The Dig-Out
You're behind. I'll get you caught up.
Whatever it is that's stacked up, I take it on and finish it by a date I put in writing first. A full plan in 24 hours. You don't pay until it's done.
This month
Square-Up September: you don't pay until it's done
No deposit. No progress payments. Nothing up front. You square up when the work is finished — not when it starts, and not partway through. For jobs booked this month.
The problem
There are three ways to catch up, and all three are people
Which means all three cost you the one thing you've run out of, which is time.
Hire someone
The national median is 39 days to fill a role like this — before anybody starts. Then three to six months to full speed; across mid-level roles Gallup's median is 8.2 months. The work keeps arriving for all of it.
Bring in temps
Faster to arrive, and commonly a 30–75% markup on the pay rate. They still have to be taught how you do things — by the people who are already underwater.
Work overtime
The same tired people doing the work that got them behind, at time and a half, at the exact point in the day when their error rate is worst.
The arithmetic
What the hire costs before anyone does any work
Not the salary. The salary is the part everybody budgets for. It's the rest of it that decides whether you make your date.
- Cost to hire, average $4,700 SHRM, 2026
- Days the seat sits empty while it all builds up 39 median time to fill, non-executive
- Lost productivity while they get up to speed $40,000+ SHRM estimate, per hire
- Time to full speed 3–6 months Gallup median across mid-level roles: 8.2 months
- Which puts them at their best after your deadline and you're further behind on their first day than you are today
These are published hiring benchmarks, not results I'm claiming. Your own numbers go in their place in the plan — and if hiring comes out ahead on your numbers, the plan will say so.
How this goes
A day to a plan. Then I get on with it.
You tell me what's going on
What you're behind on and the date you're up against. Two minutes, in the form below.
I look at it properly
Not a sales call. I go and find out what's actually holding things up, which usually isn't quite what it looks like from outside.
24 hours later, a written plan
What I think is really going on, the date it's finished by, what it costs, and what the same thing would cost you through a hire. Free, and yours either way.
You decide, owing nothing
If it's a no, that's the end of it and you keep the plan. If it's a yes, I start.
It's finished by the date
It's me doing it, round the clock, until it's done. This month, that's also when you pay.
Where to start
The plan, free
Free means free: no purchase, no obligation, nothing to cancel, and nothing that turns into a charge later. You keep it whether or not you ever hire me.
What I think is actually going on
In plain language. Not a diagnosis dressed up to sell you something — the honest read on what's holding you up, which is often not the thing you'd have pointed at.
The date it's finished by
A specific date on the calendar, not a duration and not an estimate. It's the date the guarantee attaches to, so I don't name it lightly.
What it costs
One fixed figure, quoted after I've seen the actual work and never before. No ranges, no estimates, no "plus expenses".
What it'd cost you to hire instead
The same comparison as above, on your real wage numbers rather than national averages. If hiring wins, the plan tells you to hire.
In writing, before you commit to anything
Three guarantees
You don't pay until it's done
This month's terms. No deposit, no progress payments, nothing up front. You settle when the work is finished and you've checked it.
The date, in writing
The finish date is agreed before anything starts. Miss it and the fee drops 10% for every day late, until it's zero.
A straight no if I can't help
If I look at it and I'm not the right answer, I'll say so plainly and tell you what I think is. No pitch, no second attempt, and it will have cost you nothing.
Two limits, said up front
One at a time, and there's work I'll turn down
One job at a time
That isn't a sales tactic, it's arithmetic. The date is only guaranteeable if nothing else is running. Two at once and I'd miss both. So if you know something's coming — an audit, a close, a season you're already dreading — earlier is calmer than later.
What I'll say no to
- Anything needing hands, vehicles or a physical site
- Anything a licensed professional has to sign — I can prepare what they sign, I can't be them
- Anything where nobody can get me what I'd need to do it
- Anything where the real problem is a decision nobody has made yet — that isn't a backlog, and it needs you, not me
Takes about two minutes
Tell me what you're behind on
Five questions, and rough answers are fine. Working out the detail is my job, not yours.
The things people ask first
Straight answers
What exactly are you going to do?
I don't know yet — and anybody who tells you before they've looked is guessing. What I can tell you is the shape of it: I'll find out what's actually holding things up, work out the fastest honest route to clearing it, and put that in writing with a date on it before you've spent anything.
What I won't do is decide what your problem is before I've seen it. That's how you end up buying somebody's favourite solution instead of your own answer — and it's why the plan comes first and costs nothing.
What does it cost?
One fixed figure, quoted in the plan after I've seen the work, never before. I don't publish a price because a number invented without looking is either too high for you or too low for me, and both of those end badly. Finding out costs nothing.
You're one person?
Yes. That's why it's fast. Nobody to brief, no handoff, no junior learning on your business, and no account manager between you and the work. You get one number and the person actually doing it. It's also why the date goes in writing with my fee on it — that's not something a firm with thirty people will put in front of you.
What if it turns out to be harder than you thought?
Then that's my problem, not yours. The price and the date are fixed at the plan, after I've looked properly — which is exactly why I look properly before quoting. If it's harder than I judged, I work longer for the same money and still owe you the date.
We're already hiring for this.
Good — keep hiring. They'll start in about six weeks if you're quick. The question is what happens between now and then, and what that person walks into on day one. Get it cleared first and they arrive to a job they can actually do, instead of to your worst month and a resignation in month four.
Who else have you done this for?
This is a new offer and I'm not going to invent a reference for you. What I'll do instead is put the finish date in writing, take nothing until the work is done, and tell you straight if I'm not the right answer. That's worth more than a name you can't check.