[#027] My First Billion: Grief Doesn't Knock

Monday morning I woke up and something felt off.

I couldn't pinpoint it, I just felt a heaviness.

Then I looked at the date.

April 27th, which is my mom's birthday.

She passed 14 years ago and grief still finds its way in at times.

Then I found out one of our church members died in a car accident.

So Monday was heavy.

I still showed up, took my boys to school, had a couple meetings and took them to Cub Scouts that evening.

Because that's how this works.

I used to just suppress it, however through lots of therapy I’ve learned that…

You feel it, honor it and you keep showing up for the people in front of you.

Tuesday I was back coaching clients and it felt good to be back after a week away in Curaçao.

It’s always refreshing and exciting working with clients to solve big problems.

But most of this week I've been in the lab.

Lots of exciting things happening…

For starters…

We're ramping up for an event called Launch Your Ads Live where over two days we're gonna help coaches launch their ads and build a system that generates leads on autopilot.

And I'll be honest... I had a moment this week where I started second guessing myself.

I was talking to somebody about it and without even realizing it…

I started absorbing THEIR hesitation, doubts, risk tolerance and ceiling.

And I had to catch myself.

Because what I'm building hasn't been done before, so there's nothing to compare it to.

And when you're doing something new, the people around you will project their experience onto your vision.

Not because they're haters. They're not. They genuinely care.

But their data isn't your data. And I've learned that there's a place for data-driven decisions and divine assignment.

God didn't give them the download you got, so it would be unfair to expect them to understand.

Just think about Noah in the Bible.

Noah wasn't a carpenter or builder.
The Bible describes him as a farmer.
Then God just showed up one day and said 'build this.'

He had no blueprint that made sense, no credentials and he didn't ask the group chat what they thought.

He just built.

Thank God Noah's identity wasn’t tied to what he did, but who he was.

So the lesson for me this week: *adopt the insight without adopting the ceiling.*

Take what's useful from the conversation. Leave the fear on the table.

That's a skill and honestly it's one I'm still developing.

The other thing I've been deep in is what I believe is a…

Brand new era for coaching businesses.

Generation one was:

→ Team scaling
→ Automations with Zapier
→ Curriculum
→ Templates
→ Spreadsheets
→ Etc.

Generation two was:

→ Prompts
→ Custom GPTS
→ GuruNameAI
→ here's the prompts, go build it in ChatGPT.

Generation three...

Which is where we are now...

Is installing AI Employees (yes that’s what I’m calling them). directly into the business.

Not teaching. Installing.

We're mapping out how we can use AI Employees to accelerate everything...

Our response times, our creative output, our client deliverables...

…and then install those same systems into our clients’ businesses.

Because people don't wanna wait 24 to 48 hours for feedback anymore. And they don't have to.

The goal is to create what I'm calling superhuman coaches...

Practitioners who move faster, deliver better results, and do it with LESS team and less overhead.

That's the future and the future is now. I’ll talk more about this next week.

Yesterday I woke up and journaled for the first time in a while.

I do daily journaling with my Day One app, where I answer a daily prompt, however a fully typed entry…

I haven’t done in a while.

Yesterday I sat with this verse:

“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord...

They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.

Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.”
— Jeremiah 17:7-8

That hit me because this season has been “quiet” on the business front.

Sorta intentionally though, because I came out of a season where I lost the excitement I had for the business.

So over the last few quarters, we’ve taken on fewer new clients which means less NEW revenue (thank God for recurring revenue).

And to be honest, there are moments where the old me would've panicked.

But I'm learning that green leaves and good fruit don't always look like a revenue spike.

Sometimes it looks like being present for your kids on a heavy Monday. Or catching yourself before you adopt someone else's ceiling.

Or sitting in your office building something you believe in even when nobody's clapping yet.

The tree doesn't perform for applause. It just stays planted and grows.

Last night I ended the week with my brother's birthday dinner.

We went to one of our favorite Thai spots, but since I’m resetting from all the eating in Curaçao, I had a mango salad.

Everyone thought was crazy. But ‘eh, no one has to understand.

Grateful for this week even with the weight of it.

If something here hit home, reply and let me know. I read every one.

Tell those you love, that you love them.

Marquel