Lesson: Execution beats ideas.

In university, my classmates and I came up with a genius idea; QuickBites, a food delivery service before Uber Eats was even a thing.

We pitched it in a business competition, and the judges loved it. I even staged a surprise food delivery to impress them. It worked. They were blown away.

And then… we did nothing.

We had no money. No experience. And worst of all? No mentorship to encourage us to move forward or find a way around our limitations.

A few years later, SkipTheDishes launched in my hometown and sold for $110M. That was my wake-up call, an idea means nothing without action.

Lesson: Your first business won’t be perfect, but it will teach you everything.

I had no idea how websites worked. I was barely using email. I had a flip phone.

So naturally, I launched a website development business.

My buddy Mike and I read The 4-Hour Workweek and decided we needed an online business. We called it OneWebsite, thinking one day everyone would own at least one website (sounded good at the time).

We built 50+ websites, made some money, and barely broke even when we sold the business.

I had no roadmap, no formal training, and no real strategy. What kept me going? Mentors. I didn’t even know what questions to ask them, but they helped me see my blind spots and challenged my thinking.

That experience taught me that starting is more important than knowing everything upfront.

Lesson: You don’t need perfection, you need reps.

I launched Social Connect Blueprint, an online training program teaching LinkedIn strategies through webinars.

But content creation was brutal.

I filmed my first video on a beach, forgot my lines, and had no clue what I was doing. But I posted it anyway.

At the same time, I started a video podcast, interviewing industry leaders like Jay Baer and Laura Roeder, and speaking on stages for brands like WestJet.

Oh, and did I mention? I was doing all of this while sleeping on an air mattress in my mom’s spare room after going through a divorce.

The only way to get good… is to start bad.

Lesson: Selling is one thing, getting clients results is another.

I had an idea for an online course about LinkedIn and bought the domain LinkedInfluence.com. But I never launched it.

Then Lewis Howes reached out. He had the same idea, saw I owned the domain, and proposed a deal, I’d hand over the domain, and in exchange, I’d join Sports Networker as CEO.

Lewis launched LinkedInfluence, and it sold tens of thousands of memberships. In 2013, I took over the training and helped sell tens of thousands more.

But here’s the thing, no one was talking about client success back then. There was no accountability, no community, and no real focus on whether people got results.

That realization changed how I approached business forever.

Lesson: Build a business that can run without you.

I built Linked Into Leads into a successful LinkedIn lead generation agency. It had recurring revenue, systems, and a solid team. But when I tried to sell it, I hit a problem: The business was still too dependent on me.

Even though I branded it as a separate company, I was still the face of it. When I eventually sold it, I had to stay on with the executive team.

The big lesson? If you want to exit, build systems and teams that remove you from the day-to-day. If you want to create a lifestyle business, lean into your personal brand. Know what you’re building, before you build it.

Lesson: Sell first, build second.

When I launched 30-Day Sales Machine, I made a critical mistake: I spent months building it before selling it. I created branding, software, a referral program, even custom T-shirts, before validating demand.

The result? It did okay. It got great feedback, people got results, but it wasn’t profitable. I ended up funding it with money from my agency.

This experience taught me the golden rule of launching: Sell first, build later.

If you’re guessing at what people want, you’ll likely get it wrong. But if you validate it first, you can build something that actually works.

Lesson: You don’t need more strategy. You need more trust.

I took out a $90K loan to invest in a high-ticket mastermind with Scott Oldford. I felt like I was failing, burning out, drinking too much, struggling with balance. I needed someone to show me the way.

A few weeks in, I pitched my mentor a detailed high-ticket offer strategy. I was hoping for golden advice. Instead, he said:
“Sounds good. Go do it.”

At first, I was frustrated. But he was right. I didn’t need more strategy, I needed to trust myself. 

I launched Expert Selling Machine, enrolled 10 people at $5K each, and made $50K in one month. That experience proved to me that most entrepreneurs don’t need more planning. They need more execution.

Lesson: Sometimes, the right move is stepping back.

In 2021, I hit burnout and started searching for deeper meaning. That led to launching Extremely Conscious, a movement for men wanting to level up in all areas of life. We ran three retreats, built a 600+ person community, and created powerful programs.

But something felt off.

We were telling men to put their mask on first, but weren’t fully doing it ourselves. So at the end of 2024, we made a tough call: pause the movement, go all in on ourselves, and come back stronger.

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