Brian Dordevic

Delivering profitable web design with SEO first approach. Official Google partner.

I started as a $4/hr offshore virtual assistant and became a USA citizen & business owner.

I help you generate more profit with your existing traffic efforts by optimizing conversion rates, improving your site speed & content strategy.

Chief Executive Officer

As the CEO of Alpha Efficiency, I steer the strategic direction of the company while managing an expanding team of 30+ professionals, spearheading growth initiatives, and driving operational efficiency.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) & Achievements:

Team Leadership & Management: Championed a culture of performance and accountability that led to a 35% boost in operational efficiency. Regularly oversee talent acquisition and retention strategies to ensure our team is well-equipped for success.

SEO & Content Management: Supervised the creation and execution of our SEO strategy, which saw a remarkable 60% surge in organic website traffic within six months, augmenting our brand's digital visibility.

Paid Media Strategies: Pioneered the deployment of innovative paid media campaigns, resulting in a 50% increase in brand awareness and a 30% rise in customer acquisition, significantly expanding our market footprint.

Performance Benchmarking: Developed and implemented performance benchmarks to ensure constant progress. The systematic monitoring of these metrics brought about a 20% improvement in overall productivity.

Stakeholder Management: Successfully maintained robust relationships with key stakeholders, attaining a 90% satisfaction rate, testament to our commitment to delivering value and fostering transparency.

Financial Management: Maintained stringent control over fiscal operations, consistently delivering profitability and surpassing financial objectives by 15% in the previous year, solidifying our position in the market.

This multifaceted role requires a delicate balance of leadership, strategic thinking, and operational excellence. It's my mission to continue propelling Alpha Efficiency forward, driving sustainable growth, and adding value for our stakeholders.

I just hit 12,000 followers on LinkedIn.

• No celebration
• No screenshot
• No dopamine hit

Just a quiet confirmation.

Numbers only matter when they reflect something real.
And this milestone does.

Not because of the count.
But because of the process behind it.

Three years ago, I was “the SEO guy.”

I wrote for Google first.
Humans second.

Intent over attention.

And there is a massive difference.

When someone searches Google, they already want something.
They are raising their hand.

Your job is simple:
Answer better than everyone else.

SEO writing is a drive-thru.

• They order
• You deliver
• The most organized kitchen wins

Social media is the opposite.

Nobody is ordering anything.

You are competing with Netflix, Slack pings, TikTok, and mental exhaustion.
You have to create hunger where none existed.

That shift humbled me.

I had to unlearn structure.
And relearn persuasion.

I stopped asking, “Is this optimized?”
And started asking, “Does this land?”

I studied storytellers.
Not marketers.

I watched how anticipation is built.
How tension is held.
How emotion carries ideas further than logic ever could.

Slowly, something clicked.

I stopped obsessing over keywords and started chasing clarity.
I stopped tracking backlinks and started tracking behavior.
I wrote for humans first.

Ironically, my SEO got better too.

Growth stopped feeling fragile.
It started feeling inevitable.

Not because of hacks.
But because I kept showing up when it made no sense.

When I was tired.
When clients were on fire.
When posts got buried.

I still wrote.

That consistency built trust.
Opened conversations.
Closed deals.
Changed how I see the game entirely.

I used to understand how content works.

Now I understand why it sticks.

This is not explosive growth.
It is earned growth.

And at this pace?

Increasing follower count is 100% irrelevant.
Changing lives and removing fiscal anxiety is.
Only focus is on providing value and getting paid for it.

It is alignment plus consistency plus time.

Because once you understand how humans work, you stop chasing reach.

And start building a life that compounds.

Helping Law Firms increase AI & Local SEO visibility to maximize client intake. | Add 7-Figures worth of cases per year from organic traffic. | My Local Gap Calculator tells you how much you lose every month

AI is not the problem. Your incentives are. AI is not going to use itself.

If you think your boomer salary is going to save your company, you are dead wrong...

The problem is that those that know how to use AI, are building companies not making themselves poor in a job.

They won't work for a salary when they can print 7-figure years. If you think this is an exaggeration, you lack imagination. 

Offer a cut of the pie to those with a brain, or get left behind.

Need help transforming your employees into AI machines? 

Reply with TRANSFORM and we'll talk.

Not being in top #3 on Google Maps costs you 7-Figures per year in lost deals.

