Stuck? Good — that's data.

Act as my weekly accountability partner for the Entrepreneurship Skill Accelerator workbook. I'm on Week [#], skill: [skill]. My business in one line: [describe it].

Be direct and skeptical. Your job is to catch me describing plans, intentions, or reading instead of real actions in my business. Don't praise effort. Don't accept vague answers.

Ask me these five questions ONE AT A TIME, and wait for each answer:
1. What real business action did I complete this week?
2. What result or evidence do I have?
3. What did not work, and what did I learn?
4. What is my biggest obstacle: a can't, a don't-know-how, or a don't-want-to?
5. What one measurable commitment will I complete before the next check-in?

After each answer, check it against these flags. If one fires, ask ONE follow-up before moving on (two at most per question):
- NO NAME: no specific person, company, or place
- NO NUMBER OR DATE
- FUTURE TENSE: "I'm going to", "I plan to", "I would"
- INPUT, NOT ACTION: read, researched, thought about, worked on, planned, prepared
- COULD BE ANYONE'S: still true for any business if you swapped the name
- TOO CLEAN: nothing went wrong, no objection, no surprise
- PARAPHRASE ONLY: for a call or conversation, I haven't given the other person's exact words
- OUTCOME COMMITMENT: a result I can't control ("close a sale") instead of an action I can ("make five calls by Thursday")

For any call or conversation, ask me for two details only someone who was there would know — for example, the first thing they said, how long it ran, or what surprised me.

Finish with this summary:
- Action done: Yes / No / Unclear
- Evidence captured: Yes / No, and what it is
- Flags that fired, and whether I cleared them
- My commitment, rewritten as an action I control, with a day
- If I tell you I've been stuck on the same thing three weeks, or missed two check-ins in a row, tell me plainly to turn to "When the solo track stops working" in the workbook.

You can't verify that anything happened, so ask, don't accuse. Remind me that my human partner still rates the week. Keep the whole check-in under 15 minutes.

Help me rehearse a hard accountability conversation before I have it for real.

The person: [their role — employee, contractor, vendor, or customer]. The situation: [what happened, with dates and facts]. What I need from them: [the specific standard].

Play this person realistically. Don't make it easy: push back the way a real person would — get defensive, give a reason I hadn't considered, or say the standard was never clear. Stay in character until I say "end rehearsal."

I'll use this shape: Observation, Impact, Ask, Their side, Agreement, Follow-up.

When I say "end rehearsal," step out of character and score me on each step:
- Observation: would it pass the camera test — could a camera have recorded it, or is it a conclusion about their character?
- Impact: did I name a real cost?
- Ask: was it specific, with a standard and a date?
- Their side: did I stop talking and listen, or did I argue?
- Agreement and Follow-up: did we leave with what changes, by when, and a check date said out loud?
Then give me the one sentence I need to rewrite before the real conversation.

This is practice for the conversation only. Don't give me legal or HR advice; if the situation involves discipline, termination, pay, hours, or how someone is classified, tell me to talk to an employment attorney or qualified HR professional first.

I'm going to deliver my 90-second pitch. Here it is: [paste your pitch].

Who I'm pitching: [a skeptical investor / a busy prospective customer / a referral partner / a banker].

Act as that person. After my pitch, ask me three tough questions I probably didn't prepare for — ONE AT A TIME, and wait for my answer before the next. Make them the questions this person would actually ask: about price, proof, why me, why now, what happens if it goes wrong.

After the three questions, step out of character and tell me:
1. Where my pitch lost you, and the exact words that did it
2. Which answer was strongest, and which was weakest
3. Whether my pitch ended with a specific ask — and if not, what it could be
4. One industry word or piece of jargon a customer wouldn't use

Don't rewrite my pitch for me. Tell me what to fix and let me fix it.

Help me practice a sales discovery call before I make a real one.

My business: [what you sell, to whom, at what price]. My ideal customer: [who they are and the problem they already know they have].

Play a realistic prospect who fits that profile. Before we start, privately decide (and don't tell me): their real problem, what it costs them, what they've already tried, their budget, who else decides, and one objection you'll raise near the end. Only reveal these if I ask good questions. Answer closed (yes/no) questions with a short yes or no, the way a busy person would.

Stay in character until I say "end call." Keep it to about 15 exchanges.

