How to create in the age of consumption

It's 6:40 a.m.

You're 2 episodes deep on a podcast about hiring A-players, 1.5x speed, coffee in the cupholder. And you're driving to a business where you still make all the sales calls.

Somewhere in your notes app sits a list of 40 ideas from shows like mine, but you've only tried executing 1 and a half...

Look, no judgment.

You've got plenty of company. 58% of Americans now listen to podcasts monthly and 45% listen weekly, both record highs according to Edison Research's Infinite Dial 2026.

That weekly number works out to 130 million people.

When you tack on the YouTube breakdowns, the audiobooks at 2x, the threads you saved "for later," and yes, this newsletter: you've never had more access to information.

And yet most businesses look exactly the same as they did last year, yours (probably) included.

Quick warning before we go further. If you're here for a pep talk, you're reading the wrong newsletter. There's a mirror waiting at the end of this email, and it doesn't do flattering angles.

The Age of Mental Masturbation

Here's the uncomfortable truth. Consuming business content feels like working on your business. Your brain gets the hit, and you screenshot another inspirational quote for later.

Then Monday shows up and you run the same plays you ran last Monday.

So let's call it what it is (sorry, Mom): mental masturbation. The feeling of progress, without the actual progress. Feels great. Does nothing.

In fact, Stanford professors Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton wrote a whole book on this in 2000 called The Knowing-Doing Gap. Their finding: companies rarely stall because they don't know what to do. They stall because they never turn what they know into action.

26 years later, most of the knowledge is free. You can have the best operators on earth in your ears on the drive in, and your P&L still sits there waiting for you to do something, anything, they've been talking about.

So don't tell people what you learned from a podcast. Show them what you did after you took action.

Why It's So Addictive

Bottom line? Consumption is safe.

When you listen to someone else explain their pricing, nothing's on the line. But when you raise your own prices, a customer might walk. That's scary. It FEELS dangerous.

I mean, nobody ever lost a customer by listening to a podcast, right?

So your brain conveniently picks the zero-risk option and files it neatly under "preparation." Every hour you spend "getting ready" is an hour your business stays right where it is, but your competitor down the street isn't waiting for you to finish the series. They're taking action.

The bill for all that preparation is a business that never grows.

Want to know how deep you're in? Try this.

The Receipt Test

Open whatever you listen to, watch, and save, and pick the last 5 pieces of business media you consumed.

For each one, write down the receipt: the specific thing you changed in your business because of it. A price you raised, someone you hired, an ad strategy you tried.

"Great episode on pricing" goes in the trash pile. "Raised my service call fee Tuesday" counts.

Now count your receipts.

0 to 1: You're in the audience. Entertained, maybe. Educated, sure. But your business can't tell the difference.

2 to 3: You apply in spurts. You've got good instincts but no system for turning input into output.

4 to 5: You're an operator who treats content like raw material. Honestly, this email isn't for you. Close it and go work.

If you landed at 0 or 1, you don't need another episode. You need a game-plan.

Why a Room Beats an Episode

By their nature, podcasts are for a broad audience, so the advice doesn't fit you perfectly. It can't. It can't see your P&L, it has no idea your best employee is about to quit, and it'll never ask the follow-up question you're dodging.

And it will never tell you what to do next.

Take Alex Molina and Carmelo Caban, who co-own Command Security Investigations in Pennsylvania. Back home, they couldn't find many people who thought the way they did, so they went looking for help.

They came to one of our events, and things got real.

In one session, a single idea stopped Alex cold. As long as you're still in operations, you're your own biggest bottleneck. "It spoke to my soul," he told us.

An even bigger moment came during a break, when Alex heard Bonnie, a multimillionaire owner, share an idea, and he asked why he'd never thought of it.

Her answer: "Because you're not of the millionaire mindset yet."

"I got goosebumps," Alex said. Then she told him they'd get there. Carmelo says our advisors are "polite, but they're also extremely honest." And by the end of the workshop, they were already asking when the next one was.

Because of the honesty, the insight, and the accountability they found, by Carmelo's count, they've made back 10 times what they invested with us.

