Ryan Rouse

MALK Organics

President

Self Employed

Growth Advisor

HighKey 

Chief Executive Officer (acquired)

Board Member

Chief Marketing & Ecommerce Officer

Tasseo Consumer Ecosystem

Operating Partner

Serenity Kids

Head of Growth

Factor_

Co-Founder (Acquired by Hello Fresh)

Chief Marketing Officer

Chief Operating Officer

Merrill Lynch

Vice President of Sales

Growth advisor to consumer businesses with a focus on every line of the P&L | Previously, Co-Founder at Factor Meals (acquired), CEO at Highkey

Growth-minded CPG leader with deep experience across finance, brand building, and operational leadership.

After more than a decade in finance—culminating in an eight-year tenure at Merrill Lynch—I co-founded Factor_, a ready-to-eat meal delivery company that went on to be acquired by HelloFresh for $277M in 2020.

I joined HighKey Snacks as Chief Marketing Officer and later CEO, guiding the low-sugar snack brand through rapid expansion and an acquisition in 2024.

I'm currently the President of MALK Organics, a fast-growing, near nine-figure brand redefining the plant-based milk category with its commitment to clean, organic ingredients and uncompromising quality.

And I write a newsletter about what it really takes to grow—your company, your mindset, your tolerance for chaos:
​
​• The unfiltered truth about building a brand
• Why “strategy” isn’t always strategic
• What to do when everything feels on fire
• Mindset shifts that keep you sane(ish)​
• Founder mistakes, market moves, and lessons I’m still learning​
​
​Part playbook, part perspective shift.
For anyone trying to grow something—and keep their head on straight.

Sign up using the link here (or below my profile pic above): https://ryanrouse.me/

Vice President | Partner

Data driven investors in early stage consumer brands. 

I don't know a single truly successful person with a scarcity mindset.

Not one.

The ones who make it big? They're cheering everyone on, even their competitors. 

Sounds backwards. 

But the pie's not fixed. When the category grows, everyone grows. So their success doesn't shrink yours.

And when you operate from that place, you stop playing defense and start playing offense.

That's when you really win.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Never Been on a Forbes List | President at MALK Organics | Daddy at Rouse House | Previously: Co-Founder & CMO at Factor_, CEO at Highkey

The most expensive person in your company isn't your highest-paid employee.

It's the one who loses their shit when things don't go their way.

The person who stays calm when shit hits the fan doesn't just solve problems faster.

They become the anchor everyone else holds onto.

When you're the one not freaking out, something magical happens.

People think clearer around you.
They bring solutions instead of panic.
They match your energy, not your emotions.

Being offended is a choice.
Getting emotional is a choice.
Losing your cool is a choice.

And every time you make that choice, you're choosing to make your team weaker.

The competitive advantage isn't in being right when everyone's wrong.

It's in being calm when everyone's not.

Because emotions are contagious.

Choose which ones you're spreading.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Everyone thinks they're ready for their boss's job.

Until they get promoted.

And realize the job they thought they understood was maybe 30% of it.

The other 70%? 

Managing up while managing down.
Making decisions with incomplete data.
Taking heat for choices they didn't make.
Navigating politics they didn't know existed.

As well as the additional context. 

Board dynamics.
Investor relationships.
Internal politics.
Historical baggage.

All the shit you can't see from one level down.

Instead of assuming you know the role, assume you don't and seek to understand. 

Ask questions.
- Why'd you phrase it that way?
- What aren't you saying in this email?
- Who are you really managing here?

Not just in meetings - in the prep. In the follow-ups. In the calls that "weren't important enough to mention."

The real education isn't in the meetings you're invited to.

It's in the ones you're not.

Want that next role? Stop assuming you're ready for it.

Start learning what it actually is.

Because the gap between where you are and where you want to be isn't about skills.

It's about context you don't have yet.

And, likely, soft skills you need to refine. 

Get curious about what you can't see.

