Consistently choosing the comfortable route is most of the reason why we don't arrive at important destinations. Ease has never been the recipe for excellence.

Learning The Hard Way: substack.com/home/post/p-196…

Order and Chaos by @danesanders open.substack.com/pub/danesa…

I just started a new substack about learning the hard way... if you're interested, I'd be honored if you joined in. open.substack.com/pub/danesa…

I've met hundreds of operators. @deancbrennan is one of the best. He is building @heartandsoilHQ on clarity of product, process, and profit. But even winning teams have more potential in them. It has been our own experience, at CTC, that clarity of people, becomes a lever for profit. So... @danesanders set out on a mission to recreate that with @deancbrennan. Did it work? Find out on Episode 4 of Upgrade Your Culture: Special thanks to our sponsors @fermatcommerce & @billcom.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes preview of the upcoming conversation between @danesanders & @deancbrennan . . . Covering EXACTLY how CTC’s culture toolset is improving @heartandsoilHQ's bottom line. Episode 4 of Upgrade Your  ̶P̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ Culture drops tomorrow:

Here's a behind-the-scenes conversation with @deancbrennan at @heartandsoilHQ -- on how he installed our exact high-performance culture toolset and systems and its impact on their bottom line. Full episode tomorrow. youtu.be/ofyoGWNiWLY

Over a decade, CTC has become notorious for attracting some of the best DTC talent. It comes from culture, not a ‘best hiring practice’. In our next episode of Upgrade Your  ̶P̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ Culture, @danesanders & @Bryce_Ridenour show you exactly where traditional HR falls short. Enjoy Episode 2: Traditional HR vs. Performance Culture Special thank you to our sponsors at @fermatcommerce and @billcom.

If you’re craving confidence with your online marketing, especially in advance of Q4 I can’t recommend this resource enough.

Undeniable.

The brand new season of the #strongandawake podcast just launched focusing on the everyday obstacles that get in the way of your commitments (and how to deal with them). Here's a quick trailer of the new season to see if it's for you: open.spotify.com/episode/4NH…

Conscious prioritized persistence: If you stay awake, and you persist, everything that you are committed to will be accomplished with a long enough time horizon. And if you prioritize well, the things that are not accomplished should be so low value they won’t matter.

A willingness to tolerate discomfort is the most meaningful separator.

Nobody drifts their way to greatness. Swimming against the current is required. "If you do not actively choose a better way, then society, culture, and the general inertia of life will push you into a worse way. The default is distraction, not improvement." -@JamesClear

CTC's Revenue Peaked in June of 2022. We rode the wave up with all of eCommerce and then experienced a significant crash. It was an extremely challenging time. It has taken us 25 months to make up that loss. This month we will set a new all time high. BUT there is one MASSIVE difference in the version of CTC today compare to June of 2022... We have 100 less people. We are 1/3 the size we were then. It is crazy to think about. But we are such a healthier, more talent dense, systematic, tech-forward machine now. I have learned so much from all the mistakes I made along the way about what makes a service business work. Here are a few of the most important lessons: 1. Your cap table is the life force of your business. Do whatever it takes to make sure it points into the business. 2. Financial incentives rule everything. 3. Clarity of your unit economics is so important in every business model. 4. Whoever is willing to be MOST ACCOUNTABLE to the financial result has access to the greatest potential reward. 5. Capacity is much more a mental hurdle than a time issue. 6. Trade upside for certainty anytime you can. 7. Bad deals are bad for everyone. Protect your margin or say no. 8. Product market fit is the best marketing asset you can have. Audience is a close second. 9. There are people with talent, people who work hard and people who learn fast. People who do all 3 are 100x value creators. 10. Technology is the ultimate leverage creator. 11. Build a real time view of your financial health and you will care more about it than you did before. There are many more lessons learned through failure and many more to come but I am proud of where we have gotten to today and excited to keep building. If you are in the service business and ever want to swap war stories I am happy to jam. I believe it is one of the best business models ever created and would love to enlist more people into the opportunity it provides.

How CTC transformed from an employee-centric culture to a standards-centric culture (and why you should too)...

Routines are fragile. Your practice is immovable. h/t to @RyanHoliday @strongandawake instagram.com/reel/C_dzzGJR7…

Investing is an exercise in voluntary discomfort. Here is my conversation with Julie at The Conscious Investor around why you want to choose to do the hard thing... and how to do it every single day. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

"The willingness to endure five minutes of discomfort turns out to be a meaningful dividing line in life." --@JamesClear