You will make the most amount of money in your life when you’re NOT doing the actual work yourself —but instead, you’re leading through a team of 5, 10, 100, or even 1,000 people.

Think of your business as a living, breathing organism, and you are the master mind directing it.

This is what true leverage and wealth looks like.

You’re no longer the hands or the feet.

You’re no longer on the tools, not in the day-to-day grind.

You’ve built a team and a structure where your role is to set the direction, define the standard, and let your people execute—reporting back to you with their results.

Your direct reports are the key people in your business who each own an entire function:

Marketing – responsible for generating leads and growing your audience.

Sales – in charge of converting leads into paying clients.

Client Success – focused on ensuring clients stay, get results, and refer others.

You meet with these people regularly to ensure the whole organism moves as one—with power and precision.

Sometimes you’ll hire these people directly. Other times, you’ll promote those who have been with you long enough to earn the right to step into leadership roles—Head of Marketing, Head of Sales, Head of Client Success, etc. These individuals become your direct reports.

Hiring A-Players is great in theory, but I’ve found A-Players can be excellent in one business—not yours. Sometimes you have to build them. And when someone already has skin in the game, they’re worth investing in. They know your values, your mission, and they’re already committed. That loyalty, combined with the right training, can turn them into true drivers of growth.

There’s a good chance you’re still doing most of the work in your business yourself—and reporting back to yourself. That’s fine in your first 2–3 years. But if you’ve been in the game for 5+ years and you’re still the main person for everything, you are your own worst enemy.

The only way you grow is by delegating.

You don’t tell them what to do day-to-day. You tell them where the numbers need to be, what the standard is, and what the reward is for hitting it. Then you guide them to think, problem-solve, and stay focused.

If you’ve got 1-3 direct reports, each leading their own teams, you’re now leveraging 100s if not 1000s of hours every week through your decisions.

You don’t micromanage, you give them the target, the numbers that matter, and the rewards for hitting them. You help them think bigger, move faster, and stay aligned with the mission.

For example: Don’t tell your head of client success, “Make customers happier.”

You say:

– These are the metrics I want you to hit!

– ⁠This is where they need to be.

– Here’s a few ways to get there.

– ⁠Hit this, and here’s your reward.

^^ Screen shot this please and print it out for your office.

Then you track. If the numbers go up, find what’s working and push it harder.

If they stall, identify the block. If they drop, address it fast.

You do this with every key leader, and they do the same with their teams. Suddenly, your decisions carry kills of force, because they’re backed by the full strength of your entire team not just your own effort (which is limited)

This is how real entrepreneurs build a business that runs and grows without them being working themselves to the bone.

This is how you grow something valuable, healthy, something lasting.

Your job is to think, decide, and direct. NOT to do.

The moment you’re back in the trenches doing it all yourself, you’re killing your organism.

No matter your size. My aim for all of you: build your business into a living, breathing force that amplifies everything you do.

It’s hard. That’s why most entrepreneurs quit and never experience real freedom.

Anyway, that's the lesson for today.

Next week I’m dropping the dates for my first live business growth workshop. Numbers are capped at 50. It’ll be a full day where I teach everything I know: strategy, growth, execution, and we’ll hang out after for real, deep, no-BS life changing fireside chats.

I’m building the kind of space every serious entrepreneur needs but rarely finds. I know exactly what you need. Get excited.

Chat later.

Respect,

Phil Graham