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Forming - Starts March 17
The $500K Ceiling
Something breaks between $300K and $800K. The founder can't do everything anymore. The first hires are wrong. Operations that worked at $200K collapse. This isn't a motivation problem. It's a structural one. This study group brings together business owners who are at, near, or just past that ceiling to map what breaks and how to fix it - using patterns from every industry, not just yours.
Any industry
$300K-$800K revenue
Format
6 weekly sessions, 60 min each
Seats
4/8 filled - 4 remaining
Time Commitment
~3 hrs/week total
• What we're doing
At $200K, you can outwork the problems. At $500K, you can't. The bottleneck shifts from effort to systems. Most business advice at this stage is generic: "hire a VA" or "build SOPs." That's not wrong. It's just not enough.
This group brings together owners from completely different industries who are all hitting the same wall. We study how restaurants, trades companies, tech startups, and professional services firms each navigated this transition - and what the universal patterns are underneath the industry-specific details.
• Week-by-week agenda
Week 1
The Bottleneck Map - Where are you still the single point of failure? Map every function that dies if you take a week off.
Week 2
The First Hire That Matters - Most founders hire for relief. The right hire is for leverage. How restaurants, trades, and agencies each approach the critical first hire.
Week 3
Systems vs. Willpower - The aviation checklist principle. If it requires your judgment every time, it doesn't scale. Document until a stranger can execute on day one.
Week 4
Revenue Diversification - Crop rotation for revenue. What happens when one client, one channel, or one product is 40%+ of your income.
Week 5
The Conductor Problem - Orchestra conductors don't play instruments. When the founder keeps "helping" with execution, the business stalls. Learning to lead without doing.
Week 6
Your Breakthrough Plan - Each member presents a 90-day plan to break through their ceiling. Group pressure-tests it.
• What's expected of you
- Current revenue between $300K and $800K (or approaching). This group is stage-specific.
- Attend all 6 sessions (Thursdays, 7pm ET). One miss maximum.
- Be willing to share real revenue numbers, org charts, and operational pain points.
- Complete weekly pre-work: usually mapping or auditing a specific operational function.
- Implement one structural change per week and report results.
- Absolute confidentiality on financial details shared.
• What you'll walk away with
- A clear bottleneck map showing exactly what's holding your business at its current level
- A 90-day breakthrough plan with specific milestones and accountability
- Cross-industry frameworks for hiring, delegation, and systems that work regardless of your field
- A peer mastermind of 7 owners navigating the same growth stage - your ongoing support network
Apply for this study group
4 seats remaining. Apply now.