Questions worth asking before you hire anyone.
Straight answers about business consultants: what they do, what they cost, and what you should expect. Useful whether you ever work with us or not.
A business consultant studies how your business runs, finds what's holding it back, and recommends the way forward. Most stop at the recommendation. NorthStar is a consulting and implementation firm, so after the advice comes the build: we stay until the work is finished and working in your name.
Rates vary widely with scope, and open-ended hourly billing makes the real total hard to predict. That's why NorthStar prices a defined scope instead: yours is set in the consultation, and you know the full number before any work starts.
Both bring advice. A consultant brings it professionally: analysis and recommendations, delivered at arm's length. A coach brings it personally: they learn who you are, work beside you, and care whether you grow. NorthStar blends the two — coaching relationships carried with consulting rigor — through our Guided Growth program.
Consulting finds the answer; implementation builds it. A consultant can tell you your website is costing you customers. An implementation firm builds the new one and launches it. NorthStar does both under one roof, which is why our work ends with something you can use, not a document about it.
Ask any consultant, including us: Who actually does the work? Who owns it when we're done? When exactly will it be finished? What happens if I want to walk away? You should hear plain answers without hesitation. Ours are written down on our promise page for anyone to read.
No. Most partners start with a single project — a website or a brand — under a written scope with a price agreed up front. When that work proves itself, many choose to grow into Guided Growth, our ongoing business coaching and implementation partnership on a 3-, 6-, or 12-month term. That step is always yours to take, after you’ve seen real progress, never before.
It takes five short questions about your business and where you want it to go. Before we ever meet, we sit with your answers — not to diagnose anything or prepare a pitch, but to learn who you are before we learn what you’re up against. And if we’re not the right fit for what you need, we’ll tell you.