Phil RisherPhlash Consulting · No. 1 Digital Marketing Consulting Company For $1m-10m Home Service Businesses 🚀

Scaling past $1 million requires a second engine. And it has three parts. #shorts

19 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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1:04

In this short video, Phil Risher introduces the core premise of his book The Second Engine: the strategies that get a business to $1 million in revenue are insufficient for reaching $10 million. He argues that owners need a "second engine" composed of three distinct elements. First, reliable data—specifically return‑on‑ad‑spend (ROAS) and year‑over‑year metrics—that is collected and reported without the owner having to manually compile it. Second, automation and AI tools that seal leaks in the sales process, preventing the owner from acting as a makeshift chief technology officer. Third, a marketing system that leverages the data and automation to execute campaigns efficiently. Risher explains that many businesses get stuck between $1 M and $10 M because the owner is caught in a flywheel of manually pulling data from the CRM, building ad‑hoc automations, and trying to run the marketing function themselves. The video positions the book as a solution that provides a ready‑made second engine to break that stall and scale to $10 million.

Chapters

So, I actually titled my book, The Second Engine, and the reason is because what got you to $1 million is not what's going to get you to $10 million. You need a second engine. It's on your back, the business owner. You rely on referrals, word of mouth, and maybe you've tried some type of ads to try to figure out how to grow your business. Once you get to $1 million, that second engine has 3 specific parts. One is data. You need to know your return on ad spend data. You need to know your year-over-year data, and it can't be on you, the business owner, to try to figure all that stuff out. 2 is automations, AI, whatever you want to call it. That makes sure that there's no leaks inside of your sales process. So it fills the gaps. Usually, the business owner is trying to run around and be chief technology officer and figure that out. And then the third thing is good marketing that's supported by data and automations. Usually, $1 to $10 million, the reason that they get stuck is because the owner is stuck in that flywheel. They're managing a marketing company. They are trying to pull data from their CRM, and they're trying to do automations to make it all work together. This is why I wrote this book is because it solves that problem for business owners that feel stuck and gives them the engine to get to $10 million.