The 18-month plan to launch the consultancy with conviction. Job hunt is the immediate priority. This roadmap runs in parallel and underneath, so by the time you're settled in Escondido and have CSM income stabilized, the consultancy infrastructure is ready and the first paid engagement is teed up.
The Thesis
The consultancy is not generic regenerative agriculture advisory. It is regenerative agave intelligence for premium spirits supply chains — translating soil biology, ecological data, and on-the-ground practice into operational decisions for distilleries, brands, and producer networks. Narrower wedge, less competition, higher pricing power.
The practitioner-founder positioning is the differentiator. Not a consultant who studied agave from outside. A practitioner who farms his own land, runs his own trials, has his own dataset, partners with a 120-year tequila house, and writes about the work. The depth strategy makes the rates defensible.
Three Layers to Learn
Layer 1 — Technical Depth (the credibility layer)
What a sophisticated client will probe. Cascahuín's agronomist, a brand's sustainability lead, a serious importer doing diligence — these are the people whose questions you need to answer without bluffing.
Soil microbiome interpretation at the literature level. Reading ASV tables, calculating Shannon and Simpson diversity indices, running basic PERMANOVA, explaining why BeCrop functional inferences are taxonomy-based proxies rather than direct measurements. Tooling: phyloseq and vegan in R, or QIIME 2. You don't need to become a microbial ecologist; you need to be able to talk to one without bluffing.
Soil chemistry interpretation beyond the CRT report card. What the numbers mean in context. What limits agave establishment. What indicates active mineralization. The relationship between bulk density and SOC. When calcium availability becomes a constraint. What saturation percentages tell you about water dynamics. A few weeks of focused agronomy reading covers the essentials.
Agave biology and cultivation science. Root systems, mycorrhizal partnerships, water-use efficiency under CAM photosynthesis, fire response, propagation methods, pathogens (marchitez, podredumbre de raíz y corona) and their epidemiology. The 2016 plant-compartment biogeography paper, the 2025 wild/traditional/conventional comparative paper, broader agave literature in Spanish.
Carbon accounting basics. SOC stock calculation (OM percent × bulk density × depth × area). Verification standards (Verra, Climate Action Reserve). Why credits are not your near-term play. How to talk credibly when a client asks "is your work carbon-additional?" without overpromising.
Statistics for small-sample observational studies. What you can and cannot conclude from n=3, n=6, n=12. How to write up findings honestly without overclaiming. The research review documents are a starting point.
Layer 2 — Commercial Fluency (the deal-making layer)
How service contracts in agriculture and consulting actually work. Statement of work structure, deliverables vs. outcomes, milestones, payment terms, termination clauses, IP ownership, confidentiality, non-competes. A startup lawyer for 2–3 hours before your first paid engagement.
Pricing and proposal writing for technical advisory. Structuring a $15K pilot. Scoping an annual retainer. Presenting pricing in a way that signals seriousness without seeming overpriced. Writing a one-page executive summary that converts curious clients into paying ones. Craft that gets better with reps.
The economics of premium agave spirits supply chains. How brands price, where margins live, what cost structures look like, why some producers are price-takers, what importers actually do, what NOM compliance costs. Structural understanding that lets you talk to a brand's CFO without losing them.
Regulatory landscape. CRT for tequila. COFEPRIS for Mexican production licensing. SAGARPA, SEMARNAT for agricultural and environmental compliance. TTB for U.S. import. State-by-state alcohol regulation. Working map for referrals, not expertise.
How research partnerships are structured. Sponsored research agreements, sample agreements, data licensing, IP assignment, publication rights. Needed for both the Biome Makers conversation and the Cascahuín formalization.
Layer 3 — Business Operating System (the "do you actually have a business" layer)
The part most practitioners-turned-consultants underinvest in and then regret.
Mexican legal structure for the consultancy. Persona física vs. SAS de CV vs. U.S. LLC with Mexican client invoicing. Each has tax and liability implications. Bilingual accountant for one consultation answers most.
U.S. tax and entity structure. LLC vs. sole prop, quarterly estimated taxes, deductions, handling income from Mexican clients. U.S. accountant with international clients.
Bookkeeping infrastructure. QuickBooks, Wave, or simple spreadsheet — pick one and use it from the first invoice.
Contracts and templates library. Master service agreement, statement of work, NDA, mutual non-disparagement. Build once, reuse.
Insurance. Professional liability (errors and omissions) for advisory work. General liability for in-person ranch visits.
Time tracking. Even if solo, knowing how many hours each engagement takes is the difference between profitable and underwater. Toggl or similar.
The 18-Month Sequence
Phase 1: Foundation (May – July 2026)
Job sprint dominates. Learning happens at margins.
- Job applications: 3–5 customized per week
- Move to Escondido June 1
- Cascahuín formalization email sent (May)
- Biome Makers stage-gated proposal sent (May)
- Evening reading: agave biology, microbiome methodology. Two textbooks max.
