Alexandria Small Business Owners Council
Alexandria Small Business Owners Council · Now accepting applications
Business coaching,
as you know it, is dead.
Long live the room.
You built a business for the people you love. Somewhere along the way, it started taking you from them. The Alexandria Council is a room of local owners who change that, together.
Three founding seats, each $497 a month for life.
Month to month. No contract and no joining fee.
Why most business coaching doesn't stick
It works on the business. It forgets the owner.
Every owner in this town knows the trade-off. One more hour tonight. One more Saturday this month. You tell yourself you're doing it for your family, and it's the very thing keeping you from them.
Be honest. Three more years of this is three more years of dinners you sit through without being there, a spouse who's stopped asking when it gets easier, and kids who've stopped asking at all.
Whether you've tried coaching or written it off, you've probably seen one of these:
The coaching call
A weekly call with one coach who only knows what you tell them. It helps, but it's still one view.
The online course
More lessons, when you already know more than you use. Knowing was never the problem. Doing it is.
The big seminar
A ballroom of strangers and a high that's gone by Thursday. Nobody calls to ask what you did next.
Maybe you've had a coach. You've never had a room like this.
What this room is for
Every month we'll work on your business, because that's where your hours go. Here's what we're really working toward:
- Repair the marriage.Give your partner your evenings back, not whatever is left after the business.
- Reconnect the family.Be home, and actually be there, before the kids finish learning not to expect you.
- Rebuild the business.So it makes money when you aren't standing in it, and you get to choose where you stand.
- Restore the town.Alexandria owners who hire each other, send each other work, and pull each other up.
The room where it happens
Once a month, you take a seat at this table.
Every owner brings a real challenge, and we work through them together, with everything the room has lived. Next month, the group asks what you did.
Why we built it
I was home. I was present. But I wasn't present.
I failed so you don't have to. My stepdaughter asked if we could go outside and bump the volleyball. I said, "Sure, just give me one more hour." One hour turned into three. Three hours turned into five. The sun went down. The volleyball was never touched.
I lost a marriage and a business to hustle culture. Rebuilding my life, and how I run a business, took years of work. I hired and studied other business coaches, and I studied what the most profitable companies in the world do to make profit repeatable. That became the frameworks I teach today, and those frameworks are what made me ready for Jessica.
Enter Jessica. Together we built the daily, weekly and monthly habits that turned those frameworks into a life of freedom, built around experiences, not things, and time with our family.
Now we live in that freedom, and this room is how we bring other owners to theirs. I'm a Master Business Coach, certified five times over, and for five and a half years I led coaching for more than 250 business owners a year. In the room, I lead as an owner first, and I post my own scorecard like everyone else.
Craig & Jessica LaughlinFounders · Master Business Coach · PMP®
Why a room works when a coach doesn't
The math isn't new. The art and the delivery are.
Two owners raise their prices by the same amount. One loses customers. The other closes more of them.
The math was identical. The difference was how each one did it: the words on the quote, the timing, what came with it, who they told first. That part is art, and you don't learn art from a book. You learn it from the owner next to you who already did it.
That's crowdsourced acceleration: a whole room's experience, aimed at one challenge at a time.
The hire that stops the phone at dinner. The Friday off.
Small changes can pay for both. Picture a business that brings in $500,000 a year and keeps $50,000 of it as profit. Make five small changes of 5% each: trim costs, stand out, make a better offer, raise prices a little, and sell a bit more to each customer.
Profit almost triples, because each change makes the next one worth more.
Sample figures from our Profit Simulator. Real changes usually land between 1% and 10% each, and every business is different.
The parts of a business you can adjust for profit, from pricing to follow-up.
Proven plays for every lever, so you learn to spot what to fix next on your own.
Community, members and resources, any time. Craig replies within one business day.
What a room gives you
Six things no coach can do alone.
One coach brings one point of view. A room brings every owner who already paid for the lesson you're about to learn.
Accountability
Say what you'll do out loud. Next month, the group asks whether you did it. Yes or no.
Creativity
A contractor sees what a dentist misses. You get ideas from businesses nothing like yours.
Learning
One profit lever a month, taught live, so you learn to spot the fix on your own.
Momentum
Small changes every month, until the owner who never took a Saturday off finally does.
Win shares
Every week, members share one win, so you can see what's working for owners like you.
Alliances
Team up on joint ventures, events and shared leads. Nobody sells to the room.
How a month works
Learn it together. Work on it together. Keep your word.
Craig teaches online, where it's recorded. In the room, he facilitates as a fellow owner while all of us work together.
Monthly Scorecard
One short form on last month: your win, your challenge, your numbers, and your word kept.
Profit Workshop
The Profit Acceleration Workshop: 90 minutes live on one lever, with every replay kept.
Ask anything
Post or message Craig any time. Craig, Jessica or a member replies within one business day.
The Council
90 minutes working together at small tables, one hot seat, and a next step for everyone.
