Business gap analysis · For owners of established businesses
Business gap analysis: find the one gap holding your business back
You work harder than anyone in the building, and you pay yourself last. Two to four hours with me, Dr Lewis Haydon, UK Business Coach of the Year and a business owner myself. We go through your numbers, your team and your priorities together. You leave knowing your gap in the business and the exact next things to do, written in your own words.
£699 plus VAT (£838.80 including VAT) · on Zoom, or in person in Birmingham · the fee comes off your first month if you carry on
If we haven’t found your gap by the end of our time together, the next session is on me.
Book my gap analysis: £699 + VAT
5.0· 23 Google reviewsUK Business Coach of the Year · Coaching owners since 2012 · Live on BBC Midlands Today
Fig. · The session in numbers
100+
Owners coached
Since 2012 · businesses from £250k to £20m
23
Five-star Google reviews
Checked 14 Nov 2026
4
Hours, one session
Discovery, then execution · on Zoom or in Birmingham
699
Pounds, plus VAT, once
Comes off your first month if you carry on
Is this you?
You built a business that works. So why does it still run through you?
Everything still comes back to you: the decisions, the problems, the awkward calls.
You work harder than anyone in the building, and you pay yourself last.
The turnover says one thing. What lands in your account says another.
There are twenty things on the list, and you don’t know which one actually matters.
“They pay themselves last. It sounds noble, but it’s a growth killer.” If that’s you, you’re not short of effort. You’re short of a clear view of where the gap is.
Fig. · The one idea
“There is a crystal ball, and it’s called knowing your numbers.”
Most owners can tell you their turnover to the pound. Far fewer can tell you their margin by service, what the business should be paying them, or which one constraint is holding everything else back. Your dividend is king, and the business can only pay it from the profit. The gap analysis starts there, with your numbers rather than opinions, and works out from them to your team, your priorities and the people in the business.
It’s a discovery session with execution at the end of it: the exact things you need to do next to open the floodgates of that business.
Why I know what to look for
Why I built the gap analysis: I was the owner in the mirror.
The moment things changed for me was when I looked in the mirror and truly took in what the numbers of the business were telling me. I accepted help from somebody else, and stopped thinking I knew it all based on what I knew that day, as if there were no other ways of doing things beyond the four walls of my own office and the people I knew.
I let the true data find the constraint: the exact thing I needed to do next, instead of telling myself things would be okay if I just kept going and worked harder. The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. I was climbing the ladder, but the ladder was up the wrong wall. It took somebody experienced in growing businesses today to take a look, and it took me being open to learning again.
Today I own and run businesses, and I’ve coached the owners of 100+ more since 2012. “Only take directions from people who’ve been where you want to go.”
Before you decide
Three things owners tell themselves
“Isn’t this just a SWOT on a whiteboard?”
No. It’s your real numbers, your team and your priorities, worked through with someone who owns and runs businesses now. You leave with your gap named and the exact next things to do, not a list of thirty.
“I’ve been doing this for years. I know my business.”
You probably do. But “you haven’t been in business 30 years. You’ve been in business one year, 30 times.” Experience tells you what’s happened. A fresh pair of owner’s eyes tells you what to change.
“I haven’t got time, and my accountant does the numbers.”
It’s one session. Your accountant tells you what happened last year. This tells you what to do next, and the 15-minute questionnaire beforehand means we don’t spend the session digging for figures.
Fig. · How it works · five steps
How the gap analysis works: find the gap first, then fix it.
- 01
Book and pay
£699 plus VAT, paid securely online.
- 02
I contact you to book a time
On Zoom, or in person in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Bring your business partner or MD if you have one.
- 03
A 15-minute questionnaire
It covers the logical side of the business, so we make the best use of our time and don’t have to go digging around for numbers.
- 04
The session: two to four hours
Discovery first: your numbers, your team, your priorities and the people in it. Then execution: the exact things you need to do next.
