How to Build Leverage and Scale Beyond Just a Job

Did you know that only 9% of businesses ever hit $1 million in annual revenue? The reason is simple: most people are building themselves a job, not a business. I know this firsthand because early in my career, I did the same thing. I built a coaching practice where I was the sole operator, and while it paid well, it wasn’t scalable. That’s when I realized the key to growth: you have to build leverage.

When I Built Myself a Job

At the start of my fitness career, I worked with one-on-one clients. I loved it, but I quickly hit my ceiling. I could only take on so many clients. Even when I tried hiring coaches, I hadn’t yet built the systems to truly scale. I had created a job, not a business.

If you’re in that same place, the path forward is learning how to build leverage into your business model.

Three Questions That Expose Whether You’re Leveraged

Here are three questions I now ask every entrepreneur:

1. Is your product or service fulfilled by a team or technology?
   If you’re doing all the fulfillment yourself, you don’t have leverage. With Garage Gym Athlete, fulfillment happens largely through technology, supported by a team. That’s leverage.

2. If I gave you 10X more customers tomorrow, could you handle it?
   This thought experiment reveals whether you have repeatable systems. If 200 customers came in today, could you serve them effectively?

3. Do you have a documented and repeatable process for client acquisition?
   Without this, you’ll never feel comfortable hiring and scaling because you don’t know how to bring in consistent leads.

If you can answer “yes” to all three, you’re starting to build leverage.

Five Keys to Build Leverage in Your Business

So, how do you actually apply leverage? Here are the five areas I focus on:

1. Think leverage first.
   Scaling isn’t about grinding harder—it’s about leveraging people, systems, or capital. Always ask: what leverage am I missing here?

2. Shift from “how” to “who.”
   Instead of asking how you can do something, ask who can do it. That mindset shift changes everything.

3. Hire strategically.
   Hiring too early can shrink profit without growth. But once you have repeatable client acquisition, hiring multiplies your output.

4. Invest in automation.
   Technology is leverage. Automate repetitive tasks so your team focuses on higher-value work. Tools like HubSpot can transform operations.

5. Create evergreen content.
   Content is leverage too. A podcast, blog, or video created once can provide value for years. This piece of content you’re reading right now is an example—I designed it to stand the test of time.

Time-Stamped Show Notes

• 00:30 – Why most entrepreneurs build jobs, not businesses

• 01:15 – My early journey in fitness and hitting the ceiling

• 02:00 – The three key questions to see if you’ve built leverage

• 03:00 – Why fulfillment must be through a team or technology

• 03:45 – The 10X customer test: could you handle the growth?

• 04:30 – Documenting client acquisition for repeatability

• 05:15 – The five keys to build leverage in your business

• 06:00 – Shifting from “how” to “who”

• 06:45 – Hiring strategically and avoiding profit shrinkage

• 07:30 – Automating systems and leaning on technology

• 08:05 – Evergreen content as long-term leverage