This is how you climb to the top and get that massive revenue share:

• Fast Site
• High Quality Backlinks
• Local citations optimized
• Content written to convert
• Topical Authority Map that tells Google you know your stuff

If you want to know how much you're leaving on the table, click on the link in the comments. We'll tell you exactly how many leads are there for your industry.

I don’t know who needs to hear this but...

You need $0 down to start an online business.

• Free AI = DeepSeek
• Free Landing Pages = Carrd
• Free Video Hosting = YouTube
• Free traffic = Social Media Profiles

Poor people have bad imagination. Get creative.

You've seen the posts:

"I don't even use Google anymore." (These numbers are scary...)

Big talk.

But what does the data actually show?

Google went from 8.5 billion searches a day to 13.7 billion.

More people are Googling than ever.

Need help getting on the most powerful AI engine on the planet?

I'm taking 2 new clients in February. If your company does over $3 million per year, your business is qualified for growth.

Some call it AIO...

Others call it GEO...

Old timers want to cling on to SEO...

I say to all of them.

Get.
More.
Backlinks!

Ask me how if you want ones that move the needle.

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Every few years, marketing declares another rivalry:

Radio vs. TV.
TV vs. digital.
PR vs. content.
SEO vs. AI.

But reality doesn't do clean cuts.

The so-called replacement consistently resolves as reinvention.

And this is how it looks in real time:

1. SEO Has Been “Dying” Since the Early 2000s

Two decades of predictions haven’t stopped search growth. They’ve only exposed how often tactics expire while demand continues to shift.
https://hubs.la/Q03ZKW2P0

2. Marketer’s Favorite Hobby: Declaring Things Dead That Still Print Money

Radio died. TV died. PR died. Email died. And yet they’re all still here, evolving while the industry chases the next funeral headline.
https://hubs.la/Q03ZKWZR0

3. The Fastest Way to Lose Narrative Control in AI Search

When brands avoid specifics, generative engines treat it as a gap that needs to be filled, and they fill it fast.
https://hubs.la/Q03ZKXVN0

4. AI Marketing That Actually Held Up in Production

Instead of chasing novelty, these teams treated AI as plumbing. The outcomes were faster execution, cleaner workflows, and measurable gains.
https://hubs.la/Q03ZKYMB0

5. Google’s December Core Update Has Landed

Now comes the hard part: understanding whether your current visibility is stable, temporarily tolerated, or already on borrowed time.
https://hubs.la/Q03ZKWH70

The illusion of replacement hides continuity of control.

We hype "new" systems as total takeovers, and lose focus on what really works.

If you want to see where your next opportunity hides, let me tell you in a call here: https://hubs.la/Q03ZKY9j0

SEO is officially in its “Facebook 2018” era.

Back then, Facebook lost millions of visits and businesses fled to Google for safety.

Now, that safety net is gone too.

Seniors are already planning for a 40% drop in search traffic over the next few years.

(No more hoping-against strategies)

And once traffic decline becomes a planning number, not a fear, everything shifts. 

Let's get into what happened last week:

1. Publishers Are Planning for a 40% Traffic Loss

Search was supposed to be the stable channel. Now publishers are reallocating headcount, formats, and revenue models around their decline.
https://hubs.la/Q03_LWQM0

2. Google Is Teaching People How to Read Curiosity

Google is now actively teaching users what to explore next while they’re still figuring out what they’re interested in.
https://hubs.la/Q03_LYSv0

3. Two Content Economies Are Emerging (Exposure No Longer Pays the Bill)

For 20 years, publishing meant visibility in exchange for knowledge. Now answers stay inside machines, and content creators are being told to accept less.
https://hubs.la/Q03_LXB50

4. Your Best Buying Signals Never Make it to the CRM

Deals expand right before they close. New voices enter, urgency rises, and the most valuable signals never make it into the CRM that’s supposed to catch them.
https://hubs.la/Q03_LWmH0

5. The Social-to-Search Halo Effect SEO Isn’t Measuring

Not all demand starts with a query. Some of it starts with a feeling that sends people searching days later. Ignoring it means letting curiosity resolve on someone else’s terms.
https://hubs.la/Q03_LZxs0

We’ve moved past organic guarantees.

Today, reach depends on systems that can actively shape demand:

AI for discovery.
Ads for paid attention.

