🍯 Scale Your Business Into the Ground

Hello You DTC Savage,

Are you hiring A players? Or are you just bringing people in to scale, throwing them into a whirlwind of muddied responsibilities?

We work with a LOT of 9-figure brands, and here’s the funny thing—people think they have everything in-house. Spoiler: they don’t. The truth is, these brands bring in fractional experts for the stuff that isn’t their core competency. Why? Because hiring all of that in-house would blow up their P&L. It also sucks managing a bunch of people, especially when they’re hard to fire.

Here’s a stat to chew on: The Pareto Principle, better known as the 80/20 rule, suggests that 20% of your employees often drive 80% of the results. On average, top performers are 400% more productive than average ones. That’s a huge difference. And it shows why having the right people in place is absolutely critical.

Here’s an unpopular question: if you’re building a business, do you actually want to scale? Twitter loves to shout "SCALE TO THE MOOOON!"… but is your business even set up for that? Do you even want that?

Because the reality is, more people doesn’t always mean more productivity. According to Gallup, only about 36% of employees are engaged in their work. The rest? They’re either disengaged or actively disengaged, which means you could be adding bodies but not necessarily getting results. How many people do you know that show up to work everyday and give it their all?

Let’s be real—the most rewarding, and at the same time most difficult, thing in business is people. They’ll give you the highest highs and the biggest headaches. But they are the heart of your business. You’ve got to figure out what kind of business you want to run and get the right people in place. Ignore whatever money Twitter circe jerk sphere you’re in.

Because here’s the thing—there are a ton of generational businesses out there you’ve never heard of. And they’re quietly raking in cash. How? Sustainable growth, not the burn-and-churn cycle of mindless scaling.

P.S. If you’ve never been to Mexico City, you should go. One of my favorite places. Also, mezcal is fantastic.

P.P.S. This is only my third newsletter, and the growth has been awesome. Reply to this email and let me know what you want more or less of. Or, share it with a friend please.

Talk Soon,

Feras