I founded TrailBlazer Company in 2003 as a Florida corporation to develop practical business applications for some innovative mechanical technology just then becoming available from a Canadian inventor. The effort was successful, and the new business was sold to investors. Since then, I have used TrailBlazer Company to provide business consulting services separate from my Florida law firm.

My consulting work does not involve giving legal advice, although I do frequently work with lawyers representing the consulting client. I sometimes help the client locate appropriate legal counsel and always teach the client how to obtain top quality legal work at the best price, based on my negotiation of attorneys’ fee agreements over my 28 years of law practice in complex corporate transactions and litigation.

"Consulting" is a term without a precise meaning. Mostly, I am a problem solver. Often I am called on to analyze a business operation to identify a problem that is not fully understood by management, and then to work with management to eliminate it. Sometimes I am simply asked to put a new set of eyes on a business that is functioning, but that the owner would like to be doing better.

I have done start-ups, reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, generational transitions, asset sales, stock sales, and everything in between, including:

• Find investment capital and financing
• Negotiate or renegotiate loan contracts and notes
• Conduct market research and campaign roll-outs
• Design Web sites and email marketing campaigns
• Negotiate advertising contracts
• Develop and implement revenue growth strategies
• Cost control and recovery
• Negotiate or renegotiate vendor contracts
• Negotiate or renegotiate customer contracts
• Develop tax reduction strategies
• Human resource management
• Training program development
• Mentoring
• Personal coaching
• Trouble-shooting
• Plan and manage transfer to next generation
• Exit planning

The ultimate goal is to improve the bottom-line profit of the business for a given level of time, effort and money spent by the owners. Sometimes more free time or less aggravation is more important to the owners than more money. If that is the case, that becomes the goal.

If necessary to get the job done, I partner with other professionals with expertise specific to the assignment.