Project Consulting is a fixed-scope strategic project for operators. Price range $5,000 to $25,000. Duration 4 to 12 weeks. Weekly working sessions. Mid-project pivot allowance. Final deliverable on completion. Stan Consulting LLC.
Home Services Project & Advisory Lane Project Consulting
Stan Consulting · F7.3 · Project & Advisory Lane
A 4–12 week strategic project with defined scope and final deliverable. $5,000–$25,000.
01
Briefing
Project Consulting is a fixed-scope strategic project for operators with a defined question and a 4 to 12 week horizon. The price runs from $5,000 to $25,000, set during intake based on project complexity, working session cadence, and output volume. The engagement runs on weekly working sessions, allows one mid-project pivot, and ends with a final deliverable handed to the operator. It is strategy and decision work, not implementation labor and not an ongoing relationship. Once the deliverable ships, the engagement closes.
A project has a start, a scope, and an end. The end is the point.
02
Each one is a strategic question with a defined answer. The list is illustrative, not exhaustive. If a project sits in the same category but in a different vertical, the format still applies. Pricing across all of them lives in the same $5,000–$25,000 band, set by the three drivers in the next section.
01
An operator with a working business in one geography or vertical and a credible thesis for entering a second. The project produces a written entry plan: ICP definition, channel sequence, pricing posture, and the first 90-day operating plan once the team commits. Output anchors the launch decision; it does not replace the launch.
02
For operators whose category has shifted underneath them, or whose messaging no longer matches the buyer they actually sell to. The project produces a positioning document, a messaging architecture for the website and sales motion, and a category map showing where the operator sits relative to adjacent categories. Three working sessions are with the founding team, two are with the GTM leads.
03
The classic mid-stage decision. The product can serve both, the GTM cannot. The project pulls funnel data, sales cycle analysis, and unit economics into one document, runs a structured argument for each lane, and produces a recommendation with the boundary conditions that would change it. Output is a board-ready memo and a one-page operator decision summary.
04
For operators rebuilding a marketing team from scratch or restructuring an existing one. The project produces an organizational design (roles, reporting lines, hiring sequence), an operating cadence (weekly, monthly, quarterly rituals), and a 12-month performance scorecard the function will run against. Stakeholder mapping is part of intake; the working sessions include the CEO, the incoming or existing head of marketing, and the relevant cross-functional leads.
05
For operators heading into a Series A through C raise. The project produces the fundraise narrative, the investor deck (or a structured rewrite of an existing one), and a GTM stress-test that pressure-tests the unit economics and the growth claims before they sit in front of an investor partner. Stress-testing is the part most operators undersize; the project sizes it correctly.
06
For acquirers evaluating a target's marketing organization, channel mix, attribution discipline, and growth trajectory. The project produces a structured diligence report covering organic and paid performance reality, attribution defensibility, team capability, and the post-close integration risk surface. Output supports the acquisition decision and the post-close 100-day plan.
07
For operators inside the first 90 days after a merger, with two marketing organizations, two attribution stacks, and two operating models that need to become one. The project produces an integration plan: the consolidated org, the unified attribution and reporting stack, the brand architecture decision (one master brand, house of brands, or hybrid), and the sequence by which the integration runs.
03
Three variables decide the price. They are the same three the scoping conversation works through, in the same order, every time. None of them is hidden; none of them is negotiable in the abstract. They are governed by what the project actually requires.
01
A single decision or single lane sits at the lower end. A multi-stakeholder reorganization with three or more cross-functional rooms in the working sessions sits at the higher end. Most projects fall in the middle band; they have a clear question with two or three stakeholder groups whose answers must be reconciled.
02
Weekly is the default cadence and the price baseline. Bi-weekly is available for projects whose tempo allows it; the price stays inside the same complexity band. Daily contact during a defined sprint phase (a fundraise close window, a board prep window, a launch week) adds proportional fee, scoped at intake so the operator sees the line.
03
A written brief is the floor. A full deck plus brief plus supporting model (financial, attribution, or organizational) sits at the ceiling. The format is fixed during the scoping call so the project is built backward from a known final deliverable. Operators who change the output target mid-project use the pivot allowance, not silent scope creep.
Operating principle
A project ends. That is the feature, not the bug.