That's how you get ready.

Not by waiting.

By studying.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Stop trying to motivate people.

You can't.

I wasted years at Factor_ thinking I could inspire people to care about our mission. Gave passionate speeches. Shared the vision until I was blue in the face.

Know what I learned?

Everyone's already motivated. Just not by what you think.

So your job isn't to motivate them.

It's to figure out what already drives them.

Then connect the dots.

I thought I was a shitty motivator at Factor_.

Turns out I was just a shitty listener.

Once I started asking "What matters to you?" instead of assuming everyone wanted what I wanted?

Everything changed.

People started crushing goals. Not because I motivated them.

Because I finally understood what motivated them.

And showed them how to get it.

Stop pushing your agenda.

Start pulling theirs.



~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this post, you'll love my emails. No BS observations and advice from 12+ years in the trenches building brands. 

Link in the comments 👇

The best deals happen when you're willing to lose them.

The best partnerships form when you're not desperate for them.

The best opportunities find you when you're not frantically searching.

I can't explain the mechanics of it.

But I've lived it.

The tighter you squeeze, the less you hold.

The more you relax, the more flows to you.

Sounds backwards.

Works forwards.

The difference between good leaders and great ones?

Good leaders hit their numbers.

Great leaders make everyone believe they can hit theirs.

Leadership isn't about being the hero of your own story.

It's about making everyone else the hero of theirs.

Your job isn't to cross the finish line first.

It's to make sure everyone believes they belong in the race.

Don't create followers.

Create more leaders.

Do it by making every single person feel like they're writing the story, not just reading it.

Your victories should feel like their victories.

Because they are.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Nobody wants your advice.

They want to know what you did when you were in their shoes.

Huge difference. Took me years to learn it.

When I was at Merrill Lynch, an employee came to me. Struggling with a toxic coworker. Asked what to do.

I launched into this whole speech about "professional communication" and "setting boundaries."

Watched their eyes glaze over.

Know why?

Because I was talking like a management textbook. Not like someone who'd actually been there.

So I stopped. Started over.

"Had the same thing happen to me years ago. Guy constantly undermined me in meetings. Here's what I did: Started documenting everything. Every interaction. Every slight. Not to be petty - to see the pattern. After two weeks, I realized he only did it when the CEO was around. Insecurity. So I started praising his ideas publicly before meetings. Killed him with recognition. Stopped within a month."

Their whole posture changed.

Not because my story was brilliant.

Because it was real.

When someone asks for advice, they're not asking for wisdom.

They're asking for proof that someone survived what they're facing.

Your theoretical framework means nothing.
Your "5 steps to success" means nothing.
Your generic best practices mean nothing.

But that time you royally screwed up a product launch and recovered?
That matters.

That time you had to resolve an issue with your co-founder?
That matters.

That time you lost your biggest client and rebuilt?
That matters.

Stop playing guru.

Start sharing scars.

People don't need another expert.

They need someone who's been in the mud and made it out.

Next time someone asks for advice, skip the lecture.

Tell them about the time you faced the same shit.

What you tried. What failed. What finally worked.

That's the only advice worth giving.

Everything else is just noise.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Stop writing novels before you get to the point.

• Slack messages with 2 paragraphs of context before asking if you can move a meeting.
• Emails that bury the budget approval request in paragraph 4.
• A "quick update" that takes 5 minutes to find the actual update.

You think you're being thorough. But you're burying the lead. 

Every second someone spends hunting for your point increases the chances that they miss it. 

Always. Lead. With. The. Ask. 

"Need budget approval for X. Details below."

"Meeting conflict - can we move to 3pm? Here's why..."

"Update: We're 2 weeks behind. Here's what happened..."

When you do that, speed of decision making increases.

People actually read the context because they know why they are reading it. 

Your high school English teacher was wrong.

Don't build to the conclusion. Start with it.

Don't provide context first. Give them the point, then explain.

