You may know me as the CEO of The Sustainable Business. For the past forty years I’ve been running and obsessing about what it takes to create a company that’s sale-ready. But first, let me explain what sale ready means …
It’s not that you want to sell your company.
It is you having a company that others want to own, even if you have no interest in selling.
And this isn’t some quick hit of coaching, and then you’re on your own.If you choose to do this, you will work directly with me for the next 2 years.
And I’m also doing something that people have been asking me to do for ages: you can choose to pay me based on performance, out of the future growth of your business.But I’m getting ahead of myself, so I’ll share more about the logistics, structure, and payment terms in a minute. But first, I should start by answering one fundamental question...
Why Work With Josh?
Josh started in 1976:
With one account
One part-time employee
No experience in running a company
No idea how to build a business
"Josh's pragmatism and objectivity"
"Anyone can call a spade a spade, but it takes quite a unique skill set to translate those observations into concise and executable strategic recommendations. Josh’s pragmatism, objectivity, and insight were a monumental resource for personal and professional growth.
- Aaron Kahn, Wealth Management Strategies
" His interest and passion beyond"
" I utilized Josh Patrick's services to help sell a business I have owned and managed for 32 years. I received solid consultation on all aspects of the preparation and execution, and successful sale of my business. A dozen times during the process, Josh helped me avoid agreement offers from the buyer that I did not understand that would have made this transaction terrible for me. His interest and passion went beyond what I had expected. I am glad to have ended these 32 years of business with the same ethics and integrity I ran it with because of Josh’s hard work.”
-Chris Piraino, Granite Computer Systems
"His knowledge is limitless"
"I have been working with Josh for close to 8 years, and we have always had a great relationship. He started with us when my dad owned the company and helped with every step of succession planning through to the purchase and sale of the business.I have Josh as a business consultant and 'remote CFO”. His knowledge is limitless, and as a young CEO, he provides me with a great deal of comfort, to bounce ideas off, provide suggestions and feedback.”
- Rex Accavallo, CEO, The Royal Group
"A competent ear"
“It pays to have a competent ear to share your thoughts with and offer guidance when needed. “It can be lonely at the top” is an old saying for company leaders. I was there. Things were not working out as planned. I can now spend significant time away from the office, knowing that all is well back home.”
-Steve Holzman, Colonial Manufacturing
" A big picture person "
"Josh and I have worked together for several decades. Josh is a big-picture person who can sort out the chaff from the wheat, see the big picture, and then focus specifically on what needs to be done. His advice is often invaluable, and it is always a pleasure and learning experience to hear Josh’s thoughts and advice.”
- Peter Asch, Twincraft Skincare
You Get Unlimited* Access To ME ...
As I wrote earlier, what you’re getting through the “50/50 Growth Program” is ME.
So, let’s talk logistics. Here's how the program actually works:
Once you’ve been accepted into the program, our first step will be to coordinate a day for you to come to Vermont, where:
I will really get to know you,
your business, and your goals
We will create a strategy and
plan for you to achieve them.
Then, you fly home and get to work — with unlimited access to me until the last day of the program, December 31, 2026.
Here’s what that looks like:
You will have my personal email and cellphone number, and you can reach out to me - anytime you need.*
We can schedule unlimited calls to talk through anything (business-related) that’s on your mind - as often as you like.
We can schedule as many full in-person strategy days in Vermont as you need - no limit to how many.*
I will review and give you feedback on tactical strategies that we put together - as much as you need.*
I will share proprietary behind-the-scenes access to everything I’ve done over the past 48 years with nothing held back.
So yeah, you get UNLIMITED* access to me as your coach, strategic advisor, and business thinking partner. And some of the results you will get by working with me are:
While you do get unlimited access to me, there are a few limits to the scope of what that includes:
First of all, my role is strictly advisory. I will coach and guide you, but I won’t make sales calls, do your books, or any other tactical activities in your business.
Second, I am your advisor and coach, not a member of your team. That means I will connect with you as much as you need, but your responsibility is translating our strategy to other people you work with. This doesn’t mean I won’t work with your team. It means you are responsible for leading any strategic activities we decide are important for your success.
Second, I am your advisor and coach, not a member of your team. That means I will connect with you as much as you need, but your responsibility is translating our strategy to other people you work with. This doesn’t mean I won’t work with your team. It means you are responsible for leading any strategic activities we decide are important for your success.
