Most entrepreneurs think that the way to grow their sales is just to push harder. They work longer hours, take more calls, squeeze in just one more launch or one more post, and for a while that works. But eventually you hit a wall because there are only so many hours in a day and only so much energy you can give.

Today, I want to explore how CEOs scale their sales. How do they do it without burning themselves out or becoming a bottleneck? The answer is simple: they don’t do everything themselves. They rely on assets, people, and systems.

Entrepreneurs drive sales through effort. CEOs drive sales through design. CEOs are still responsible for the result, but they’re not doing all the work. It’s the difference between hauling buckets of water back and forth versus building pipes that keep the flow going whether you’re there or not. Buckets feel fast at first, and pipes feel really slow at first, but only one is sustainable.

A lot of what you did early on depended on you, and it felt faster because you could just jump in and do it. But it wasn’t scalable. What feels slow now—because it takes time to set up and there’s no instant gratification—is usually the thing that helps you scale. Eventually, you reach a point where you actually have to change the things that are working, not just the things that aren’t, because the strategy that got you here won’t be the one that gets you to the next level.

So yes, CEOs aren’t doing everything. They’re pulling three levers. The first is assets. Assets are the tools that do the talking for you. This might be a video that answers the top questions prospects always ask, a graphic that showcases your process, a case study that demonstrates results, or a clear offer doc that makes it obvious what someone is buying.

Every asset you create is basically a clone of you. It packages up what you’d normally explain yourself so that something else can carry that message while you’re doing other things. Most businesses aren’t lacking leads—they think they are—but really, they’re lacking assets that move people forward without the business owner needing to jump in. People drop off when they’re waiting on you.

If someone finds your business today, how far can they get on their own? Can they buy? Can they learn? Or do they have to wait for you? When you build assets, you’re creating leverage and empowering buyers instead of making everything dependent on you.

The second lever is people. CEOs know they shouldn’t be doing all the selling themselves. That might mean bringing in someone to run sales calls, handle follow-up, answer sales questions, introduce upgrades, or look at funnel data.

Entrepreneurs often tell themselves, “No one can sell like me.” But CEOs ask, “How can I equip someone to sell successfully without me?” That means training, giving clarity, providing tools, and making sure team members have what they need. And the payoff is huge.

The third lever is systems. Systems are what make sales consistent instead of chaotic. Think of a weekly rhythm that keeps demand flowing, a follow-up process that’s automatic, or a simple pipeline tracker so you know exactly where leads are. Without systems, sales feel like a roller coaster—great one month, slow the next. With systems, things become steady, predictable, and honestly, kind of boring in the best way. Systems remove luck from the equation.

And systems don’t have to be complicated. What matters is consistency—and that they don’t rely on your memory, your time, or your willpower.

So when you zoom out, entrepreneurs grow sales by pushing harder. CEOs grow sales by pulling the right levers: assets that do the talking, people who share the work, and systems that stabilize everything.

Think back to the buckets versus pipes metaphor. Are you carrying water in buckets, manually driving sales? Or are you building the pipes that allow the flow to continue without you? That’s the difference—force versus design.

Here’s my challenge for you: don’t try to change everything at once. Pick one lever—assets, people, or systems—and strengthen it this month. Ask yourself:

Do I need to package something into an asset?
Do I need to equip someone to take part of this off my plate?
Do I need to set up one system to make sales more predictable?

Start there. Scaling sales the CEO way happens piece by piece. And the more leverage you build, the less sales will depend on you—and the more your business can finally grow without you being the bottleneck.