Welcome to the Owner Institute Newsletter where we talk about getting owners working on and not in their businesses.

I’ve added some of you from my old Small Business Mentor newsletter. If you aren’t interested in the new content, please unsubscribe.

This newsletter is a part of Owner Institute, a company I just launched dedicated to helping business owners grow their businesses while working towards personally independence.

In this week’s issue:

• Until you can grow your business to $3-5m, the owner needs to be the primary person handling sales and marketing.

• Small business growth was negative in 2024

• But optimism is up for 2025

Quick Hits

1) 📉 Small Business employment and revenue are down says a new report from Intuit.

2) 💻 I’m building Owner Institute from the ground up using AI. Other SMB’s are getting into the act as well.

3) 🥳 Small biz optimism is up! 75% of owners expected 2025 to outpace 2024 according to the State of Small Business Report.

Deep Dive: Until Your Bigger, Focus on Sales

Let's get real: if your revenue is below $1M, especially around $500K or less, you don't have a business. You have a job where you happen to pay yourself.

I know because I've been there. No shame. Most of us start there.

When I started my first company, I was billing 90-95% of my time working for clients. Sound familiar?

Sure, I had my own company, but I was basically just an employee who handled his own invoicing, bookkeeping, and admin work.

Here's the thing about being stuck in this phase: you're probably making decent money. Maybe even more than you made as an employee.

But you're working harder than ever, and the moment you stop working, the money stops too. That's not a business - that's a demanding job with extra paperwork.

The Way Out? It's All About Sales

The solution is simple but not easy. You need to sell more.

And here's the kicker: in the early stages, only you can do it well.

Why? Because customers and clients are buying YOU. They trust you. They know your work.

You're essentially subsidizing the client by giving them high-quality service at a lower rate than they'd pay a bigger firm. If you sell a product that’s successful, then you are a way better product manager or marketer than would ever be assigned to a zero revenue product.

But you can't sell more when you're drowning in admin work and client delivery. This is where most owners get stuck. They're so busy running their businesses that they can't grow their businesses.

Start Peeling the Orange

Think of your business like an orange. The juice - that's sales. That’s growth.

Everything else?

That's just the bitter rind getting in your way. Your job is to peel it away, piece by piece.

Start with the easy stuff:

• Get a virtual assistant to handle your schedule

• Hire a bookkeeper for invoicing and basic finances

• Find someone to handle the admin work that eats up your day

None of these people need to be full-time at first. The goal isn't to build an empire of support staff - it's to free up your time to sell.

The Hard Part: Letting Go of Customer/Client Work

This is where it gets tough. You're probably great at serving your clients and customers. They love working with you.

But here's the brutal truth: it's easier to hire someone to serve a customer than to hire someone who can sell to a customer.

I see business owners hit $1-2M in revenue and immediately try to hire a sales person. Big mistake. You know why?

Because at this stage, you don't have a sales system. You might not even have a product or service that lots of customers want to buy.

What do you have?

You have relationships. You have trust. You have you.

The kind of person who could come in and build a sales system from scratch for an unproven product or service? They exist but they're making $1.5M a year working at Oracle. They're not coming to work for your small business.

The Real Goal

The goal isn't just to get to $1M in revenue. It's to build something that can grow beyond you. But you can't do that until you first get above $1M, and you can't get above $1M if you're stuck doing everything but sales.

After you get a good sales rhythm going and at some point after you’ve hit $5m or more in revenue, it makes sense to bring in more professional salespeople and to reduce the dependence on founder-let sales. Until then keep your nose to the sales grind stone.

So here's your challenge: Look at your calendar for the past week. How much time did you spend selling versus doing everything else? If it's not at least 50% sales, you're still stuck in a job. Start peeling that orange. Get rid of everything that isn't sales or absolutely critical to keeping the lights on.

Remember: Everything else can be delegated. Sales, at this stage, cannot. Embrace that reality, and you might just build a real business instead of buying yourself a job.

Want to learn more about building real business freedom and owner independence? Check out our programs at ownerinstitute.com.