Andy Mewborn

Distribute

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Founder & Customer Support

Taplio

Co-Founder

Outreach

Enterprise Sales

Sales Engineering Lead

Scaled the early success team to 14 people.

Manager - Customer Success

Early Employee.
Specialties: Data Sync, API, Onboarding, Platform Integrations, Partner Ecosystem

Product 

Start-Up Chile

Our team was selected for Generation 11 of Start-Up Chile (the YC of South America). We provided solar energy services and installed solar power systems.

Gridlee - Co-founder & Sales

Progress Chef

Sales Development Representative

Muhuru Bay Community Microgrid Project

Designed 3kW off-grid power system
Modeled renewable energy resources at remote site
Implemented system in Kenya
Tested and installed 11-channel GSM telemetry system

Electrical Engineer

Seattle City Light

Power Systems Engineer

Distribute.so

I use to be young & cool. Now I do b2b SaaS. 

Husband. Dad. Ironman. Pilot. Taco lover. 

Founder of Distribute // Co-founder of Taplio (acq. by Lemlist) // Early @ Outreach.io.

Creator

A community of over 4,000+ B2B professionals growing together on Linkedin.

• "Brand30 absolutely did wonders for my business." -Maritha Koortzen

• "Brand30 changed the trajectory of my life...To say it’s opening doors for me is an understatement" - Amanda Stern

• "Brand30 provided the group accountability and expert advice I needed to more than double my LinkedIn engagement in just one month" 

🚀 Start Building An Audience Of Potential Buyers On LinkedIn In 30 Days👇

• https://www.brand30.io/

8 months ago, we had 0 users. Today, Distribute.so has 15,000+ users. I’ve helped build a $250M company before, but this feels different.

Building a startup is glamorized on social media. But the reality is messy. Here are the 7 ugly truths about building fast in 2025 that nobody talks about:

1. Hitting a wall is normal 
I've been stuck at revenue plateaus multiple times. It feels terrible. But you can get moving again if you don't freeze.

2. You will mess up 
I've hired the wrong people. I've built the wrong features. I've spent money on things I didn't need. It's part of the game.

3. People will copy you 
We just beat 4 competitors for a deal. They are going to look at our product and copy it. Let them. By the time they copy us, we will be onto the next thing.

4. Saying "No" is painful 
To close those 18 killer logos, we had to say "no" to hundreds of other ideas. It hurts to say no to customers. But if you try to please everyone, you please no one.

5. Cash flow is everything 
It doesn't matter how cool your idea is. If you run out of money, you die. We watch every dollar.

6. It takes longer than you think 
People overestimate what they can do in a year. And underestimate what they can do in a decade. We are playing the long game.

7. Just start 
Every successful founder started with nothing. No revenue. No customers. No audience. The only difference is they didn't quit.

I’m documenting the whole ride here. The wins. The losses. And the lessons.

Follow along if you want to see how we get to the next level. Just keep building.

Andrew Mewborn

Click my profile, get a free taco 🌮 (also I automate your follow-ups)

7 ugly truths about building fast in 2025

Everyone told me I was crazy. "You can't sell to Enterprise logos without a massive sales team." "You can't be Product-Led and Sales-Led at the same time."

I disagreed. We have 15,000+ users on our self-serve app. But we also just closed 18 massive killer logos in 3 months.

Here is the 7-step playbook we used to move upmarket without losing our soul:

1. We stayed lean intentionally 
Most founders hire 10 reps the moment they get traction. We didn't. We used our own product to handle the volume.

2. We looked at our own backyard 
We didn't buy cold lists. We looked at our 15,000 free users. We found the ones who were using the product every day. Then we asked them: "Who is your boss?"

3. We sold the Result, not the Method killer 
Buyers don't care how your tech works. They care about the problem disappearing. We showed them exactly how Distribute would solve their problem in week 1.

4. We gave before we asked 
We didn't try to trap them in long contracts immediately. We let them use the product. We let them see the value. Trust is built by giving, not taking.

5. We stopped chasing shortcuts 
We didn't use clever tricks. We just focused on making the product 1% better every day. Word of mouth is the only growth strategy that lasts.

6. We kept the team tiny 
We are doing millions in revenue potential with a team that fits in a minivan. This keeps us profitable. And it keeps us hungry.

7. We worked in public 
I shared the wins and the losses on LinkedIn. This built trust with buyers before we ever spoke to them. They felt like they knew us.

TAKEAWAY: You don't need to follow the Silicon Valley rules. You don't need to raise $100M. You don't need a fancy office. You just need a product that people love. And the guts to do it your way.

