Field Guide · $250 · For Texas owners

Turn your self-assessment into a 90-day plan.

A written plan built from your own self-assessment answers and reviewed by a person before it ships: what to check first, which fixes usually waste money, and three actions to run over the next 90 days.

I know where it's weak. Now what do I actually do about it?

  1. Take the free self-assessmentIt scores your business area by area and emails you the report. No card.
    Start here
  2. Get your Field Guide, $250Built from those answers and reviewed by a person. Most arrive in about a week.
Get started with the Field Guide

Step 1 of getting your Field Guide: a free self-assessment. Start Here points you to the right one for your situation.

Cover of a sample Owner Bottleneck Field Guide, prepared for a sample company, showing the assessment signals and the 30-day refund
Real pages from a sample guide
In plain terms

What the Field Guide is.

The SweetSpot Field Guide is a $250 written action plan for an owner-led business. It takes the two areas your free self-assessment scored weakest, plus your five weakest individual answers, and turns them into a 90-day plan: the evidence to pull, the fixes that usually waste money, the smallest fix worth testing, and how to tell whether it worked. A person reviews every guide before it ships.

It is the first paid step at SweetSpot Business Advisors. You do the work; the guide tells you where to start and when to stop and get help.

See inside

Real pages from a sample guide.

These pages come from an Owner Bottleneck Field Guide built by the same system that builds yours, filled in from sample answers. Your guide has the same structure, written from your own answers and your own situation.

See a sample Field Guide
  • Sample page titled Do These First: One Path, Three Actions, Ninety Days, listing three numbered actions for days 1-30, 31-60 and 61-90
    Page 8Do these first: three actions, ninety days
  • Sample page titled Primary Signal Evidence Log: Completed Example, a filled-in table of five live cases with baseline measures
    Page 10A filled-in example before every blank worksheet
  • Sample page titled Start with the lightest fix the evidence can support, comparing a Field Fix and a System Fix
    Page 27Fix options, smallest first, with what can go wrong
  • Sample page titled Keep, Change, or Move Up, the day-90 decision with the signs to escalate before spending
    Page 17The day-90 call: keep, change or move up

Sample only: built from sample answers for a sample company. It is not a client's guide and contains no client data.

Why start here

The guide is the cheap part.

The expensive mistake is paying for the fix before you've confirmed the problem. Three that owners pay for too early:

A manager hired into authority nobody defined.

Software bought for a process the crew doesn't follow.

More marketing poured into a schedule that's already full.

The symptom and the cause are often in different places. A sales problem may really be a capacity problem. A capacity problem may really be a pricing problem. A pricing problem may really be numbers you can't see clearly. The guide makes you check before you spend.

What's inside

What's in your guide.

01

A snapshot of your result

Your primary and secondary signals in plain language, and the individual answers behind them.

02

Do these first

One path, three actions, ninety days. Only one action is active at a time.

03

Five practical fixes

One for each of your weakest answers, each at three levels. Start small; move up only when the evidence earns it.

04

Evidence to pull, false fixes to skip

For each area, so you argue from real jobs, calls, quotes and invoices instead of memory.

05

Worksheets for days 30, 60 and 90

With a baseline that doesn't move, so a weak test can't pass for a win.

06

A decision page

Keep the fix, change it, or move up, including the signs that the problem is bigger than any guide.

Smallest firstField FixChecklists, whiteboards, clearer ownership.
If the evidence earns itSystem FixA defined process, lightweight software, a dashboard.
Only when provenInfrastructure FixERP, deeper automation, added management.

Each owner situation has its own self-assessment and its own areas. A sale-readiness guide works on financial cleanup, owner dependency and diligence records. An owner-bottleneck guide works on decision rights, escalation rules and management rhythm. Your guide covers the areas your own answers point to.

Get started with the Field Guide

Step 1 of getting your Field Guide: a free self-assessment. Start Here points you to the right one for your situation.

How it works

Four steps, start to finish.

  1. Take the free self-assessment.

    It scores your business area by area and emails you the report.

  2. Order the guide.

    Your saved answers attach to the order. If checkout can't find them, it stops before payment and sends you back to the assessment. You are not charged.

  3. We build it and review it.

    From your two weakest areas and five weakest answers, reviewed by a person before it ships. Most arrive in about a week.

  4. You run it for 90 days.

    About 50 minutes a week. One person on your team keeps the worksheet; you review the result.

Your 90 days

Days 1–30Work five live cases on your weakest area.
Days 31–60Check the same five cases against your second area.
Days 61–90Run one small fix for four weekly cycles, then decide whether to keep it, change it, or move up.
Get started with the Field Guide

Step 1 of getting your Field Guide: a free self-assessment. Start Here points you to the right one for your situation.