Make room on my calendar anytime you have questions about increasing profits or reducing the time spent at your business…
Answer as many text messages and emails as you send me
Schedule as many calls as you need
Even clear time for you to come to Vermont and spend time with me in person.
...... and as long as it is necessary and in service of helping you achieve your business growth goals (and you’re doing your part between the messages and calls and meetings), there is NO LIMIT WHATSOEVER on the time I will spend with you.
So yeah ---- you get a TON of access to me. But/and I want this to be crystal clear ......
I will do absolutely ZERO babysitting.
I’m not a mindset or accountability coach
I won’t do a standing weekly meeting to check in about your progress.
I won’t reach out to you every day to remind you to stay on track. If I haven’t heard from you in a while, I might send an email every few weeks just to see what you’re up to, but that’s it.
I will give you all the help you ask for, but if you don’t ask for help and just disappear on me… that’s 100% on you.
This will only work if you’re all in and committed to doing what it takes to drive things forward. Which brings us to..
If you’ve spent any time with me, you know that I’m generally a big fan of guarantees. I believe that if you do the work, I need to guarantee your minimum results.But this program is different for a couple of reasons:
It’s all my personal time, and I don’t offer a guarantee on that. This includes an increase in profit and a decrease in time spent doing day-to-day activities. If you do the work, you’ll get the result, which could be much higher or a little lower.
Businesses are all different, and more importantly, business owners are all different. And in this sort of program and working arrangement, you’ll get out what you put in.
Like the conquerors of ages past who would set their invasion fleet on fire upon landing on enemy shores, you must internalize the truth that the only way out is through. That’s the “burn the ship” part:
There is no guarantee that any one thing we try will work. That’s just how it goes when you’re growing a business. And the biggest determinant by far of your success will be the amount of energy and effort that you put into your business.
If something doesn’t work out, do you quit? Or do you chalk it up to a learning moment, and get ready for another at bat? To be very blunt, if you choose not to ask for (or listen to) my advice, I won’t lose any sleep over your lack of progress.
In practical terms, this means you have more joy in your business and more
cash in your pocket.
It's about massive profit growth and clarity and confidence in exactly how to make it happen. It's also about the best way I know to learn to love your business and avoid burnout.
To paraphrase Jerry Rice, it’s about doing today what others won’t, so that you can do tomorrow what others can’t.Okay, now with all that being said, let’s get to the question that you’d be crazy to not be thinking ...
And in the sense of “is the number on the price tag going to be a really big one?” - of course the answer is YES. (I mean, you get unlimited access to me for 2 years - if you thought this was going to be cheap then you need to have your head examined!)
But the size of the number isn’t really the right lens for telling whether something is a great deal or a terrible one.(Think about it: is $500 a good price? For a sandwich, absolutely not - but for a vintage luxury car in perfect condition, you bet!)So we need to know what frame of reference we’re comparing this to, and there are two that matter here:
Again, this might sound a bit braggy, but I’ll just state the facts:
Fact 1: On rare occasions, I do hourly or daily work with clients, and my rates start at $1,000/hour or $8,000/day.
Fact 2: Usually when I work with clients, we’ll start with a couple of days and then continue with support similar to what I’m offering in this program. The going rate for that is typically $10,000 to kick things off, and then $7,500/month thereafter.
Fact 3: In many cases when I work with clients, I also take 10-20% of profits for the projects that we work on.
Fact 4: The reason why clients are willing (and eager) to pay these rates is that they typically see a 5-10X return on investment on the work that they do with me. So if you just apply these facts to the structure of the “50/50 Growth Program”, you’d be looking at somewhere in the range of $180,000 plus a percentage of your revenue.
The only reason why you would sign up for a program like this is if there’s a significant gap between the growth trajectory that you’re on and the growth trajectory that I will help you create.
Let’s compare, for example, an optimistic growth trajectory for a typical subcontractor in the construction world, against a conservative guesstimate of what results might look like in this program:
Now, to be clear, I don’t mean to minimize the feeling of encountering a number that’s bigger than the biggest check your finances can support writing. Regardless of how good of a deal something is, if you don’t have the money, then you don’t have the money.