They said you can't sell Enterprise without a suit.

had our quarterly all-hands today

CEO said we're "laser-focused on execution"

CTO said we're "moving fast and breaking things"

CFO said we have "18 months of runway"

VP Sales said we're "building a repeatable sales motion"

i asked "what does any of that mean?"

got pulled into a 1-on-1 about "culture fit"

turns out "what does that mean?" is not a growth mindset question

i'm now "transitioning to focus on other opportunities"

which means i have 2 weeks to find another company where nobody knows what they're talking about

shouldn't be hard

I helped build Outreach to $250M in revenue. I helped over 4,000 people grow on LinkedIn. Now, I have 15,000+ users on my new company, Distribute.so

I have seen the movie before. And I can tell you that the sequel is very different from the original.

Back in 2015, the playbook was simple: Force the sale. Hire an army of BDRs. Buy a massive list of emails. Send thousands of messages a day. It worked then. It doesn't work now.

Here are the 6 things that have changed in the last 10 years:

1. Buyers ignore the noise 
Email open rates have tanked. Sending more messages doesn't work anymore. You have to earn their attention, not demand it.

2. Don't push, attract 
You can't force a sale anymore. You have to create interest through content and brand. Then you capture that interest when they are ready.

3. Small teams are winning 
We closed 18 killer deals with a tiny team. You don't need 50 reps. You need a few seniors who know what they are doing.

4. Reputation is the new advantage 
Features get copied in a week. But they can't copy who you are. Your personal brand is the most efficient sales channel that exists.

5. Easy beats Powerful 
killer software used to be clunky and expensive. Now, the best tools feel like consumer apps. If it feels like work, they won't use it.

6. Speed over Forecasts 
We don't try to predict every dollar. We try to move fast. We launch, we test, we fix. Speed is the only advantage a startup really has.

TAKEAWAY: If you are still running the 2015 playbook, you are working too hard. The game has changed. You can either complain about it, or you can adapt. We chose to adapt. And it's working.

I helped build Outreach.io to $250M in revenue

I just beat 4 competitors to win a killer contract. We didn't have the most features. We didn't have the biggest sales team. But we have 15,000+ users and just closed our 18th killer logo in 3 months.

How did we do it? We realized that the old way of selling software is broken. Most founders try to build everything for everyone. They add buttons, settings, and complex workflows. They think "more features" equals "more value."

They are wrong. In 2025, buyers are overwhelmed. They don't want another tool they have to learn. They want something that just works.

Here is the 7-step playbook we used to win on Simplicity:

1. Go where the big fish swim 
We didn't wait for them to come to us. We found where they were hanging out and showed up.

2. Prove it, don't pitch it 
Our competitors sent 40-page slide decks. We sent a link to the product. If you have to explain how it works, it's too complicated.

3. The "Zero-Training" Standard 
We built Distribute so a 5th grader could use it. If a user needs a certification to use your tool, you have already lost. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

4. Escape the "Feature Trap" 
Customers will ask for a million things. We said "no" to 90% of them. We only built the things that made the core product faster and easier.

5. Sell it yourself 
I didn't hire a VP of Sales to figure this out. I did it myself. Founders should sell until at least $500K ARR because nobody knows the product like you do.

6. Find the "Aha!" instantly 
We found the one specific thing that made users say "wow." Then we made that experience happen in under 60 seconds.

7. Let the product drive the deal 
When the product is simple, the champion can sell it internally for you. They don't need you to fly in for a demo. They just show their boss, and the boss gets it.

TAKEAWAY: Startups are hard. But in 2025, complex startups are impossible. Stop building more. Start building simpler. That is how you win.

I just beat 4 competitors to win a killer contract

intern: "should I add my phone number to my email signature?"

CEO: "absolutely, we're accessible"

intern: "what about my LinkedIn?"

CEO: "yes, we're modern"

intern: "calendar booking link?"

CEO: "of course, we're efficient"

intern: "headshot?"

CEO: "why not, we're human"

intern sends first email

signature is 47 lines long

includes:

• 3 phone numbers
• 4 social media links
• calendar link
• company tagline
• legal disclaimer
• "Sent from my iPhone"
• sustainability notice about not printing emails
• AI-generated motivational quote

the actual email says "sounds good"

we promoted them to Head of Email Excellence

I spent 3 hours on a crap ton of follow-ups at Outreach while we scaled to $250M. Now our 15,000+ Distribute users do better follow-ups in 30 seconds. After closing 18 deals in the past few months, I learned something most founders miss: complexity kills deals, simplicity closes them.

Here's why the best salespeople are deleting tools, not adding them:

1// YOUR BUYERS DON’T WANT YOUR 55-SLIDE DECK

They want one page with what you discussed, the ROI, and next steps.

We tracked 10,000+ deals.

Average time on slide decks? 47 seconds.

Average time on simple deal pages? 8 minutes.


2// YOUR CHAMPION CAN’T SELL INTERNALLY WITH MEETING NOTES

They need a business case, ROI calculator, and executive summary.