- 05
You leave with your plan, in your words
You write it in the session. If I wrote it for you, it would end up in a drawer.
This is a coaching session, not a teaching session. You do the work, and you commit to it.
What you get
What we cover in the session: eight things, one for each worry.
- “I need someone who’s actually run a business, not a textbook.”
- “I haven’t got time to prepare.”
- “I don’t really know where the money goes.”
- “Everything comes back to me.”
- “Twenty things on the list, no idea which matters.”
- “I can feel something’s wrong but can’t put my finger on it.”
- “The problem isn’t only me.”
- “What if I want help putting it right?”
What you get · the business gap analysis
- Two to four hours, one to one with me, on Zoom or in person in Birmingham.
- A 15-minute questionnaire before we meet, so the numbers are already on the table.
- Your numbers, worked through together: turnover, margin, cash, and what the business pays you.
- Your team, mapped: who does what, what still lands on you, and how bought in they are to change.
- Your priorities cut down to an order: what stays, what goes, what’s first.
- Your gap, named, and the exact next things to do to open the floodgates.
- Your business partner or MD in the room, at no extra cost.
- The £699 comes off your first month if you carry on to mentoring.
Fig. · What you’re left with when the session ends
You leave knowing your gap, and what to do about it.
- You know what the business should be paying you, and exactly what’s stopping it.
- You know the first thing to hand over, so Monday doesn’t start and end with you.
- You stop spending another quarter fixing the wrong thing.
- You stop carrying the whole list in your head. One thing first, and you chose it.
- Your money and your hours go where the gap is, not where the noise is.
- You start thinking like the architect of the business, not its busiest operator.
Proof
What owners say
Matthew WestonOwner, Vantage 365 Group · Vantage 365 Group£200K to £1M+ in revenue, and one business to four. That’s where Vantage 365 has gone since I started working with Lewis. We’re now a group made up of Vantage 365 Group plus dedicated Consultancy, Training and Support businesses. Lewis has helped foster my entrepreneurial spirit and, just as importantly, helped me see the wood for the trees. He’s someone I can share ideas with, talk problems through with, and occasionally just vent to. And it’s not only me he’s supported; he’s worked with members of my team too, which has made a real difference across the business. If you’re an owner who knows there’s more in you and your business, I’d highly recommend him.
Darren LeggBusiness owner · Enhance Mobility GroupHaving Lewis’ knowledge and support this year has undoubtedly helped us to achieve our best month ever, on the back of last month being our best month ever, and a level of growth in revenue, profit and structure over the last twelve months we could only have hoped for.
James MerrixOwner, software agency · Appoly GroupI’ve worked with Lewis as a coach and strategist while running a software agency. He understands owner-led businesses well, in particular how hard it is to stop doing the work and start running the company. Sessions are direct. He asks the questions you’ve been avoiding, gets you to commit to an answer, and checks that you did what you said. Since we started, the business has grown and I spend much more of my week on the things only I can do. If you’re the bottleneck in your own business, give him a call.
From owners I mentor. Every review, grouped by result.
For you
It’s for you if
- You own an established business, usually from about £250k turnover.
- You work hard and you’re paid last.
- The business still runs through you.
- You want a straight, numbers-first view from someone who owns businesses today.
Not for you
It isn’t for you if
- You’re pre-launch or pre-revenue.
- You want someone to agree with you.
- You’re not willing to open up the numbers.
Fig. · Price in context · plus VAT
What the gap analysis costs, and what it compares to.
£699 plus VAT, once. VAT-registered businesses reclaim the VAT.
- About the price of one day of a freelance management consultant (UK average around £620 a day), for two to four hours with someone who owns and runs businesses.
- A fraction of carrying on as you are. Another quarter of guessing is another quarter at the old margin, the old hours and the old pay. As an illustration, not a promise: on £250k turnover, every 1% of margin you’re leaking is £2,500 a year.
