This is the actual checklist I run during every 30-minute Strategic Diagnostic. Three pillars, 22 specific checks, each mapped to a typical dollar range. Work through it yourself if you want — or book me for 30 minutes and I'll find the real numbers on your P&L, live.
— Chen Deng, OxOne (PMP, B.Eng, operator of LAMOSE + PharmacyPlus)
Line-item waste in your tech stack, subscriptions, and recurring spend. Most businesses find leaks here in under 15 minutes.
If you can't, pull the last 90 days of bank statements. Flag every recurring charge < $300.
Typical find: $200–$900/moTwo CRMs. Two email senders. Two analytics tools. One always wins — cancel the rest.
Typical find: $150–$500/moMost vendors silently renew at higher monthly rates. Switching to annual = 15–25% off.
Typical find: $100–$400/moThe ex-assistant's Trello Pro. The "we'll use this next quarter" Zapier tier. Kill them.
Typical find: $100–$600/moStripe/Square baseline is 2.9% + 30¢. If you're above that, renegotiate — anyone doing >$20K/mo in volume qualifies for custom rates.
Typical find: 0.3–0.8% of revenueThree separate invoices from three vendors is usually $300–$800/yr of overlap.
Typical find: $25–$70/moCall and say "I'm reviewing providers." Re-quote drops are typical.
Typical find: $80–$300/moManual work that shouldn't exist in 2026. Every "we just do it that way" is $40–$80/hour of hidden cost.
If it's more than 4 steps, you have a revenue-speed problem, not just a cost problem.
Typical recovery: 3–8 hrs/weekJobber → QuickBooks. Form fills → spreadsheet. Stripe → invoicing. Every copy-paste is an automation candidate.
Typical recovery: 5–12 hrs/weekIf you're about to hire admin, check if $500 of automation would do 70% of the job first.
Typical save: $1,500–$4,000/mo avoided hireMore than 14 days = you're blind on cash. Xero/QuickBooks rules + bank feed can keep you current in 30 min/week.
Typical find: 2–4 hrs/weekAR over 30 days without a reminder is free cash you're financing for your customer. Auto-reminders recover 15–25%.
Typical find: 8–20% AR unlockOne unified inbox (Missive, Front, or custom) + routing rules kills this.
Typical recovery: 3–6 hrs/weekWithout numbers, every decision is a coin flip. A 5-KPI weekly digest costs $0 to set up.
Typical decision-quality lift: pricelessSMS reminders cut no-shows 30–60%. Airtable + Twilio for under $30/mo handles it.
Typical find: 5–12% revenue recoveryThe three AI workflows that pay back first. Skip "ChatGPT writes blogs" — that's noise. These move real numbers.
Claude/GPT read the inquiry, pull your price list, produce a polished quote in 30 seconds. Your review takes 1 minute.
Typical recovery: 5–10 hrs/week + higher close ratePost-service, post-quote, post-no-show — each gets a templated-but-personalized follow-up. 20–40% of lost leads resurrect.
Typical lift: 10–25% more revenue per leadText customer 24h after job done with a one-tap Google review link. 4.9-star average, in 60 days.
Typical lift: 5–15 reviews/mo, ranking boostAI labels every search term as "qualified / maybe / waste" in bulk. Negative-keyword list writes itself.
Typical find: 30–40% ad waste recoveredSnap photo → AI extracts vendor, amount, category, GL code → pushes to QuickBooks.
Typical recovery: 2–5 hrs/week"Here's last week's Stripe + Jobber data, write me a 5-bullet summary." Takes 20 seconds. Used to take 45 min.
Typical recovery: 3 hrs/weekAuto-categorize inbound email (quote / support / spam / billing), route to right person, draft replies for review.
Typical recovery: 6–12 hrs/weekBook me for 30 minutes and I'll run all 22 points against your actual business — live screen-share, dollar figures, one-page action plan yours to keep. If I can't find at least $10,000/year in savings, I e-transfer you $200.
Book My Strategic Diagnostic → 3 slots / week · Calgary operators only · $200 guarantee