Strategy coaching · Fractional strategist
Two hours a month with the strategist. Not the agency.
Thirty years building brands. Two books on getting found and keeping customers. About 2,500 businesses since 2010. Rent that for your business two hours a month, and keep your own people doing the work.
Mike Carleton
Founder, Forty-Second Street · Author of VISIBLE and KEPT
30+ years of brand strategy for contractors, manufacturers, practices and shops across East Tennessee and Tampa Bay.
My bookshelf: the business books that changed my life →Who this is for
Owners who want a strategist in the room, not a vendor on the invoice.
You run your own marketing
You post, you run the ads, you tweak the site. What you do not have is someone to tell you which of it matters and what to stop doing.
You have doers, no strategist
An office manager, a freelancer, a nephew who is good with computers. They need direction from someone who has done this a few hundred times.
You are not ready for a full retainer
You want the thinking without hiring the team. Decide first, spend second. If you later want it done for you, the plan is already written.
How it works
Bring the decision. Leave with the call.
Two sessions a month, an hour each, phone or video. Mike runs them personally. You bring whatever you are stuck on. You leave with the decision made and the next three moves written down.
- ✓Bring: a price you are not sure about, a service you want to add, a hire, a website, an ad budget, a competitor who keeps winning
- ✓Leave with: a clear decision, the reason behind it, and what happens next, in a short written recap after every session
- ✓Between sessions: you and your team do the work. That is the point. The money goes to thinking, not to hours
- ✓Month to month. Most owners stay because the next decision shows up before the month is over
What we work on
The same six strategies we run for clients, applied to your business.
Brand strategy
Why people should pick you, said in a way they repeat.
Read more →Marketing strategy
Where you show up, what you say, and what you stop paying for.
Read more →Search & AI strategy
Being the name Google and ChatGPT give when someone asks.
Read more →Advertising strategy
Which ads, how much, and how you will know if they worked.
Read more →Content strategy
What to publish so people trust you before they call.
Read more →Growth strategy
Reviews, referrals and repeat work, turned into a system.
Read more →The offer
$499 a month. Two hours of strategy. Nothing else on the bill.
No setup fee, no contract, no upsell on the call. If you want our team to build what we decide, that is a separate conversation with a separate price in writing.
Book a free first call- ✓Two 60-minute sessions a month with Mike, phone or video
- ✓A written recap and next moves after each session
- ✓Bring your office manager or marketing person. Same price
- ✓Month to month. Stop at the end of any month
- ✓First 30-minute call is free, so you can decide if it is a fit
Common questions
Straight answers before you book.
Is this coaching or consulting?
Both, in the practical sense. You bring real decisions and leave with real answers. What it is not: a course, a workbook or a pep talk. It is the same strategy work we do for retainer clients, with you doing the execution.
Who is actually on the call?
Mike Carleton, the founder. Not an account manager, not a junior strategist.
Do I have to be a home-service contractor?
No. Home services is where we have the deepest benchmarks, but the owners in coaching run practices, shops, firms and product brands too. If your customers find you on Google and check your reviews before they call, this applies.
What if two hours is not enough?
Then we are probably into execution, and that is what the Growth System is for. We will say so on the call rather than stretch coaching into something it is not.
What happens on the free first call?
Thirty minutes. We look at your website, your Google listing and what AI says about you, and you tell Mike what you are trying to decide. You leave with one clear next step whether or not you sign up.
Start with the free call.
Thirty minutes with Mike, no pitch. If coaching is the right fit, the first paid session goes on the calendar before you hang up.
Or call 865-382-7007. Veteran or active duty? 10% off coaching, same as every other service.
