Fractional COO for owners who are the bottleneck

Your business shouldn't fall apart when you take a week off.

You're good at the work. You're stuck doing all of it. I help owners document, delegate, and automate so the team can run the week without a 9pm text.

David Mitchell, fractional COO
David Mitchell Fractional COO · Lehi, UT
1,500+
Homes serviced
95%+
Customer retention
23 yrs
Software & ops
6 yrs
Running it myself
The tell

If you disappeared for a month, would the wheels come off?

If the honest answer is yes—or “probably”—that’s not a time problem. It’s a systems problem.

  • Scheduling, exceptions, and “the way we do things” still live in your head
  • You tried to delegate and the work bounced back
  • Every important decision still waits on you
  • Time off isn’t time off, because the phone doesn’t stop

The business can only grow as fast as you can personally carry it. That ceiling is optional.

Why me

I learned this the expensive way.

I spent 23 years in software and operations—building products, leading teams, teaching process. Then I bought a Conserva Irrigation franchise and ran it myself. No team. No safety net. A truck and a book of work I had to invent systems for.

I grew it to 1,500+ homes and kept 95%+ of those customers. I was also wearing every hat: sales, scheduling, service, books. I knew the theory of delegation. Living it with real money on the line is different.

So I wrote the work down. Automated the repetitive parts. Handed off what didn’t need me. The business got better. I could take a week off without my phone lighting up.

That’s the work I now do with other owners.

I speak in systems, stories, and the occasional Star Wars reference. If you get it, we’ll get along just fine.

How I work with you

A clear path off the hamster wheel

I don’t hand you a binder and leave. I stay until the handoff actually sticks.

1

See how the work moves

I map your current workflows, tools, and pain points and show you where the bottlenecks actually live—not where they feel like they live.

2

Write it down and hand it off

We document, automate, and delegate so the business runs on systems, not tribal knowledge stored in your head.

3

Stay until it sticks

You get time back. Your team gets clarity. I stay involved through the first messy handoffs so it doesn’t bounce back to you.

What changes

After we work together, you’ll have:

  • Documented systems your team can follow without pinging you
  • Hours back in the week for growth, family, and actual time off
  • A team that owns the work instead of waiting on you
  • A business that still runs when you’re not in the room

This is what I built in my own operation. It’s the same work I do with owners now.

The work

Fractional COO consulting

All services

Building a career rather than a company? I also offer career coaching for technical leaders.

Ready to get out of the day-to-day?

Let’s look at your bottleneck.

Free 30 minutes. No pitch. Bring the thing that’s eating your week, and I’ll tell you honestly whether I can help.

From the field

Writing on operations

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