Simplifying business. Built around life.
Hands-on consulting for service business owners who want clearer finances, stronger systems, and a business that runs without constant owner involvement.
Craig Attkisson
Craig Attkisson is the founder of Rough Patch Consulting and a lifelong operator in the service industry, with more than 30 years of hands-on experience building, leading, and scaling service-based businesses. His career began early, working as a child on a family seasonal choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm, then expanded after college into golf course operations and ultimately the landscape industry.
Over the decades, Craig has worked in nearly every role a service business offers out in the field, managing crews, pricing work, serving customers, building systems, and leading teams. Most recently, he helped grow and operate a multi-million-dollar landscape company, where he was deeply involved in financial strategy, organizational structure, operations, and leadership development. He understands firsthand the pressure of payroll, staffing challenges, pricing decisions, and being the person everything runs through.
Rough Patch Consulting was created from that lived experience, not theory. Craig works with established service business owners who are successful on paper but feel stretched thin, overly involved, or stuck in the day-to-day. His work focuses on financial clarity, operational structure, and leadership systems that reduce chaos and owner dependency.
Just as importantly, Craig practices what he teaches. Today, his business is structured to support his life, not consume it. He works remotely for extended periods from his cabin in West Virginia and takes two month-long trips each year while the business continues to operate. That freedom didn’t happen by accident; it was built intentionally through clear finances, strong systems, and leadership structures that hold.
Craig believes the goal of ownership isn’t just growth, it’s freedom. Freedom to step away, think clearly, and live well while the business continues to perform. Through Rough Patch Consulting, he brings practical insight, steady accountability, and real-world perspective to help owners build businesses that truly work for them through the rough patches and beyond.
Knowledge Base:
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Aspire
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Service Autopilot
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Dyanascape Manage
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WordPress/Beaver Builder
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Excel/Google Sheets
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Word/Google Docs
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QuickBooks Desktop/QBO
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Gmail
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Budgeting and Forecasting
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Level 10 meetings
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Pandadoc
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Calendly
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Zoom
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AI (ChaGPT, Claude)
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Bill.com
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SystemHub...System Building
Ready to take the first step?
The Kind of Help I Wish I Had Sooner (A MUST READ)
This is "My Why", The reason I started Rough Patch Consulting.
Running a landscaping business can sometimes feel like steering a submarine with the periscope barely above the water. From the outside, things may look strong: revenue is growing, the team is bigger, and work keeps coming in. But inside the business, it often feels messy. Every day brings another round of decisions for the landscape business owner: pricing,...(2-minute read)
Clarify
Understand what’s really happening in the business and where the biggest leverage points are.
Design
Build financial and operational systems that support growth and reduce chaos.
Execute
Implement consistently so progress actually holds.
Services I Provide
What Working Together Looks Like
This is not coaching from a distance.
We meet weekly via Zoom and work directly on the decisions, systems, and priorities that will move your business forward.
Each session follows a structured agenda so conversations stay focused and productive.