I'll show you what that setup can actually do for you. 

Pick a time: https://hubs.la/Q03_LVZR0

New Year’s Eve is behind us.

I started January 5th with a work sprint. One rock. One focus.

Here’s what separates people who adapt and those who don’t:

Most people blame external pressure. 

• War
• Gas prices
• Difficult year

Very convenient. 

Because then you don’t have to examine your own decisions.

But tough times don’t define you. You define how you respond to them.

In every downturn, a small group does exceptionally well. They didn't ignore reality. They adapted faster.

What separates them? 

Structure.

For me, 2025 was one of the best years on record. Most of that traces back to one decision: focus on recurring revenue.

Before that, my business was fragile. Revenue came in bursts. Planning felt theoretical. Every month was a reset.

That realization didn’t come from scrolling. It came from forcing the numbers to tell the truth.

Here’s what most people get wrong about planning:

They plan to feel organized, not to make tradeoffs.

Unrealistic plans create false confidence. Ignoring your capacity creates burnout. Never adjusting creates quiet failure.

The solution? Quarterly planning.

Long enough to set direction. Short enough to correct mistakes before they compound.

A real rock solves an active problem, changes future options, and creates second-order effects. If it doesn’t do all three, it’s not a rock.

Most ideas get eliminated at this stage. Nice-to-haves don’t change the game.

The cost of continuing as usual:

Busy weeks. Incremental progress. Another year where effort increases faster than leverage.

Poor planning doesn’t fail loudly. It fails quietly.

Planning isn’t about controlling the future. It’s about creating structure that allows good decisions to emerge.

The people who do well aren’t waiting for clarity. They create it.

Let’s build that structure together.

Did you know that 88% of urgent clicks go to companies located in Google's Maps Tri-Pack?

If your business is not located in first 3 spots, you are missing on fastest profit on the internet. (Here's how to easily climb to the top):

1. Fix your citations
2. Get fresh reviews (from Google Local Guides)
3. Make sure content of your site is optimized for Local SEO
4. Don't forget to double check your phone number is working

These may sound simple, but roadblock up to 7 figures annually of free orgaic traffic.

Want to learn how much revenue you're leaving on the table? 

Check out our Google Profit Gap Calculator, and ensure you take proper action.

Remember when buying online took around 20 minutes across 5 sites?

Google just shrank it to 10 seconds on one screen:

Customer asks about rugs → sees Rugs USA's 20% off → taps buy.

Curiosity hits search. Wallet hits empty.

(Keep reading for more brain-tickling updates)

1. Google’s Commerce Update Redefines the Buyer's Journey

New commerce tools link AI-driven research directly to checkout, offers, and retailer-controlled experiences inside Google Search and Gemini.
https://hubs.la/Q03-FkDM0

2. SEO in 2026 Looks a Lot Like a YouTube Strategy

AI Overviews are pulling answers from video like it’s primary evidence, turning YouTube into the center of modern SEO.
https://hubs.la/Q03-FkFx0

3. 230 Million People Already Ask ChatGPT About Health

Now OpenAI is formalizing that behavior with a locked-down Health environment, signaling a shift from casual health questions to sustained, data-grounded use.
https://hubs.la/Q03-F8-L0

4. Google Says “Stop Writing for AI” (Even If It Works Today)

Many teams are restructuring content to “please AI,” but Google just went on record saying this shortcut might age very badly.
https://hubs.la/Q03-Ff4G0

5. AI Search Is Solving the Question, Not the Market

"A feature designed to ensure completeness becomes a bug when completeness overrides utility." 
https://hubs.la/Q03-Fk_40

Google now owns the journey end-to-end. 

Profits chase whoever controls that unified experience.

Secure top visibility before Q1 slips: https://hubs.la/Q03-FcdY0

How many AI agents are currently working for you?

Helping Founders Break the $10M Ceiling | Strategy, Cash Flow & Leadership Systems | Scaling CFO

I help founders simplify scaling.

You started your business. You pushed past $1M. Now you're stuck somewhere between $3M and $10M, working harder than ever but not moving faster.

The problem isn't effort. It's complexity.

Too many priorities competing for attention. Financials that don't tell you what to do next. A team that still needs you for everything. Growth that feels like grinding instead of building.
I fix that.

