My First Billion: The Blindspot That Quietly Cost Me Millions (MFB #001)

This isn’t advice. It’s the journey—in real time.

Welcome to My First Billion, a public field journal documenting my climb to build a $1B portfolio of companies designed to transform education.

For years, I’ve been building quietly behind the scenes—that’s my natural rhythm.
But now, it’s time to build in public.

Every Friday, I’ll share the real plays, pivots, and perspective from inside the trenches.
This won’t be a “how-to” guide or motivational post.

I’ve never built a billion-dollar portfolio before, so I’m not writing from the top of the mountain.
I’m documenting the climb.

I’ll be sharing what I’m learning as I go—across leadership, systems, scale, and the inner work that keeps everything grounded.

No fluff. No recycled “3 tips to grow your business” content. Just raw, honest insight from the process of building something meaningful at scale.

If you’re scaling toward seven, eight, or nine figures—and building something that outlives you—this is for you.

Let’s dive into the first lesson.

Lesson #1: The Expensive Blindspot

In September, I hired a somatic coach.

If you’ve never done somatic work, it’s about getting out of your head and into your body—because your body holds the stress, fears, and patterns your mind keeps trying to outthink.

I’ve done mindset work for years. But this? This went deeper.

Instead of analyzing every business problem, somatic work helped me release the internal tension driving those problems in the first place.

An underrated skill for any founder building multi-million dollar companies is the ability to stabilize your nervous system as you grow.

My coach had me take two assessments:

• The Enneagram (I’m a Type 8 – “The Challenger”)

• Wealth Dynamics (I’m a “Lord”)

No surprises there.

But the real surprise came when she told me:

“As a Challenger and Lord, you probably have a hard time letting go of control.”

My first reaction? Resistance.
I’ve led teams, delegated, and scaled before. But when I took an honest look, she was right. I was still holding on to a few things that weren’t in my Zone of Genius.

Example 1: Managing SDRs

I was still managing and training the sales development reps on our enrollment team.
Sure, I can do it—but it drains my energy and focus.

Action: I reached out to one of our best former SDRs, someone who used to lead when our sales team was 40+ people strong. She had availability—and came back on board to handle training, management, and even hiring.

Now, she’s rebuilding the team and freeing up my bandwidth.

Example 2: Leading Event Strategy

I was still leading the strategy for our virtual events—coming up with the angles, optimizing the flow, and mapping the conversions.

Again, I can do it, but it’s not my lane.

Action: I partnered with a friend who runs an agency specializing in virtual event strategy. His team now leads the creative and execution. My Ops Director, Bianca, still syncs with them, but we’ve eliminated a massive bottleneck.

Now, all I have to do is show up and teach. That’s my Zone of Genius.

The first test run of this new setup delivered our highest show rates ever—28%—with a $285 CAC and $1,853 AOV.
That’s a 6.5x return on ad spend (650%).

And that’s before any optimization.

When your metrics are that efficient, it gives you the freedom to scale fast without stress.

This one shift—simply letting go—created massive leverage.

All because I hired a coach to help me uncover what my own control was costing me.

Lesson #2: Two Resignations in One Day

This week, two of our new SDRs sent in their resignation notices—on the same day.

Was it planned? No idea.

But our policy is simple: if someone wants to leave, we release them to their next level immediately. No resentment, no forced 30 days.

And because of our systems, this didn’t create panic.

Maisha, our SDR Manager, had a new rep onboarded the next day—and another one scheduled to start by the end of the week.

That’s the difference between building and scaling a team.

• Building means you’re doing the hiring, training, and managing yourself.

• Scaling means you have a machine that recruits, trains, and optimizes people automatically.

Just like you have a client pipeline, you need a talent pipeline.

That’s how you stay agile when things shift.

The Bigger Picture

The deeper I go into this journey, the more I realize the biggest growth isn’t just in the revenue—it’s in the release.

Letting go of control.
Letting go of the need to do everything.
Letting go of the fear that something will fall apart without your hand on it.

That’s where true scale begins.

This is the work behind the work—the stuff no one puts in the highlight reel.

It’s not glamorous, but it’s where billion-dollar clarity starts forming.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this first post.
What resonated? What didn’t? What do you want me to unpack more deeply next time?

Drop a comment below or shoot me a message—I read every one.

Let’s build something legendary.

– Marquel