People aren't reading your messages like novels. They're scanning for what you need.

Make it easy for them.

Or watch them start ignoring you.

I've never met a successful founder who was in a hurry to be happy.

But I've met plenty who were in a hurry to be successful.

And most were miserable.

Here's the thing about hurrying... 

Every time you rush through now to get to later, you're telling yourself this moment doesn't count.

That happiness is waiting for you somewhere else.

Spoiler: It's not.

The disease isn't being busy.

The disease is believing that busy gets you somewhere better than here.

Your next meeting isn't more important than this moment.
Your next milestone won't make you happier than you can be right now.
Your future success won't fix your current inability to be present.

Happiness isn't waiting at your next revenue or income threshold. Or an exit. 

It's sitting right here. Right now.

Even if here isn't where you thought you'd be.

Especially if it isn't.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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One of the biggest turning points in an early stage business is when you stop thinking it's cute that the business "flies by the seat of its pants."

And start realizing that it's limiting growth.

"We're scrappy."
"We move fast."
"We figure it out as we go."

All code for: We don't have our shit together.

And it works. Until it doesn't.

Process is not about control. It's about freedom.

Freedom from:
- Solving the same problem 47 times
- Having every decision escalate to you
- Losing your best people to preventable burnout
- Watching quality tank because "everyone does it differently"

There's a fine line between startup energy and startup chaos.

But one you have to be on the lookout for. 

Because chaos doesn't scale.

Doing things that are hard will change how you see yourself.

They don't just build skills. They rebuild identity.

When you do the shit that scares you, you stop being the person who's scared of it.

When you tackle what you suck at, you stop being the person who sucks at it.

Each hard thing I've tackled in business changed the story I tell myself.

From "I'm not a numbers guy" to "I can figure this out."

From "I don't do operations" to "I'll handle it."

From "That's not my strength" to "Not yet."

The hard things you're avoiding?

They're not obstacles.

They're identity upgrades waiting to happen.

You think you know who you are.

But you're just who you've been so far.

Do the hard thing.

Meet who you could be.

This is cliche as hell. 

