Undercover Laborer: Where Finance Meets the Field
Undercover Laborer? From a CPA?
Yeah. Seriously.
This isn’t your typical beancounter Zoom call. It’s 7A–7P+, boots in the mud,, grinding it out on the job sites with you and your crew. Then we take what we see in the field, connect it to the numbers, and build a plan that's rooted in reality.
The Undercover Laborer Experience is part operational deep dive, part financial triage, and part team-building bootcamp. It mixes dirt in with the deskwork. You can call it project CFO work. You can call it coaching if you must. I prefer to think we're teammates, maybe the ringer you bring in for the big game. Undercover Laborer is both a standalone service and an onboarding for recurring Controller/CFO/Office Manager engagements.
Why It Works
Most business owners live in two worlds: the field and the office. The real work that drives revenue and the admin and sales work that keep the lights on. The problem? Those two worlds rarely talk to each other in a meaningful way. The result is usually operations "runs itself" while finance, planning, and strategy are back burnered or ignored. The problem? That's not scalable. You reach a point where it constrains growth.
I am a CPA, and I run Ridgeline Business Solutions. We help small businesses clean up their books, manage cash flow, and build real systems that scale and leverage AI readiness. It's part CFO, part operations coach, part firefighter. I also own Bee Kind Landscapes where we do conservation landscaping and tree care. So I deliver a real perspective from both sides, because I live it.
That’s the heart of Undercover Laborer. It’s about putting together all the pieces, learning what makes your business tick, getting to know the leadership team, and developing deeper much institutional knowledge than arm's length or virtual consulting. It onboarding program, it's an ethos, and it's effective.
What It Looks Like
For one week, you get me, fully dedicated to your business:
3 full field days – in the mud, on the trucks, at the job site. Show me the good, the bad, and the ugly.
1.5 office/system days – diving into your books, systems, and strategy together.
Evening debriefs – connecting sweat to spreadsheets and getting to know the team
Custom report – summarizing findings, opportunities, and action steps
Limited-time launch offer: $4,495 + travel as a standalone service
Onboarding for recurring CFO/Office Manager -- included in first month fee
The Impact: Real Stories from the Pilot Runs
When I piloted this service, the first business I worked with was a tree care company in a midwest market struggling with efficiency and cash flow. The owner swore it was a pricing/market problem, that he was being undercut too much to survive as a business. Three days in the field told me otherwise: his crew was wasting 20–30% of their day on logistics because their routines, trucks, and yard were disorganized. We didn't touch prices. We reorganized the shop and daily routines. We went to a 4 x 10 schedule because too many one day jobs were turning into one and a half. We developed a leadership plan so the owner could spend more time working on the business. The business has already saved over $75k in a year and is primed for takeoff with a territory expansion on the horizon.
Another pilot was a small landscape/excavation contractor who wanted to scale, but couldn’t figure out why he could never scrape up the cash to invest in growth, despite showing good profit margins. First we did a clean the books sprint, and dove into the numbers and discovered a true adjusted profit margin was not so rosy. So we made some tweaks to the business model to drop unprofitable work, raised prices in some other areas, and built a model that could fund expansion. Then I put him in touch with some good local bankers. Finally we got together in person and I wrecked myself laying sod all day. We made some important discoveries about leadership and crew dynamics over beers. The week was as impactful as it was fun, as he’s now running 4 crews and expanding into retail.
Who This Is For
Undercover Laborer isn’t for someone who wants a quick spreadsheet cleanup or a motivational guru. I'm not that guy. It’s for driven, growth-minded owners who want to:
Get a clear, critical, objective look at their business
Unlock growth potential by building systems and data
Connect the field and the numbers in a meaningful way
Build a strategic plan that’s rooted in reality
Strengthen their team culture while improving their numbers
The focus mix is always customized, but every engagement hits the core pillars:
Cash flow and profitability
Pricing and business model
Data and KPIs
Systematizing/AI/technology
People and leadership development
Budgets, planning, and capex
Risk and compliance
Succession and exits
Market strategy
Why Now
If you’re like most owners, you don’t need another snazzy software or zoom guru. You don't need another smooth talking idea guy. You need someone who can see the whole picture and help you execute. Undercover Laborer is a rare chance to bring in a ringer that actually gets their hands dirty, to plug us into the team as a doer.
I built this because I saw that gap. I lived the gap. Advisory by abstraction I called it. It doesn't work. Undercover laborer does.
👉 Visit The Real Grind page to learn more and book your week.