Not a transcript.

When we switched from sending 27 attachments to one link, deal velocity increased MUCHO.


3// EVERY TOOL YOU ADD CREATES ANOTHER PLACE TO LOSE

The average rep uses 10+ tools for follow-ups.

Fathom for notes. Loom for demos. Google Docs for emails. Canva for slides.

The winners? They use one tool that does it all.


4// SIMPLICITY SPREADS FASTER THAN FEATURES

When we made Distribute dead simple, word-of-mouth exploded.

No training needed. No change management.

Just send your follow-up in 30 seconds and move on.


TAKEAWAY:

I watched Outreach grow because it simplified prospecting.

Now I'm watching Distribute grow because it simplifies follow-ups.

The pattern is clear.

Simplicity isn't just a feature.

It's a moat.

We beat 4 competitors  with 90% fewer features

prospect: "tell me about your product"

me: "what if I told you that you could save 20 hours per week?"

prospect: "how?"

me: "great question. let me share my screen. can you see this?"

prospect: "yes"

me: "perfect. so imagine your current workflow..."

**proceeds to spend 40 minutes describing their own job back to them**

me: "...and that's where we come in"

prospect: "what does your product actually do?"

me: "I'm going to send over some case studies and let's reconnect next week"

booked the follow-up

still haven't answered what we do

this is sales

investors rejected our pitch deck last month

they said our projections were "unrealistic"

we were forecasting $100M ARR by year 2 with zero marketing spend

i asked "don't you believe in product-led growth?"

they said "you have 3 customers"

so i updated the deck

changed "customers" to "enterprise partners"

changed "3" to "a curated selection of design partners"

changed "$47 MRR" to "high-intent early revenue signals"

we raised $8M Series A last week

words matter more than numbers

Last week I asked 4,000+ sellers how long they spend on follow-ups. 73% said 2-3 hours. That's 750 hours per year writing emails nobody reads. I helped build Outreach to $250M, and even we were wasting time on follow-ups.

Here's the math that'll make you sick:

Let's say you close 20 deals per year. Each deal takes 5 calls. Each call needs a 3-hour follow-up. That's 300 hours. Or 37.5 work days. You're spending 2 months per year on admin work.

**screams at sky***

While you write follow-ups, your competitors are on their next call.

Here's what actually works in 2025:

1// Stop crafting. Start automating.

AI can write better follow-ups than you.
It remembers everything. Never forgets the ROI discussion.
Includes the right case studies.
Our 15,000 users proved this.

2// Stop sending files. Send experiences.

PDFs get lost.
Attachments get ignored.
But a personalized page? That gets shared with the CFO.
We see 3x higher engagement on deal pages vs traditional follow-ups.

3// Stop hoping. Start tracking.

You need to know when the CFO views pricing. When legal downloads the contract. When your deal goes cold.

Email can't tell you this. 

The sellers crushing quota aren't working harder.

They're working different.

They turned 3-hour follow-ups into 30 seconds.

And their buyers actually engage.

Holy sh*t, right?

You waste 37.5 days per year on follow-ups

I helped scale Outreach to $250M. Then I started my own company and made every mistake I swore I never would. Here are the 6 dumbest things I did building Distribute to 15,000 users:

1// I spent 3 months building features nobody asked for

We had a roadmap. It was beautiful. Customers wanted something else entirely. I should have talked to 50 more people before writing a single line of code.


2// I chased logos instead of problems

Early on, I got excited when big names showed interest. I bent the product to fit them. They churned anyway. The customers who stayed were the ones whose problem we actually solved.


3// I wrote follow-up copy like a robot

I'm embarrassed to show you our early emails. Corporate garbage. The moment I started writing like a human, reply rates doubled.


4// I ignored my own LinkedIn audience for 6 months

I had built a following. I knew how to create content. But I thought "real companies" needed paid ads and SDR teams. Wrong. My posts still drive more pipeline than anything else.


5// I hired before I had a repeatable process

Brought on help too early. They failed. It wasn't their fault. I didn't have a playbook to hand them yet.


6// I thought the product would sell itself

It doesn't. Nothing does. Even great products need someone to explain why they matter.


TAKEAWAY:

Building a startup is just a series of mistakes.

The winners aren't the ones who avoid them.

They're the ones who make them faster and don't repeat them.

I'm still making mistakes every week.

But at least they're new ones.