But if you’re able to rustle up the cash or non-crippling-credit to make this investment in your business, then I think you’ll find this is one of the best deals you’ve come across in a long time (and nowhere near the $400,000-$595,000 that you should anchor against).Okay, so with that very long preamble out of the way, there are two options for how you can pay for this: either all cash, or a much smaller amount of cash plus a percentage of your revenues.
*This is not a guarantee and only reflects results we’ve gotten with other clients over the years. We don’t guarantee the results of 50% more profits and 50% less work will happen for everyone in two years. If not, we continue working with you for free until you reach the outcome we agree is appropriate for your business, remembering all businesses are different.
You have a REAL business. This means you have a business that is predictable at some level. You have sales and profits and have been in business for over ten years. You might have five team members or fifty, but you have team members that you need to manage and wish you could delegate and maybe have not been successful at this yet.
This is WAY more than a hobby for you. Just about every business starts in the “entrepreneurial” phase, where you’re testing the waters and feeling out whether this is something you want to do. This is completely reasonable and appropriate - but if you’re still in that entrepreneurial phase, you aren’t ready for this program. For us to work together in this way, you have to be committed to building this business and have already made considerable progress doing so.
You are willing and eager to roll up your sleeves and WORK. This is another one of those things that should go without saying but sometimes doesn’t: the only way you make progress in your business will be through steady and CONSISTENT action. You have to be onboard with that - and if your style is to vacillate between procrastination and the occasional manic burst of “massive action”... no, that isn’t going to cut it.
You are COACHABLE. This is another one of those that should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: only sign up for this program if you’re actually interested in hearing my perspective and taking my advice. Of course, I will never try to force a strategy on you that doesn’t feel aligned - but if you ignore everything I suggest, you will not get any results from our work together.
You can be self-managed and PROACTIVE about asking for help. As I’ve written earlier in this document, I will be as available to you as you ask me to be… but I won’t babysit or chase after you. If you go for months without reaching out to me, then months will pass without you getting the help you’ll have signed up for. Giving you the help you need will be my responsibility, but reaching out and asking for it will be yours.
You're about work and results, but NO DRAMA. This program is for people who are ready and able to exhibit the resourcefulness and adaptability that building a business requires. If the people who know you best would describe you as a traveling vortex of chaos, this program isn't for you.
You can LEGIT afford to do this. Which is not to say you have money to burn - nobody should want to throw away amounts like these. But if doing this will get in your way of paying rent or feeding your kids, then you can’t afford it. (And, because there’s always someone who asks, no you can’t just scrounge together the first few payments and then count on your soon-to-be-rapidly-growing profits to cover the rest.
You can't afford NOT to do this. Whether it’s because of the income potential you’re building, the impact you want to have, or the legacy you want to leave - you have to be so committed to building your business you’re 100% in, and failure is not an option.
You are ENERGIZED by (reasonable amounts of) pressure. I mentioned earlier that, depending on the payment option you choose, you’ll be investing close to $100 per day of this 2-year program. That means every day you decide to procrastinate and put things off until tomorrow, you’re basically lighting a hundred dollar bill on fire. For the right person, that knowledge should have an energizing and focusing effect - but if it will fill you with endless waves of anxiety, this program isn’t for you.
You have ten or one-hundred team members in your business and are looking to gro
You are selling to consumers (B2C) or to organizations, businesses, or non-profits (B2B)
Are willing to work on your local reputation
Are willing to have a sales process installed in your company and you have the discipline to make sure the process is followed
Are willing to systematize your business and force all your team members to use systems that are developed for consistency and predictability
This is to make sure I’m only talking to people who are completely serious about exploring their fit with the program. Regardless of whether you end up in the program or not, the money goes to a charity that we support called the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
We’ll find a time that works on both of our calendars in the next few days, to get on a call so I can get to know you and your business, and you can ask any questions you have about the program.And then, if we agree that it’s a fit, we’ll arrange payment details and...
We’ll be off to the proverbial races on the 2-year 50/50 Growth Program to create exponential growth in your business. Hooray!So that’s it. Thank you for reading this whole thing, consider this opportunity and I look forward to exploring this opportunity with you… if it feels like a fit!
And there are a lot more that I could share…... but I think you get the idea 😉
So anyway, don’t apply for this program if you aren’t sure you want to do it. But if you are...
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