Frequently Asked Questions
What do you do?

We Create Value

As Consultants, Researchers, Entrepreneurs, Subject Matter Experts, Leaders and Mentors we have the people, the skills, the tools, and the experience to help businesses of all sizes in a wide variety of areas.

What areas do you serve?

Our home is in Southern Ontario, but we can serve companies in more than 50 countries around the world thanks to our members with a CMC designation.

Our team members speak English, French, Spanish, Hindi, Farsi, and Italian.

What do you charge for your services?

Our rates depend on the complexity of the project, the number of Team Members required, the value we add to the project, and the expertise required to ensure the success of the project.

We cater our fees and the payment structure to your needs, and offer at least the following four types of agreements:

a) Retainer for Access – Retain one or more of our Team for a given period of time. For example, you can retain our dashboard developer for a period of 6 months, utilizing her services only when you need them, up to 900 hours, for one discounted fee; no more wondering where to get the right person to help you face your challenges.

b) Retainer for Work – Retain one or more of our Team for an ongoing contract, but at a pace that matches your needs. For example you can retain our investment support team for 10-20 hours each month during a fund-raising stage.

c) Results as a Service (RaaS) – Pay for Results, and not a penny more. This retainer is designed for businesses that want us to help them reach a particular goal, craft something tangible, or provide a service that has a definite beginning and end. In the RaaS agreement, you never pay more than what we quoted you.

d) Hourly Contract Work – We can provide our available Team Members to help you and your business on an hourly basis if that best suits your needs, or if the other models do not match your unique situation.

Do you follow a Code of Conduct & Ethics?

Yes we have one of the most stringent codes of professional conduct and ethics that each member must abide by.

To find out more about our Code of Conduct, Click Here.

How does your Code of Conduct make you different?

We are consultants with a conscience .

We developed our code of conduct and ethics in an effort to protect stakeholders, protect humanity itself, and ensure that our team members are performing to the best of their professional ability at all times. We built the code of conduct on a foundation of trust, professionalism, and empathy.

What Industries do you serve?

We hold Education and Education Technology near and dear to our hearts. We also love innovative start-ups. In general we are industry-agnostic, so long as they do not conflict with our code of conduct and ethics.

What makes you different as a Consulting Firm?

The Big Leaf is built on a foundation of Value

We are laser-focused on value; creating value, increasing value, value propositions, and fostering innovation. We carry that focus to each project, ensuring that our clients can more clearly see their potential, and make the right decisions to reach or exceed it.

We are a Diverse team that bring diverse solutions, international experience, accredited expertise, and robust tools

We are Experts in our fields, industries, and roles

We have nearly half-a-millennium of combined Experience

We are comprised mostly of Masters and Professionals, including MEd, CMC, PhD, CMA, CPA, and more!

We use our Code of Conduct and Ethics as our guiding light

We are Researchers, with the expertise to gather meaningful information from apparently disparate data

We are driven to Innovate, whether it is creating new opportunities or fostering innovation within an organization

Can I hire only One of your Team Members?

Yes absolutely!

We are here to help you reach your goals, create value, and gain a competitive advantage. If you feel that we can better serve you with a single team member then by all means we will oblige and allocate that member to your project if they are available.

Why do I -or any business- need a Business Plan?

Not planning is planning to fail. 80% of new businesses fail within the first five years. A business plan isn’t a recipe, it is a comprehensive look at your industry, market(s), opportunities within both, and how you plan on taking advantage of said opportunities, via a detailed, logical, achievable marketing plan, operations plan, and financial plan.

The opportunities spotted in your industry analysis dictate the market(s) that you will then analyze.

The opportunities spotted in the market(s) you have analyzed contribute, along with the opportunities in the industry, to the value proposition you develop.

The value proposition you develop dictates the marketing requirements. The market analyses also dictates your marketing plan’s requirements.

The marketing plan not only sets out how you will market your product or service, but all pertinent information about the customer journey, their experience, the 7 or 8 Ps of marketing and the associated marketing mix, as well as all the operational requirements to ensure that marketing is carried out successfully. You should spot meaningful opportunities in your marketing plan as well!

The operations plan is an opportunity to both plan for the company’s operational activities, and to spot additional opportunities to reduce costs, improve production, mitigate risk, and better allocate resources. The operations plan dictates the requirements of the financial plan.

The financial plan is the final document in the business plan. It is a detailed look at all things financial, from cash flows and projected income statements / balance sheets, to an analysis of said projections (including all industry-specific metrics). The financial plan’s goal, is to maintain operations and marketing, as well as the ideal allocation of resources to support sales and growth.

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change
Albert Einstein

If you have any questions not listed above, reach out to us and we will help you get the answers you seek.