- Identify one statistical/ecological collaborator candidate
- Notion archive maintenance — keep dataset, synthesis, and brand voice pages current
- Goal: signed CSM offer by July 31 ideally, August 31 realistically
Phase 2: Settle (August – October 2026)
Job landed. Move complete. Foundation learning begins in earnest.
- Begin phyloseq/vegan basics — 1 hour 2x/week
- Read 3–5 foundational agave biology papers
- Attend one industry event: Agave Heritage Festival, alternative fall trade gatherings
- Schedule consultations: bilingual Mexican accountant, U.S. accountant with international experience, startup lawyer for contract templates
- Identify Mexican legal structure: persona física vs. SAS de CV decision
- Identify U.S. legal structure: LLC formation if going that direction
- Draft master service agreement template, SOW template, NDA template
- Goal: legal and accounting infrastructure decisions made, contract library drafted
Phase 3: First Engagement (November 2026 – April 2027)
First paid Cascahuín engagement targeted Q1 2027. Learning happens in real client work.
- Cascahuín pilot proposal: $10–20K scope, signed Q1 2027 target
- Statistical collaborator engaged for 2026–2027 BeCrop re-sample analysis
- Set up bookkeeping (QuickBooks or equivalent)
- Set up time tracking (Toggl or equivalent)
- Professional liability insurance secured
- Mexican entity registered if applicable
- U.S. entity formed if applicable
- First trade-facing essay drafted (Punch, SevenFifty Daily, or alternative)
- Three-arm trial: 6-month measurement on 500 blue agave planting
- Goal: first paid engagement signed and underway, business operating system live
Phase 4: Second and Third Engagements (May – October 2027)
Pricing tested in market. Operating system stable. Conviction launch.
- Cascahuín pilot delivered, second engagement scoped
- Two additional client engagements identified — likely premium importer or larger distillery — priced $15–30K each
- First trade-facing essay published
- Second presence at industry event — now as recognized voice in the space
- Three-arm trial: 12-month measurement
- 2026–2027 BeCrop re-sample completed if Biome Makers deal landed
- First peer-reviewed paper drafted (methodology + observational comparative findings)
- Goal: 2–3 paid engagements completed or underway, $30–60K consultancy revenue, conviction-level business in operation
Resource List
Reading (Layer 1):
- Agave biology: 2016 plant-compartment biogeography paper; 2025 wild/traditional/conventional comparative paper; Gentry's Agaves of Continental North America (foundational reference)
- Microbiome methods: published BeCrop validation studies; QIIME 2 documentation; phyloseq tutorials
- Soil chemistry: Brady & Weil The Nature and Properties of Soils (the standard textbook)
- Statistics for small samples: research review document already in Notion
Reading (Layer 2):
- Public NOM-006 documentation (tequila); NOM-070 (mezcal)
- TTB Beverage Alcohol Manual (U.S. import basics)
- Sample sponsored research agreements (publicly available from major universities)
Communities and conferences:
- Agave Heritage Festival (Tucson, May annually)
- Tales of the Cocktail (New Orleans, July)
- Smaller specialty agave events in Mexico City and Oaxaca
- Tequila Interchange Project (TIP) network
People to identify and engage:
- Statistical/ecological collaborator (R, phyloseq, vegan, ANCOM-BC2)
- Bilingual Mexican accountant (Jalisco-based ideally)
- U.S. accountant with international/Mexican client experience
- Startup lawyer for contract templates (one consultation, $500–1,500)
- Insurance broker for professional liability
- A few practitioner peers in the regenerative agriculture and specialty spirits spaces
What "Conviction Launch" Looks Like by October 2027
By month 18, the consultancy is real, has paying clients, has infrastructure, and you have earned the right to call it your business.
Specifically:
- Cascahuín engagement delivered. Second-year retainer scoped or signed.
- 2–3 paid engagements completed or underway across Cascahuín and 1–2 other clients.
- $30–60K in 2027 consultancy revenue (alongside CSM salary still anchoring core income).
- Mexican and U.S. legal structure live and functional.
- Bookkeeping, time tracking, contracts library all in operation.
- One trade-facing essay published.
- Recognized presence at one industry event.
- 2026–2027 BeCrop re-sample landed if Biome Makers deal closed.
- First peer-reviewed paper drafted, possibly submitted.
That's the foundation. By 2028–2029, the consultancy can plausibly support primary income (with CSM as backup or wound down). By 2030+, the consultancy is a $150K–250K annual practice that runs alongside the spirits brand launch.
Maintenance
Review this page quarterly. Update the phase tracking. Add new resource references as you find them. Keep the 18-month horizon in view — don't let the consultancy become a 5-year vague aspiration. The launch is October 2027, not someday.
Established May 2026. Updated as needed.