I'm Cruz Gamboa, founder of Ascend Growth Ventures. I combine Scaling Up methodology with CFO-level financial clarity to help founders cut through the noise and scale with confidence.

Before this, I spent 25 years in corporate finance - including Regional CFO at GE and strategic finance leadership at GE Capital. I've seen what works at scale. Now I bring that to founders building something that matters.

I work best with CEOs in professional services, coaching, SaaS, and service-based businesses who are ready to scale profitably without burning out.

One conversation can change your trajectory: calendly.com/cruzagamboa/call-with-cruz-ascend-30min

Cruz Gamboa

Scaling isn’t about being nice.
It’s about being clean.

Clean with roles.
Clean with standards.
Clean with truth.

You don’t fire people.
You outgrow misalignment.

As the Netflix CEO puts it:

“If I wouldn’t fight to keep you, I owe you honesty—and a generous exit.”

Not because someone failed.
But because one of three things is true:
•	The role evolved faster than the person
•	The seat was wrong from the start
•	The bar moved—and the company didn’t move it back

High-performing companies don’t drag this out.
They decide early and act with dignity.

No drama.
No ego.
No moral stories.

Just:
•	Radical clarity
•	Respectful exits
•	Fair severance
•	Clean energy left behind

Dragging misalignment is the real cruelty.
Clarity is the kindness.

Scaling isn’t loyalty to individuals.
It’s loyalty to the mission, the team, and the future.

Right people.
Right seats.
Right standards.

And when someone no longer fits?
You don’t shame them.
You set them free.

If you want to scale, stop managing discomfort.
Start architecting teams.

Managers hesitate.
Leaders make room.

#scalingup #founders #growth #ceo

Most businesses don’t fail because they’re bad.

They fail because they’re trying to be someone else.

Burger King copied McDonald’s for 30 years.
Same audience.
Same positioning.
Same “family-friendly” nonsense.

And they kept losing.

Because you can’t beat the market leader
by playing their game better than them.

By 2004, Burger King was dying.
So they asked the only question that actually matters:

“Who is already buying from us?”

Not who they *wanted*.
Not who looked good in presentations.

The truth.

The answer?
Men aged 18–34.
Heavy fast-food users.
People who came back again and again.

And those customers didn’t want:

➡️ Safe
➡️ Cute
➡️ Corporate

They wanted:

➡️ Flame-grilled food
➡️ Control
➡️ Edge
➡️ Personality

So Burger King stopped pretending.

They brought back “Have It Your Way.”
Not as a slogan.
As a strategy.

They built everything around that one customer.

Marketing got bold.
Messaging got raw.
Campaigns got polarizing.

Subservient Chicken.
Whopper Freakout.

Not for everyone.
Exactly the point.

What happened next?

Same-store sales jumped.
Franchises grew.
And net income increased 2860% in three years.

That’s not a pivot.
That’s a resurrection.

Burger King didn’t beat McDonald’s.

They sidestepped them.

McDonald’s owned families.
Burger King owned young men who wanted control.

Different customer.
Different lane.
No direct competition.

Here’s the real lesson:

If you try to serve everyone,
you get ignored by everyone.

The fastest way to grow isn’t copying the leader.

It’s finding the customer they don’t care about
and building obsessively for them.

Specific beats broad.
Always.

#ceo #founder #growth

Most businesses don’t fail from lack of effort.

They fail from listening to themselves instead of the market.

Dunkin didn’t pivot loudly.

They pivoted quietly by watching what people kept paying for. 

Then they let the data rewrite their identity.

That’s the real upgrade:
✅ Feelings → Facts
✅ Ego → Evidence
✅ deas → Income that repeats

The market is always talking.

Your sales are the language.

So here’s the uncomfortable check:
What do people come back for again and again?

And are you building more of that… or still pitching what you’re emotionally attached to?
#scalingup #CEO #founder #growth

Your First Product Is Not Your Last

She built a $7.8 BILLION empire
…from a basement
…with $70,000
…and zero investors

Judy Faulkner.
Founder & CEO of Epic Systems.

No VC hype.
No IPO roadshows.
No “exit strategy.”

Just one woman, one computer, and a decision most founders are too scared to make:
“I will not give up control.”

Judy wrote Epic’s first code herself.
When hospitals still ran on paper.
When people said tech had no place in healthcare.