I made every mistake I swore I never would

spent all morning analyzing our competitors

Competitor A: raised $50M, has 200 employees, beautiful website
Competitor B: raised $30M, has enterprise clients, won industry awards
Competitor C: bootstrapped to $10M ARR, profitable, amazing product

Us: 1 founders, $a couple mil raised, website built on Webflow template, LinkedIn is our entire marketing strategy

but here's the thing...

we respond to customer emails in under 5 minutes

our competitors take 3 business days

we shipped 12 features last month

they shipped a new font

we're not better funded

we're not better positioned

we're just more desperate

and in B2B SaaS, desperation scales

posted "what if we just... listened to customers?" on LinkedIn

38,000 impressions

427 comments saying "this is so true"

16 VCs sent connection requests

got invited to speak at a SaaS conference

my talk is titled "Revolutionary Customer-Centric Strategies for Modern B2B"

it's a 45-minute presentation on literally just talking to people who pay you

they're paying me $5k to speak

i'm writing a book about it called "The Listening Framework"

it's 280 pages explaining how to have conversations

pre-orders are through the roof

disruption is just common sense with better marketing

We just won a deal against 4 established competitors. They had 10X the funding, bigger brands, and fancier demos. But we won all 4 times. After helping 4,000+ people grow on LinkedIn and scaling Outreach to $250M, I knew exactly why: buyers don't want more tools, they want less work.

Here's how we beat everyone:

Competitor 1: 55 features, 3-hour onboarding
Us: 3 features that actually matter, 5-minute setup

Competitor 2: "AI-powered intelligence platform"
Us: "Your follow-up in 30 seconds"

Competitor 3: 47-page implementation guide
Us: Chrome extension. Click. Done.

Competitor 4: $500/month per user
Us: $49/month. Everything included.

**drops mic**

Here's what I learned closing our first big deals:

1// FEATURES ARE A TAX ON YOUR BUYERS

Every feature needs explaining.
Every option needs deciding.
Every setting needs configuring.
We do one thing perfect instead of 50 things okay.

2// COMPLEXITY IS WHERE DEALS GO TO DIE

The moment a buyer says "let me check with IT," you lost.
The moment they need training, you lost.
Make it so simple they can start now.

3// YOUR CHAMPION NEEDS TO LOOK SMART

They don't win by showing a complex tool.
They win by solving a problem fast.
Give them a quick win, not a science project.

We have 15,000+ users not because we're the best.

But because we're the simplest.

And in 2025, simple beats everything.

Every. Single. Time. YALL.

Step by step ↓

Let me tell you what's really going on…

When a prospect says "we don't have budget"…

They're not broke.

They just spent $47 on DoorDash last night. They've got budget for a new CRM. Budget for that conference in Miami.

What they DON'T have?

A reason to fight for YOUR deal.

See… right now, they're sitting in some internal meeting. Your proposal is open on their screen. And their CFO asks:

"Why do we need this?"

And your prospect?

They freeze.

They fumble.

They can't remember what you said. Can't articulate the ROI. Can't justify the spend.

So the deal dies. Not because of "budget." Because you made THEM do the selling.

That's on you.

Here's the fix:

Send them a Deal Summary BEFORE they go dark.

One page. One link. Everything they need to sell this deal internally:

→ The bleeding-neck problem you're solving 
→ The cost of doing NOTHING (this is the killer) 
→ Exactly what you're proposing 
→ What happens next

You do the selling. They just forward the link.

Takes 2 minutes. Saves you from chasing ghosts for 3 weeks.

💬 Comment "TACO"

I'll send you the exact Deal Summary template I use to close deals without begging for follow-ups.

💬 Comment "TACO"

Year 1: "we're pre-product-market fit, iterating rapidly"
Translation: nobody wants this

Year 2: "we're finding early signals of PMF"
Translation: 2 customers didn't churn

Year 3: "we've achieved strong product-market fit"
Translation: we stopped pivoting because we're tired

Year 4: "we're scaling past PMF into market domination"
Translation: we hired a VP of Sales who convinced us we're doing great

Year 5: "we're exploring strategic alternatives"
Translation: acquisition talks because we never actually found PMF

Year 6: got acquired for $8M by a company that will shut us down in 9 months

called it a "successful exit"

changed LinkedIn title to "Founder & CEO (Exited)"

already working on the next one

customer: "can you add dark mode?"
us: "it's on the roadmap"

customer: "can you fix this bug?"
us: "it's on the roadmap"

customer: "can you add SSO?"
us: "it's on the roadmap"

customer: "can we see the roadmap?"
us: "that's on the roadmap"

our roadmap is a Google Doc titled "stuff_we_might_do_idk.doc"

it hasn't been updated since 2023

we closed $2M ARR this year

turns out "it's on the roadmap" is enterprise software for "leave me alone"

Sellers

What’s more dangerous for sales teams: bad managers or bad AI tools?

A) Bad managers – morale killer
B) Bad AI – data chaos
C) Both – one demotivates, the other misleads
D) Neither – blame the process, not the tools

P.S. - My AI handles 90% of my sales process now—prospecting, follow-ups, closing. Set it up in 90 seconds: https://lnkd.in/eNYQ3DeQ

What’s more dangerous for sales teams: bad managers or bad AI tools?

