Business Consultant Gold Coast
Independent business analysis and improvement for Gold Coast owners turning over $1.5M and above.
The Gold Coast is now a $55 billion economy with more than 83,000 active businesses, and it has grown 25% since 2020. Plenty of owners here are riding that and still cannot work out why the bank balance does not match the noise.
That gap is what I do.
Who I am
I am Sarah Colgate. I am Gold Coast based and I have spent more than 25 years in business here, most of it in travel, tourism and hospitality.
I built and exited multiple businesses in South East Queensland, including Aquaduck on the Gold Coast, before a management buyout in 2022. I am Deputy President of the Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce and a Board Director of the Gold Coast Waterways Authority. I have sat on the Destination Gold Coast board.
I say that not to list things. I say it because when you tell me your season is broken, or that the labour market on this coast is impossible, or that your landlord has just come back with a number, I am not hearing it for the first time.
Who I work with
Established Gold Coast businesses turning over $1.5M or more. Owners who have got past the survival stage and are now dealing with a harder problem, which is that the business works and it still is not paying them properly.
The common ones on this coast:
Seasonal businesses. Tourism, hospitality, marine, events. Businesses that make their year in a few months and spend the rest of it managing cash. If your December carries your July, your pricing and your cash planning need to be built for that, and most are not.
Trades and construction. With 75 cranes up and more than $23 billion in active development, there is no shortage of work on this coast. There is a serious shortage of margin. Busy and profitable are not the same thing and construction is where that gap gets widest.
Professional and health services. The health and knowledge economy here is worth around $13 billion and supports over 70,000 full-time equivalent jobs. Practices in that space grow fast, and most of them outgrow their systems before they notice.
Owners planning an exit. Selling in the next three years, or hoping to. Margin and structure are what a buyer pays for, and fixing them 18 months out is worth a great deal more than fixing them in due diligence.
What I actually do
I start with a Business Analysis. It is a structured diagnostic of the whole business built on three sources of evidence: your numbers, a 273-question review of how the business runs, and market research interviews I conduct personally with six of your customers and six of your suppliers.
It takes about six weeks and around eight hours of your time. You end up with a report of 120 pages or more that quantifies where your profit is leaking and what each fix is worth in dollars, and a 90-minute session where I take you through it.
For businesses over $1M, it carries a 10 to 1 guarantee. If it does not find at least $60,000 in profit currently leaking out of your business, based on your own numbers, you do not pay for it.
After that, if the report supports ongoing work, I coach weekly. That runs $3,000 to $4,400 a month and includes unlimited access to me, not a monthly catch-up.
If the report does not support it, I will tell you.
Why local matters here, and where it does not
Let me be straight about this, because a lot of "business consultant near me" marketing is nonsense.
Most of what a business needs fixing is not local. Margin arithmetic works the same in Southport as it does in Sydney. Anybody who tells you their local knowledge is the reason your pricing is wrong is selling geography.
Where local genuinely counts is three things. I know the seasonality of this coast in my bones, because I have run businesses through it. I know what labour actually costs here and how hard it is to hold a team through a quiet winter. And I can sit across a table from you in Southport, Robina or Burleigh rather than sending a deck and a calendar link.
I work across the Gold Coast, from Coolangatta to Coomera, and I take a small number of clients at a time.
What it costs
Business Analysis: $6,000. Six weeks. 10 to 1 guarantee for businesses above $1M.
Ongoing coaching: $3,000 to $4,400 a month. Weekly contact, unlimited access, and a real accountability partner. Only if the analysis supports it.
Both are generally tax deductible as a business expense. Confirm that with your accountant.
Who I am not for
If your books are two years behind, spend the money on a bookkeeper first. If you already know exactly what is wrong, go and fix it rather than paying me to confirm it. If payroll next month is a genuine question, you need a restructuring specialist this week, not a six-week diagnostic.
And if you want someone to agree that the market is tough and the staff are the problem, that conversation is free at any Chamber event.
Start with a conversation
Fifteen minutes. No report, no pitch. We work out whether what I do is the right thing for your business, or whether something else is.
Call me at 0491 729 043, or book a conversation at sarahcolgate.com.au.
Serving business owners across the Gold Coast, including Southport, Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Burleigh Heads, Robina, Nerang, Coomera and Coolangatta.