Welcome to Ironclad
Your Business Is Strong. Let’s Make It Ironclad.
Strategic advisory for trade-service business owners who want clarity, control, and a business built to last.
Welcome to Ironclad
Ironclad Goal
Growth outpaces structure. Owners stay trapped in decision-making. Advisors operate in silos. Taxes rise. Complexity compounds.
Ironclad exists to fix that.
Not just to grow—but to grow with intention.
We help you:
Our Team
Clients often find the engagement pays for itself through tax savings, operational improvements, and increased business value.
Co-Founder
Brad Carrier is a Marine Corps veteran who works alongside trade-service business owners in construction, landscaping, site development, manufacturing, and other hands-on industries. His focus is helping owners protect what they have built, strengthen cash flow, reduce unnecessary tax exposure, and create a clear path toward long-term stability and eventual exit.
Family comes first in Brad’s life. He is a devoted husband to his wife Francys and a proud father of five children, Rylee, Arlo, Harper, Eleanor, and Georgia. As a Christian, Brad believes business should serve the family, not replace it. That conviction shapes how he helps owners build companies that provide freedom, security, and time with the people who matter most.
Brad enjoys both saltwater and freshwater fishing, golfing, and firearms training. He is also a lifelong car enthusiast and takes pride in his Shelby GT350. Ironclad Advisory Group takes its name from Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another,” reflecting Brad’s belief in accountability, discipline, and sharpening one another through honest counsel.
Co-Founder
Ryan Smith works with trade-service business owners to bring clarity, structure, and confidence to the financial side of their businesses. He helps owners understand where they stand today, how to grow enterprise value, and how to build a business that lasts beyond them.
Ryan is a Christian, a devoted husband to his wife Sarah, and a father to three children, Phoenix, Logan, and Avery. His faith and commitment to family guide his long-term mindset and the way he serves business owners. He believes a well-built business should create stability at home and allow owners to be present for their families, not constantly pulled away by chaos or uncertainty.
Outside of work, Ryan enjoys both saltwater and freshwater fishing and has a deep appreciation for precision engineering and performance vehicles. He is an enthusiast of classic BMWs and high-end Honda Type R models, valuing craftsmanship, reliability, and discipline. Ironclad’s foundation in Proverbs reflects Ryan’s belief that strong businesses are built through integrity, accountability, and sharpening one another over time.
We think independently so our clients can act confidently. Our guidance is grounded in objective analysis and sound judgment, not groupthink, incentives, or outside pressure. We challenge assumptions, ask the hard questions, and provide clear perspectives so our clients can make informed decisions with confidence.
Clear communication builds trust. We believe responsiveness is a sign of respect and professionalism. We communicate early, clearly, and consistently, ensuring our clients are never left guessing. When questions arise or conditions change, we address them promptly and transparently.
We take responsibility from start to finish. We don’t pass the buck or disappear after advice is given. We take ownership of outcomes, follow through on commitments, and remain accountable through execution. If our name is on it, we see it through.
Integrity is not optional.Our advice cannot be bought, influenced, or compromised. We avoid conflicts of interest, disclose risks openly, and refuse to lower standards for convenience or gain. Every recommendation is made through one filter: what best serves the client, long-term.
Why Choose Us
Financial advisors focus on investments. Neither is responsible for the whole business.
We align tax strategy, financial performance, risk, operations, and exit planning—so every decision builds long-term enterprise value.
We coordinate your CPA, attorney, banker, insurance partners, and investment team so you can lead the business instead of running herd on professionals.
Intentional tax strategy, cleaner operations, and smarter capital decisions reduce drag and increase cash flow—money that stays in the business and in your pocket.
Get Started
Ironclad’s proprietary framework for turning operating businesses into valuable assets.
It mirrors how real companies are built and sold.
If you’re a successful business operator doing between 10-100M+ in Revenue and plan to exit within 5-7 years Click the Button Below
Trade-service businesses from ~$3M to $100M+ in revenue
Owners tired of wearing every hat
Leaders who want the business to run without them
Builders who want options, not obligations
Ironclad works through a fixed monthly advisory relationship.
