These guides teach the management habits behind fractional CMO and COO work, so you can use them whether or not you ever hire us. Each one is practical, built around checklists and worked numbers, and written for owners of companies with roughly 10 to 150 staff.
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CMO or COO first? How to tell which seat your company is missing
If your problem is getting enough of the right customers, fill the marketing seat first. If it's delivering well and on time for the customers you already win, fill the operations seat. This guide gives you a scoring sheet to decide with your own numbers.
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The first 90 days with a fractional CMO or COO: a week-by-week checklist
In 90 days a fractional executive should deliver a written diagnosis, a working weekly scorecard and two or three measured fixes. This checklist shows what each phase should produce, so you can hold anyone in the seat to it.
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How to build a weekly operating rhythm: scorecard, meeting and follow-through
A weekly operating rhythm is one page of numbers and one 60-minute meeting, held at the same time every week, that turns off-target numbers into decisions with owners and dates. Here's how to set one up yourself.
CMO or COO first?
This diagnostic helps you work out which executive seat your company is actually missing. It includes a two-column scoring sheet of symptoms, three numbers to pull from last quarter, and a worked example showing how a company that thought it needed more leads was really losing work to slow quotes.
Read it if you've ever said "we need more marketing" or "we need to get organised" and weren't sure which was true. It takes about 30 minutes to complete with your own numbers.
The first 90 days with a fractional executive
The 90-day checklist shows what a part-time CMO or COO should produce in each month of the first quarter. It covers what to agree before day one, what you provide and receive in each phase, and the warning signs that an engagement is drifting.
It's written to be used as an accountability tool, including with us. Print it, tick it off, and ask hard questions where the boxes are empty.
The weekly operating rhythm
The weekly rhythm guide explains how to build a one-page scorecard and run a 60-minute meeting from it. It covers which numbers to choose, how to assign owners and targets, a fixed agenda, how to solve issues instead of discussing them, and why the system usually fails.
This is the guide to start with if you want to change something this week without spending anything. Many owners find that running the rhythm for a quarter tells them clearly which seat to fill next.
How the guides connect to our services
Each guide maps to one way of working with us. The diagnostic leads to the operating review if you want an outside view. The 90-day checklist describes what a fractional CMO or fractional COO engagement looks like. The weekly rhythm guide is the do-it-yourself version of our scorecard and cadence service.
None of them requires you to call. If one raises a question about your own company, call, text or email; the contact page explains what to include.
How to get the most from them
Read one guide, apply it for a quarter, then read the next. The guides are designed to be used in order of need rather than read in one sitting.
A practical sequence for most owners:
- Spend half an hour with the diagnostic and your last quarter's numbers.
- Start the weekly rhythm with whatever numbers you can pull today, even if some are rough.
- After 13 weeks, review the scorecard. If one function is consistently off target, that's the seat to fill, and the 90-day checklist is how you'll hold whoever fills it to account.
Who writes them
All three guides are written by Ali Sedighi, MBA, drawing on 17+ years of marketing and growth work. They reflect how he runs fractional engagements in practice, and they're updated when the method changes. More about his background is on the about page.
A note on what the guides don't cover
They don't cover HR, employment law, accounting, tax or legal questions. Where a management change touches those areas, such as restructuring roles or changing how staff are paid, speak to a qualified Ontario professional first. The guides focus on the management work in between: plans, numbers, meetings, handoffs and follow-through.
They're also not a substitute for knowing your market. The areas pages explain how Toronto, the 905 regions, Ottawa and Waterloo Region differ, which matters when you set targets by region.
Frequently asked questions
Are the guides free to use?
Yes. They're written so you can apply them yourself, with or without us. Use the checklists and scoring sheets with your own team.
Which guide should I read first?
If you haven't decided whether you need help, start with the CMO-or-COO diagnostic. If you've already decided, read the 90-day checklist. If you want something you can start this week on your own, read the weekly rhythm guide.
Do the guides apply outside Ontario?
The methods do. We write them with Ontario owners in mind, and where something is specific to a region, such as how to split service areas, our area pages cover it.