01
The end date is the discipline that makes the working sessions productive. A project with no horizon becomes a retainer in disguise; the work expands to fill the calendar. Project Consulting bounds at 12 weeks for a reason.
02
The final deliverable is the unit of value. The working sessions are the path; the document, the deck, or the plan that ships at the end is what the operator paid for. Scope is built backward from the deliverable, not forward from a brief.
03
The pivot allowance protects the operator against the cost of being wrong about scope upfront. One mid-engagement redirection is built in. A second pivot becomes a new engagement, scoped fresh.
04
The cadence below is the standard $5,000–$25,000 engagement shape. Multi-stakeholder projects extend the working session phase, not the intake or scoping. The pivot allowance, when used, sits inside the working session phase and replaces the original scope rather than appending to it.
Week 0
The operator submits the form below. The brief covers the project question, the decision sought, the stakeholders, the timeline window, and the revenue band. The brief is reviewed before the scoping call is scheduled. Misfit projects are routed to the right engagement before any call happens.
Week 0–1
A 30 to 45 minute working call. By the end of it, there is a written scope document, a fixed price inside the $5,000–$25,000 band, a working session cadence, a final deliverable format, and a sign-off step. The scope document is the contract; the project starts the week after both sides sign.
Weeks 1–11
Weekly sessions run against the scope document. Each session has a written agenda and a written summary. Mid-project, the operator may invoke the pivot allowance once: the original scope is replaced with the revised scope, the price and the timeline hold, and the working sessions continue against the new scope.
Final week
The deliverable ships in the format set during scoping (brief, deck, model, or a combination). The handoff session walks the operator's team through the document, the rationale, and the implementation handoff to internal or follow-on resources. The engagement closes with a written summary and a recommended next step.
05
Project Consulting is one of four engagement shapes inside the Project & Advisory Lane. The other three are designed for shorter or different work. Arriving here with a misfit question wastes the scoping call. The list on the right exists to route misfit questions before they become scoping calls.
This is
This is not
06
Every Project Consulting engagement ships these six artifacts, regardless of where in the price band the project lands. The artifacts at the upper end of the band are larger and more layered; the artifacts at the lower end are tighter. The shape is constant.
01
Produced in the scoping call. The contract for the engagement. Covers the project question, the working session cadence, the pivot allowance, the final deliverable format, and the price. Both sides sign before work begins.
02
Four to twelve scheduled sessions depending on project length. Each runs against a written agenda and ends with a written summary. The session cadence is the engine of the project; the deliverable is the output.
03
One mid-engagement redirection is built in. The original scope is replaced; the price and the timeline hold. The pivot is documented in writing so the historical record is intact and the next session runs against the revised scope.
04
The document, deck, model, or combination set during scoping. This is the unit of value the operator paid for. Format options range from a written brief at the floor to a full deck plus brief plus supporting model at the ceiling.
05
One structured session at the end. The operator's team walks through the deliverable, the rationale, and the implementation path. Recorded at the operator's request. This is the last scheduled touchpoint before the engagement closes.
06
A short written summary at the end of the engagement covering what shipped, what was decided, and the recommended next move (in-house implementation, a follow-on engagement under another lane, or no next step). The memo is what the operator forwards to the board or the leadership team.
07
The $5,000 floor sits above the F7.2 Decision Call ceiling at $2,500. A project that fits below $5,000 is, in almost every case, a single decision wrapped in extra structure; the Decision Call is the right shape for it. Pricing it at $5,000 would oversize the engagement and cost the operator time the project does not need.
The $25,000 cap sits below the entry tier of F4 Marketing System Build, which begins where strategy ends and implementation labor begins. A project that runs past $25,000 in scope is, in almost every case, an implementation engagement masquerading as strategy work; the System Build is the right shape for it. Pricing it at $25,000 would undersize the engagement and produce a deliverable too thin for what the operator actually needs.
Inside the $5,000–$25,000 band, the three scope drivers (complexity, cadence, output volume) govern where a specific project lands. The bands on the right show the typical placement; specific projects land within a band based on the three drivers, not above or below the band as a whole.
$5,000–$10,000
Single decision · weekly cadence · brief output
A growth lane decision, a single repositioning question, or a focused diligence pass. One stakeholder group. Output is a written brief or short memo. 4 to 6 week horizon.
