These guides exist so you can try our methods before you spend anything. Each one teaches a single management routine that we use in paid engagements, with steps, worked numbers and the mistakes we see most often. All three can be done with a spreadsheet, a calendar and a few honest hours. If you get stuck, or want someone to run the routine with you, our services pick up where the guides stop.
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Promoting your first manager without losing your best worker
Your first manager should be chosen for management results, not trade skill. Stage the promotion, remove part of their old job on purpose, and agree a review date and a way back before you announce anything.
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How to run a two-week owner time audit
An owner time audit is a ten-working-day log of your hours in 30-minute blocks. It shows where the week really goes, what your hour is worth, and which tasks to hand over first.
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How to build a one-page weekly scorecard
A weekly scorecard is 8 to 12 numbers, each with an owner, a target and a red line, reviewed every week in a short meeting. Good ones predict next month instead of reporting last month.
The two-week owner time audit
How to run a two-week owner time audit teaches you to log your working hours in 30-minute blocks, sort every task into keep, delegate, automate or drop, and decide what the freed hours are for.
It's the right first guide for almost every owner, because it replaces "I'm always busy" with a table of numbers. You'll learn how to set up the log, how to stay honest on the busy days, how to value your own hour and how to pick the first three tasks to hand over. It pairs with our owner time and delegation service.
Promoting your first manager
Promoting your first manager without losing your best worker walks through the riskiest people decision a small business makes. It covers how to tell whether you need a manager yet, how to choose between promoting and hiring, how to stage the promotion so the management work actually happens, and how to build an honest way back if it doesn't work out.
It's written for Coquitlam crews, clinics and shops where the obvious candidate is the person who's best at the work. That person is often the wrong choice, and sometimes the perfect one. The guide helps you tell the difference before you announce anything. It pairs with roles, hiring and first managers.
Building a one-page weekly scorecard
How to build a one-page weekly scorecard shows you how to choose 8 to 12 numbers that predict next month rather than describe last month, give each one an owner and a red line, and run a 45-minute weekly meeting around them.
You'll find sample scorecards for a field crew, a clinic and a shop, a worked example of how a booking gap shows up two weeks early, and a short list of numbers to avoid. It pairs with our scorecard and meeting rhythm service.
How to use the guides together
The three guides build on each other in a natural order.
- Time audit first. It shows where your hours go and which routines are missing.
- Scorecard second. It gives you and your team the same weekly picture, so problems surface early.
- First manager third. By then you know which work a manager would take over and how you'd judge them.
Most owners can run the time audit in two weeks, build a first scorecard in another two, and make a well-informed manager decision within two to three months.
How long each guide takes
Plan your time realistically. The time audit needs about five minutes a day for ten working days, plus an hour to total it up. The scorecard needs two or three hours to choose and lay out the numbers, then 45 minutes a week. The first-manager guide is mostly thinking: an evening to write the scorecard for the role, and a conversation or two with the candidate. None of them needs software you don't already have.
What the guides won't do
The guides teach management routines. They don't cover employment law, payroll, tax or workplace safety, and they're no substitute for advice from a lawyer, an accountant or WorkSafeBC.
They also can't hold you to the routine. That's the most common reason owners eventually bring in a fractional operations manager: not because the method is hard, but because the week keeps winning. If that sounds familiar, the pricing page explains the options. Call, text or email to talk it through.
Frequently asked questions
Are these guides really free to use?
Yes. They describe the same methods we use with clients. Use them, adapt them and share them with your team.
Which guide should I read first?
The owner time audit, in most cases. It gives you the evidence you need to decide whether the next step is a manager, a scorecard or written procedures.
Do the guides cover employment law?
No. Where a guide touches on hiring or promotion, it points you to the BC Employment Standards Branch and your own lawyer for the legal side.