Weekly
The short answer
Weekly Advisory is the standing engagement at Schmidt Consulting Group for agency and consulting firm owners who already know what has to change and never get to it. You and Kurt Schmidt write a short plan, you work one priority at a time, and you look at the result every week. It's counsel and a rhythm, not a course and not a team you hire.
Who is Weekly Advisory for?
Client work always wins the week
You could name the things that would change this business without stopping to think about it. But client work has deadlines and your own growth doesn't, so the list survives another week and none of it gets done. What's missing is a rhythm, and we've built one with more than 150 agencies.
What we actually do
A plan you can read, one thing at a time, and someone asking how it went.
You get a plan you can actually read
It's a short working document your team can read without you translating it, and it says what matters first and why it matters first. Everybody stops guessing at the priority order, including you.
One thing at a time
Each week we pick the one thing that matters most and you go do it. The rest of the list waits. That sounds obvious right up until you try it and notice how much of last year went to doing a little of everything.
Someone asks you how it went
Every session opens with last week's priority and whether it got done. When it didn't, we work out what got in the way, because it's usually the same thing getting in the way twice. And when you've got a live deal, bring it. We'll work the pricing and the scope before the proposal goes out.
How it starts
The first session ends with a written plan for the week ahead. You'll know what you're doing first and why it's first, and the next week we both look at how it went.
How is this different from coaching?
- A standing hour to talk it out
- Generic frameworks
- You hold yourself to it
- The plan lives in your notes
- A written plan you and your team can read
- One named priority a week
- Every session opens with what shipped
- Deal reviews on live deals
What has come out of these engagements
A web agency hired SCG after years of budget overruns. Their first projects came in under budget during the engagement, and a three-month contract is now in its eighteenth month.
Read the full story →A branding studio owner, on the engagement: "I think you've been a life changer for us."
See client results →What Clients Say
I reached out to Kurt needing dual help: One, casting a vision. Two, turning on more effective business development approaches. He was the decisive sounding board that my vision casting needed. And he also brought immense practical operational techniques to help spur me to action just when I needed the kick in the pants.
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I worked with Kurt Schmidt to define and refine how we tell our stories and help our partners tell theirs. I'm thrilled about the emerging initiative and what it means for Fountane Inc. If you're leading an agency and need to tell better stories, I highly recommend Kurt Schmidt as a skilled and thoughtful partner.
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Common questions
Advisory is a weekly operating rhythm for growth, built for founder-led agencies, professional services firms and consulting firms. You get a written plan, one priority at a time, and a 60-minute video session every week that opens with whether last week's priority got done. Your team does the work; the engagement makes sure it happens and that it's right when it goes out.
No. What you pay depends on what you've got in front of you, and you'll hear the price on the intro call before you commit to anything.
No. Plenty of founders stay in Advisory for years, which is rather the point of it. If something else fits better later, you're the one who starts that conversation.
You do. We don't write your proposals and we don't run your pipeline. The engagement makes sure you do, and that they're right when they go out. If you want us holding the outcome instead, that's Fractional Partner.
Mentorship is counsel on pricing, hiring, clients and direction, on your schedule. Advisory sets the direction, names the one thing for the week, and then asks you about it. Founders who already know what to do and keep not getting to it pick this one.
An hour a week on video, plus whatever that week's priority takes. Protecting the hour is straightforward. The work between sessions is where it pays off.
Month to month, with 30 days notice. Our longest Advisory engagement started life as a three-month contract.
Whatever you'd tell a friend over dinner if they asked how the business is actually going. We'll want to see your numbers at some point, though not before we've talked. The written plan comes out of that first conversation, and there's no form to fill in beforehand.
Other ways to work with SCG
Start with an intro call.
Bring the thing you keep meaning to get to. We'll talk it through and you'll know by the end whether this is the right fit and what it costs.