About
Plain talk, no jargon, and the truth even when it isn’t the sale.
The name
North by Northwest isn’t a real compass bearing. West by Midwest isn’t either, but it says something true about how we work.
We brought a Midwestern way of doing business out west: plain talk, no jargon, show up when you said you would, and tell people the truth even when it isn’t the sale. That’s most of it.
The rest is in the bearing itself. Every business is running on a heading, whether anyone chose it deliberately or not. Some need one set. Some need one corrected.
What we’ve done
We’ve started and run several businesses of our own, and operated others for the people who owned them. Cottage food, software, professional services, trades, and a small law firm where we ran the whole operations side.
That range is the point. It’s how you learn which problems are universal, which ones are particular to an industry, and which ones are really just two people avoiding a conversation.
We’re certified in mediation, which turns out to matter more than it sounds like it should. Plenty of business problems that look operational are really a disagreement nobody has had out loud. Being able to run that conversation is half the job. We also take mediation work for businesses we don’t consult for.
How we work
Fixed fees
You’ll know what it costs before we start. We’re not going to bill you by the hour for thinking.
In writing
Scope, deliverables, and what’s not included. No surprises in either direction.
With an end
Every engagement is built to finish. Plenty of clients keep us on afterward, but that’s a decision they get to make from a position of not needing us.
Straight
If we can’t help, we’ll say so in the first conversation and tell you who might be better suited. We’d rather lose the engagement than take one we can’t do well.
Where we work
Remote across California, with clients throughout the West Coast. We’ve worked in person in California, Oregon, and Washington, and we’ll travel when the work genuinely calls for it. Most of it doesn’t.