If your business is stuck or bleeding, I will tell you what is broken — and what to do first.

I am Herby Kay. I fix businesses that are losing money, losing direction, or run by a problem nobody inside the company can say out loud.

No program to sell you. No team of juniors. You talk to me, I read your numbers, and I tell you the truth — including when the problem is you. That includes the hard calls: who has to go, what has to be cut, and what stops today.

Book your free first hour See the fees

Free hour by Zoom anywhere in the country. In person in the Phoenix area. Email nopcog@duck.com — tell me what kind of business you have and what is going wrong.

How it works

Four steps. Fees posted. No surprises.

Most consultants hide their prices until they have you on a sales call. Mine are here. You decide if the numbers work before we ever talk.

Free first hour Free

One hour, by Zoom anywhere in the country or in person in the Phoenix area. You tell me what is happening. I ask hard questions. At the end, you know whether I can help — and what I would do first.

$0one hour · no obligation
The diagnostic

A 60–90 minute deep dive into your profit and loss, cash flow, and debts. You get a one-page summary in plain English: what is broken, what it is costing you, and what to do first, second, and third.

Yours to keep whether we work together or not.

$1,500–$2,500one time · priced before we start
The 90-day fix

We work the plan. A weekly call, every week, for 90 days. I direct — cuts, pricing, people, collections — and your people do the work. If someone has to be fired, I will tell you who and why, and I will stay on the call while you do it.

$2,000per month · 3 months
Retainer & coaching

After the fix, most owners keep me on. A monthly call, a second set of eyes on the numbers, and someone who will tell you the truth before a small problem becomes an expensive one.

$500–$1,000per month · cancel anytime

The money rule

Your money stays yours.

I work from your reports — profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, from your accountant or your QuickBooks. I never ask for bank access, passwords, or account numbers. I advise and direct. I never touch a client’s money.

That is not a policy I adopted. That is how I work, with every client, every time. If anyone advising your business asks to hold your money, ask yourself why.

Track record

Two turnarounds. No company names — and here is why.

These deals were years ago and I do not have permission to use the companies’ names, so I will not. Cities and facts only. That is the same discretion your business gets.

Tucson, Arizona · Software company

The founder was the problem.

The company had what I call founder’s disease. The founder created the software, the product was selling, and there was an acquisition on the table. He had also hired a staff to watch him work — good people he would not let do their jobs. Everyone knew he was the problem. Nobody would tell him.

I did. I sat down, looked him in the eye, and told him the employee who had to be fired was him. His banker — the man who brought me in — made him take the advice. I recruited a real CEO and put him in place. The founder kept every share he owned.

Result: The company sold for many millions of dollars. The founder became a very wealthy man — and wrote me a thank-you note for my honesty, and for how I handled firing him.

Phoenix, Arizona · Defense contractor

Great product. Nobody selling it.

This company built an early drone weapon system. Terrific engineering. Too many engineers and too few salesmen — in fact, no salesmen. An engineer was trying to sell the program because the owners would not pay a commission to a real salesperson. Penny wise and pound foolish.

I made them pay for selling. We built a sales department on commission and I recruited a proven sales manager I knew could do the job. The product finally had people whose only job was to sell it.

Result: The company became profitable, was later sold, and the founders became millionaires.

The pattern in both: the business was not broken. One decision at the top was. My job is to find that decision and make you face it.

Straight answers

Who I can help — and who I cannot.

I would rather turn down the wrong client in the first hour than take your money for work I cannot do well.

A good fit

Owners who want the truth, even when the truth is about them.
Businesses that are stuck, shrinking, or bleeding cash with no clear reason why.
Companies with a good product and no real sales effort behind it.
Founders who have become the bottleneck in their own company.
Owners outside Arizona — we work on Zoom, the same way I work in person.

Not a fit — I do not take these

No restaurants. Restaurants are a specialized business I have no background in.
No hospitality — no hotels. Same reason. They get into trouble for reasons I do not pretend to understand, because I have never run one.
No regulated work. I am not your lawyer, your accountant, or your broker. I advise on the business.
No one who wants a yes-man. If you want to be told you are right, save your money.

Specialty: Americans doing business in Mexico

I spent over a decade deep in the heart of Mexico and I speak Spanish. If you are an American doing business in Mexico, I understand how business actually gets done there — not from a book. I consult in English.

About

Who you are hiring.

I am a former securities broker, an entrepreneur, and a business turnaround advisor. I have built businesses, sold businesses, and fixed businesses other people had given up on.

In 1999 I wrote a business book that became a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. I have been the man at the top, and I know what it costs when the man at the top is the problem — I have sat on both sides of that desk.

I also went to prison. I say it plainly because it is part of the record and part of why owners trust me with the truth about their own failures: I have made the worst mistake a businessman can make, I paid for it, and I rebuilt my life from zero. I am not selling you a clean story. I am selling you judgment that was bought at full price.

Today I advise owners directly — no staff between you and me — and I talk about what falling and rebuilding teaches you on my YouTube channel, “Wisdom After the Fall.”

“How to Get Filthy Stinking Rich and Still Have Time for Great Sex”
Herby Kay · 1999 · New York Times & Wall Street Journal bestseller

Start with the free hour.

Tell me what kind of business you have, how long you have had it, and what is going wrong. I will reply personally. If I can help, we book the hour. If I cannot, I will tell you that too — in the reply, not after a sales pitch.

Email me — book your free hour Herby on LinkedIn

nopcog@duck.com · Zoom nationwide · In person in the Phoenix area