It's also true.


~~~~~~~~~~~~

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There are two types of people at startups.

The ones waiting for their manager to tell them what to do.

And the ones who've already done it.

Take two employees side by side. 
Same title. 
Same experience. 
Completely different trajectories.

One keeps asking "What should I work on next?"

The other is already shipping solutions to problems nobody had assigned yet.

Guess which one has a steeper trajectory?

At early stage companies, your task list is a suggestion.

The real work? It's everything that's not on it yet.

The stuff nobody's noticed is broken.
The process that takes 10 steps but could take 2.
The customer complaint that "isn't your department."

Everyone's busy at startups. That's not special.

What's special is being busy with the right shit.

The ones who wait for permission to level up never do.
The ones who just start fixing things become indispensable.

I used to think initiative was about working harder.

Wrong.

It's about working on what matters before someone tells you it matters.

Your boss isn't your career GPS.

Stop waiting for directions.

Start building the map.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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The biggest sales job you'll ever make isn't to your customers.

It's to yourself.

Because it's the stories in your head determine the stories you tell the world.

If you're telling yourself you're an imposter, that's exactly what you'll project in every meeting.

If you're telling yourself you're not a "numbers person," guess what? You won't be.

If you're telling yourself you need one more certification, one more mentor, one more anything before you're ready...

You're right. You'll never be ready.

Because readiness isn't something you acquire.

It's something you decide.

The most successful people I know aren't the ones with the best credentials or the smoothest pitch.

They're the ones who changed their internal narrative first.

From "I'm figuring it out" to "I know my shit."
From "I hope this works" to "Watch me make this work."
From "I'm not that type of person" to "I'm becoming that type of person right now."

Your business can only grow as fast as your self-concept allows.

Change the story. Change everything.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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When emotions run high, intellect runs low.

Your IQ literally drops when you're heated. The part of your brain that handles logic? It checks out. 

Leaves you with the part that wants to fight or flee.

That's when we make our worst decisions.

Break trust with a team member.
Send the relationship-ending text.
Make the deal-killing move.

Now when I feel that heat rising, I do nothing.

No emails. No calls. No Slack messages. No decisions.

Just breathe. Stand up. Walk away.

The problem will still be there in the morning.

But I'll have my full brain back to solve it.

Because I now know that the most expensive words are the ones you say when you're emotional.

In those times, the most powerful thing you can do is absolutely nothing.

At least not until tomorrow.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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You can't be friends with people who work for you. 

I don't buy into this philosophy. 

I think you can. And believe it can an advantage in leadership. 

You just have to be willing to piss off your friends (who are also team members) more often then you do with people who are just friends.

We all want to be in good standing with our friends at all times. There's a weight that comes with being in conflict with people we care about that we'd rather not carry. 

But if you are going to be friends with people you lead, you have to get comfortable with that weight. 

Because you won't be in good standing with them all the time. 

Not if you're doing it right.

The best operators aren't the ones who can take the most punishment.

They're the ones who refuse to.

I used to pride myself on being the guy who could handle anything. Any timeline. Any ask. Any amount of chaos.

Until I realized I wasn't scaling the business.

I was enabling its dysfunction.

Real scaling happens when you make heroes unnecessary.

When you build processes that work without someone sacrificing their weekends.
When you invest in infrastructure before you're drowning.
When you say "this timeline isn't realistic" instead of "I'll figure it out."

Being irreplaceable isn't job security.

It's a trap.

The constraint of limited capital forces clarity.

When you can't throw money at problems, you have to actually solve them.

When you can't hire your way out, you have to execute your way through.

When every dollar matters, bullshit dies fast.

But at some point that constraint is a net negative on the business.

Because the "bootstrappers mindset" is established but company growth is stunted by a lack of cash.

When you can't invest in proper infrastructure, you pay in time.
When you can't hire the right people, you pay in mistakes.
When you can't test at scale, you pay in missed opportunities.

This is why experienced operators raise money differently. 