Sellers

What’s the biggest shift in sales since 2020?

A) Buyers research more than sellers
B) Remote selling is the new normal
C) Champions have more power than AEs
D) Product-led growth changed everything

P.S. - Turns out I've been following up like an IDIOT for 5 years. This 90-second quiz showed me my actual follow-up style (and how to fix it): www.distribute.so/quiz

Sellers

Would you take feedback from an AI “sales coach”?

A) Yes – No bias, just data
B) Maybe – Only if it knows context
C) No – You can’t coach without empathy
D) I already do — ChatGPT’s my therapist

P.S. - My AI handles 90% of my sales process now—prospecting, follow-ups, closing. Set it up in 90 seconds: www.distribute.so/quiz

Codie A. Sanchez

Investing millions in Main St businesses & teaching you how to own the rest | HoldCo, VC fund, Founder

On a mission to create financially free and free-thinking humans.

I founded a media company called Contrarian Thinking that teaches people to think critically and cashflow unconventionally with boring businesses.

Our newsletter has over 1M+ weekly readers, here → contrarianthinking.biz/li

Our community has taught 9,000+ members biz buying, biz growing, and doing deals. 

We value experience over degrees.
Betting on yourself over building someone else's dream.
Main Street over Wall Street.

My mission is less suits, more boots. Meaning: we the people holding the power… and the purse strings.

🔗Join 1M+ others who get our free newsletter: contrarianthinking.biz/li
🔗YouTube: @CodieSanchezCT
🔗Instagram: @codiesanchez
🔗Twitter: @Codie_Sanchez
🔗Weekly business-buying newsletter Main Street Minute: contrarianthinking.biz/minute-li

Founder

We help free minds and build bank accounts.

Investing millions in Main St businesses & teaching you how to own the rest | HoldCo, VC, Founder | NYT best-selling author

5 uncomfortable truths about success:

1. You can't be a real leader and a people pleaser.

2. One day they'll go from judging you to bragging how they know you.

3. You win in life by being ok with people: not liking you, disagreeing with you, and wishing you'd fail.

4. It’s supposed to be hard, and you’re supposed to do it anyway.

5. The underrated part about being rich... you get to do what you want, say what you want, and people unfollowing or not agreeing matters ZERO.

Hope this one puts a little air in your tires today 😉

Btw - feel free to follow me Codie A. Sanchez if you haven’t yet

It’s a tragedy how many hate what they do.

There is nothing I love more than solving big problems.

Playing the game of business.

Having big conversations.

Meeting smart people.

You deserve to do work that makes you feel the same way.

Feel free to repost or follow if you’re a psychopath like me who’s willing to publicly proclaim how much you love working😂

Dear chronic people pleasers,

5 reminders as you to learn to be disliked:

1. People criticize you to hide from the real work: having to change themselves. You winning is a mirror most people can't handle.

2. You'll never look back and wish you made more nameless humans on the internet like you. Never give first-row opinions to those who paid for nosebleed seats.

3. Never take advice from someone who hasn't achieved the thing they're advising about. Listen, sure. But filter advice viciously.

4. Our brains are trained to focus on the negative, aka survive. People question me online all the time — about my ethnicity, my career, my body. It's all good, it'll happen to you too. Always remember, you're the one doing sh*t not talking sh*t.

5. Choose your f*cks carefully. You’ll never be everything to everyone anyway.

↓ ↓ ↓

PS: I have a weekly newsletter sharing stories and tips from business owners. Highly recommend to anyone trying to be better → https://lnkd.in/euh-mDd8

3 more harsh truths about success:

- You only have to be right ONCE. One big right move can erase a lifetime of wrong ones.
- You can't be upset at the results you’re not getting from the actions you’re not taking.
- The successful don't wait for someone to come save them. You want a better life, go build it.

If you needed to hear this today, feel free to share for next person who needs it ♻️

cs-venturesllc

cresco-capital-partners-llc

unconventional-acquisitions

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linkedin.com

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Talks about #growth, #finance, #investing, #venturecapital, and #contrarianthinking

The best founders do one thing brilliantly... 

Hire.

Here’s how we think about finding & attracting A-players for our portfolio companies:

Most owners hire like they're running a restaurant.

They think more cooks = faster service.

Instead, they get a kitchen full of people bumping into each other, burning food, and blaming everyone else.

That’s why hiring isn’t a numbers game.

You don't need more people. You need the RIGHT people.

It’s impossible to build a worthwhile business with mediocre talent.

Over the years, we've developed a framework to find, attract, and close the top 0.001%. 

I call it the 4 C's to Top-Level Talent:

1. CURATE

Start hiring before you start hiring.

Follow smart people in your niche on Twitter. Connect on LinkedIn.

Bookmark stuff that makes you say, "Damn, I wish I wrote that."

