Where Business Owners Get Better at Decisions

Ask the CFO

Join Fractional CFO Lowell Mora and experienced operators for live, practical conversations on the financial and operational decisions that actually move your business forward.

Live on Zoom | 1st & 3rd Tuesdays | Open Q&A included

Apply to Be A Guest

Where Business Owners Get Better at Decisions

I'm Lowell Mora, a fractional CFO. Over the past 30-plus years I have worked inside privately held and family-owned businesses, advising companies ranging from $5 million to over $100 million in revenue across manufacturing, construction, and industrial services.

Ask the CFO is a live, twice-monthly conversation where owners, operators, and finance leaders work through the financial and operational decisions that actually move a business forward. Not more theory. Not more information. Better decisions.

How Each Session Works

Each session runs about an hour and follows the same simple structure, so you always know what you are walking into.

Focused topic (about 15 minutes). I open with a practical breakdown of one real issue. No slides full of jargon. Just a clear look at what matters and why.
Guest conversation. I bring in an experienced operator or advisor to talk through what is actually working, what is not, and what they have learned doing the work. These are unscripted conversations, not presentations.
Open Q&A. This is the part that makes it worth showing up live. Bring your situation. We will talk through it together.

When: 1st and 3rd Tuesdays Time: 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET Where: Live on Zoom. The link is sent after you register.

Can't make it live? Register anyway. I send replays to everyone on the list, so you can catch the conversations you miss.

This is the room you want to be in

Most business leaders I talk to are not short on information. They are short on clarity. There is no shortage of dashboards, advice, or opinions. What is missing is a clear way to think through the decision in front of them, and the confidence to act on it.

That is what these sessions are for.

Better businesses are built through better decisions, not more information. Every session is grounded in real situations, real numbers, and the way experienced operators actually think. We talk about cash flow, margin, pricing, team structure, growth, and risk in plain language, and we talk about how to make the call. Clarity creates confidence.

This is the room for you if:

You are making decisions that carry real weight, and you want a clearer way to approach them.
You value how other operators think, not just what they did.
You would rather have practical perspective than another framework.
You want access to experienced voices you can actually ask questions to, live.

These conversations are for operators, not observers.

Register for Upcoming Sessions:

Ask the CFO: The Practical Playbook for Putting AI to Work in Your Business

Most business owners aren't short on AI tools. They're short on a plan for using them.

Join us for a conversation with Dolores Hirschmann, Fractional CMO and Business Strategist at Masters in Clarity, on how to actually streamline your business with AI instead of just experimenting with it.

We'll cover:

Where AI can genuinely create and automate processes in your business, not just answer questions
What AI is worth using for right now, and what it's not
What you should never hand off to AI, and why that line matters
How to evaluate new AI tools without chasing every new release
How to keep up with what's changing without losing focus on what's working
How to make your team and your workplace more efficient without losing control of quality or judgment

This isn't a tools demo. It's a practical look at how to put AI to work inside your business the right way.

About Dolores Hirschmann

Dolores Hirschmann is an investor, strategist, speaker, and founder of Masters in Clarity, a strategy and business coaching firm that helps service professionals grow their businesses, establish thought leadership, and consistently attract clients by closing the gap between their expertise and their buyers.

A former TEDx organizer, Dolores specializes in positioning experts, authors, consultants, and coaches for success. She recently sold a company to Pete Vargas and Grant Cardone, supporting its growth to multiple eight figures in four years, and built a software platform to help speakers get placed on stages. Masters in Clarity also provides fractional CMO services to help companies design and execute marketing initiatives and implement automated systems. As an investor, Dolores acquires and scales small businesses with an eye toward long-term legacy and growth.

Tuesday, August 4 · 11am – 12pm EDT

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Ask the CFO: Cultivating Fulfillment -- Why It Comes First with Diana Patel

Most high-achieving business leaders have hit a moment where they stop and ask: "Is this it?"

Not because something is wrong. But because success, on its own, does not always feel like enough. The revenue is there. The team is growing. The milestones are getting checked off. And yet something feels unresolved.

That feeling has a name. And understanding it changes how you lead, how you decide, and how you show up for the people depending on you.

In this session of Ask the CFO, Lowell Mora will be joined by Diana B. Patel, Founder and President of Resonant LLC, to explore what fulfillment actually means in the context of business leadership -- and why it is the foundation that makes success and happiness worthwhile, not the reward that comes after.

The conversation will explore:

Why fulfillment is not an if-then equation and what that means for how you lead
How a lack of fulfillment shows up in decision-making, team dynamics, and business performance
What it looks like to build a business that aligns with your core values, not just your goals
How senior leaders and CFOs can cultivate fulfillment even in high-pressure, high-stakes environments
The connection between purpose, executive presence, and long-term impact
Practical ways to reconnect with meaning when the day-to-day pulls you away from it

This will be a candid, grounded conversation for business owners, senior leaders, and finance professionals who want to lead at a higher level -- not just perform at one.

As always, Ask the CFO is interactive and conversational, with plenty of room for questions and discussion.

About Diana B. Patel

Diana B. Patel, MBA, is the Founder and President of Resonant LLC, where she designs immersive learning and coaching experiences that help leaders expand their perspective, reconnect with purpose, and sharpen executive intuition.

With over 20 years of experience in leadership development, Diana partners with senior leaders through one-on-one coaching, keynote speaking, and workshops focused on translating insight into practice and performance. Earlier in her career, she co-founded a biotechnology company, working across disciplines with physicians, engineers, lawyers, biologists, and investors -- an experience that continues to shape her systems-oriented approach to leadership and decision-making.

Diana writes about business, leadership, and meaningful work and serves on the board of a nonprofit organization in the Chicago area. Her mantra for business and life: "We are better together."

www.dianapatel.com

Tuesday, August 18 · 11am – 12pm EDT

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Ask the CFO: If Your Marketing Isn't Generating Revenue, Here's Why with Dolores Hirschmann

Most businesses aren't struggling because of a bad product or weak service.

They're struggling because the people who need them most can't tell what they do, who it's for, or why it matters. The gap between expertise and buyer isn't a sales problem. It's a clarity problem. And it's costing businesses more than they realize.

In this session of Ask the CFO, Lowell Mora will be joined by Dolores Hirschmann, founder of Masters in Clarity, to talk about what's actually working in marketing right now and what most businesses are getting wrong.

The conversation will explore:

Why so many businesses struggle to clearly communicate their value, and what to do about it
The connection between clarity, trust, and consistent revenue growth
What's actually working in marketing right now for small to mid-sized businesses
How fractional professionals and advisors can stand out in a crowded market
Positioning and messaging strategies that support real revenue, not just visibility
What business owners are getting wrong about marketing right now
How to bridge the gap between deep expertise and the buyers who need it

This will be a practical, business-focused conversation for owners, operators, and fractional professionals who want their marketing to work harder without adding complexity.

As always, Ask the CFO is interactive and conversational, with plenty of room for questions and discussion.