An operations practice for owner-operated small and mid-size businesses. We install systems that run without the owner, document the work that lives in someone's head, and bring AI-powered automation into the back office.
Owner-operated businesses cap themselves at predictable revenue ceilings. Usually somewhere between $1.5M and $3M. The cap is not about marketing, sales, or even talent. It is about systems that never got built.
Decisions, knowledge, and process all live in the owner's head. Two weeks off and the business stalls.
Nothing is repeatable. New clients require the same scramble that the last one did, every single time.
Tools sit unused while teams default to spreadsheets, sticky notes, and the owner's memory.
No documented process means no real onboarding. New hires sink. The owner ends up doing it themselves again.
The Forward Studio is one practice with one buyer: small and mid-size business owners who know operations are holding them back. Two doors, sized to the shape of the problem.
Trades and home services are our named niche, but this door is open to any owner-operated business with a specific bottleneck to fix. Missed-call recovery, automated quote-to-invoice, customer databases, scheduling, and the workflows that should not still live in spreadsheets. Clear deliverable, clear timeline, clear price.
See the three tiers →For owner-operated businesses where revenue grew faster than systems. Strategic operations work, not just tools installed. Starts with a 14-day Operations Audit that produces a written diagnosis and a prioritized fix plan. From there, a build, and ongoing fractional leadership when it makes sense.
See the three stages →For owner-operated businesses that want the system installed and running, not a six-month engagement. Each tier is scoped, priced, and delivered on a clock.
A single high-impact system, installed and running in one week.
The full back-office stack for an owner-operated business.
For businesses with multi-location operations or custom workflow needs.
Optional ongoing support retainers from $297 to $797 per month.
For owners whose back office has outgrown the way they built it, where revenue grew faster than systems and the owner has become the bottleneck. Three stages, designed so each one stands on its own and creates the next.
A structured diagnostic that produces a written report you could hand to any future operations leader. The front door to every Operations Track engagement.
Implementation of the highest-leverage fixes from the audit. Workflows redesigned, SOPs documented, tools configured, automations installed, team trained.
For owners who need a senior operator in the seat without hiring full-time. Three tiers, from light advisory to embedded Chief of Staff.
Most engagements start with a 30-minute discovery call. We'll figure out together whether you need a packaged systems build, a full operations audit, or something in between. No pitch.
The Forward Studio is a small operations practice based in Apex, NC, founded by Ayeska Pichardo. The studio brings together more than 20 years of operations experience, with another 15 years before that in administrative, sales, and project management work, and serves owner-operated businesses in the Triangle and remote.
Across our careers, we have built and run back offices in a range of environments: professional membership organizations, technical and manufacturing operations, multi-location retail, and residential and commercial construction. We have led HR functions, vendor and facilities operations, and multimillion-dollar procurement work. The contexts changed. The work was the same: build the system that lets the business run without the owner.
The founder has also co-founded two renovation companies in New York and New Jersey. We know what it takes to run an owner-operated business from the inside, the late nights, the cash flow stress, the moment you realize the way you built the company will not get you to the next level. That perspective is why The Forward Studio exists.
Most consultants pitching operations have built one ops function once. We have built dozens. And we work in two languages.
Book a 30-minute discovery call. We'll figure out where the operational drag is, whether the Studio is the right fit, and what a real path forward looks like. No pitch.