Treat talent like a portfolio. Study first, invest later.

The best hires happen when you're NOT desperately hiring.

1. CULTIVATE

Engage without being weird.

Compliment their stuff. Comment. Ask smart questions. Send them ideas.

The best talent moves when THEY'RE ready, not when you need them.

Plant seeds early. Water them consistently.

3. CLOSE

When it's time to close the sale, go HARD.

Fly them in. Meet their spouse. Pay more than you're comfortable with.

I wasn't even looking for a company President when I met Marc. I wanted a CRO.

But after one conversation, I knew he was our guy.

So I changed the org to fit HIM.

That's how good hires work. They change you.

Don't squeeze top talent into your current structure.

Bend your business around exceptional people.

4. CONTINUE

Top performers won't always stay forever. That's okay.

Even when they leave, keep them close.

My old Head of Content now runs a 7-figure business. We still trade notes.

They send better talent than any recruiter ever could.

As someone who’s hired 100s of people, take it from me:

Your best hires won't walk in the door with a resume in hand.

They're already working somewhere else, crushing it.

It’s your job to go find them.

Hiring the right people is one of the most powerful growth levers for any business.

If you want to see exactly how we attract and retain top-tier talent across our portfolio, I’ll be breaking it all down in an upcoming workshop (tomorrow).

This is just one of several proven scaling strategies we’ll cover— more info here: https://lnkd.in/emd63SuT

Formula is do, fail, learn, fail, do again.

Don’t be afraid of outgrowing EVERYONE.

Your friends. Yes.

Your family. Likely.

If you are great... Even the people you hire today you will outgrow.

Don’t apologize a f*cking second for outgrowing people who can not keep up with you.

You need to make the hard call to move on, and move on FASTER than you think.

I was on the phone with a friend the other day runs another portfolio and famous on the internet and we both had to fire a csuite executive. We talked on Friday, I asked on Tuesday when she was doing it, she said she already did it that morning.

“Once I know I have to, I rip the bandaid off.”

Tough truth I’ve never regretted ONCE parting ways with someone who isn’t going as fast as I am.

THIS is the hard and brutal truth of greatness.

The first person you need to forgive is the old version of you. 

Stop blaming the past and learn how to use this release to build your future.

The only way to move forward is to figure out how to let them go.

A reminder that it’s ok to rise a lil earlier and grind a lil harder…

The faster you move, the more money you make.

How to win in your 20s:

1. Choose your hard. If you don't choose your hard, hard will choose you.

2. Ask more questions. As Socrates said: “Smart people learn from everything and everyone. Average people learn from their experiences. Stupid people already have all the answers.”

3. Do whatever it takes

4. Chase purpose. A friend once told me: “I wish you not one penny over $299 million. Reality gets lost somewhere after that.”

5. Not every moment has to be productive. Silence is not your enemy.

6. Be bored more often

7. Get in shape, stay in shape (applies to both finances and fitness)

8. If someone you just met is talking shit about their ex, friend, partner, or boss, they will do the same to you next. Character matters.

9. Behind every successful person is a story that gave them no choice.

10. Put your relationships first. My number one regret in life is not prioritizing my marriage above just about everything.

11. You become the person you want when no one else is watching. It's the quiet, private reps that will never be cheered that actually lead to greatness.

12. Never take advice from someone who hasn't achieved what they're advising about. If you don't want their life, don't listen to their advice.

13. Inconvenience yourself. This generation went way too hard setting boundaries. Show up for those you love, even when it's not convenient.

14. The greatest muscle you can build is urgency.

15. If it's not a hell yes, it's a no.

16. You will be richer when you understand leverage. But you'll also be aware of when people are trying to take advantage of you. Learn it so you can spot it.

17. Learn to be disliked or you will find yourself stuck in a prison of other people's beliefs.

18. You don't have time to hate someone when you're busy building. The less you build, the more you criticize.

19. Your input eventually becomes your output.

20. 99% of people don't move fast enough. Every time you say "one day," you cost yourself future dollars.

21. Complexity makes you seem smart. Simplicity makes you money.

22. The longer something has been successful, the more likely it is to continue being successful.

23. Say you will do a thing, then actually do the thing.

24. The fastest way to build a memorable brand is to pick a fight.

25. Never let your worry be bigger than your faith. God doesn't give you a seed without provision for it to grow.

26. Nobody cares about your life.

27. Someone not as good as you is making more money because they're not afraid to start.

28. You will wish you started earlier and worked harder when you are young.

29. Waking up at 5:45 a.m. solves 99.9% of daily issues.

30. Work smarter, not harder is a beautiful lie. You will not know how to work smart until you've worked very hard for an irrationally long time

31. The size of the problems you solve equal the size of your bank account.

32. The smartest people I know obsess over their reputation. Do not play short-term games with your name.

Money = options. Poverty = trapped.

