Ask any owner trying to scale to $1M, break through to $5M, or even hit $10M+… business gets heavy.
Cash flow management is HARD.
Leads are unpredictable.
And the only “system” holding it all together is… you.
Frankly, that’s not a business. That’s a hostage situation.
What most owners don’t realize is that just one move — one clear next step — can change everything. And no, it’s often not even a “how.” It’s a who.
The right person, insight, or experience to bring you closer to the system or solution that helps you run your business (and not the other way around).
That’s what we’re making happen at our Scale Up Workshop — May 1-2, 2025, in Austin, TX.
Over two days, no more than 100 business owners will work shoulder-to-shoulder with our team of experts to:
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If you’re feeling stuck right now, chances are it’s because your business isn’t built for scale... Yet. Here are 4 ways to start thinking about it. 👇
You started or bought your business for freedom. Not to become the bottleneck.
Most owners assume stress is part of the package. But the truth is, most of your growth headaches aren’t inevitable — they’re solvable.
You just have to know where to focus.
At our Scale Up Workshop, we’re guiding 100 business owners toward systems that reduce pain and drive enterprise value. Because let’s be honest:
So, whether your goal is to grow, exit, or just breathe again, these are 4 focus areas that can offer you leverage and longevity.
Making money is not the same as keeping it or managing it.
Cash flow mismanagement is one of the top reasons businesses stagnate — or worse, implode when they try to grow.
If you’ve got money coming in but still feel strapped, you need visibility. Discipline. Systems.
Start measuring everything. No one scales sustainably without knowing their numbers. What gets measured gets managed. If you’re not measuring your business, the chances you’ll scale in any regard are slimmer than a stick bug.
Remember, for most people, the goal isn’t just owning a biz — it’s owning a biz without having “worked on their business ‘till they were 95 and never saw their family” engraved on your tombstone. Let’s prevent that by making sure you’re measuring what you need to grow.
Scaling doesn’t come from trying harder. It comes from designing smarter.
The best remedies for business migraines are strong systems. Don’t believe us? Go ahead, try scaling without them. Let us know how that goes.
The most successful businesses we work with aren’t perfect, but they are repeatable. They have SOPs. Project management tools. A marketing process that runs without a founder in the weeds 24/7.
"Owners don’t rise to the freedom they envision. They fall to the systems they build."
At Contrarian Thinking, we run everything from within Notion — but tools don’t matter if the process behind them is broken.
But this is not a passive thing at all. If your answer to “How does this get done?” is “I just do it” — congrats, you’ve built yourself a job. Repeatable processes and the systems that enable them are the difference between a business and a job.
Systems help you scale. Scaling makes you sellable.
A lot of business owners don’t have a sales problem, they have a consistency problem. They ride the feast-or-famine rollercoaster. Busy one month, bone-dry the next. Why? Because marketing happens only when revenue dips and panic sets in.
Set up a consistent lead engine that fits your business — outbound, inbound, referrals, we can discuss. But build it like an engine, not an emergency plan. Remember: the best time to find a new customer is before you need one.
If the business falls apart when you take a vacation, it’s not a business.
This is called “Key Man Risk.” It’s when you, the owner, are so embedded in every part of the operation that the business can’t function without you.
Buyers hate it. Teams burn out from it. Founders get trapped by it. You don’t have to disappear tomorrow, but you do have to start designing your way out. Hire. Delegate. Document. Systematize. Buy back your time so the business can run (and maybe eventually sell) without you.
At the workshop, we can help you pinpoint where the business leans too heavily on you, and what needs to change to fix it. You want to know the secret to scaling? Here it is:
Do what it takes to get better at scaling.
Take it from the dude who commented this after watching one of Codie’s talks on the subject:
Not bad, for a review. Certainly different, but not bad.
Houston grew up watching business ownership up close — the stress, the long hours, the all-in bets. He wanted no part of it.
But after years of working for others, he began rethinking his future. In June 2023, he joined the Contrarian Community, built his acquisition strategy, put in the work, and took thoughtful action.
Today, he’s the proud owner of a remodeling business, scaling its growth and rewriting the rules in an industry built on broken trust.
Here’s how he did it — and what you can use from his playbook.
The information contained here may not be typical and does not guarantee returns. Background, education, effort, and application will affect your experience. Your results will likely vary.
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