New Audrey's chapters are in Building Freedom. Get the free workbooks →

Two people. Every part of the business.

Ripplemark does bite-sized consulting for small businesses. We look at the whole picture, start with the small wins that make the biggest impact, and never charge like a Fortune 500 firm.

Book a free 45-minute consultation Get the free Building Freedom workbooks

100% remote, so we work with owners wherever they are. Built for businesses with 49 or fewer employees. No retainers. No 47-page reports that live in a drawer.

Celebrating Building Freedom

Two chapters in Building Freedom. Two free workbooks for you.

You started your business for freedom and somehow became its most overworked employee. Building Freedom: A Roadmap for Women Beginning Their Entrepreneurial Journey collects hard-won lessons from women business owners who have been there. Audrey wrote two of its chapters, and each one comes with a workbook that turns reading into doing.

Fill them out on screen, then print or save them as a PDF. They're yours to keep, whether or not you've read the book yet.

Get the book on Amazon By Tina Johnson and Angela Goodman, featuring chapters by Audrey Alford

Chapter workbook

Your Brand Is Showing

Tie your brand to your bottom line

Your brand is not your logo, and it is definitely not the brand guide you paid for and opened once. It's the experience people have with your business in the wild. This workbook shows you whether that experience is making you money or quietly costing you.

Get ridiculously specific about your Brand Persona
Find out if your brand is a persona or a costume
Pick the one fix that will do the most for your bottom line

Open the brand workbook

Opens in a new tab. Click "Print / Save as PDF" at the top to download it.

Chapter workbook

Mission, Vision & Values… What Have They Done for You Lately?

Use your MVV to make real business decisions

Most companies write their Mission, Vision, and Values once and hang them on a wall. This workbook puts them to work. The next time someone brings you a complaint or a broken process, run it through these steps and make a decision you can explain to anyone.

Find out if the issue is valid before you react
Test every option against your Mission, Vision, and Values
Follow the rule: if it isn't a clear yes, it's a no

Open the MVV workbook

Opens in a new tab. Click "Print / Save as PDF" at the top to download it.

Sound familiar?

What you ask for isn't always what your business needs.

We kept watching small businesses spend real money fixing the wrong problem. Not because they were careless, but because nobody was looking at the whole picture.

They asked for

A new website

What they needed

A clear message

They asked for

A social media campaign

What they needed

Brand positioning

They asked for

More leads

What they needed

A process to catch the leads they already had

Before you take the next step or spend the next dollar, we make sure you're ready. Fast money rarely leads to longevity.

How it works

Bite-sized, on purpose.

No retainers, no lock-in, and we'll never charge you for something you can do yourself. Every meeting happens online, so it doesn't matter where your business is.

Free · 45 minutes

The Consultation

We talk about your business, where it hurts, and whether we're the right fit. No pitch deck. Just a real conversation.

2 hours

The Diagnostic Interview

We dig into your foundation: money, people, marketing, and systems. Missing a few numbers? That's okay. It tells us something too.

Within 10 business days

Your Roadmap & Small Wins

You get a clear roadmap with DIY how-tos for the small wins that make the biggest impact. Then we walk through it together.

Only if it makes sense

Contract by Contract

If you love us and we love you, we tackle the bigger pieces one contract at a time. You stay in charge of your business.

You keep the keys.We build you up so you never have to rely on us to run your business.

You keep your money.If you can do it yourself, we'll show you how instead of billing you for it.

You keep your momentum.Small wins first. Big spending only when your foundation can hold it.

What we do

Every part of running a business, organized around your LEGACY.

Between the two of us, we cover the whole business, from the story you tell to the day you sell. Our LEGACY Framework keeps it all in the right order.

Long-Term Stability

Get the business out of your head and onto solid ground.

Business structureSystems & SOPsProcess improvementBuy/sell agreementsBusiness valuation

Employee Retention

Keep the good people you worked so hard to find.

CultureBenefits reviewsPay & incentivesLeadership trainingChange management

Growth Plan

Know when you're actually ready to grow and what has to be in place first.

BrandingStrategic messagingMission, Vision & ValuesHiring process

Acceleration

Step on the gas once the engine can handle it.

Marketing strategyDigital audits (SEO & AEO)Social media strategyPaid adsGrowth through acquisition

Cash Flow by Design

Stop wondering where the money went. Start telling it where to go.

Cash flow optimizationTax strategyCash balance plansOwner insurance strategies

Your Exit

You get one shot at selling. Plan it right and keep more of what you built.

Exit planningSuccession planningRetirement readinessStabilization

Not sure which letter you're on? That's exactly what the free consultation is for.

Who we work with

Built for Main Street. Any Main Street.

