2 startups (and many failures along the way), here are the 20 steps I took to generate $9.8M (profit) in 4 years.

I went from a jobless art school dropout to banking $9.8 million (profit) in just four years.

Recently, I sat back to reflect on what advice I'd give myself if I could go back in time to chat with 21 year old me, when I was starting my first company.

Disclaimer: yes, the points below are high level. This isn't meant to be a recipe book where I say, I did exactly X, to produce Y. The reason for this is the specifics are different for every business, and my goal with this exercise is to give my younger self directional guidance, not a recipe book to recreate the exact same businesses.

I'm happy to unpack any of these in more detail, feel free to ask.

Lastly, the trolls usually come out when I mention profit numbers openly because they've been burnt too many times by fake "gurus" or ppl trying to sell them courses with bogus numbers. I've got nothing to sell anyone (my agencies sell to VC backed tech companies who don't hang out on here), so really just sharing this for the reasons I mentioned above (lessons for my younger self) since I know there are a ton of first time entrepreneurs on here who could benefit.

Alright, enough with the disclaimers, let's do this:

1. Time Commit Goals: First up, decide how many hours you're ready to grind each week. I capped mine at 25 hours to avoid burnout. It's amazing how much you can get done if you proactively block your calendar.

2. Financial Goals: Define how much you want to earn. My initial target was $40k/month within the first year (ended up blowing past that target).

3. Timeline: Set a clear timeline for your financial goals. As mentioned above, I aimed to hit $40k/month within the first year.

4. Role Definition: Decide early if you’re going to be hands-on or oversee the big picture. It makes a huge difference. There's a great book called Traction that talks about the difference between a Visionary and an Implementer. I found it necessary to be both in the early days, but have since transitioned out of "Implementer" mode.

5. Brand Legitimacy: Build the most legit brand you can — within a week. Overthinking it is your enemy. Too many people wax poetic about their brand, website, etc. Yes, it's super important an it can make you look more legit than you actually are in the early days, HOWEVER – many people spend too much time on this step, months even, and then never launch, or when they do, they have a false expectation that simply by launching their biz will do well. This couldn't be further from the truth. Building your brand and site is the fun part. Once you launch the real work starts 😉

6. Start Selling Immediately: Hit up your network, face regular rejections, and learn from each "no."

7. Your First Customers: These folks will help shape your business more than anyone else. Listen closely and adapt. The product idea you launch with – most likely is not the product that's right for the market. But you won't know what needs to change until you launch and start landing early customers.

8. Price Sensitivity Testing: Start low, then increase as demand builds. I go into a ton of detail about exactly how I do price sensitivity testing in this video.

9. Scaling Decisions: I used to think scaling was the only option. Go big or go home. If you're not growing like crazy you're a loser. But I was wrong. And dumb. That's a silly idea. There are many paths to success. Some want to go big, fast. Others want to go smoothly, slowly. Scaling isn't mandatory. I've done both and prefer somewhere in the middle of fast and slow.

10. Master Hiring: Good hiring isn't luck; it’s a skill and crucial for growth. My companies are both services businesses (a marketing agency and a design agency) and so the quality of our hires is the quality of our product offering. This also means getting good at firing. It's just part of the job.

11. Setting the Pace: Lead by example (duh). I’m all in when I work, ensuring I’m focused and driving progress. The team will draft off your pace, and the folks who can't keep up will make it clear they're not a good fit.

12. Team Management: I use the EOS (entrepreneur operating system) methodology to manage my teams—it’s a game-changer for accountability and clarity. It's free to learn, and easy to implement.

13. Proactive Marketing: Share every win. If you don’t champion your successes, no one else will.

14. Empower Customers: Turn clients into advocates. Strong relationships lead to referrals, which are (literal) gold.

15. Streamline Offerings: Keep your services tight and focused. Simplicity scales.

…. ok this post is getting too long. I was going to share 20 but this is turning into a novel. I shared all 20, along with a bunch of specific details in this video, feel free to check it out if the first 15 resonated with you. https://youtu.be/Gwqjljmr_pU

Curious – for those who have done a few startups before, do these resonate with you?

And for those who haven't yet – did you already have all of these on your radar? Anything you're interested in trying yourself?