S Brian Smith 🪜

I free founders from ops, sales, & management | Founder @ Strategy Ladders | Coached 1000s of B2B and Agency owners | Stop struggling, start enjoying business ownership 🏖️

Most founders of 7-figure B2B service companies reach a point where growth plateaus—and freedom remains a mirage.

They’re still in sales calls. Still solving client fires. Still holding the business together.

That’s where we come in.

At Strategy Ladders, we help founder-led B2B service businesses—agencies, development shops, consulting firms, and more—scale from $2M to $30M+ in annual revenue while removing the founder from daily operations.

We don’t do theory. We do results.

Every advisor on our team has built and scaled 8-figure businesses. We’ve been in your seat, broken through the same ceilings, and led teams to the next level.

What We Deliver:
Strategic clarity with a customized roadmap to scale

Execution firepower through world-class experts and operators

Freedom for founders through strong systems, teams, and leadership

We don’t stop at advice. We help you implement.

Whether it’s building out your sales infrastructure, overhauling project management, optimizing financials, or replacing yourself as CEO—our team has done it before and does it with you.

Services We Integrate Into Our Work:
LATAM recruiting (our secret weapon)

Full-stack B2B marketing through our in-house agency, B2B Labs

Project management systems & leadership

Financial management—without a bloated CFO title

HubSpot CRM buildouts & automation

And more—all tailored for service businesses

We’ve helped clients:
✅ Scale from $150k to $4M ARR in under a year
✅ Slash founder hours by over 40%
✅ Grow recurring revenue from 2% to 50%
✅ Land Fortune 100 clients
✅ Build 65-person teams in two years
✅ Exit profitably and on their terms

We're not a coaching business.

We're not your podcast hero.

We're the serious team for founders ready to win.

If you’re running a 7-figure business and ready to scale to 8+—without grinding yourself into the ground—we should talk.


🪜 www.strategyladders.com

Founder & Head of Strategy

The Strategy Ladder Program delivers MASSIVE results to agencies, consultancies, and service businesses.

If your business is 25-85 employees, partially or fully remote, and you're stuck trying to "level-up," I will transform it with you.

The Strategy Ladder System will get you UNSTUCK. You'll develop a bullet-proof strategy that grows with your business, streamlines operations, scales your revenue, and sets your business up to continue to grow without you.

The Strategy Ladder System doesn't just change your business. It will transform YOU. You'll undergo a mental reset that frees you from the anxiety and beliefs that tie you to the day-to-day in your business. You're the leader of your business - if you don't change, your business never will.

The Strategy Ladder System has worked for over 400 entrepreneurs, delivering & implementing strategies that have:

💥 Scaled an agency from $150k to $4mil ARR in 10 months

💥 Increased a digital marketing agency’s productivity levels by over 450%, dramatically increasing profitability

💥 Streamlined a SaaS product’s roadmap, reducing development costs by 45% while increasing execution speed by over 25%.

💥 Developed and executing a repositioning strategy that landed a web development agency a long-term contract with a Fortune 100 company

💥 Repositioned of an app development agency that grew recurring revenue from 2% to over 50% of total revenue within three month

💥 Built a sales organization of 65 sales people in two years

💥 Orchestrated & executed a legal & and business strategy that lead to a sale of key assets of a SaaS platform for a significant premium over the market value of the company

Most founders hit the same wall. (and how to break through it in 90 days  🚀)

Revenue’s up. Team’s bigger.
And somehow… you’re working more.

Every decision runs through you.
Your calendar is a hostage situation.
And that “vacation”? You spent half of it on Slack.

Here’s what I’ve learned after helping 400+ B2B service founders break the cycle:

The problem isn’t your team. It’s your operating system AND decision delegation.

One client had 80+ employees… and the founder was still spending 6–10 hours/week reviewing dashboards, reports, and funneling decisions through himself.

Not leading. Not strategizing.
Just… reviewing.

We rebuilt their operating rhythm & assigned decision ownership.

90 days later: the team runs the reviews.
The founder gets a 15-minute summary every day. That’s it.

