[#016] My First Billion: Recalibration Season

If I had to describe this week in one word, it would be:

Recalibration.

Monday started with my monthly CEO Update, the internal letter I send to our team at Strategic Scale Institute monthly.

Jim Collins once said:

“Building a visionary company requires 1% vision and 99% alignment. When you have superb alignment, a visitor could drop in from outer space and infer your vision from the operations and activities of the company without ever reading it on paper or meeting a single senior executive.”

He then goes on to say:

“Creating alignment may be your most important work. But the first step will always be to recast your vision or mission into an effective context for building a visionary company. If you do it right, you shouldn’t have to do it again for at least a decade.”

That’s the purpose of the CEO Update is:

Alignment.

The update creates clarity.
It grounds us in numbers.
And it reinforces direction.

From there, it was straight into meetings:

→ Head of Sales
→ Mastermind call with my coach
→ Sales funnel revisions
→ Messaging reviews
→ Strategic planning for upcoming events

Nothing flashy.
Just foundational fundamentals.

The Work Beneath the Work

We’re 99% complete with a new tracking system.

Six years of data.
Cleaned.
Organized.
Centralized.

Possibly one of the most challenging tasks of my career, and worth it.

This kind of work doesn’t show up on Instagram.

But it shows up in decisions.

I was supposed to shoot ads and VSLs this week.

I didn’t.

The messaging wasn’t fully locked in.

Old me would’ve pushed forward just to feel momentum or hit an arbitrary deadline.

Now I wait until it’s right, not perfect.

Speed without clarity is just expensive noise.

There’s a military adage, widely attributed to U.S. Navy SEALs and special operations forces that says:

“Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”

Deliberate, controlled execution prevents errors, rework, and wasted energy, especially in high-pressure environments.

Coaching on Both Sides

This week, both my health coach and business coach leaned in.

Challenging, and right on time.

My health coach said:

“If you’re happy here, you’re healthy.
But if you want elite, it’s another level.”

My business coach said:

“If you want that outcome, here are the tradeoffs.”

This left me with decisions.

Growth at this level isn’t about motivation.

It’s about standards.

Family & Stewardship

We moved our weekly breakfast sync because Vanessa had hospital shifts.

Still got it done.

Consistency > convenience.

Worked with my six-year-old, Ry-Pie, on his 150-word sight word test.

That matters more than any business meeting.

Shot two new deep dives for Season 2 of The Strategic Scale Show.
(We’re accepting new guests, if you want to apply, you can.)

Finally got back into the barbershop (long overdue).

Finished my strength training sessions.

Got back into reading after drifting a little too far into Paramount (The Mayor of Kingstown got me a chokehold lol).

Small disciplines compound, for you or against you.

What This Week Really Was

Messaging tightening.
Asset creation.
Standards rising.
Momentum slowing so precision can increase.

I’ve had seasons where I didn’t realize I was addicted to momentum, so I forced movement just to create problems to solve.

Now I know this:

A well-run business is often a boring business.

There’s a difference between being busy and being aligned.

This week was alignment.
And alignment compounds.

That’s the work.
Marquel