It's not the money we want. It's the freedom.

↓ ↓ ↓

You’re either the hammer or the nail.

Hammers make things happen. They drive the point home. They aren’t afraid to swing hard, take calculated risks, and make an impact. They don’t wait for things to happen; they make things happen.

Nails? They get pounded. They hold things in place, but only because *someone else* decided that’s where they should be.

Nails wait for instructions. They stay put, keep their heads down, and hope they don’t get bent out of shape. Nails might hold things together, but hammers built the house.

No one remembers the nails — they remember who hammered them in.

It can be easy to look at the work of a hammer and think, “Must be nice.” But don’t be mistaken, the toll on a hammer is rough.

What you don’t see are the years of blunt force trauma on the hammer’s head, face, neck, cheek, throat, eye, and claw (all real parts of a hammer). Years of being thrown around. Years of missing the mark and smashing a finger.

Are you starting to get it now?

Hammers are owners.

Nails? The owned.

(PS: This is an excerpt straight from my newsletter. Get it every Thursday here → https://lnkd.in/euh-mDd8)

What they dream of: Starting the next Apple

What I dream of: Owning a painting biz...

Trillions of dollars are about to fall into the hands of those who are paying attention.

Let's talk numbers:

• 33.3 million small businesses in the US.
• That's 99.9% of all businesses.

What does this mean?

A sea of opportunity. 

Over 80% of these businesses have no employees. Just solo owners, doing their thing.

But of the other 20% (aka 6.6 million)... Many are ready to sell.

Problem is, most people are still daydreaming about sexy startups and AI breakthroughs.

They’re not daydreaming about plumbing companies. Laundromats. Self-storage units.

Because they’re not sexy.

In fact, they kind of smell like hard work. They smell like Main Street.

But the thing about these businesses is:

They quietly cashflow.

So.. why don’t you just start one?

A few reasons why starting sucks:
• Cashflow takes time
• You start with 0 employees (aka, you do all the work)
• You start with 0 customers (aka, even more work)
• You have to find a profitable biz model.

But there’s another option…

BUYING a business (done right) means:
• Instant cash flow.
• Existing customers.
• Proven business model.

You're not reinventing the wheel. You're taking something that works and making it work better.

It's a path to financial freedom that most people overlook.

The opportunity of a lifetime is hiding in plain sight.

So here's my challenge to you:

Stop dreaming about the next big startup.
Start looking at the businesses in your backyard.

Then go big and DO the damn thing.

↓↓↓↓

Disclaimer: I know I've made this sound easier than it is. 

Buying & running a biz is NOT easy. 

One of the reasons why I'm hosting a (free) Masterclass next week on biz buying. I'll break down the 10-step process I've used to buy dozens of cashflowing businesses.

My goal? You leave with the confidence & roadmap to buy your first biz. 

More info here → https://lnkd.in/e24qgbuh

Work smarter not harder is a beautiful lie.

Hard lesson for me and you...

The people doing better than you aren’t smarter than you. They aren’t better than you. They aren’t luckier than you.

They’re just working so much harder than you, you can't even imagine.

The only thing separating you from them is:

Grit + Time + Consistency

The difference between a $1M business and a $100M business:

Systems.

Here’s how we think about building systems for our portfolio of 30+ businesses:

Think of systems like a car. You need:

- Vision = windshield (see where you're going)
- Dashboard = gauges (track your speed)
- Goals = GPS (know your destination)
- Communication = alerts (stay coordinated)
- People = maintenance (keep everything running)

Miss any one and you're broken down on the side of the road.

1. Start With The Foundation

Most owners focus on tiny processes instead of the big stuff.

It's like saying "I want to build the Sistine Chapel" then starting out by picking out what candles you want inside.

You have to start with the foundation first or you'll never get the thing done.

2. Use 'Proven' Frameworks

Everyone on the internet acts like they have the best new "battle-tested" system, when realistically it's often a lot of fluff.

That said, there is a lot of merit in implementing systems that have worked for someone else - just make sure you're getting them from the right place.

3. Follow Dual North Stars

The danger of single metrics is it creates tunnel vision.

But when you have two, they keep each other honest. It could be:

- Revenue + Followers
- Sales + Customer satisfaction
- Growth + Team retention

Just remember to keep one qualitative and the other quantitative.

4. Keep Pace With Your Yearly Vision

Without systems, it’s easy to get caught up in busywork.

I’ve met hardworking owners who thought they were moving the needle only to realize the opposite at EOY.

Building the right systems prevents that:

5. Use Scorecards

It’s not enough to give deadlines when assigning tasks.

You also want to create a dashboard where you can track:

- Completion rates
- Who’s responsible for what
- Color-coded status updates

That way, you can see a bird’s eye view of what's moving along and what isn’t.

