About EmpowerPath and Richard Kotulecki
Most of the owners I work with have built something real. A business they’re proud of, a reputation they’ve earned, a team that depends on them. And at some point, without quite knowing how it happened, it got harder to run than it should be. The profit isn’t where it needs to be. The same problems keep coming back. And too much depends on them personally to fix it.
That’s the point at which most people call me.
I’m Richard Kotulecki, and I’ve spent the last 25 years doing one thing: walking into organisations that aren’t working properly, finding out what’s really causing it, and fixing it.
My role is to help make sense of what’s really going on and fix the causes, not just the symptoms.
For 25 years I’ve worked in organisations under serious pressure, in environments where failing customers had immediate, serious, and in some cases life-threatening consequences. That level of diagnostic rigour, knowing that finding the real cause isn’t optional, transfers directly to any service business facing the same pressure.
Five times I’ve stepped in as CEO or Director of organisations in serious trouble, losing contracts, losing income, and running out of road. In each case the work started in the same place: not with the finances, not with the structure, but with what customers were actually experiencing. That’s where the truth always lives.
The outcomes from that work are specific and measurable. A 25% increase in revenue at one organisation. A two thirds increase in income at another, achieved by rebuilding relationships with the people and organisations paying for the service, from the ground up. Improved customer outcomes alongside lower costs at a third. These weren’t achieved by adding complexity or importing frameworks. They were achieved by getting clear on what was actually broken and fixing it, properly, with the people already inside the business.
Who I work with
I work with service businesses in the £1m to £5m turnover range. Typically owner-led. Often operationally excellent at the core of what they do, but stretched by growth, complexity, or too many decisions falling to the same person.
In certain territories, primarily across Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, I work in alliance with A Head of Time, bringing additional capability to larger or more complex engagements.
How I work
My approach is called the EmpowerPathway. It starts with what customers are actually experiencing, not what the owner hopes they’re experiencing, and works back through the business from there. It’s not a framework imposed from outside. It’s a structured way of finding the real problem and fixing it properly, with the people inside the business doing the work alongside me, not watching from the sidelines.
No off-the-shelf solutions. No reports that sit on shelves. No advice from a distance.
Sound familiar?
If any of this sounds familiar, if the business you’ve built is starting to feel like it’s running you rather than the other way round, the best next step is a conversation. Not a sales call. Just an honest discussion about what’s going on and whether I can help.