About Ward Advisory
Financial leadership built from real operating experience
Ward Advisory was founded by Tanner Ward to bring rigorous economic analysis to established med spas and aesthetic practices: where profit and cash go, why, and what should change.
The founder
Tanner Ward
Tanner brings 10+ years of finance and operating experience across healthcare finance at INTEGRIS Health, finance at Amazon, and operating leadership in private lending and fund management.
Each of those settings taught a version of the same discipline: separate what an operation produces from what it actually earns, measure it honestly, and make the next decision on that basis.
Med spas and aesthetic practices need that discipline more than most. The businesses grow quickly, the economics differ sharply by provider and treatment, and the standard financial statements hide most of it.
Ward Advisory keeps a limited number of hands-on advisory relationships, so the person doing the analysis is the person advising on the decision.
Healthcare finance
Service-line financial analysis inside a hospital system at INTEGRIS Health.
Practice economics are service-line economics: which treatments, providers, and hours actually earn a return.
Amazon finance
Corporate finance in large-scale operations at Amazon.
Capacity, labor productivity, and unit economics measured rigorously enough to run decisions on.
Private lending and fund management
Operating leadership in private lending and fund management.
Capital allocation discipline: a hire, a device, or a location is an investment that should show a payback case.
How the work is done
Principles
The problem before the tool
Dashboards and models come last. First comes understanding what is actually happening to profit and cash, and why.
Dollars, not adjectives
A problem is sized in dollars before anyone decides whether it is worth fixing. "Margins are a bit low" is not a finding.
Honest about what the numbers can say
Benchmarks are reference points, not verdicts. A gap is a reason to investigate, never a promise of recoverable profit.
Decisions, not reports
Every analysis should change a decision about pricing, staffing, compensation, capacity, or capital. Otherwise it is documentation.
Published thinking
From the Financial Library
- The Med Spa Financial Operating System: A CFO Framework for $1M-$10M+ PracticesYou get reports every month but no clear decision comes out of them.
- Why Your Highest-Producing Injector May Not Be Your Most ProfitableYour top-producing injector may not be your most profitable one.
- Med Spa Break Even Analysis: How Many Appointments You Need Per Month (and Why Most Owners Get the Math Wrong)You are booking what you think is break-even and still losing money.
- Med Spa Cash Flow vs Revenue: Why Busy Owners Run Out of Cash Even When ProfitableThe practice is profitable on paper, but cash is always tight.
Start with the financial question in front of you.
A Strategy Call is a working conversation about where the practice is today and what you are trying to change.