Not because they're greedy. Because they've lived through the hidden cost of being too lean.

They know when to be scrappy and when to invest.
They know which constraints sharpen you and which ones slow you down.
They know that sometimes the most expensive thing is being cheap.

Investors get this. That's why experienced operators raise bigger rounds sooner and often times operate in the red for longer.

Not because they have better pitch decks.

Because they've already paid the tuition on when capital constraint stops being an asset and starts being a liability.

The impact of your ability to connect with other human beings cannot be understated.

That skill alone unlocks more opportunities than everything else combined. 

This has nothing to do with the number of social media followers you have. Follower count is a terrible measure of the skill. 

I'm talking about your ability to find common ground with other people below all the surface level shit.

Which lives and dies with how early in a conversation you're willing to take off your mask and be honest about things. 

When I am real with people, I can literally see their face and body relax.  

The type of relief that only comes with the realization that you're in a conversation with someone you don't have to fake it with. 

Because faking it is exhausting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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When it comes to brand, positioning matters the most.

There are many positioning frameworks out there. 

I personally like one from McKinsey consultant Victor Cheng.

Cheng says that the best positioning makes a “Unique Compelling Credible Promise to a potential buyer”.


1. Your promise must be unique. 

The first step in winning a customer is being unique in a field of sameness. 

To achieve uniqueness, riff on the Who / What / Where / Why / When / How of your offering:

- Who do you serve?
- What do you offer?
- Where are your sales happening?
- Why do you do what you do?
- When do you fulfill?
- How do you do what you do?

All can be unique and differentiators in the market relative to your competition.


2. Your promise must be compelling.

Whatever you are promising has to solve a customer problem in an overwhelmingly compelling way. 

Review your customer feedback. What are their searing problems? 

Not their surface level problems.

Do they want to be healthier? (Surface level)

Or are they disgusted by how they feel and can't play with their kids because they are low on energy. (Searing problem)

Make your promise compelling. Address the searing problem head-on. 

Use the language your customers use. Mirror your solution back at them. 

Take this approach in all your sales copy, your ads, and your site.


3. Your promise must be credible. 

A unique and compelling offer means nothing if your potential customer doesn't believe you. 

It is asking a lot for a brand-spanking new visitor to take out her credit card and buy from you on the first visit to your site. 

This lack-of-trust is a big reason why conversion rates are so low.

You have to build credibility around your brand, fast. Here are some ways to do it:

- Customer testimonials
- Specificity
- Guarantees
- Research reports / Trials

Credibility is king. Without it, the first two don’t go very far.


You're gonna have a really tough time building and scaling a business without solid positioning. 

I love the approach above, but there are others. 

Pick one and do the thinking involved to carve out your own positioning. 

Every other aspect of running your business will become easier.

Action is the great equalizer.

It doesn’t care about your background, where you went to school, or how old you are. 

While everyone has things they want to do, significantly fewer people take action on them. 

Which presents an opportunity for those who do. 

Here's a simple formula for taking action on something new:

1/  Determine what the absolute smallest first step you can take looks like. 

2/  Take that step.

That’s it.

That one baby step will do a few important things for you. 

First, it will reveal the next step. There’s value in mapping out a step by step plan, but the step you actually take is the only thing will bring the next one into focus.

It will also help you decide if you want to take the next step. You don't have to.

Lastly, it will build momentum and internal belief. 

There’s nothing more powerful in the universe than the combination of these two things. 

This works for everything from a new business idea to a new hobby. 

Taking action, as imperfect as it may be, wins every time.

Codie A. Sanchez

Contrarian Thinking

Opportunity is found in the disconnect between narrative and the truth. 

CT is where hundreds of thousands of investors, entrepreneurs, and contrarians come to learn about unconventional ways to diversify income, generate wealth, and increase profits. 

Join here
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https://contrarianthinking.biz/li

Founder - Investor - Writer

Unconventional Acquisitions

We buy, sell and invest in small businesses and teach others how to get into the ownership seat.

Co-Founder

Entourage Effect Capital

EEC Advisory Board Member