GE tried to buy Epic Systems.
Oracle tried.
Private equity tried.
She ended every meeting the same way: No.

46 years later:
➡ Epic Systems powers 50%+ of U.S. hospital beds
➡ 305M+ patient records
➡ Still private. Still founder-led.

No ads.
No apps.
No noise.

Just software that helps doctors save lives
—and quietly prints billions.

Lesson most founders miss:
Fast money buys speed.
Control buys decades.

Boring businesses.
Long vision.
Unbreakable conviction.

#scalingup #ceo #founders

Bill Gates could have flown First Class every day or flown on his own plane, even as a billionaire, 

But he chose to fly Economy until around 1997.

Why?

Because it wasn’t worth the money.

Same plane.
Same arrival time.
5× the cost for a tiny upgrade.

That’s how smart people think about scale.

Most people make money and immediately upgrade their lifestyle.

Smart operators upgrade what makes money.

More spending doesn’t equal more growth.
It usually equals more noise.

When you’re scaling, ask one question:
👉 Does this change the outcome?

If it doesn’t:
Cut it.

A fancy office doesn’t increase revenue.
A luxury car doesn’t improve execution.
Premium tools don’t fix broken systems.

Wealth has one real job:
Buy back your time.

Once you have enough, the goal isn’t more stuff.
It’s fewer constraints.

Less distraction.
More focus.
More leverage.

Scale isn’t about looking successful.
It’s about building something that works without you.

That’s real wealth.
#scalingup #ceo #growth #founder

He was 78 years old
…when he launched a vodka brand
…with no distillery
…in an industry that laughed at him

Sidney Frank.
The man behind Grey Goose.

No product breakthrough.
No secret formula.
No startup hype.

Just one insight most people missed:
People don’t buy vodka. They buy status.

Sidney didn’t make better vodka.
He made a better story.

France on the label.
Luxury in the bottle design.
A price so high it forced belief.

While others chased volume,
he chased perception.

He didn’t market to the masses.
He placed Grey Goose in elite bars first.
When bartenders poured it,
the world followed.

He moved slowly.
Protected exclusivity.
Ignored trends.

8 years later:
➡ Grey Goose became the default “premium vodka”
➡ Competitors copied the look
➡ Bacardi paid $2.3 BILLION

No overnight success.
Just disciplined positioning.

Lesson most builders miss:
Innovation gets attention.
Positioning creates power.

Experience didn’t slow him down.
It sharpened him.

Long vision.
Clear narrative.
Unshakeable belief.

#founders #scalingup #businessstrategy #longtermthinking

Most people think Starbucks’ rewards program is about free coffee.

It isn’t.

It’s about cash flow.

Starbucks Rewards is not a loyalty perk.
It’s a prepaid deposit system.

When a customer loads money into the app, Starbucks gets paid before any coffee is made.
Accounting-wise, that money sits as deferred revenue.

But operationally?
It’s usable cash.

That’s the move.

Instead of waiting for daily transactions, Starbucks created a system where millions of customers fund operations in advance.

No interest.
No bank fees.
No dilution.
No debt.

Every preload improves:
✅ Working capital
✅ Liquidity
✅ Balance sheet strength

And Starbucks holds that cash until the customer redeems it.

Some never do.

Unused balances.
Forgotten cards.
Abandoned apps.

That “breakage” flows straight to profit.

Multiply this behavior across ~29 million users and you don’t have a rewards program anymore.

You have a deposit base.

This is why Starbucks scales so efficiently:
▶ Stores expand faster
▶ Cash flow stays predictable
▶ Capital stress stays low

They didn’t out-market competitors.
They re-engineered when money moves.

The lesson:-

Growth isn’t always about selling more.
Sometimes it’s about getting paid earlier.

Starbucks didn’t build loyalty.
They built a financial engine and wrapped it in a green apron.#ceo #scalingup #growth #ceo #founder

Most companies scale faster by cutting people.
Publix scaled stronger by owning the opposite.

95 years. Zero layoffs.
Not luck. Not culture posters.
A Scaling Up system done right.

➡ Promote from within
➡ Clear succession planning
➡ Everyone thinks like an owner
➡ Leaders built, not bought
➡ Long-term value over short-term savings

When people own the outcome, execution compounds.
When leadership is grown internally, trust scales.