Content can inform you, but it can't confront you.

So we built the Growth Accelerator Workshop, and the next one runs October 20-22 in Austin.

You spend a few days doing hands-on work with me and the same advisors who run our Growth Boardroom. People like:

• Marc Hustvedt, our President, who helped lead global growth as President of MrBeast and co-founded Tubefilter and the Streamy Awards.

• Alex Hooper, a West Point grad and former Special Forces officer who went on to lead operations in private equity at Vista Equity Partners and Apex Service Partners.

• Carter Williams, who's sat across the table from owners in more than 2,500 consulting sessions over nearly a decade, from startups to Fortune 500 execs.

• Elliott Igunbor, a Cornell MBA who advises on strategy and operations.

(Nobody on this team learned to scale from a podcast.)

Like Alex and Carmelo, you get grouped with owners in your industry and revenue range, where you'll put your actual numbers on the table. Somebody squints at your margins. Somebody else says, "We had that exact problem last year. Here's what we did."

It's uncomfortable. It's hard. And that's the point. Discomfort is where the growth happens.

That's why they're called growing pains.

This Isn't for You If...

Every attendee goes through an application, so let's save us both some time.

This isn't for you if you want motivation and a highlight reel. There are zero motivational talks and nobody's bouncing on a trampoline or walking on coals. There's a time and place for that stuff, but if you want to leave fired up and changing nothing, a podcast is cheaper.

This also isn't for you if you're pre-revenue or still hunting for product-market fit. This room is for owners already running a real business doing $500K+ a year who are ready for the next level.

And it DEFINITELY isn't for you if you want someone to hand you a plan you'll never use. We'll help you build it, but running it is your job. We work hard, and we expect you to do the same.

Still reading? Good.

You're who we built this for. Seats are limited, and we're really picky. So apply now before we fill up. If you're chosen, we'll see you in-person on October 20th.

What You Walk Out With

You leave with your receipts written down before you get to the airport. That means a ranked list of opportunities and a 90-day execution plan built for your business. You'll also know what to stop doing.

And you leave with something no podcast has ever given you: people who'll call to ask how it's going.

One past attendee, Amanda M., put it this way: "I was so pumped, I wanted to leave 2-hours into the workshop to start implementing, but I'm glad I stayed!"

Know an owner who'd pass the filter above? The one you text when the week goes sideways? Bring them. For every good business owner you invite who joins us, you'll also get $250 credited toward your ticket or a future one.

The person you walk in with is the person who asks about your plan in week 6. That's worth more than the credit.

You've got the biggest library in the world in your pocket, and it never closes. But most of us use it like a waiting room.

We sit there listening, waiting to feel ready. Waiting for the 1 episode that finally makes the scary move feel safe. I'm sorry to tell you, that episode doesn't exist.

The market isn't a multiple choice test that rewards you for esoteric knowledge, and your customers don't care how many obscure facts about Henry Ford you've memorized.

Your P&L has no line for "stuff I learned."

Every number on it traces back to an action you took.

You can't listen your way into ownership. At some point you have to say the number out loud in a room and let someone tell you what you already suspected.

And yes, I see the irony.

I make a podcast, I film YouTube videos, and you're reading my newsletter right now. I do my best to make sure every single piece of media I create gives you something to DO, so you can stop listening and start making moves IRL...

But nothing will ever beat showing up in person, getting clear on your exact next steps, and taking accountability for your growth.

So do me a favor. Stop reading and start doing.

Are you a doer? Prove it!

-Codie

P.S. If you think the Growth Accelerator could be helpful, but you're on the fence...

Why not try it out first?

I'm hosting a FREE workshop tomorrow at 11am CST on the 5 growth levers you can pull to break through your biggest business plateaus.

You'll find the real bottleneck (most owners fix the wrong one first). You'll run the 12-P analysis and the Owner Scorecard to pick the 1 move that matters most.

Then we'll track down where cash leaks out of the money you already make.

You walk out with a plan you can run Monday morning.

The information contained here is educational, may not be typical, and does not guarantee returns. Background, education, effort, and application will affect your experience and the profitability of any business. Individual results may vary.

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