EEC is one of the first Growth Equity firms in the cannabis industry, we’ve invested $150 million in cannabis since 2014

Managing Director - Partner

First Trust

I head the Latin America & US Offshore Investment Business, providing investments and market strategy to enable some of the worlds leading pensions, institutions and advisors to reach their investment goals.  We've built a business from the ground up, to one of the fastest growing firms in LatAm.

Head of Latin America Investments

State Street

Worked in Latin America and the US with Fortune 500 Companies, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, central banks, endowments, and foundations to manage their investment portfolios. We navigated some treacherous regulations and industry changes to raise billions in previously uncovered markets.

Director Institutional Sales

Goldman Sachs

Investment Associate

Vanguard

ETF Consultant & Distribution Specialist

The Arizona Republic

In-depth Investigative Reporter Mexico

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
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Founder

We help free minds and build bank accounts.

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

Harsh truth:

Running a company is simply a game of prioritizing problems.

Here’s how to become the Chief Problem Solver in your business:

Want to know Elon Musk's "secret" to running Tesla, SpaceX, and 3+ other billion-dollar companies?

According to Marc Andreessen, it's simple:

"He shows up every week, identifies the biggest problem, fixes it, and does that 52 weeks in a row."

Most companies hide from problems:

- They reframe them as "challenges"
- They create layers of abstraction
- They delegate them into oblivion

But problems aren't biohazards - they're your biggest opportunities.

Bigger the problem? Bigger the potential.

There’s a reason SpaceX is able to send a 400-foot skyscraper into the sky knowing it might explode.

Because they want to know exactly what breaks, when, and why.

Every failure incapacitates dozens of future problems.

This approach works because running a company is simply prioritizing problems.

Your earnings directly reflect what you solve...

Big problems pay better.

Another great example of this is Brad Jacobs.

He built 7 billion-dollar companies in logistics, waste, and warehousing - industries most people find boring until they see his bank account.

Here’s how he evaluates risk vs reward on different deal sizes:

Jacobs' model breaks down like this:

- Small, low-risk deals: exist but limited reward
• Small, high-risk deals: limited reward with high risk (avoid)
• Big, low-risk deals: unicorns (don't exist)
• Big, high-risk deals with solvable problems: "the bingo quadrant"
One of my favorite lines from his book is:

"If you want to win, you have to rearrange your brain to lean into those big, hairy problems and figure out how to cut off the hair and de-risk."

This is exactly what your job is as a CEO.

It’s simple: hire the smartest people in the world... and solve the problems they can't figure out.

That's it. That's the whole job.

Not avoiding problems, but identifying and selecting the right ones to solve.

Becoming a Chief Problem Solver requires you to create your own weekly problem-solving loop:

1. Identify your single biggest constraint
2. Focus all resources on solving it
3. Measure the result
4. Repeat next week

1 problem. 1 solution. 52 weeks in a row.

The best entrepreneurs don't just "think differently" about problems. They actively build muscles for problem identification and execution.

Then they do it again and again.

Fair warning though, this isn't glamorous work. It means:

- Living inside friction
• Facing uncomfortable truths
• Fixing things no one else wants to touch

But it's where all the leverage is.

If your business is stuck, your unlock is often solving ONE big problem.

↓↓↓

P.S. If this post spoke to you, you should come to Main Street Over Wall Street in Austin. 

You can expect a bunch of billionaires speakers and tons of networking opportunities - essentially the perfect petri dish of builders. 

Hope to see you there: http://bit.ly/3WQfYzu

What they told me about partnerships was bullsh*t. 

The Disney movies got it wrong.

It’s not knights on horses and damsels in distress.

Instead, it’s two animals, defining territories, testing boundaries, pushing one another.

I wish they would have told the truth. That I’d need to step up, be more, set lines, move some, and allow him to be the wild, strong, hard-edged independent man he is.

I wish they would have told him he’d have to back down, lift me up, and allow me to be the spark, the fluid, mercurial, creative woman I am. And sometimes... be late to sh*t because timelines are more like suggestions right 😉

Half the problem today is we try to tame one another.

We want men who have six-packs, can throw us up against a wall, leaders of men, and build empires... but we want them to “want” to wash the dishes and fold their underwear properly.

Men want women who are sexy, strong, make their own $$, well-dressed, actually like to listen about golf scores but also, who cook them apple pie like their mommies. Extra points if you do it in aprons.