This isn’t a feel-good story.
This strategy may not be your strategy. 
For Publix, It’s a people strategy that beat Walmart.

You have to find what it's true for your company. 

Scale isn’t about size.
It’s about who owns the results.

#scalingup #growth #CEO

No Layoffs?

The first $5M? Brutal.
The next $5M? Still hard.
After $10M? Growth accelerates.

Here’s the scaling truth Kevin O’Leary calls out:

The first $5M is about survival. You’re learning how to deploy capital, take smart risks, and build systems that work. 

Most entrepreneurs quit here.

The next $5M? 

Execution matters. You’ve survived the grind, learned what works, and can now scale with confidence. Decisions compound. Efficiency improves. Strategy becomes your edge.

Beyond $10M? You’re playing a different game. Capital works for you, not the other way around. Systems, processes, and disciplined execution create leverage.

Lesson: 

Wealth and business scales the same way. 

Master the first phase. 
Build discipline. 
Then scale.
#scalingup #founder #growth #ceo

ADIDAS LOST €1.5 BILLION.
NOT TO NIKE.
NOT TO THE MARKET.
BUT TO ITS OWN BUREAUCRACY.

January 2023:
Dead Yeezy stock.
First loss since 1992.
Slow teams. Scared decisions. Broken speed.

9 months later?
Profitable. Faster. Sharper. Beating Nike.

The turnaround wasn’t magic.
It was leadership.

One CEO did 3 things most companies avoid:
→ Cut layers
→ Killed approvals
→ Simplified what already worked

No hype.
No noise.
Just speed, clarity, and conviction.

Big lesson:
You don’t lose because you’re small.
You lose because you’re slow.

Sometimes the fix isn’t more strategy.
It’s less nonsense.

#scalingup #CEO #founders #growth

ADIDAS Story

Growth without cash flow is just noise. 📉
Dives deeper into why founders who master cash strategy scale faster, stay resilient, and win long term.

Full Cash Is King podcast episode premiering Friday 🚀

🔔 Turn on notifications so you don’t miss the next clips—and the full conversation.

👉 Set your reminder & watch the premiere here:
https://lnkd.in/eBnXhnie

#CashIsKing #DevinSizemore #PodcastShorts #BusinessPodcast
#CashFlowManagement #ScalingBusiness #FounderMindset
#SustainableGrowth #WealthStrategy #EntrepreneurLife
#YouTubePremiere #PodcastReels

He didn’t fail for 10 years.
The market just wasn’t ready yet.

Hwang Dong-Hyuk sold his $675 laptop to buy food.
Lived with his grandmother.
Got rejected for a decade.

Studios said:

➡️ Too weird
➡️ Too violent
➡️ Not commercial
➡️ Too complex

Same script.
Same idea.
Same “no”.

Here’s the part most people miss 👇

This wasn’t a talent problem.
It was a timing + distribution problem.

He had the product early.
The market came late.

In 2018, Netflix expands globally.
Needs bold, non-safe content.
Needs local stories with global emotion.

One exec reads the script and says:
“This is exactly what we need.”

$21.4M invested.
Zero marketing push.
No homepage love.

Result?

✓ #1 in 94 countries
✓ 1.65B viewing hours
✓ $900M+ value created
✓ Best ROI in Netflix history

Scaling lesson most founders ignore:

Great ideas don’t die.
They wait.

If you’re early:
Don’t dilute the vision to get small yeses.
Build proof elsewhere.
Survive long enough to meet the right platform.

Scaling isn’t about changing your idea.

It’s about finding the right leverage.

One right distributor > 1,000 wrong pitches.

Ten years of “weird”
became a global empire.

Sometimes the world just isn’t ready yet.

Stay in the game long enough… and it will be.
#scalingup #founderstories #growth #CEO

The World Isnt Ready

GIANTS don’t fall overnight.
They fall one comfortable decision at a time.

They built the category.
Owned the market.
Had money, talent, and trust.

Then they did one thing wrong 👇
They stopped adapting.

Motorola. 
Intel. 
Netscape. 
Borders.

Not stupid.
Not unlucky.
Just late.

The market doesn’t punish failure.
It punishes complacency.

Scroll through this carousel if you want a reminder of one brutal truth:
➡️ Past success is not future security.
➡️ Comfort is more dangerous than competition.
➡️ If you’re not improving, someone else is preparing to replace you.