Your seat, piece by piece
Everything you get the day you take your seat.
Every piece is built to get you home earlier, with more to show for it.
Every month, the whole room works through real challenges together, yours included, with everything we've lived.
One profit lever a month, taught live, so you learn to see the fix in your own business and choose it yourself.
Post or message Craig any time. Replies within one business day, sometimes a short video walking you through it.
Craig facilitates every Council as a fellow owner, so the time stays on the work and everyone leaves with a next step.
When something big has you stuck, the whole room takes it on, and you walk out with a clear way through it.
You say what you'll do in front of owners who will ask about it, so the plan stops living only in your head.
Ideas from businesses nothing like yours, already tested on real customers, so you skip the costly guesswork.
Members share what worked each week, so you see what's possible even when your own week feels stuck.
Partner with members on offers and events neither of you could pull off alone, and share the upside.
Members share audiences and make introductions, so new customers reach you through people they already trust.
One short form a month, saved in your own record, so on the hard months you can still see real progress.
Every member, resource and replay in one place, open 24/7/365, so you're never working a problem alone.
Holiday parties and appreciation nights, so the owners you work beside become people you truly trust.
Your name on the room, a say in how it runs, and $497 a month for as long as you keep your seat.
Want your full profit assessment, a custom roadmap and an implementation calendar? That's The Profit Roadmap, the next step when you're ready.
This is group coaching, not 1:1 business coaching. Private coaching on Craig's calendar is The Profit Advisory, a different program.
The tribe you're joining
Not chasing lambos.
Chasing FREEDOM.
We call ourselves ProfitWarriors.
A ProfitWarrior is an owner who fights for profit so the business stops taking the hours that belong to their family. We tell the truth about what it's costing us, at work and at home, and we don't let the owner next to us lie about it either. A giver's heart, with a warrior's posture. Most owners will keep grinding alone. ProfitWarriors won't.
At work, at home, and in yourself. You can finally name it, and you can't unsee it.
More hours won't fix it. You admit it's real, it's yours, and you're ready to change.
Every month, with the room watching, until the new way becomes how you run things.
The business pays you and your time is yours. Then you pull the next owner out.
Rooted in Alexandria
This is our town too.
Chamber members, and a Chamber ambassador
Laughlin Business Advisors is a member of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, and Jessica serves as a Chamber ambassador.
Helped launch it. Serves as its president.
Craig helped launch the BNI Super NOVA chapter and serves as its president. It meets Wednesdays at 9:00 AM in Falls Church.
The Council isn't a referral group. If referrals are what your business needs, ask Craig about visiting Super NOVA. If your category has an open seat, you're welcome.
One table. A growing network.
30 seats at your table. A network across Northern Virginia.
30 seats, in person
The monthly Council meets here in Alexandria, capped at 30, so every owner is known by name and nobody hides in a crowd.
Every hub, one community
As new hubs open across Northern Virginia, their owners join the same community and workshop, so your network keeps growing.
Alexandria is the first hub. Its members are the first in the network.
Your seat
30 seats. Join early and pay less, for life.
The first three seats are $497 a month, the next 12 are $597, and the last 15 are $797. Whatever you join at is yours for as long as you keep your seat.
30 seats in Alexandria. When they're gone, the room closes.
$497/month
or $4,473 a year
The lowest price, ever
- Locked for life, as long as you keep your seat
- Your name on the room as a founding member
- A say in how the Council runs from day one
- An honest review from you at 90 days, good or bad
$597/month
or $5,373 a year
In before it fills
- Everything in the room, from your first month
- Answers within one business day, all year long
- Your price locked for as long as you keep your seat
- No contract, no joining fee, and you can cancel any month
$797/month
or $7,173 a year
A room in motion
- Everything in the room, from your first month
- Answers within one business day, all year long
- No contract, no joining fee, and you can cancel any month
- At seat 30, Alexandria closes and a waitlist opens
How to claim your seat
Apply today. Take your seat this month.
Apply
Applying is free. Tell us about your business and the one thing you want help with first.
Craig reviews it
He checks that you own the business, that your industry is open and that you're local.
Claim your seat
Pay your first month to lock your price. No contract, no joining fee, and you can cancel any month.
Your first Council
Bring the one thing keeping you up at night, and watch the room get to work on it with you.
The Council guarantee
If nothing moves, the room comes to you.
Show up, post your Monthly Scorecard, and do the one thing you commit to. If three months pass and none of your four scorecard numbers has improved (revenue, profit, leads and closed sales), the group goes to work on you.
You get the hot seat at every meeting, and Craig answers your posts first, until one improves, for up to three meetings. The remedy is more of the room, never money back, because more of the room finishes the work.
No contract and no joining fee. If it isn't for you, cancel it yourself.
Month to month, so you're never locked in longer than a month.
The price of the seat you take is yours for as long as you keep it.
Miss two in a row and Craig calls. Miss three and your seat opens.
Who this room is for
Owners only. Owners who are ready.
