48-minutes ago, I stood in my kitchen staring at my Stripe Customer List:
11,296 customers.

Not likes. Not followers.
Real people who paid me.

I could film a documentary on what it took to get here.
But instead, I’ve pulled together 10 hard-earned lessons that will help you grow right now.

Before I share the lessons…

On Tuesday 1st July, I’ll be sending you a link to my first-ever private event for 70 ambitious founders who want to scale smarter and move faster.

While everyone else is busy with ice baths, morning routines, and scrolling socials…
We’ll be locked in, solving your biggest business problems live, in the room.

You’ll walk away with clarity, momentum, and a strategy to finish the year strong.

Put the date in your diary now. These seats will sell out fast.

This is for any service-based business in any industry. Because all great businesses are built on the same core drivers:

• Founder Operating System (mindset, beliefs, execution)

• Attention (marketing)

• Monetization (sales)

• Retention (customer success)

• Leverage (team & systems)

Only 70 seats. Watch your inbox.

Lessons, here goes…

1. You need a vision you’re viscerally excited about.

It must be bigger than your doubt, your critics, and what others expect of you.

Sometimes you won’t know what you want. That’s fine.

Pause. Reflect.

Study the people you admire.

Borrow the traits that excite you and rebuild your vision.

Most visions start rough, just a sense of what you want to change in your world and others’.

Don’t be afraid to evolve it.

What you want will shift as you grow.

The strongest visions excite you not just for what they’ll do for you, but for those you care about.

Think about how your kids will see you. Talk about you.

That kind of energy beats any ice bath.

Vision changes. Stay open. Keep building.

2. Churn is the biggest enemy in your business.

Design services and products that make customers feel stupid to leave.

Customer retention is the secret to winning in business and building F**k you money.

Spend more time on this than marketing and everything will get better.

3. The growth of your business is in direct proportion to the quality of decisions your team makes without you.

Hire the best people you can find.

Yes, they’ll cost more.

But they’ll make you far more.

4. Train your team more than you train your clients.

Don’t expect them to get better if you’re not investing in them.

Run drills. Run debriefs. Upgrade their thinking. Often.

5. Look at what everyone else is doing in your market — and do the complete opposite.

Especially in your marketing.

Even when it feels wrong.

It’s the only way to differentiate.

6. Collect as much cash upfront as possible.

Don’t be afraid to invoice, ask, and follow up.

The cash is better in your bank than floating around the ether.

Cash = certainty.

7. Build a war chest.

The bigger it is, the safer your business.

You’ll be able to invest, advertise, and dominate while others panic.

Your first three-year strategy should focus on this.

8. Every team member should be using AI.

Ask this constantly: “How can we use AI to get better output with less work?”

Use it in marketing, sales, customer success, team meetings, performance, everywhere.

9. Don’t apologise for working late, prioritising the business, or building your wealth.

You can party on your yacht later.

10. Trying to live a balanced life while building an empire will ruin you.

You can’t please everyone.

Split focus kills momentum.

Choose your hard.

These aren’t motivational quotes. These are battlefield insights.

Forged in the fires of working with real founders, real problems, and real money.

Read them again. Share them with your team.
Most won’t. That’s why most stay stuck.

This week:
TED Talk tomorrow
Recording a new VSL for my marketing team
Interviewing a new hire (gift to myself)
Then Friday afternoon, jetting to the Cotswolds after my daughter’s graduation to celebrate my wife’s birthday, champagne in tow

I don’t share this to brag

I share it because I love the lifestyle I’ve built.
There was a point in my life where I thought I didn’t deserve this kind of life, or that I couldn’t afford it.

But times change when you do

Get good at business and life gets better.

Way better.

Can’t wait to coach you and download 11,296 customers’ worth of wisdom straight into your strategy

Tuesday 1st July
Private invite
70 seats
Watch your inbox
Let’s build together

— Phil