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For owners of $1M–$20M service businesses
A Customer, Regulator, or Insurer Is Asking You to Prove Your Cybersecurity. Can You?
Get an independent, board-ready security strategy from an advisor who sells no tools, takes no commissions, and answers to one person. You.
A short application, then a 30-minute call directly with John Barker. No cost, no obligation.
Watch: How I Saved One Client $250,000 a Year, Without Weakening Their Security
A new compliance requirement was about to cost this company an extra $250K every year. Their tech team's answer was to buy more. Here's the approach that protected them for a fraction of the price.
I Take Five of These Engagements at a Time
I deliver every engagement personally, start to finish. There is no junior team and no handoff, which is the entire point, and also the limit. I hold five active engagements at a time. If one of the openings is yours, you work directly with a CISSP-certified advisor who has guided federal contractors, Fortune 500s, and multi-billion-dollar family enterprises, and who teaches NSA-approved cybersecurity courses at the University of Arizona.
What Is the Independent Risk Strategy Engagement?
A fixed-fee engagement, delivered personally, that produces one thing: an independent, board-ready security strategy built around your actual business risks, not a vendor's product catalog. I find where your real exposure is, decide what's worth spending on and what isn't, and hand you a prioritized roadmap your leadership team can act on. Most engagements run about 45 days. The fixed thing is the deliverable, not the calendar.
This Engagement Exists for Two Reasons
One
Because the people currently advising you on cybersecurity, your MSP, your tool vendors, the bundled "vCISO" inside your IT contract, are compensated based on what you buy. That isn't advice, it's sales, however competent or well-meaning they are. You deserve a strategy from someone with no financial stake in the answer.
Two
Because more software is not the same as more security. The win is almost never another tool. It's a clearer picture of where the real risk lives, the discipline to spend only where it matters, and a strategy your board can read without translation. That is what you'll have on the last day of this engagement.
If You're Not Sure Whether Your Security Is Actually Working, That's the Right Reason to Be Here.
Most owners I talk to are in the same position. They've been paying for cybersecurity for years, they trust their IT people, and they still couldn't tell you, in plain English, whether the money is buying real protection or just buying more software. That uncertainty isn't a sign you've done something wrong. It's a sign you've never had an independent voice in the room. That's what this engagement is.
What People I've Worked With Say
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
John has been our vCIO resource for over 8 years now. As the lead accountant for a prominent family in N.VA worth multiple 9 figures it is important to have someone like John that not only understands the technology and security needed to protect our assets but also the business side.
- Amy Roberts, Former Lead Accountant for a Prominent N.VA Family
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I have had the privilege of knowing and working with John Barker for 17 years. His business solutions are both thoughtful and practical. He is a life learner, so I know when I work with John, I am getting the latest thinking across the industry of thought leaders. His tools and templates have provided me with realistic and practical prompts to get started on various projects.
- Cara Parker, President, CParker Consulting
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
The technology information and connections John has allowed us to make a quick go/no-go decision on key directions of the business.
- Rialand Jones, Owner, Lammar Marie
Ready to Find Out If This Engagement Is Right for You?
What You Get
The Three Phases of the Engagement
Phase 1
Business Operations and Real Risk
Most cyber risk assessments analyze your technology. I start with your business. Who you serve, how you make money, what workflows touch sensitive data, and where a real incident would actually hurt. This is the part the tactician's checklist skips, and it's the difference between a generic risk report and a strategy built around what matters to your company specifically.
Phase 2
Technology, Assets, and Actual Utilization
Then we look at what you're already paying for. Asset inventory, tool stack, license counts, and the audit logs that show what's actually being used and what isn't. This is where most engagements find the first real money, security spend on tools no one logs into, capabilities you're paying for twice, and gaps your vendors never mentioned because they didn't sell them. The deliverable is a clear picture of what's working, what's wasted, and what's actually missing.
Phase 3
Your Executive Strategy and Prioritized Roadmap
You finish with one document. A prioritized strategic roadmap, in plain English, that names where your real risks are, where your current security spend is misaligned to those risks, and what to address in what order. It is the analysis you need to decide priorities, not a procurement quote. Your board can read it. Your leadership team can act on it. When you're ready to move on the first priority, you can take the roadmap to your own team, your MSP, or, for clients who want it, I offer ongoing Execution Oversight to drive the work against the strategy. We can discuss what fits when we get there
Want to See If You're a Fit for One of the Five Slots?
What You Walk Away With
- A clear picture of where your real business risk actually lives, separate from what any vendor wants to sell you.
- An honest read on your current security spend: what's working, what's wasted, and what's missing.
- A prioritized 12 to 24-month roadmap your board can read in plain English
- Direct access to a CISSP-certified advisor with no financial stake in your decisions, for the entire engagement.
One Last Thing.
You've read this far. That's not nothing. If you're an owner of a $1M to $20M service business and the case study made sense to you, the next step is a 30-minute conversation, not a contract. You bring the questions. I'll tell you whether this engagement is the right fit for your situation, or whether something else is. Either way, you walk away with a clearer view than you came in with.
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