6. Apply The Rule of Three for Documentation

Do you like repeating yourself? Me neither.

Anything you do more than 3 times in a week (or has at least 3 steps) should get documented.

Use Loom + Google Docs to create playbooks so specific that even a highschooler can follow.

- 

Only so much I can get into in a single post.

If you’re curious to learn more, I’m hosting a workshop on November 12th where we’ll walk you through the four simple levers every business owner can pull to unlock new profit in their business.

Last time, we helped owners uncover $5.4 million in hidden cash. Now, it’s your turn.

Save your post here: https://lnkd.in/emd63SuT

This reminds me of a study I learned about.

It found what's called The Spillover Effect:

Kellogg Insight did a study across 58,000 hours in 11 companies.

There were two main findings.

1) Positive Spillover

If you sit within 25ft of a HIGH performer, your performance increases by 15%.

You are no smarter, you work no harder... and you're 15% better.

These highest performers are not impacted by the low performance of their neighbors.

My takeaway = the strong lift up the weak.

But there was a second finding too, a much more concerning one...

2) Negative Spillover

If you sit near a LOW performer… Things get bad fast.

How they define “low performer” in the study is important:

These are “toxic workers.”

A “toxic” person = someone who ends up being fired for their behavior/performance.

On average:

- A toxic worker costs a company $12,800
- 2% of all workers are toxic
- They infect FAST.

And actually – the poison of a toxic worker spans way beyond 25ft:

Researchers said, “You can see their negative imprint and negative effect across an entire floor.”

So remember:

Success is contagious.

But so is toxicity.

↓ ↓ ↓

The same is true for the media you consume. Doomscroll hate on social media, you become a hateful person.

But if you'd rather surround yourself with stories of business owners & freedom finders, read this instead → https://lnkd.in/euh-mDd8

The 6 secrets to increasing your biz's value all start with one term: 

Recurring revenue.

The holy grail of business.

It's predictable, stable income that comes in month after month, year after year. Plus, there are a ton of other benefits:

• Higher Customer Lifetime Values (CLVs)
• for lower acquisition costs
• More predictable cashflow
• which makes budgeting & planning easier

Potential buyers LOVE recurring revenue. It makes it 10x easier to hire an operator, secure funding, and scale.

As an owner, your end goal is likely an acquisition... And recurring revenue increases your chances.

There are 6 types of recurring revenue:

(Ideally, your biz has at least 3 of these)

1. Long-term contracts

These are agreements of over a year that lock in guaranteed revenue. The longer the contract term, the more valuable it makes a business.

2. Auto-renewal subscriptions

This is the "set it and forget it" model. Customers sign up once, and their card is charged every month, quarter, or year.

3. Sunk money subscriptions

This is also known as the 'razor and blades' business model: You buy a base product (a razor), then have to continually buy refills (blades). Since the real money's in the refill, the base product is often sold cheap.

4. Pay-as-you-go

Customers only pay for what they use, but are still subscribed long-term as there’s friction in moving to another platform.

5. Loyalty programs

Giving your customers points & perks makes a customer feel they're "losing out" on potential savings if they go elsewhere. No one does this better than airlines.

6. Simple consumables

These are one-off items that are repurchased out of sheer habit & loyalty. Think, regulars at coffee shops, your favorite brand of toothpaste, transportation you have to take every day.

Recurring revenue is a HUGE key to retirement as a business owner.

With so many different types, the options are limited only to your creativity.

↓ ↓ ↓

Best way to track & forecast recurring & non recurring revenue? 

A cashflow tracker. 

Because the only real business advice you really need is...don't run out of cash. 

Feel free to use my template: https://lnkd.in/eHEiMUr9

We’ve completely forgotten why we're entrepreneurs.

When did we become a group of vitamin-D-deprived, Allbird-wearing, alternative-milk-drinking, extreme PowerPointers?

Many of us got soft.

We don’t climb mountains, we only take risks with other people’s money, we sit behind keyboards bragging about how ChatGPT did all the work.

What a terrible thing to strive for.

How can you make the most money by employing the fewest people and doing the least amount of work? How can you get mailbox money? Or a fast exit so you can tweet about it?

The secret:

Entrepreneurs don’t exist just for a bunch of zero’s and some big exit, but because we are crazy people willing things into very existence.

We are supposed to be the next generation of explorers, risk-takers, adrenaline junkies. Addicts to the masochistic mission of achievement and ownership.

The feeling of being so damn unemployable your only option is owner. The inability to sleep because of visions so big they pull you from bed in the dead of the night. Dreams so futuristic people laugh when you tell them.

Those are the entrepreneurs I admire.

My husband and I have a saying: “Protect those who can’t, cast aside those who won’t, enable those who want.”

Here’s to all of you who want so badly your wants become realities.

↓
💥 Follow me Codie A. Sanchez for more

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