49 or fewer employees. Small enough that the owner still feels every decision.
Three or more years in business. You've proven the idea works. Now it needs to work without you holding it together. (A startup slips through now and then when the timing is right.)
Independent and owner-led. You make the calls, and you want to make better ones.
Anywhere. We work 100% remotely, so your business can be down the road or across the country.

Probably not a fit

Franchises, corporate divisions, and food and beverage businesses. Not because we don't love them, but because other people serve them better than we can.

When work has to change shape

Audrey also works with people whose bodies, minds, or caregiving responsibilities have changed what work can look like. She has been there, and she would love to help you rethink how you support yourself and your family.

Why we do this

When small businesses thrive, towns feel like home.

We've lived in enough places to see it firsthand. The businesses that make a town feel like home are owned by people you know. When they do well, local dollars keep circulating, jobs stay put, and the whole community gets stronger.

We're also living through the biggest wealth transfer in U.S. history. Thousands of owners are nearing retirement with no plan for what happens to their business next. Without one, the doors close and the jobs go with them. Those businesses can be saved, and we want to help save them.

~10,000

baby boomers reach retirement age every day

~46%

of private-sector workers in the U.S. work for a small business

1 shot

at selling the business you spent a lifetime building

Who we are

One sees the story. One sees the numbers.

Together, we see the whole picture without the Fortune 500 invoice.

Audrey Alford

Co-Founder · Business Strategist

I have moved enough times to have a complicated relationship with the word "settled." Born in Oklahoma, raised in Texas, and educated in New Orleans, I was displaced by Hurricane Katrina to Seattle. Since then, I've called Virginia, North Carolina, New York City, Florida, Colorado, Hawaii, and now Tennessee home. Every move taught me how to walk into a new community, figure out how the people work, and find where I can be useful.

In New York, I built a theatre company from the ground up. Annual fundraising grew from $7,500 to $150,000, one production moved to a full Off-Broadway run and became a Time Out New York Critic's Pick, and Playbill featured our inclusive hiring practices. Since then, I've worked in marketing, messaging, and leadership, including cutting one company's turnover from 30% to 8%.

I kept watching businesses fix the wrong problem, so I stopped fixing one piece of the puzzle.

Bobby Alford

Co-Founder · Financial Specialist

I spent a decade as a Nuclear Submarine Officer in the U.S. Navy, then moved into corporate America, earned an MBA in Finance, and became General Manager of a $60 million P&L at a Fortune 50 company. I grew the New York market from negative $750,000 to positive $3.5 million in 18 months, and I sat at the table for acquisitions ranging from six to nine figures. I know how deals are built, how value is judged, and what happens to owners who show up unprepared.

I also know it personally. I grew up in an entrepreneurial family and watched my father go from a seven-figure net worth to broke overnight. At 16, I gave up football to get a job and help pay the rent.

I don't want that to happen to anybody else.

In their words

What it's like to work with us.

Audrey has a unique ability to diagnose exactly what a business needs, cutting through the noise to provide actionable, high-impact strategies. Whether it is her focus on small wins that lead to long-term stability or her thoughtful approach to financial health, she clearly understands how to help small businesses thrive without the overwhelming overhead of traditional in-house consulting. I cannot recommend her and her team highly enough!

Clay TysonOwner and Consultant, Creative Strategies Consulting

Audrey's expertise helped us implement a new operating system and rhythm to organize our leadership team. We now have a structure from which to build. Her human resources knowledge ensured that our new policies and procedures were compliant and promoted the culture of our organization.

Leadership clientSmall business leadership team

She has a knack for seeing the big picture when you miss it. She sent me a worksheet that teased out what I wanted to do. Then she worked me through the big concepts to small bite-size goals. It helped me focus and work smartly through my plan.

Small business ownerTen-year business goals

She really took the time to listen and understand what I wanted to say and helped me turn it into something that felt clear and authentic while not losing me or my voice. She's honest in her feedback yet respectful of your direction and decisions.

Lauren LumMessaging client

Audrey has helped me move forward and developed me into the leader I am today. She streamlined our HR department, putting the proper practices and procedures in place for us to thrive.

Team memberFukuji & Lum

Free consultation

Let's find out what your business actually needs.

Grab 45 minutes on our calendar. It's free, it happens over video, and you'll walk away with something useful whether we work together or not.

Tell us what's keeping you up at night
We ask a lot of questions (it's our favorite part)
You get an honest read on whether we're the right fit
If we're not, we'll tell you who might be

Booking calendar coming soon

In the meantime, send us a note, and we'll find a time that works.

Send us a message

Get in touch

Not ready to book? Just say hello.

Every message comes straight to Audrey. She reads each one and will point you in the right direction, even if that direction isn't us.

Prefer email? [email protected]

Your business doesn't need more noise. It needs a clear next step.

Start with the free workbooks or start with a conversation. Either way, you'll know more about your business than you did this morning.

Book a free consultation Get the free Building Freedom workbooks