Ep. 314 — Steve Schaefer & Jimmy Fritz: The Goalie You Can't Afford to Skip

6 min read

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Episode Summary

You’re staring at last month’s financials, your CPA sent them over with taxes in mind, and you have no idea if the year you just had was real or just busy. Revenue is up. The bank account looks okay. But nobody is sitting next to you walking through what the numbers mean for the decisions you have to make next week, let alone next year. That’s the gap I had in my old business and the gap most owners under $50M live with. In this episode I broke down why the fractional executive market exists at all, the three flavors of “fractional CFO” you’ll run into (and which two are mostly theater), and why a true CFO is a goalie you can’t skip. Then I sat down with two clients who lived the before and after. Steve Schaefer of Schaefer Manufacturing lost $700K his first year owning the business and now runs a three-statement model tied to a five-year valuation target. Jimmy Fritz of The Wedding Shop and Kennedy Blue walks through how contribution margin reset what his team measures and why he dropped discounting from 10% to 7% without losing a single point of conversion.

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## Top 10 Takeaways
  1. Most owners can’t afford a $300K CFO. That doesn’t mean you don’t need one. It means you need them part-time.
  2. A bookkeeper with “Fractional CFO” in their email signature is still a bookkeeper.
  3. A two-to-three-times-salary consultant who shows up monthly to ask what you need is still a consultant.
  4. A real fractional CFO sits in your leadership meetings, owns rocks, and brings strategic ideas you didn’t ask for.
  5. Without a forward-looking plan, every margin and hiring decision gets made in the dark.
  6. Your financials should tell a story that drives action, not a tax-ready snapshot from two months ago.
  7. Run your company like it’s perpetually for sale and de-risk along the way.
  8. Knowing what you want from the asset is the constraint that makes every other decision easier.
  9. Stable, predictable cash flow is what makes hiring the president you couldn’t afford possible.
  10. Visionary ideas have a cost. The financial model tells you which ones are worth chasing.

Sound Bites

“You can’t not have a CFO. It’s like not having a goalie. You need one, but they need to be there only a certain amount of time given the level of activity of the size of the company and the complexity of the company.” (@TBD) — Ryan Tansom

“I purchased the business from my father in 2016. I was 33 years old and knew everything there was to know about running companies. Then I immediately fell on my face and lost $700,000 my first year owning the company.” (@TBD) — Steve Schaefer

“You have to be able to emotionally separate yourself from your role in the business. Otherwise, if you want a lifestyle business and you just want to solve for annual income and buy another boat, then that’s cool. But if you want multi-generational wealth and the opportunity to grow something that’s bigger than yourself, then you should definitely think about your business like an asset.” (@TBD) — Steve Schaefer

“We went from 10% down to 7% in like six months. Which has made the year considerably more profitable. And our conversion rate’s the same. We’ve just made strategic decisions.” (@TBD) — Jimmy Fritz

“Intentional means: what activity am I doing today to get the outcome I’m trying to get to tomorrow?” (@TBD) — Jimmy Fritz

About This Episode

This is a two-part owner success story episode. Ryan opens with a teaching segment on why the fractional executive marketplace exists, the three buckets of “fractional CFO” offerings owners run into, and how Arkona’s model differs (CFOs on payroll, capped at five clients, fully integrated into the leadership team). Then he sits down with two clients. Steve Schaefer is the second-generation owner of Schaefer Manufacturing, a metal fabrication business in Milltown, Wisconsin, serving critical infrastructure industries (mining, agriculture, rail, construction). Jimmy Fritz is the second-generation owner of The Wedding Shop and Kennedy Blue, a multi-channel retailer that pioneered selling wedding products online. Both have been through the iBD financial training and now run their businesses with a fractional CFO embedded in their leadership team.

Resources Mentioned

  • Schaefer Manufacturing — Steve’s company. — schaefermfg.com
  • The Wedding Shop — Jimmy’s family retail business. — theweddingshops.com
  • Kennedy Blue — Jimmy’s e-commerce private label brand. — kennedyblue.com
  • Everybody Matters by Bob Chapman — Referenced by Steve for the trust-based, people-centric leadership model
  • Conscious Capitalism — Referenced by Steve as a guiding philosophy
  • The E-Myth by Michael Gerber — Referenced by Ryan on the plumber who ends up running 14 plumbers
  • EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) — Both Steve and Jimmy run EOS with their CFO integrated into the leadership team
  • Pivotal Advisors / Gary Braun — Referenced as a fractional sales leadership example
  • Jennifer Zick — Referenced as a fractional CMO example
  • Joe Trimal episode — Referenced for hiring executives at the right size of company
  • Steve Coelho — CEO peer group operator in Florida focused on second-stage businesses

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