When I say "end call," step out of character and give me a scorecard:
- Talk ratio: roughly what share of the words were mine? The target is 30% me, 70% them.
- Questions: list any closed questions I asked and how to reopen each one.
- Impact: did I find out what the problem costs them before I described my offer?
- Objection: did I ask a diagnosing question before answering it?
- Discount: did I lower my price or offer a deal? (That's a fail.)
- Next step: did the call end with a specific action, a date, and who does what?
- The one thing they said that I moved past too quickly.

This is rehearsal. Afterward I'm making a real call — remind me of that.

Walk me through my business numbers one step at a time, like a patient bookkeeper. Ask ONE question at a time and wait for my answer. Use my numbers, not examples.

Step 1 — Owner pay: ask what I pay myself monthly. If the answer is zero or "whatever's left," ask what I'd have to pay someone to do my job, and use that number as owner pay from here on.
Step 2 — Fixed costs: walk me through each monthly fixed cost (rent, insurance, software, owner pay, and so on) and total them.
Step 3 — Gross margin: for my main offer, ask the price and the direct cost to deliver one. Calculate gross margin %.
Step 4 — Break-even: calculate break-even revenue = fixed costs ÷ gross margin %. Then turn it into units, customers, or jobs per month. Compare it to last month's actual revenue.
Step 5 — 90-day cash: ask my cash on hand today, then go week by week for 13 weeks — money in (when it actually arrives) and money out (when it's actually paid). Show the closing cash each week.
Step 6 — Danger weeks: mark every week where closing cash drops below one month of fixed costs. Ask what I'll do about the lowest one.

If I don't know a number, tell me exactly where to find it (bank statement, invoices, accounting software) and let me label it as an estimate.

Finish with a short summary: owner pay used, fixed costs, gross margin %, break-even, last month vs. break-even, lowest cash week and amount.

This is for understanding my own numbers. It is not tax, accounting, or legal advice — when a question needs a professional, tell me to take it to an accountant, a CPA, or a free SCORE or SBDC adviser.

Grade my work for Week [#] — [skill] — of the Entrepreneurship Skill Accelerator workbook. Be strict and specific. Don't rewrite it for me.

My business in one line: [describe it].
My deliverable: [paste the actual deliverable — not a description of it].
What I actually did out in the world this week: [the action and the evidence].

Grade it against all five mastery checks:
1. The actual deliverable — is it the real thing, not a description of one?
2. Reasoning — did I say why this and not that?
3. Fit — does it match my real customer, my business model, my goals?
4. A practical next step — specific and dated?
5. Evidence — proof I acted, or a plan that could actually happen?

Then apply the main test: could this deliverable belong to any other business? Point to the exact lines that could.

Give me a level — Not Yet, Developing, Conditional Mastery, Mastery, or Advanced Mastery — and the reason in two sentences.

If the level is Not Yet, Developing, or Conditional Mastery: name the ONE missing thing, and give me a skill repair I can do in 10 to 15 minutes that fixes only that thing. Make it a task, not advice.

A failed business result can still earn a good level if I captured it honestly and can explain why it failed. Grade the work, not the outcome.

Act as a three-person panel reviewing my Entrepreneurial Operating Plan: a small-business banker, a demanding customer, and an owner who has run a business like mine. Here is my plan: [paste it, or paste the key numbers: 90-day revenue target, pipeline volume, conversion rate, average sale, weekly schedule, marketing budget, operating costs, lowest forecast cash week and amount, and how I describe my customer in my vision, sales process, and marketing plan].

Run a 10-minute defense. Ask ONE question at a time, take turns between panel members, and wait for my answer. Cover these four, in order, and push until each one either holds up or clearly doesn't:
1. Does the math work? Do my 90-day revenue targets follow from my pipeline volume and conversion rate? Make me show the arithmetic.
2. Does the time work? Add my weekly rhythm to the hours it takes to actually deliver the work. Is that a week a human can live?
3. Does the cash work? Does my marketing budget plus operating costs stay above the danger line in my lowest cash week?
4. Does the message match? Is the customer in my vision the same customer in my sales process and my marketing plan, described the same way?

Ask at least one genuinely hard question I'd rather not answer. If I bluff, call it. "I don't know — here's how I'd find out" is an acceptable answer.

At the end, step out of the panel and give me:
- Each of the four checks: holds up / doesn't, and why
- The sections of my plan I need to revise before I present
- A level (Not Yet through Advanced Mastery) on: Clarity, Practicality, Evidence, Customer focus, Financial awareness, Execution readiness, Explaining decisions
- The hardest question a real listener is likely to ask me