Clients often find the engagement pays for itself through tax savings, operational improvements, and increased business value.
FAQs
Ironclad is a fractional family office built specifically for business owners in the trades. We help you clean up the financial side of your business, optimize profits, reduce taxes, protect assets, build systems that scale, and make sure you are growing toward an eventual exit, not just grinding day to day. Think of us as the team that helps you run the business you thought you were building when you started, not the one that is constantly pulling you into firefighting mode.
We work shoulder to shoulder with you to maximize business value, increase cash flow, drive efficiency, and ultimately help you build a company that is positioned to sell for a premium.
Business owners who are already successful but know they cannot afford to level off.
Our clients are usually:
If you are actively building, growing, or preparing your business for a future sale, you will fit right in.
Because we are not just checking boxes or filing taxes. We are looking at your entire business ecosystem and building strategy around it.
CPAs look backward.
Financial advisors look at investments.
We look at everything. Taxes, growth, risk, wealth, operations, and exit.
Our job is to make sure every professional around you, including your CPA, attorney, insurance rep, banker, and bookkeeper, is rowing in the same direction. Owners love this because it finally feels like they are running a coordinated strategy instead of pieced-together advice from multiple people.
We are hands-on, relationship-based, and we avoid confusing jargon or cookie-cutter packets. Our role is simple. We help you build a more valuable business that generates more cash, pays less in taxes, and becomes easier to run.
Clients consistently tell us:
This is strategic advisory for owners who want to operate at a higher level.
Not at all. We work with growing companies from about 3 million in revenue up to more than 100 million.
What matters is mindset, not size.
If you want to scale, maximize profit, and build a company with real enterprise value, you will benefit from what we do. Smaller companies often see large jumps because they finally get structure, strategy, and clarity.
We keep the process simple.
1. Deep-dive discovery and business mapping
We learn everything about your business including financials, tax structure, systems, people, growth goals, risk profile, and exit timeline.
2. Build your Ironclad Blueprint
You receive an actionable roadmap covering strategy, tax planning, entity structure, financial performance, valuation drivers, operational improvements, and exit readiness.
3. Ongoing advisory and implementation
This is where the big results happen.
We work with you month after month to help execute the plan and coordinate the other professionals in your world.
It is essentially a fractional CFO, strategist, tax planner, and exit advisor wrapped into one relationship.
Every business is different, but most clients see:
We focus on building a company that is attractive to buyers, employees, banks, and your future self.
You can reach out for an initial conversation. We want to understand your goals, your challenges, and where you want the business to be in the next few years. If we believe we can help, we will outline what an advisory engagement looks like and how quickly we can get started.
Yes.
Most companies are not ready for an exit even if they think they are. And the best exits are planned years before they happen.
But even if you never plan to sell, a business that is built to sell is simply a better business to own. It forces stronger systems, better financials, improved accountability, and higher profit.
Taxes are one of the biggest barriers to growing wealth. We make sure your structure, compensation, depreciation, investments, real estate, and operations are aligned in a way that legally reduces your tax burden.
We coordinate with your CPA but we do not replace them.
Think of us as the upstream strategic team that helps you take advantage of opportunities before it is too late.
Yes.
These are the strategies most owners never hear about because their advisors are not working together.
We help clients explore:
You do not need to know the rules. You just need a partner who does.
Most owners see clarity and direction immediately.
Financial and operational improvements often show up within 90 to 180 days depending on how quickly the business implements changes.
Valuation gains and tax savings build year after year.
Yes.
One of the biggest problems business owners face is disconnection between their advisors. We act as the quarterback who makes sure every professional is aligned with your goals. You finally get coordination instead of mixed advice and confusion.
If you are experiencing any of the following, the timing is right:
If you are ready to operate like the leader of a high-value company, we are the right fit.
Pricing depends on complexity and the depth of the relationship.
We operate on a fixed monthly consulting fee so you always know what to expect.
There are no surprise hourly charges and no long contracts designed to trap you.
Clients often tell us the fee pays for itself through tax savings, operational improvements, and increased business value.