In 2005, we purchased a small landscaping company with just a few guys and a couple of trucks with a poor reputation and horrible margins. You could say we purchased layers of lipstick covering up an ugly pig. Things could only go up from there. For a long time, growth felt like proof I was doing something right. More crews, more accounts, more revenue.

Then it stopped feeling like proof and started feeling like a ceiling.

Every new client, every new hire, every new challenge or headache added more weight onto the same person: me. I wasn't managing the business anymore. I was the business. Every decision of any real size waited on me, because I'd never built anything that let it wait for anyone else.

I didn't see it as a design flaw at the time. I saw it as the job.  Something I had to make up as I went along because no one could really help me with the next steps to get out of the grind I'd become accustomed to.

Owners carry the weight (right), that's what we do. It took me years to realize the weight wasn't the job. It was a gap I'd never noticed I left open.

By the time I sold Sunburst, I understood the difference between a business that grows because you're pushing it and a business that grows because it's built to hold weight without you underneath every ounce of it.

That difference is what I've spent the past 18 months figuring out how to build on purpose, instead of discovering it by accident the way I did.

One thing to do this week:

If you've ever caught yourself thinking "my team is great, but everything still comes back to me," that's worth ten honest minutes. I put together a short audit that scores exactly where the decision gaps sit in your business. It won't take long, and it might explain more than you expect. Falcon Insight Partners

While you are there, take notice of the recent changes made to the website to walk people through the DOA journey. I’d appreciate it if you could tell me what works and what doesn’t. Simply respond to this email.