The TRUTH...

You gotta choose. Do you want the mommy, do you want the docile tame non-threatening man, or do you want the edges?

Turns out only edges allow you to sharpen one another.

So I’ll choose edges, adventures, questions, and creation any day.

We’ve never been given anything the easy way… but man is it more satisfying on the other side of two humans who do the work.

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

Unconventional traits of successful people:

- Most are not balanced. They’re relentless, tough, focused, less fun. Maybe doesn’t have to be this way, but it usually is.
- They move fast, they take risk, they work a lot.
- Behind every successful person is a story that gave them no choice.
- Their mindset is: entitled to nothing, willing to earn everything.
- They’re competitive. More competitive you are, more likely you are to succeed.
- They do NOT have all the answers. Many are anxious and uncertain.
- Most successful people have left their hometown at some point.
- They’ve failed more times than you can imagine. You only have to be right once.

What would you add?

↓ ↓ ↓

BTW - do you want to be around people that fit this description? Come to this: https://lnkd.in/ee52zmmg

A reminder to myself and you this Sunday...

It’s really just you against the mirror. You vs you. No one else can win at a game of one. I know it’s hard not to get distracted, race horses wear blinders for a reason. Your lane you’re game. LFG.

The worst thing that can happen isn't failure.

It's never trying and drowning in mediocrity.

When I get anxiety about work, I:

Go small, or go BIG...

1) Go small.

Grab your to do list. Do the thing you want to do the least.

2) Go big.

Take a huge swing on whatever it is you've been thinking about doing.

Which sounds scarier?

That’s the one you need to do.

Full send this week. You can do this.

Follow me Codie A. Sanchez for more business advice and gentle bullying 😉

Have they built what you want? If not, their opinion is worthless.

Caroline Englund

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. Here’s what’s interesting...

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.

Here's your first step:

1. Mark your calendar for November 2-4 
2. Come to Main Street Over Wall Street here in Austin

If you want to learn from, network with, or just be around other builders... this is the place to be: https://lnkd.in/eKnKnh2h

Agree or disagree?

From what I've seen, it's not about experience, it's about:

- eagerness
- curiosity
- intensity
- follow-through
- determination

Human traits. You can almost see them in the first day but certainly verify in a week.

Hard question owners need to ask:

Have you created an environment to allow type of person to succeed?

Here's the First 100 Days template we use for new hires → https://lnkd.in/enD_ptvU

5 other truths on focus I've learned recently:

1. Two Hour Rule. 2 hours of dedicated work is worth more than most people's 8 hours.

2. It's not the passionate who are successful; it's the focused.

3. A distracted mind is an unhappy mind. That's why some people are obsessed with working.

4. If you are stressed, it's because you are not in flow... yet.

5. What you choose to focus on is far more important than how hard you work or how smart you are.

↓ ↓ ↓

It's hard to choose where to focus in a world that battles for our attention.

Here's my list of 19 financial books that changed my life, so you can cut through the noise → https://lnkd.in/eCX7djGM

Story from my dad today.

If you’re a business owner, it may hit you as deeply as it hit me...

He said, you know you’ve met another builder or doer when they’ve felt that flinch at the second Friday of the month.

My father has never bounced a check.

But he remembers this...

It was payday, his business was owed money, and they couldn’t bridge the gap between the two in time.

He could just picture the guys’ faces.

Those last two workers, who had done more than anyone else, stayed later than anyone else…

And they were about to be punished for that by not getting paid.

So he called up his banker, told him he needed a line of credit, and pulled out $100,000 give or take to make sure that every single one of their checks cleared.

At the time, my dad had a business partner who was a different type of guy.

He was the sort to make excuses, pay himself first, and not particularly care if everyone else’s checks cleared as long as he got his.

That partner has since had many businesses fail - and many more employees go without a paycheck.

And my dad has never in all these years had a business fail, or lost anyone a dime.

He often attributes his business success to the fact that he would never let his hardest working guys go hungry...

People will always be your biggest struggle and your greatest gift in business. Treat ‘em right.

↓ ↓ ↓

You’ll always recognize another builder.

If you want to around other builders that understand the ups and downs of being a business owner, you should come to my "Main Street Over Wall Street" event. 

It's November 2 - 4. In Austin. With a bunch of billionaire speakers. 

Grab your ticket here: https://lnkd.in/eKnKnh2h

It's about creating a vision so powerful that people want to follow.