$10,000–$15,000
Multi-stakeholder · weekly cadence · brief + deck
A repositioning project with two or three stakeholder groups, a market entry strategy, or a fundraise narrative project. Output is a brief plus an investor or operator deck. 6 to 9 week horizon.
$15,000–$25,000
High complexity · weekly + sprint · deck + model
A marketing function rebuild, a post-merger integration plan, or a fundraise prep with full GTM stress-test. Multiple stakeholder groups. Output is a deck plus brief plus a supporting financial, attribution, or organizational model. 9 to 12 week horizon.
08
A retainer is an ongoing relationship without a fixed end date. Project Consulting has a defined scope, a defined start, and a defined end. Once the final deliverable is handed off, the engagement closes. Operators who want an ongoing relationship after a project completes can move to the Strategic Marketing Partnership retainer; operators who only need one strategic project should use Project Consulting and stop there.
Three variables. First, project complexity: a single decision or single lane sits at the lower end; multi-stakeholder reorganizations sit at the higher end. Second, working session cadence: weekly is the default; bi-weekly is available; daily contact during a sprint phase adds proportional fee. Third, output volume: a written brief is the floor; a full deck plus brief plus supporting financial or attribution models sits at the ceiling. The intake form captures all three so the scoping conversation produces a fixed price, not a range.
Strategic projects sometimes uncover information in the first three or four weeks that changes the right answer. The pivot allowance lets the operator redirect the project once mid-engagement without renegotiating the contract. The original scope is replaced with the revised scope; the price and the timeline hold. The pivot is documented in writing so both sides know what was changed and why. Pivot is allowed once; a second pivot becomes a new engagement.
Yes. Weekly working sessions can include a single operator, a two-person founding team, or the full executive team. For multi-stakeholder projects (organizational change, fundraise preparation, post-merger integration), the working session cadence is structured around the stakeholders who need to be in the room. Stakeholder mapping is part of the scoping call. Sessions that need different rooms (board prep separate from leadership team alignment, for example) are scheduled as separate sessions inside the cadence.
It depends on the project type. A market entry project ends with a written market entry plan and a one-page operator summary. A repositioning project ends with a positioning document, messaging architecture, and a category map. A fundraise preparation project ends with a deck, a narrative document, and a GTM model. The final deliverable format is set during the scoping call so the project is built backward from a known output, not forward from a vague brief.
Project Consulting is strategy and decision work, not implementation labor. Implementation belongs to a different lane. If a project ends with a recommendation that requires execution work (a marketing system rebuild, an AI workflow build, a website redesign), that execution is scoped as a follow-on engagement under the relevant lane. Some operators run the implementation in-house with their own team; some commission the follow-on engagement. Either path is supported.
Project Consulting is bounded at 12 weeks. Projects that genuinely need a longer horizon are handled as a Strategic Marketing Partnership retainer or as two sequential projects with a defined break between them. Forcing a 16 to 20 week project into a Project Consulting engagement produces a worse outcome for both sides; the cadence and the pricing are calibrated for 4 to 12 week scopes. Longer engagements are explicitly out of scope here and the scoping call routes them correctly.
The intake form triggers a 30-minute scoping call within five business days. The scoping call produces the scope document, the price, and the timeline. The project itself starts the week after both sides sign off on the scope document. From form submission to project kickoff is typically two to three weeks. Operators with a tight start date should flag that on the intake form so the scoping call schedules around it.
Section 09 · Begin Project Consulting
This is a fit conversation request, not a sales form. The intake is reviewed before any call is scheduled. If the project sits cleanly inside Project Consulting, a 30-minute scoping call is the next step. If it does not, the response routes to the right engagement. No quote without that call.
The brief is in review. A response with the scoping call window will land in your inbox within five business days.
F7.3 · Project Consulting · $5,000–$25,000
Project Consulting is a 4 to 12 week strategic project for operators with a defined question and a defined horizon. The price runs $5,000 to $25,000, set during intake by three drivers. The cadence is weekly. The pivot allowance is built in. The deliverable ships at the end. The engagement closes when the deliverable does.
A project ends. That is the point.
After the project
If the working relationship continues after the project ships, the engagement shape is the Strategic Marketing Partnership retainer. Project Consulting closes at handoff. The retainer is a separate, ongoing engagement that some operators commission after a project. Most do not. Both paths are supported.