Welcome to Building Unshakable. I want to start very intentionally with a conversation around why success doesn't always feel the way that you thought it would, and what to do when the growth that you've created starts to feel like a trap. Here's what we're going to cover. We're going to dig into why doing everything right can still leave you stuck. The hidden structure that keeps even successful founders in the weeds. And. And the one question that can help you pinpoint exactly where your business is still relying on you to get things started. I want to cover this hard truth that many founders of businesses eventually have to face.

Maybe you followed all of the advice. You've grown the business, you've created, the revenue. Revenue keeps growing. You've hired a team, and from the outside in, everyone would say you've made it. But inside, you're still feeling overwhelmed. Your calendar is packed, you're building questions from your team constantly. And you're still in the weeds. You're in the weeds with client delivery.

You're the one that's ensuring sales are happening. And then when you do step away, the business either slows down or falls apart. And that's the disconnect. I want to address the disconnect between what success looks like and what it actually feels like. And I want you to know that if you're experiencing that disconnect, if there's a gap there for you, this isn't a personal failing. It's nothing that you've done wrong. In fact, it's very normal. And it's kind of a rite of passage, if you will, to growing a business.

When you start a business, it's normal that you build it around you. But there comes a time where there needs to be a shift. There needs to be a change in the way that your business is operating. And that means that the challenge here, the problem here, if you will, again, isn't anything that's your fault. It's not something you've personally done wrong. It's just a structural issue. The business isn't broken. The business isn't failing.

Even though it feels hard, it feels heavy. The thing is, you've just outgrown the way your business was built. Here's what I mean by that. Most founders build a business that works because they are working. They create a system that grows, but it still relies on their presence, their attention, their decision making every step of the way. And that brings us to something that I call the U Operating System. YOU-OS. UOS is a founder centric operating system.

It's a setup where you as the founder are still the engine of the business. You might have already hired support and might be delegating some tasks, but when it comes down to it, outcomes still rely on you. Your oversight is critical or else the business wouldn't succeed. And you haven't shifted that structure yet. So you're still the one driving delivery, generating demand and making all of the decisions. And you're not running a business yet. You are the business. It might look impressive from the outside, but if we take the analogy of someone who's a juggler and apply that here, you are the juggler.

People can stand in awe and look from the outside at all of the balls and it could look magnificent. Again, so impressive. But if you are the one juggling everything and you can't ever stop, you're going to get exhausted. And as the business grows, you just keep adding more balls and it's not sustainable. So I'm here to share with you an alternative and that's what we're going to dive in this podcast. But today specifically, we need to start with redefining what success means to you. Most founders are optimizing for revenue. I want you to think if that's been the case for you, again, it's very normal.

As you're starting your business, you're doing all of the things and what's the most critical thing? Getting some revenue in the door. And so you learn that that's what to prioritize in business. And so that's what you keep doing. The problem is that you can continue to optimize for revenue, but revenue alone isn't what's going to bring you relief. If your margins are thin, if your time is maxed, if your team is burning out more revenue is not going to fix that. And so I want to teach you what I call the unshakable success framework. I want you to picture for a moment a three legged stool at the top of that is revenue.

And maybe that's what everybody sees. That's what you've been optimizing for. But here's what I want you to know. That stool only stands when it's supported by the three legs underneath it. Profit, freedom and impact. So profit is all about are you actually keeping enough of what you earn? Freedom? Can the business run without you and and impact? Are you creating results that matter for your clients, your team and for yourself? If even one of those legs is missing or weak, the whole thing starts to wobble. It's not sustainable to continue to run A business that has revenue but doesn't have profit, doesn't give the founder the freedom that they desire and doesn't make an impact. So if you're in a season where growth is feeling heavier and not easier, where you're questioning what you've built, then I want you to know this.

It's not that you've built your business wrong. You probably built it exactly the way that you needed to to get it to where it is today. But you've outgrown that original design and now it's time to upgrade your operating system. You've got to shift to, to be able to sustain the results that you have and to grow and scale to a new level. In upcoming episodes, I'm going to talk more about exactly how to do that and the operating system that will help you reclaim your time, your energy, and your capacity. But for today, I want to leave you with this question. It's one really powerful question that can give you a lot of insight, and it's this. If you stepped away from your business for a week, what would break? It's a simple question and I imagine that a lot's going to come to mind.

Very simple question and very complex answer. For most of the clients that come to me, there's a lot that would break. There's a lot that is still completely dependent on you. And that's exactly where we need to start. Because awareness is the first step towards building a business that can thrive without you. And you need to understand everything that's dependent on you and how that makes you the business. The next piece of this that I want to leave you with is just a reflection here around what success actually looks like for you. Not just defining it by revenue, but creating a very well rounded definition.

Too many people, too many business owners are striving for more revenue, but they're sacrificing profit, freedom and impact. You get to have all of those, but it doesn't happen by accident. You've got to define what it is that you want and you have to build your business based on that. You have to install an operating system that can give you everything that you're looking for. So instead of just setting a revenue goal, I want you to anchor that with a profit goal, a freedom goal, and an impact goal. Take some time, think about your real definition of success in detail and write down those goals. Yes, revenue, but also profit, freedom and impact. And which of those three feels like it's the weakest today? Where's the biggest gap? This is going to give you some incredible insight as we move forward and start talking about the operating system that you need to change it.

This is where we can start doing some incredible work to give you a different version of success than you're feeling today, a version where what looks successful also feels successful.