Guarantee

The 30-day refund.

Every Field Guide is built from your assessment answers - a human reads them before anything ships. So here's the deal: read your guide, and if it doesn't hand you at least one change worth making this quarter, email me within 30 days. Full refund. No implementation logs, no six-month waiting period, no proof burden. The only thing I ask is one sentence on where it missed, so the next owner's guide is better.

Get started with the Field Guide

Step 1 of getting your Field Guide: a free self-assessment. Start Here points you to the right one for your situation.

Who’s behind SweetSpot

Daniel Sweet, founder.

Daniel Sweet, founder of SweetSpot Business Advisors

Daniel spent 27 years in technology, consulting, sales and management with full P&L responsibility, at Apple, IBM, Compaq, HP and resellers serving Fortune 500 companies. Since 2019 he has bought and grown Texas small businesses through Sweetview Partners. He has advised on more than $250 million in sale and purchase deal value, on both sides of the table.

SweetSpot Business Advisors · Operators, not brokers. Houston, Texas.

Who it's for

Is the guide the right step?

It fits when

  • You run an owner-led company, usually $1 million to $50 million in revenue, mostly in Texas.
  • You've taken the self-assessment, or will, and one area is clearly the weak spot.
  • You want a specific plan before you spend on a hire, software, marketing or more of your own hours.
  • You can protect about 50 minutes a week for 90 days.

Skip it when

  • The next move is expensive or hard to undo: hiring or firing, sale timing, financing, or anything that could upset customers.
  • A buyer is already in diligence or asking for a quality of earnings report.
  • The problem is tangled across money, people, operations and your own time.

Questions owners ask about the Field Guide

What is the SweetSpot Field Guide?

A $250 written action plan built from your answers to SweetSpot's free self-assessment. It explains your two weakest areas in plain language, lists the evidence to pull and the fixes that usually waste money, and lays out three actions to run over 90 days, one at a time. A person reviews every guide before it ships.

How much does the Field Guide cost?

$250, paid once through Stripe. There is no subscription and nothing else to buy. If the guide doesn't give you at least one change worth making this quarter, email within 30 days for a full refund.

Why do I have to take the self-assessment first?

Because the guide is built from your answers. Checkout looks up your saved self-assessment by email. If it can't find one, it stops before payment and sends you to the free assessment, so use the same email for both.

What's inside the guide?

A snapshot of your primary and secondary signals and the answers behind them; a "do these first" page with three actions over 90 days; five practical fixes for your weakest answers, each at three levels (Field, System and Infrastructure); evidence to pull and false fixes to avoid; worksheets with a fixed baseline for days 30, 60 and 90; and a decision page for when the problem is bigger than the guide.

Is it the same guide for everyone?

The structure is the same; the content isn't. Your guide is built from your own situation's self-assessment, your two weakest areas and your five weakest answers. A sale-readiness owner and an owner-bottleneck owner get different evidence lists, fixes and examples.

How long does delivery take?

About a week. Every guide is reviewed by a person before it ships, which is why it isn't an instant download.

How much of my time will it take?

About 50 minutes a week for 90 days: two 25-minute blocks attached to meetings you already hold, with one action active at a time. One named person on your team keeps the worksheet; you review the result.

Is this a business valuation or a quality of earnings report?

No. The Field Guide is an internal action plan. It doesn't put a price on your business, and it isn't a financial review a buyer or lender will rely on; that is an accounting firm's job, usually once a sale is in motion. The guide is for finding and fixing what a buyer would find, before that point. It is not legal, tax or financial advice.

What's the difference between the Field Guide and the Inspection?

The Field Guide gives you tested answers to the pattern your self-assessment found, and you do the work. The $2,500 Business System Inspection checks your actual records and talks through your specific situation, then gives you a written call on what to fix first. Choose the Inspection when a wrong move would be expensive.

Who is the Field Guide for?

Owners of owner-led businesses, usually $1 million to $50 million in revenue and mostly in Texas: field service, construction trades, manufacturing, energy services and similar operations. The examples in the guide come from businesses like those.

What happens after the 90 days?

The guide ends with a decision, not more homework: keep the fix, change it, or move up to a bigger one. If the evidence shows the problem is bigger than a guide can handle, it says so and points you to the Inspection.

Find out what to fix first, before you pay for the fix.

Get started with the Field Guide

Step 1 of getting your Field Guide: a free self-assessment. Start Here points you to the right one for your situation.