Here’s what a real 90-day shift looks like:

✅ Days 1–30: Clarity

- Map every decision that “requires you”
- Install a simple rule: reversible decisions don’t climb to the founder
- Assign ONE owner per function (Sales, Delivery, Ops, Finance)

✅ Days 31–60: Cadence

- Weekly leadership rhythm (same agenda, every week)
- Scoreboard + priorities (no vibes, no rambling)
- Problems get solved by owners… not escalated to you

✅ Days 61–90: Accountability

- Public commitments
- Misses get fixed, not explained
- You stop rescuing — and become the strategic leader again

One client went from a $1M to $4.5M run rate during this transition.

Not because they worked harder.
Because they built a business that didn’t need them in every room.

The real question isn’t “Can my team handle it?”
It’s: “Have I given them the system to win without me?”

What’s one decision you made this week that your team should’ve owned?

But be careful with one-size-fits-all approaches. Every operating business starts with its own unique set of challenges.

If you’re serious about getting out of the middle, DM me “90 DAYS” and I’ll send you a business audit to see where you need to focus first.

✌️🧡🌮

Performance Improvement Consulting, LLC

Fractional Leadership (CEO, CFO, COO), Coaching, Project and Change Management. 

My passion is helping organizations transform their success through leadership development, education, training, and executive coaching. Working with me will be a powerful, positive, and paradigm-shifting experience that will lead to sustainable performance improvement for you and your organization.

Conscious Leadership Consultant & Coach

Ask Althea

Our expertise lies in helping individuals achieve interpersonal transformation and sustainable change, enabling them to unlock their full potential. We accomplish this through classes, coaching, and community support explicitly designed for people who feel stuck and want to lead their lives differently. Our goal is to help you create a more intentional life to experience greater purpose, happiness, and fulfillment.

✨Leaders who feel stuck or distracted but are capable of more, including leading at a higher level. Phillip is an expert in interpersonal transformation and sustainable change. Let go to actualize your full potential.

✨People looking for a cataclysmic transformation that includes entheogens to connect with their higher selves. We offer entheogen (pre/post) integration work. 

✨Zoomers overcoming their parent's stories as they create their own stories. We offer Gen Z Mindfulness Mentoring, Coaching, and Classes.

We engage with several coaches and mindfulness mentors to create transformative client experiences. We empower you to create and practice an intentional life by shedding old stories and self-limiting beliefs.

Founder & Chief MindShift Strategist

Riley Life eCommerce Services

Report to the CEO with overall responsibility for all finance and accounting operations of a rapidly growing $10MM eCommerce services company doing over 500,000 transactions a year, providing logistics, supply chain and technology solutions to eCommerce merchants.  Managed annual revenue growth of 12X in 7 years.  Focused on gross margin management and growth through managerial accounting that provided a sophisticated understanding of gross margin across all service lines, enabling more accurate and nuanced value-add pricing to support gross margin growth.  Additional focus on continuous performance improvement, as well as staff training and professional development.

I have also functioned as the Chief Growth Officer throughout my entire tenure at Riley Life, providing sales training and management as well as providing significant personal production in client acquisition and revenue growth.  Additionally, I lead operations for a two-year period as COO, effectively executing sustainable, scalable process improvement throughout our operations resulting in higher production efficiencies, and reduced errors, both of which reduced costs and increased gross margins.

CGO - Chief Growth Officer / VP of Business Development

Van Winkle Construction

Hands on direct responsibility for all business development, design, design development, estimating, proposal development, project management and site supervision for a wide variety of design-build and program management projects.  $2MM in annual revenue.  Held North Carolina General Contractors (Unlimited) License.

Exelon Services

Worked for now defunct Exelon Services division -- Exelon's foray into unregulated services.  Reported to President and provided leadership for the sales and marketing of this $70MM mechanical, electrical and technology contractor providing design/build and performance contracting services in addition to traditional ‘plan & spec’ work.  Personal production of over $30MM in new revenue over a three year period.

Business Development Executive

EXXCEL Project Management

Reported to Senior Vice President and provided leadership for the sales and marketing of this $150MM+ project management firm providing design/build construction and industrial real estate development services.