Stay hungry.
Or become a case study.
#SCALINGUP #CEO #FOUNDER #GROWTH

CRITICAL MISTAKES

Most people don’t need a new year.

They need a new operating system.

2026 won’t reward louder marketing, more hustle, or more tools.
It will reward founders who build clarity early and compound it fast.

What I’m seeing with founders between $3M–$10M is consistent:
• When financial visibility improves, decisions slow down in the right way
• Leadership shifts from reactive to intentional
• Teams stop guessing and start executing
• Growth becomes calmer, not heavier

Breakthroughs rarely come from doing more.
They come from removing noise and tightening the system.
That’s the mindset I’m taking into 2026.

Less chaos. More leverage. Fewer moves. Better ones.

If you’re also thinking about how you want to operate differently next year, I wrote a short piece on what actually creates momentum at this stage.

DM me or write "2026", and I will share the memo I wrote for my clients and friends with you.

#ceo #founder #scalingup

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cruzgamboadrive

patagonia-solar-llc

He refused to touch a $1.50 hot dog, and it helped build a ~$250B business.

Jim Sinegal.
Costco co-founder.

Inflation hit.
Costs rose.
Wall Street pushed the obvious move:

“Raise prices.”

Jim’s response was blunt:

“If you raise the price of the hot dog, you’re done.”

No slides.
No consultants.
No narrative gymnastics.

Just a rule.

So Costco did what most companies won’t:

They redesigned the system.
* Built their own production capacity
* Reduced supplier dependency
* Ruthlessly simplified SKUs
* Absorbed costs where trust mattered most

Instead of passing pain to customers, they owned it.

While others:
→ Blamed inflation
→ Shrunk products
→ Optimized short-term margins

Costco:
→ Held the line on iconic prices
→ Added ~5M new member households
→ Sustained ~92% renewal rates
→ Scaled to ~$250B in annual revenue

Here’s the part most founders miss:

They weren’t protecting a hot dog.

They were protecting trust.

And trust compounds faster than margins ever will.

Most companies raise prices to survive.
Strong companies redesign economics so prices don’t have to.

Boring moves.
Brutal discipline.
Unfair long-term advantage.

So what’s the one price, promise, or principle in your business that you refuse to break, no matter the pressure?

#scalingup #founders #leadership #pricing #ceo

In 1997, Jeff Bezos was stressed for all the right reasons.

Amazon was losing money.
Online retail wasn’t proven.
Most investors thought he was wrong.

Here’s the part people miss:

Stress doesn’t come from working hard.
It comes from knowing what to do and not doing it.

So Bezos acted.
Packed boxes himself.
Made the calls.
Shipped anyway.

No fancy office.
A door for a desk.
A Honda Accord in the parking lot.

Fast forward to amazon have $2.6 TRILLION market cap.

Lessons for founders:

▶️ Action kills anxiety
▶️ Clarity is earned through execution
▶️ Fancy setups don’t build big companies
▶️ Ignore opinions, obey the math
▶️ The long game compounds quietly

If something is stressing you out right now,
it’s probably your to-do list calling you out.

#scalingup #founder #ceo #growth

If everything is a priority, nothing scales.

That’s why most companies don’t stall from lack of ideas.
They stall from lack of focus.

The Power of One fixes that brutally fast.

Here’s the rule:

At every level of the business, there is ONE thing that matters more than everything else.

Not a vision board.
Not 12 KPIs.
One outcome that moves the needle now.

Company:
→ One #1 priority for the quarter that makes growth unavoidable.

Leaders:
→ One measurable result they own. No hiding. No excuses.

Teams:
→ One clear objective that directly supports the company's priority.

Individuals:
→ One commitment that, if done daily, makes execution inevitable.

Why this works (and why most won’t do it):

➡️ Focus beats intelligence
➡️ Clarity beats motivation
➡️ Ownership beats meetings
➡️ Execution beats strategy decks

Scaling isn’t about adding more people, more tools, or more plans.

It’s about removing everything that doesn’t matter
until what’s left cannot fail.

That’s the Power of One.

What is the one thing in your business that is calling for your full dedicated attention?

What are the things you are willing to pause so that you can fix it and remove the constraint?