Tag someone who inspires you every day.

The #1 killer of businesses is bad cashflow.

15 other harsh business truths for you:

1. The greatest muscle you can build is urgency. Bureaucracy is business poison.

2. Decrease the time between having an idea and getting it done. Everything changes.

3. Never sacrifice reputation in the name of business. You can always start another company. You can never create a new reputation.

4. Long-term games and long-term people compound. Resist shiny objects.

5. Hire smart people, pay them well, set them up for success... Then leave them the hell alone.

6. “There’s nothing worse than being sick, fat, tired and trying to run your business.” - Dana White

7. The highest ROI investment founders & owners can make is in themselves. Health shapes mindset. Mindset shapes action.

8. You're better off learning negotiation than financial modeling. Business is less spreadsheets than words.

9. The best business of all time has only you, a computer, and the send button.

10. Every additional employee increases complexity. Hiring is a last resort.

11. The best advice comes from those just a couple steps ahead of you. These people still vividly remember the problems you're facing today.

12. Sell painkillers, not vitamins. There's more money in needs than wants.

13. No discounts. Compete on value, not price. Any biz with $$$ can enter your market and bleed you out. Differentiate beyond commodity.

14. A happy customer is the most powerful marketing. Prioritize reviews. Humans are social animals.

15. If no one thinks you’re crazy, you’re too late. If everyone thinks your idea is good? Even worse. Outsized returns lie in non-conformism.

↓ ↓ ↓

Want to start a biz but don’t know where to start? I whipped this up to get you started on the right track: https://lnkd.in/empWft4P

23 harsh truths, in business and in life:


↓ ↓ ↓

If you prefer your harsh truths weekly, free, and in a longer written format, then I've got just the thing for you...

Join my newsletter, Contrarian Thinking, here → https://lnkd.in/euh-mDd8

23 Harsh Truths

If you solve rich people’s problems, you will never go broke.

If you want to get rich, master negotiation.

13 negotiation tips from 15yrs in business:

1. See things from the balcony

This is something I learned from my first boss at State Street, Yang Butler. We get too caught up in the day-to-day - the battle, not the war. Remove yourself from all the chaos and see everything from on high.

2. Search the shadows

Often, the person across the table isn't the real decision-maker. Powerful forces lurk in the shadows. It's your job to find who they are.

3. Dive to the bottom of the iceberg

Most problems are like icebergs. What we see is see the tip poking above the surface. Dive to the CORE problem beneath, or you'll sink like the Titanic.

4. Study the language of your opponent

Understanding their language is understanding their desires. But 93% of communication is non-verbal. The rest lies in tone and body language.

5. Do your homework

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Do you understand the history of those that you negotiate against? Because it is likely to repeat itself.

6. Build a golden bridge

"Surround them on three sides, leaving one side open, to show them a way to life. Show them a way to life so that they will not be in the mood to fight to the death." –Sun Tzu

7. Write their victory speech

Get in their head: If they "win" this negotiation, what will they brag about?Show that what you want is actually a win for them.

8. The Emotion Canyon

Don't raise your voice. Don't fire off that angry email. Don't let 1 impulsive moment ruin the gentle work of closing a deal. Keep a canyon between emotion & reaction.

9. Appear to need it less

It’s not he who wants it less that wins. It’s he who appears to need it less. Be willing to walk away, and watch the tables turn.

10. Relax into the silence

We hate awkward silences. We'll say anything to fill the void.. even reveal key information. So when things go quiet, embrace it. Smile. Relax your body. Sip some water.

12. Say yes as much as possible

This doesn't mean give in to everything. Say "yes" even when you don't. Make concessions for non-monetary terms they care more about than you do.

13. Respect costs you nothing

But it means everything to your opponent. Call out their strengths. Acknowledge their position. Empathize with them. You might just get a yes.

↓ ↓ ↓

These tips have served me well across salary talks, the most bloodthirsty chore negotiations with my hubs...

But most of all in DEALS.

The terms you negotiate make the difference between buying an amazing business and a terrible one.

Get more insider tips on dealmaking and SMB buying here → https://lnkd.in/ebAYEW_J

How to teach your people to prioritize.

The CEE Frame:

↓↓↓

Follow me Codie A. Sanchez for more content on buying & building businesses:)

CEE Frame

No asset will ever make you as much money as investing in yourself as THE asset.


↓ ↓ ↓

...And if you want to be in the room with 1000 other builders...come to MSOWS.

 It's November 2-4. In Austin. 

Get your ticket before we run out: https://lnkd.in/eKnKnh2h

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