Vice President of Sales

Dale Carnegie Training

Provided sales training and coaching to sales executives enrolled in the Dale Carnegie Sales Training program.

Sales Coach - Dayton, OH

WENCO, Inc.

Reported to the President and provided leadership for the sales and marketing of this $40MM+ general contractor with overall responsibility for gross margins. Directed the target marketing of the company’s services.  Re-staffed and redirected sales group with a sales process focused on selling more profitably in a long sale cycle and complex consultative selling environment.  Results: 2000 gross margins exceeded budget by 40% and 1999 gross margins by 50%.  Provided joint sales calls with staff and established a close ratio nearing 50%.  Volunteered evenings as a Dale Carnegie Sales Coach and Trainer.  Sandler President’s Club sales training.

Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Ferguson Construction Co.

Reported to Vice President of this $100MM+ design/build firm that self-performed all structural trades.  Had overall responsibility for the client relationship.  Responsible for scope development, design development, pricing development, proposal development and contract negotiations for all types of commercial and complex industrial projects.

#1 profit producer in the company:  Closed $75MM in profitable sales (79% design/build, 76% negotiated and 47% new customer as measured by dollar volume) and averaged 45% annual increases in sales production over a five-year period with a close ratio approaching 50%.  Expert at target prospecting, long sale cycle and complex, consultative selling environment.

Business Development Project Executive

John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.)

Personal Sales Producer.  Series 7 and Series 63 general securities licenses; life, health and disability licenses.  Worked with business owners and other individuals in financial planning, qualified retirement plan design, life insurance and investment portfolio design. Sales awards: Rookie of the Year, 1993; John Hancock National Honor Club, 1993.

Registered Representative

Mindset Strategist || I Help Professionals Unleash Their Full Potential || Expert in Personal Transformation and Sustainable Change || Author || iNtuitive - INTJ || Deadhead

FOR ORGANIZATIONS:

If your organization is not living up to its full potential, you only have one problem:

LEADERSHIP!

Most organizations are hamstrung by weak, ineffective leadership and don't realize it. 

With leadership - all things are possible; without leadership, nothing is possible.

That is the power of leadership!

However, most organizations fundamentally misunderstand how to develop leadership in their employees.

They fail to understand that leadership is not simply a skill set but a MINDSET – a powerfully different paradigm.

Consciousness leadership is the phrase many use to differentiate this critical point.

Conscious leadership is next-level leadership that makes ALL of the difference in effectiveness results.

Conscious leadership is for everyone. The most successful organizations create a CULTURE of LEADERSHIP that permeates all levels of the organization.

Developing conscious leadership mindsets and culture is the most critical and practical investment any organization can make to significantly improve its performance.

Conscious leadership is the competitive advantage your organization needs to level up.

Start developing a culture of conscious leadership in your organization TODAY.

Please book a no-cost, no-obligation Discovery Session to learn how.



FOR INDIVIDUALS:

"Ain't no one messin' with you but you."

Do you feel like you regularly fight an internal battle with yourself to live up to your full potential?

Do you wish your self-confidence and self-esteem were stronger?

Do you ever experience imposter syndrome?

Many professionals experience a disconnect between how they show up internally and how they want to show up externally.

This can be especially true for leadership roles where our team constantly scrutinizes us.

Most of us suffer from a whole range of self-limiting beliefs about ourselves that are negative, disempowering, and get in the way of us showing up how we want.

The real catch is that most of these self-limiting beliefs are sub-conscious, and we are unaware of them.
 
We know how they affect us but struggle to understand precisely why we have such disempowering thoughts and feelings. It can be so frustrating.

HERE'S THE CRAZY THING:

NONE of the self-limited beliefs that are holding you back are true.

NONE OF THEM!

Continuing to hang on to them and allowing them to sabotage your career and life is TOTALLY UNNECESSARY.

Don't wait until you're stuck to ask for help.

Stop procrastinating and self-sabotaging, and get help NOW.

Please book a no-cost, no-obligation Discovery Session to learn how.

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S Brian Smith 🪜

Phillip Van Winkle💡

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The Battle

S Brian Smith 🪜

Phillip Van Winkle💡

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