- The fee comes off your first month if you carry on to monthly mentoring, whichever rhythm you choose. Mentoring is from £800 a month, and most owners choose weekly. Every price is published.
If all this session did was stop you spending the next three months on the wrong problem, what would that be worth to the business?
Included at no extra cost
Four bonuses included with your gap analysis
The questionnaire
Fifteen minutes before we meet, so the session starts with your numbers already on the table.
The toolkit
The free gap analysis template and the numbers tools: margin, cash flow and valuation, so you arrive with your thinking started.
Your partner or MD
In the room at no extra cost, because the constraint is often the people, not the plan.
Confidentiality
Strict, always. An NDA if you want one; it’s common.
My guarantee
If we haven’t found your gap by the end of our time together, the next session is on me. And the next, until we have.
How the guarantee works
You bring your numbers and the questionnaire done, and I bring everything I’ve got. If we haven’t found your gap by the end of our time together, say so before we finish, and we book another session at no charge. And another, until we have. I can make that promise because the gap is always there; the work is seeing it.
What I don’t guarantee is a result from one session. Nobody honest can. What I guarantee is that you’ll leave knowing your gap and what to do next.
Capacity · no timers, no “two left”
Why places on the gap analysis are limited
I run every gap analysis myself, alongside running my own businesses, so I take on a limited number each month. There’s no countdown and no “two left”. Most owners book so that the first priority lands in the next quarter’s plan, and every quarter you guess is another quarter at the old numbers.
Business gap analysis questions
What happens after I pay?
I contact you myself to arrange the session at a time that suits you, and send you the 15-minute questionnaire.
Zoom or in person?
Either. Zoom from anywhere in the UK, or in person in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. The price is the same.
What do I need to bring?
The questionnaire does most of it. Beyond that, your latest management accounts or P&L if you have them, a rough picture of your team, and the three things that keep you up at night. If your numbers are a mess, bring them anyway. That’s often where the gap is.
Can my business partner or MD join?
Yes, and they should. Sometimes the constraint isn’t what to do. It’s the impact others are having in the business, and how bought in they are to change. It’s not just logic; it’s what humans bring: relationships and behaviour.
Do I get a written report?
You write your own plan, in the session, in your words. If I do the work, it just ends up in a drawer, and it’s my way of doing it, not yours. You might as well ask an AI to write it. You do the work and you commit to it. This is a coaching session, not a teaching session.
What if we don’t find my gap?
Say so before we finish, and we book another session at no charge, and another until we have. You turn up with the questionnaire done and your numbers; I do the rest.
Is this just a sales pitch for mentoring?
No. You get the full session and your plan either way. If it makes sense, I’ll tell you what mentoring would look like, and if you go ahead, the fee comes off your first month. If you don’t, you keep everything we found.
Is it confidential?
Strictly. I own businesses myself and I know what it takes to open the numbers up to someone. I’m happy to sign an NDA; it’s common.
My accountant already does my numbers.
Good. Your accountant tells you what happened. This tells you what to do next.
My business is different.
The owners I work with run very different businesses, and the gap is usually the same shape: the business runs through the owner. The numbers show where.
How is this different from the free virtual coffee?
The coffee is 30 minutes to see whether I’m the right person to talk to. The gap analysis is two to four hours of actually doing the work on your numbers, team and priorities.
What if I’m under £250k turnover?
It’s built for established businesses. If you’re close and the business already runs through you, it can still help. If you’re starting out, start with the free tools and MentorBusiness.com.
Next step
Business gap analysis: £699 plus VAT
Two to four hours with me. You leave knowing your gap and the exact next things to do, in your own words.
Book my gap analysis: £699 + VAT
P.S. “Stop thinking operator and start thinking architect.” The first step is knowing where the gap is. If you go on to mentoring, the fee comes off your first month, so the only thing you risk is staying in the job you’ve built for yourself.