The 7 Questions · business estimate · twelve months
Free · a few minutes · yours to keep
Seven questions.
One business battle plan.
Sixteen years in the British Army taught Nick how to plan under pressure: the Combat Estimate, seven questions, asked in order. This is the business version. Answer it honestly and you get a clear twelve-month plan for building the business and buying back your time.
Build your free battle plan
01 · The method
The Combat Estimate is how the British Army turns a mess into a mission: seven questions, in order, no step skipped. Nick planned with it for 16 years as an officer.
02 · The adaptation
He has spent a decade running his own companies and adapted the same seven questions for owner-led businesses. They force the clarity most planning sessions dance around.
03 · The output
A practical twelve-month battle plan: the constraint, the mission, the first 90 days, what to stop doing and what to hand off. On screen in minutes, printable, and a starting point rather than legal, financial or investment advice.
What you get
A one-page plan in your own words
Eight numbered sections, built from your answers: the situation, the mission, what has to change, the route, the resources, the order of moves, the controls, and the CoreOS read. On screen in minutes, emailed to you, printable. Below is an excerpt from an example plan for a made-up firm.
Example · a made-up firm · not a client
Battle plan: Harrison Heating
1 THE SITUATION
What is the situation, and how does it affect you?
A heating firm doing £15k to £50k a month with a team of 2 to 5. The owner works 45 to 60 hours and the bottleneck is "no time, all on me". The business is trading well and the constraint is the owner's week, not the market.
3 THE EFFECTS
What effects do you want, and what has to change?
- Me out of day-to-day delivery. Every job still routes through the owner for quoting and sign-off. First move: one person quotes, one page of rules.
- The first 90 days. Write the quoting rules, hand quoting over, and track the conversion rate weekly so the handover is judged on numbers.
Six more sections follow in the real thing, including the first 90 days and the number you most avoid.
The 7 Questions
Question 1 of 7
Seven questions, the way the army plans, pointed at your business. No waffle, a clear one-page plan at the end, and we only need your email once it is built.
Question one — what is the situation, and how does it affect you?
What is the business called?
No spam. Your answers go to Nick and nowhere else, and the plan is a starting point, not legal, financial or investment advice.
Your plan is below.
Plan in hand. What next?
A plan only works if someone holds you to it. Pick the route that fits: 30 minutes with Nick on the real constraint, or a seat on the list for the next practical workshop.
Workshops are practical upskilling days, announced to the waiting list before anyone else. Free to join.
You are on the list. Dates land with you first.
Want the 5-day version?
One email a day for five days that walks you through fixing the thing your plan just named. The tools Nick uses with paying clients. Stops when it ends, opt out any time.
Done. Day one is on its way to your inbox.