Outside·Left Consulting

Less running everything. More running the business.

I help business owners stop being the bottleneck. I find what's slowing you down, then I actually build the fixes: the tools, automations and playbooks your team will use every day.

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10 minutes, no call needed. Or jump to pricing →

If you've ever asked yourself…

  • Why does every decision still come back to me?
  • Why are we busier than ever but not making more money?
  • Why do things keep falling through the cracks?
  • Why can't I take a week off without something going sideways?

Usually it's not you. The business has outgrown the way it's run. Answers live in your head and a dozen text threads. Jobs get typed into three different places, and steps fall through the cracks. And you don't really know which jobs or services made money until tax time.

Those are the three things I fix: scattered information, disconnected workflows and cash-flow blind spots. You get working tools your team actually uses, not a slide deck.

What it's costing you

Your time running the business has a price tag.

The everyday stuff adds up: answering the same questions, fixing dropped handoffs, hunting for numbers.

$117,000
a year of your time spent holding things together
Getting back even 5 hours a week is worth $39,000 a year.

Case Studies

Working tools, not slide decks.

Construction training business · Disconnected workflows

A sales process that runs itself

The situation
A mentorship program for construction business owners (one I co-own) gets its leads from Facebook ads, and the founder personally calls every prospect. Everything around those calls was manual: leads pulled by hand, call outcomes kept in his head or in texts, and purchase links sent whenever someone remembered.
What I found
I mapped the path from ad click to purchase. It took 7 steps and 4 hand-offs to turn a new lead into a sale, and every hand-off was a chance for a ready buyer to go cold.
What I built
New leads land in a shared sheet on their own. After each call, the founder picks the lead's name and the outcome from a dropdown. When someone's ready to buy, the purchase link emails itself.
The result
4 manual hand-offs down to zero. Every call gets logged, buyers get their link right away, and about 10–15 minutes of admin is gone from every lead.

Are you the only one who can answer a lead or close a sale?

Solo salon owner · Cash-flow blind spots

Seeing the real numbers, and never losing a lead

The situation
A hair stylist running her own salon had business income, supply costs and personal spending all mixed across several accounts and apps. She couldn't tell what she was actually taking home. She was also heading into a wedding expo to grow a bridal side business, with a paper sign-up sheet as the plan.
What I found
Money came in through Square and Venmo and went out to suppliers and personal bills from the same accounts. Nothing tied them together, so every money question meant digging through statements.
What I built
An app she logs into for her color and retail inventory: scan a barcode with her phone, see what's running low, and track every order with its price. Plus a finance tracker that separates business from personal money, help setting up her booking and payment system, and a tablet sign-up form for the expo that drops every entry straight into a Google Sheet.
The result
One place to see what the salon really earns and spends on product, reorders based on what's actually running low, and expo leads saved the second someone signs up.

Do you know what your business really earns after product and supplies?

Tools I've built

Scattered information

Salon Command Center

The problem
Color, retail and back-bar stock had no single home, so reorders were guesswork and spending on product was hard to see.
What I built
An app the owner logs into from her phone. Scan a barcode to pull up a product, mark it used or reordered, see what's running low, and get a year-end spend record and a seasonal color report.
Cash-flow blind spots

Labor & Margin Leak Finder

The problem
When the field and the office look at different numbers, margin losses show up too late to fix.
What I built
A calculator for contractors: enter jobs, crew hours, materials, unbilled extras and callbacks, and it shows the yearly profit leak by category.
Disconnected workflows

Contractor Margin Audit

The problem
Contractors know margins are slipping but can't tell which part of the operation is causing it.
What I built
A four-question audit that scores the business and creates a printable one-page report: the biggest bottleneck, the top fix and a 7-day action plan.
Scattered information

From one-person spreadsheet to shared tool

The problem
Pricing decisions depend on a macro-heavy spreadsheet that only one person knows how to run.
What I built
The same math rebuilt as a simple web tool anyone on the team can use, with no macros and no guessing.

Want to see one in action?

Every engagement starts with one conversation about what's slowing your business down.

Book a discovery call

Services & Pricing

Start with the Audit. Build what it finds. Keep me on call if you want.

Growth Bottleneck
Audit

$3,500 · 2 weeks
Paid up front

A close look at how your business actually runs, and a clear plan for what to fix first.

  • 90-minute discovery session with you
  • Short interviews with up to three key people on your team
  • Review of your processes, tools, handoffs and reporting
  • A prioritized 90-day action plan, quick wins first
  • A 60–75 minute walkthrough of what I found and what to do next
  • My recommended fixes, with a fixed-price quote to build them

Build & Implementation

Fixed price, quoted after your Audit
50% to start, 50% on delivery

I build the fixes from your action plan and put them to work in your real day-to-day.

  • Custom tools, automations and dashboards built for how you work
  • Tested with your team on real jobs, and adjusted until they stick
  • Hands-on training for you and your team
  • A simple how-to playbook, so nothing lives only in my head (or yours)

Sign within 30 days of your Audit and the full $3,500 counts toward your Build & Implementation.

Ongoing Support

Starting at $1,500/month
Based on scope · optional

Once your systems are live, you have me on call. Month to month, cancel anytime.

  • Tweaks and fixes as your business changes
  • Checking that the team is actually using the new systems
  • A simple monthly scorecard so you can see what's improving
  • Regular check-ins

No surprises

  • Every engagement starts with a written proposal and a signed agreement. You always know the price before any work starts.
  • The Audit is paid in full to get started. Build & Implementation is 50% to start and 50% on delivery. Support is billed monthly, in advance.
  • Quotes are good for 60 days.
  • No red tape, no endless meetings. I build systems your team runs, not ones that need me doing the data entry.

How it works

Four steps, and you always know the price before we start.

Discovery call

30 minutes, free. What's taking more of your time than it should, what happens when you're not around, how long it's been going on, what you've already tried, and what would change if it just went away. Afterward you get a written recap of what I heard and what I'd suggest.

Want a head start? Take the free Operational Friction Score first.

Growth Bottleneck Audit

Two weeks inside how the business really runs: conversations, numbers, and the gap between how things are supposed to work and how they actually do. You walk away with a 90-day plan.

Build & Implementation

I build the fixes, test them in your real day-to-day, train your team and write the playbook. Fixed price, agreed in writing up front.

Ongoing Support

Optional. I stay on call while the new systems settle in, so nothing slides back to the old way.

Who this is for

Businesses that have outgrown their systems.

Trades & specialty construction

  • Contractors and field service crews
  • Jobs get done, but nobody's sure which ones made money
  • The office and the field are working from different information

Independent service providers

  • Salons, boutiques, studios and other owner-run shops
  • Booking, payments and follow-ups live in different apps
  • Business and personal money still blur together

Small & mid-size businesses

  • A few years in, with a small team or a growing one
  • Steady demand, but the owner is still the bottleneck for every decision
  • Too big for spreadsheets, too small for enterprise software
Whitney, founder of Outside Left Consulting

Hi, I'm Whitney. I build the thing.

I spent 10 years as a pricing analyst, and I've worked as a consultant and project manager. So I know how to follow the numbers to where a business is losing time and money. And I don't stop at telling you what's broken. I build the actual tools, automations and playbooks your team will use, and I set them up with you.

The name comes from surfing: the best view of what's forming is from just outside the break. I'm close enough to see how your business really runs, and far enough outside the day-to-day to tell you plainly.

Founder, Outside Left Consulting · Boise, Idaho
Get in touch

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Email
hello@outsideleftconsulting.com
Based in
Boise, ID — working with clients locally and remotely
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LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/whitneysmithops
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