A fractional COO who has run the operation
Your business grew faster than your systems, and now the wheels are starting to wobble. Our founder has run the operation, as Director of Operations at UtiliQuest and COO at Levergy, and our team now leads operations part-time for owners in exactly that spot. Get clear on what’s costing you time, and stop living in firefighting mode.
Signs you need a fractional COO
Does your growing business feel like it’s held together with duct tape? Some common signs:
- Every ball lands in your court, and it’s exhausting.
- Your good people are heading out the door when you need them most.
- Margin keeps leaking without a clear culprit.
- You’re stuck in the day-to-day, with little time to lead.
- You dread next week’s fires, let alone next year’s plan.
What a fractional COO does here
You get an operations lead without a full-time hire. We step in as your part-time operations lead. We work with your leadership team to give every role a clear owner and to set a steady cadence.
- Structure: clear ownership and accountability, so fewer balls get dropped.
- Guidance: an experienced COO who guides your team without taking the wheel from them. We coach your people to solve their own problems.
- Rhythm: regular, purposeful meetings replace random catch-ups, so you can think beyond the day-to-day.
How the first 90 days run
Step 1: Talk. The Ops Stability Call zeroes in on what’s taking too much of your day. No fluff, just a straight conversation about where the wobbles are.
Step 2: Get clear. We map the gaps in your people and your process: who owns what, how steady the team’s rhythm is, and what’s causing the most firefighting. You get a plain-language summary and an honest first step.
Step 3: Run the 90-day mission. We work with your team to fix the priority problems inside a weekly and quarterly rhythm for meetings and reviews.
Built on the 3R method
Retention means every role has an owner and everyone is clear on who reports to whom. No more dropped balls, and no more owner as the bottleneck.
Rhythm means steady weekly and quarterly cadences. They aren’t meetings to fill a calendar. They drive the 90-day missions and keep everyone focused on what matters most.
Results come from playbooks and SOPs that turn tribal knowledge into repeatable work. Everything is tracked on one simple Measures Sheet, so progress is easy to see.
What you get
- Clear owners: roles and accountability are defined, so you’re no longer the bottleneck.
- A steady cadence: regular reporting, hiring and reviews.
- Playbooks and SOPs: tribal knowledge turned into repeatable work.
- A Measures Sheet: progress becomes a straightforward conversation.
- Decisions made without the owner: the team handles them, and you get time back.
Who it’s for, and who it’s not for
Who it’s for:
- Owners of businesses with $2M to $10M in revenue and 10 to 75 staff whose systems still creak.
- Leadership teams stuck in the weeds.
- Owners who can’t remember their last real day off.
- Teams tired of the revolving door who want to keep good people longer.
Who it’s not for:
- Businesses whose systems already run steady.
- Owners who aren’t ready to trust their team with decisions.
- Anyone looking for a software fix.
Fractional COO or full-time COO
A fractional COO makes sense when you want structure without overhauling your team, and you’re not ready for a full-time executive hire. You get experienced leadership that untangles operational knots, brings a fresh view, and stops you being the bottleneck.
Some businesses do outgrow the fractional model. If you need a senior operator on deck every day, a full-time COO may fit better, and we’ll tell you so. Until then, a fractional COO may be your next move.
FAQ
How much time does the engagement include? It depends on what the mission needs. We agree the scope up front, so you know what to expect, and we focus on the priority problems.
Remote or on-site? We work remotely from North Carolina’s Triad and serve owners nationwide.
Do we need new software? No. We use what you have to fix what’s stuck.
How long does it take? The work runs in 90-day missions. That’s long enough to tackle the core issues without dragging them out.
What if our gap isn’t operations? Golden Business Path also offers fractional CEO, CFO and CMO leadership, plus technical trades and accounting support as needed. Licensed work is done through qualified or licensed professionals where the law requires.
Next step
You know where the wobbles are. Let’s talk about getting your time back.