong.
How do I know if I need one?
You need one if the calls that matter still land on you and nobody near you can check your thinking before you act. You do not need one if the gap is a skill you can name or one specific question. A course or a consultant fits that better. If you cannot tell, that is what the fifteen minutes are for.
Say what is going on. Max asks the questions.
That is the whole first step. Text Max or pick a time, and say what is going on in your own words. He tells you either way whether this is his kind of problem and whether the timing is right.
If it is not a fit, he says so and that is the end of it, no follow-up.
He reads it himself and texts or calls back, typically the same day, or early the next. Nothing to prepare.