A giver's heart and a warrior's posture.
We only work with owners who are accountable for their own work. We can't promise you a result, and we won't. What we promise is a room that shows up for you when you show up for it.
This is you
- You own the business or co-own it, and make the final call on its money. Independent agents and reps count too.
- Your business is in or near Alexandria, and you can be in the room with us in person once a month.
- You're open and have customers, and the business is taking far more of your life than it should.
- You'll tell the truth about your business and about what it's really costing you and your family.
- You'll do the one thing you said you'd do, and come back the next month to report either way.
Start somewhere else
- You haven't opened yet. Start in The Anti-Franchise, our room for owners just getting started.
- You're on the owner's payroll. Managers, employees and salaried reps aren't eligible, so send the owner this page.
- You want private 1:1 coaching. That's The Profit Advisory, a different program at a different price.
- You can't get to a room once a month. The Profit Room teaches the same levers online for $97 a month.
- You're here to sell to the room. Nobody in here is your lead, and pitching members costs you your seat.
Questions owners ask
Before you apply.
What is "the room"?
It's our name for the Alexandria Council, a group of local business owners. You meet in person once a month to work through real challenges together. You join a live training online once a month. And every day in between, you can learn, ask and work with each other in a private community. Everything happens together, as a group.
Is this a mastermind?
Yes, a working one. Some people call it a peer advisory group. Once a month the Alexandria owners meet in person and work on each other's real challenges at the table, with Craig facilitating as a fellow owner rather than lecturing from the front. Add the live training online each month and the private community every day in between, and it's a mastermind that does the work together instead of trading stories.
You're a certified coach. Why say coaching is dead?
Because coaching as most owners know it is one coach on a weekly or every-other-week call, who only knows what you tell them. It can help, but it's one point of view. Craig still coaches. He does it where it works best: live trainings you can replay, answers the whole community learns from, and a room full of owners who see what one coach can't.
How do I reach Craig, and how fast?
Post in the community or message him directly. The community is open to you 24/7/365. Craig answers within one business day, and sometimes records a short video reply. Evenings, weekends and holidays are his family time, so he may reply then, but his promise is one business day. This is group coaching, not 1:1 business coaching. That's The Profit Advisory.
What's a "profit lever"?
A specific part of your business you can adjust to make more profit, like your prices, your costs, your offer or how you follow up with customers. There are more than 40. Each month's training goes deep on one, but in the room and the community we coach on whatever you need, when you need it. If the training is on leads and you ask about pricing, you still get the answer.
What's a hot seat, and do I have to take one?
For part of each meeting, one owner asks the whole room to work on one problem. It's volunteer only. No one is put on the spot unless they ask. Everyone else still gets help with their own business at a small table.
Can a manager, an employee or a sales rep join?
Not if they're on someone else's payroll. Every seat belongs to someone who makes the final call on the money. Independent agents and reps are welcome: if you run your own book of business under a brokerage or a brand, pay your own expenses and keep what's left, you're an owner here.
Is this a referral group like BNI?
No. There are no referral quotas and no referral fees, and nobody sells to the room. Members do team up on joint ventures, events and shared leads, but only when both sides want to.
I don't want to open up in front of people who might know my customers.
That's the right worry, and it's why the rules come first. One business per industry, no member who is a paid vendor to another, a signed confidentiality agreement, and nothing recorded in the meeting. Craig checks your industry before your first Council, so you never sit in the room and then hear no.
What if I have to miss a meeting?
One a year, no explaining. Miss two in a row and Craig calls you. Miss three in a year and your seat goes to the next owner on the waitlist. The workshop replay is always there.
What if it isn't for me?
Then leave. It's month to month with no contract and no joining fee, and you can cancel it yourself any month. There are no refunds. Instead of money back, our guarantee gives you more of the room when you do the work and nothing has moved.
Why do the first seats cost less?
The first three seats are founding seats at $497 a month, locked for as long as those members keep their seat. The next 12 are charter seats at $597, and the last 15 are $797. Whatever price you join at stays yours, and if you cancel and come back later, you return at the price of whatever seat is open then.
Will there be other locations?
Yes. Alexandria is the first Council hub, and more are planned across Northern Virginia, each capped at 30 seats in person. Every hub shares one online community and one monthly workshop, so as new hubs open, your network of owners grows with them.
Where and when does it meet?
The workshop is online the first Thursday of every month. The Council meets in the third week, on the same weekday each month. It starts on Zoom, then moves to our conference room at 950 North Washington Street, Alexandria, until the room outgrows it.
It was never about effort
You were never supposed to carry this alone.
The people you built this for are still there. So is the owner you were on the day you opened. You've been carrying it alone. In the room, you carry it together, and the people at home get the rest of you back.
You built this for your family. Don't let it keep you from them.
$497/month, for life while you keep your seat
- Stop carrying the business alone
- Know exactly what to fix first
- Get answers within one business day
- Follow through, with backup
- The lowest price, for life