Road to $1M ARR day 7/60: it's hard...

two calls. one bottleneck (me). building in public is the best lead magnet I've ever created

Day 7 of the $1M ARR sprint.

Had 2 calls today with prospects who read this newsletter before booking a call with me.

They went well. One will circle back mid November. The other is awaiting for a proposal.

I don’t think this is random honestly. I do see a compounding effect building in public hitting in real time.

What’s interesting is how this private format unlocks a different layer of thinking than LinkedIn ever could.

Maybe it’s the intimacy of a smaller audience. Maybe it’s that LinkedIn’s algorithm trains you to be punchy over thoughtful.

Either way, this newsletter lets me break down the backend thinking in ways i never did with LinkedIn posts.

And prospects are noticing. They’re seeing the systems. The results. The philosophy behind how we blend AI and humans together at Earleads for everything go to market.

They’re watching us walk the talk daily.

That builds trust faster than any cold email or polished case study ever could.

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On the flip side today exposed a real bottleneck: me.

I’m still babysitting some client accounts when i should be delegating 100% and focusing on expansion.

My team is amazing. They’re doing great work. The issue is my ability to transpose ownership from my shoulders to theirs.

I thought about this before launching the challenge. I knew delegation would matter. But i didn’t feel the urgency until now.

Seven days in and the limits are clear. I can’t close deals and answer Slack messages about client campaign details at the same time.

I need to erase myself from processes where i add zero value. My value is finding new ideas, testing them, then handing them to the team to execute for clients.

Not being the middleman between a team member and a client question. That’s just friction.

So the next few days i gotta get more anarchic about ownership. Trust the frameworks we’ve built. Let the team run without me answering “where to find list n3 for client X”.

This sprint only works if i focus on what only i can do at this stage: expansion.

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Quick aside on something i am excited about: I’m organizing a podcast with someone in the sales industry from an AI SDR company.

We probably have divergent opinions on a few topics yet we both agree on the fundamentals of sales.

First time doing this format. Gonna be fun. Gonna add value. More about it soon.

The idea came from reading one of his LinkedIn posts. I knew he reads this newsletter. Wrote a response post. Then realized: this should be a conversation, not just content.

That’s how the best collabs happen. Organic. Fast. No overthinking.

Thanks for saying yes F ;)

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Closing thought of the day before i got dinner. This challenge is pushing me to be the best version of myself across every dimension.

It’s day 7 and i can already feel the growth. Not just in the business. In how i operate.

To pull this off i gotta eat well, sleep well (a bit less, but still well), and protect my sanity.

A 60-day sprint is long enough to burn out if you’re not careful. I’m finding the balance. Intensity without implosion.

No new signatures today. But the pipeline is moving. The systems are tightening. The momentum is real.

Tomorrow i focus on two things: better framework to delegate (introduce more my team to our clients) and smash my 3 prospects calls scheduled :).

ARR: $582K → Target: $1M | Days remaining: 53

See you tomorrow 👊

O.

PS: pretty sure the podcast idea is gonna be better than any banner i could’ve designed by now.

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accidentally built a million ARR GTM agency by refusing to spray & pray. now racing to $1M just to prove cold emails gurus wrong.

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