Automation and exit readiness for owner-run businesses
A business that runs without you.
I find the work your team does by hand that software should be doing, and I build the fix. For owners who want their time back now, and a business a buyer will pay more for later.
The three-week test
- If you left for three weeks with no phone, would the quotes still go out?
- Would anyone else know what's owed, what's booked, and what's late?
- Could you show a buyer, in an afternoon, how the business actually makes money?
If you answered no to any of these, every no is a fixable, buildable thing.
Where the time goes
What this usually looks like
Quotes and invoices by hand
Someone re-types the same job into a quote, a work order, an invoice and the accounting system. Four chances to get it wrong, and a week's delay on cash.
Reports that take a day to build
The month-end numbers live in three spreadsheets and one person's head. Nobody looks at them until something's already gone wrong.
Everything routed through you
Scheduling, approvals, "where's that file," the customer who only talks to the owner. It works until you're away. Then it doesn't.
Businesses with 10 to 100 people: trades and home services, accounting and advisory firms, distributors, light manufacturers, professional services. If admin runs on spreadsheets, email and memory, this is for you.
Four steps, each with a fixed price
How it works
A 20-minute call
You tell me where the time goes. I tell you whether an audit is worth it. If it isn't, I'll say so.
Operations audit
I interview you and the people doing the admin, go through your systems, and map how work actually moves. You get a written report: the five biggest leaks, what each one costs in hours and dollars, and a fixed quote to fix each one.
Build
One or two fixes from the audit, built and installed in the tools you already use. Automated quoting, invoicing and follow-ups. Reports that update themselves. Systems that talk to each other. Your team trained, and documentation they'll actually read.
Run
I keep what we built working, fix anything that breaks, and find the next improvement each quarter. You get a one-page results report every month.
Ontario businesses may qualify for the province's Digital Competence Centre funding, which can cover part of implementation; ask on the call. Planning to sell in the next few years? The Exit Readiness Report is a second starting point that leads into the same build and run steps.
The guarantee
If the audit doesn't find fixes worth at least three times its fee in the first year, you don't pay for it.
I can offer that because the audit measures everything. If the numbers aren't there, you'll see it in the report, and you'll owe nothing.
Why me
I've seen the deal side, and I build the systems.
I'm Carl Haffar. At a corporate finance firm I sourced and evaluated businesses for sale, which means I've sat on the side of the table that decides what a company is worth and what to discount for. Before that I spent two years as a software engineer at a startup, building the automation and reporting that got it ready for a sale. I have a software engineering degree from Western University.
That combination is the point: I know what a buyer looks for when they open the books, and I can build the systems that fix it before they do.
Haffar Consulting is a small firm. You work directly with me on every engagement, and I bring in specialists when the work calls for it: a Chartered Business Valuator for formal valuations, a bookkeeper for cleanup. I also own and run two small businesses, so I know what it's like to be the person everything runs through.
Based in Ontario, on the Detroit border. Working with owners across Canada and the US, remote by default. I travel for audits and kickoffs.
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Questions owners ask
Why charge for the audit when others do it free?
A free audit is a sales call. This one is two weeks of real work with a report you can hand to anyone, and half of it comes back as credit if we build. If it finds nothing worth fixing, you don't pay.
Do I need to change the software we use?
Rarely. Most of the work is connecting what you already have and removing the manual steps between systems. When a tool really is the problem, I'll say so and show you the cost of switching before you decide.
What happens to my data?
We sign an NDA before I see anything. Your data stays in your systems; I work inside them, not by copying them out. When the engagement ends, my access ends.
We're not in Ontario. Does that matter?
No. Interviews and builds happen remotely, and I travel for audits and kickoffs when being on site helps. I work with owners across Canada and the US.
Is this just AI?
Some of it. I use AI where it's reliable, like drafting and classification, and plain software everywhere else. Nothing you depend on runs on a tool I can't explain to you.
Start with the scorecard
Fifteen questions, five minutes. You get a score out of 100 for how well the business runs without you, where it's weakest, and what to fix first.