For owner-led businesses

Someone in your corner who knows your numbers.

I work with a small number of business owners at a time. I help you figure out what you actually want, and then I show up every week to help you get there, with your real numbers on the table.

Book a free Clarity Session See how I work

Why I do this

When I was a kid visiting family in Maui, I swam out past the rocks to see the turtles. On the way back I was tired, so I put my head down and just swam. When I finally looked up, I could barely see the shore. I had been swimming at an angle the whole time. I'd been working hard the whole time, but I was just drifting further out.

A lot of owners are in that swim. The work is getting done and money is moving through the accounts. But is it moving you toward what you actually want?

My job is to help you lift your head up and check.

What working with me looks like

Your goals, on paper. What you actually want, which isn't always the same as what sounds good.
A short check-in every week. "Did you do what you said you were going to do? What got in the way?"
Your numbers in plain language. What's true, what's drifting, and what it means for the decision in front of you.
You stay in the driver's seat. You don't answer to me. You answer to what you said you wanted.
No 12-month lock-in. Businesses go through seasons, so the offering is flexible, built around that understanding.

Who I work with

Owners carrying most of the business on their own back
Profitable, or close to it, but running more on feel than on information
Asking the question every owner asks: "Am I doing well?"
Ready to be honest about where things really stand

Who this isn't for. If you want someone to talk down to you, that's not me. I hold a high standard, with a lot of empathy. And if you only need taxes filed, your CPA is the right call.

About me

I'm Troy Carson. I studied accounting at Morehouse because a professor called it the language of business, and I still think he was right. I did strategy work at Deloitte with some of the biggest companies in the country. Then I spent years as the de facto third partner at a real estate investment firm run by two friends, and we grew it from about $10M to over $200M in assets.

One thing from those years stuck with me. We blocked every Tuesday at 4pm for the next deal, the important work that never felt urgent until it was. There wasn't a fancy system behind it. We just kept showing up, and it actually worked.

Big companies have boards and agendas and someone whose job is to ask, "Are we doing what we said we'd do?" Most owner-led businesses have nobody in that seat. I left corporate because the economy I'm most excited about is a vibrant small business community, and that's where I want to be useful.

Homegrown

Alongside my regular clients, I set aside a limited number of spots for health, food and resilience businesses in Atlanta and the Southeast. Wellness practices, food brands, farms, local energy, the kinds of businesses that make a place stronger.

If that's you, mention it when you reach out.

Start with a conversation

The Clarity Session is free. It's a real conversation about where you are and where you're trying to go. It's not a sales pitch. If it's a good fit, I think we'll both know pretty quickly.

Book a Clarity Session

troy.carson@carsonac.com