#scaling #founders #growth #ceo

This is Why Companies Fail

Most founders do not have a growth problem.

They have a strategy stacking problem.

That is what the 7 Strata of Strategy solves.

It is a framework created by Verne Harnish to force clarity on the 7 layers that actually drive scale, profitability, and differentiation.

Not vision statements.
 Not buzzwords.
 Real strategic leverage.

What is the 7 Strata?

A practical checklist for building a strategy that compounds.

It answers one question:

“Why should the right customer choose you, pay you more, and stay longer?”

When to use it

Use the 7 Strata when:
• Revenue has stalled between $3M to $10M
 • Sales feels harder than it should
 • Margins are thin
 • Marketing sounds generic
 • The team cannot clearly explain why you win
 • You are scaling but complexity is rising faster than profit

It is especially powerful during:
• Annual planning
 • Strategy resets
 • Go-to-market changes
 • Repositioning
 • Pre-scale phase

What each Stratum means

Words You Own
 The category in the customer’s mind.
 If you do not define it, the market will.

Sandbox
 Who you serve and where you win.
 Focus creates power.

Brand Promise
 The measurable result customers can expect.

Brand Promise Guarantee
 How you reduce risk and increase trust.

Differentiating Activities (3 to 5)
 What you do differently that competitors cannot easily copy.

X-Factor
 Your 10x to 100x structural advantage.
 Process, data, network, cost, or ecosystem.

Profit per X + BHAG
 Your economic engine and long-term target.

This is where strategy meets money.

Why 7 Strata?

Because advantage is layered.

Most companies operate with 2 or 3 layers.

Strong companies stack all 7.

Each layer multiplies the others:

Positioning
 → Focus
 → Trust
 → Differentiation
 → Structural advantage
 → Profit engine
 → Long-term dominance

Miss one, and growth leaks.

The founder truth

If your strategy cannot be explained on one page, it cannot scale.

Clarity is not a branding exercise.
 It is a profit lever.

If you are operating between $3M to $10M and growth feels heavier every year, your next breakthrough is probably not more hustle.

It is a sharper stack.

If you want, I can share the worksheet I use with founders to map this in under 60 minutes.

Just DM SEVEN

#scaling #growth #CEO #founder

Cash flow isn’t optional—it’s the #1 rule behind sustainable business growth 💸
In this episode, Devin Sizemore breaks down how smart cash strategy fuels scale, stability, and long-term success.

Full podcast episode premiering 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟯𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝟳𝗔𝗠 𝗘𝗦𝗧 🚀

🔔 Turn on notifications so you don’t miss the next reels and the full episode.

👉 Set your reminder & watch the premiere here:
https://lnkd.in/eBnXhnie

#CashIsKing #DevinSizemore #BusinessPodcast #PodcastReels
#CashFlow #EntrepreneurMindset #ScalingBusiness #FounderTalk
#SustainableGrowth #WealthStrategy #StartupGrowth

Most founders brag about revenue.

That’s a mistake.

I’ve seen companies doing millions a year…
and the owner is still stressed, still stuck, still one bad month away from panic.

Why?

Because revenue doesn’t buy freedom.
Profit does.

More revenue without profit just gives you:

• More people
• More complexity
• More risk
• Same lifestyle

That’s not growth.
That’s leverage working against you.

Here’s the truth:

Growth does not start with selling more.
It starts with a profitable system.

There are only 3 levers that matter:

1. Price – Are you charging what it’s worth?

2. Volume – Are these the right customers?

3. Cost – Are you efficient without breaking delivery?

Everything else is noise.

Fix those three, and profit shows up.

Profit gives you:

➡️ Margin for mistakes
➡️ Proof the model works
➡️ Room to breathe

Profit turns into cash.

Cash pays the team.
Cash pays you.
Cash funds growth without stress.

Then you reinvest:
Better people.
Better systems.
Better clients.

That feeds the engine.

The engine creates more profit.

And now growth funds itself.

Stop asking:
❌ “How do we get more revenue?”

Start asking:
✅ “How do we make this system more profitable?”

Revenue is movement.
Profit is power.

If your business feels fragile, it’s because it is.

Fix the system.
The money follows.

Are you focused on more revenues or more profit in your business?  What would your business look like if you had more profit with the same amount of revenue?

#scalingup #growth #Ceo #founder

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