Two paid HR advisers can sell only the hours left after selling, review and coordination. Fictional Willow People Advisory allocates 176 sold hours from 320 scheduled hours per base month. It earns advisory fees without client payroll pass-through, PEO receipts or placement commission.
Validate advisory effort and collection without adding client payroll or placement receipts.
Define the employer decision and the actual fee
Willow People Advisory is a remote-first US practice for employers with a defined people-management question, usable records and an accountable sponsor. Advisory, staff relations, recruiting process work, compensation design and leader coaching share the paid principal and consultant. The fictional forecast covers January 2027 to December 2029.
Recruiting process advice is billed effort here. It creates neither success fees nor placed-worker wages. Keep the sponsor's own payroll and purchases outside advisory revenue; otherwise a large client payment can make a small practice look larger without increasing its earned fees.
Allocate the adviser calendar once
The base 55% utilization earns $29,392.00 at a weighted $167.00 per sold hour. A high-fee category still draws on the finite adviser pool. These fictional inputs exclude opening ramp and later growth.
| Service | Base sold volume | Fee per hour | Base revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR advisory | 44 hour | $160.00 | $7,040.00 |
| Staff relations | 44 hour | $175.00 | $7,700.00 |
| Recruiting | 35.2 hour | $150.00 | $5,280.00 |
| Pay design | 26.4 hour | $185.00 | $4,884.00 |
| Leader coaching | 26.4 hour | $170.00 | $4,488.00 |
| Total selected mix | 176 hour | $167.00 weighted | $29,392.00 |
Put records and review effort inside the engagement budget
An engagement needs a decision question, record request, defined output, sponsor review and an acceptance point. Missing records or an absent decision owner can increase effort without increasing the agreed fee. Distinguish a newly requested task from included corrections.
Purchased project review and research/data services cost 4% of revenue with no stock. The principal is already paid in delivery. Quarter-time operations support coordinates the practice without adding advisory capacity. After variable costs, 92% remains for fixed pay and overhead.
A positive forecast is conditional on sold and collected work
The saved opening year has $323,312.00 revenue, $39,466.96 EBITDA and $25,683.16 net income. EBITDA is before depreciation, interest and income tax. These results depend on assumed hours, fees and limited outside-review costs, rather than demonstrated employer demand.
Collection is assumed at 30 days. Proposed equity totals $110,000.00, including $70,000.00 from the owner, against $14,300.00 launch uses. External capital is uncommitted and salaries continue during gaps. Refundable office deposits, client payroll and client tax flows are excluded.
Use paid scope evidence before filling the next calendar
Run a limited engagement and record effort from intake to sponsor acceptance, including time spent selling, finding records and revising. Compare outside review purchases with the advisory fee rather than with the client's workforce budget.
If the principal's selling and review work squeezes delivery, reduce assumed sold hours before adding more service lines. Build the next calendar from accepted scopes and observed payment dates.
Make the next decision with your own evidence
Record total adviser effort, purchased review, acceptance and payment on a defined paid engagement before reserving recurring delivery capacity.
Explore published business plan examples ↗Willow People Advisory is a fictional prelaunch scenario prepared with AI assistance. Inputs are illustrative; forecast results come from the matching saved financial model. Funding is proposed. The diagrams explain the case and do not depict actual premises, established demand or promised earnings. Replace the assumptions with evidence before committing.
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