Blake Nubar hit $1 million in 25 days, then $500K monthly, but warns that the chaos that works early doesn't scale. Past a million dollars, you need defined roles, processes, and systems. Founders have to step back from daily work or growth stops.
At the level, the $15 million plus, like what type of infrastructure does that look like? How many people are you working with? Like employees, freelancers? Because I would imagine it's not just you, I would imagine.
Oh yeah, no, no, no, no. You're not.
Yeah, that'd be pretty impressive.
No, no, no. You ever heard that saying, what got you here won't get you there? Yeah, we're all slapped with a brick on our head to really realize that. As much as I wish it could just be a couple of us, it's just not the case when you're really running a multi-million dollar business. Look, you can get to a million chaotically, okay? Yeah, we had a million in 25 days. I would be lying if I told you that we were buttoned up, suit and tie, structured, ready to rock and roll. No, it was sheer chaos, right? But if you ever want to scale past a million, okay, you can't scale chaos. It's the worst thing you can do. If you're ever sitting there, you're listening right now and you're watching this and you have an idea and you feel like you're all over the place, that's going to have to start coming together before you start scaling it, or your itty-bitty problems you have right now become very big problems. And when you have a bunch of itty-bitty problems, which every business has when they're first starting out, and you try and scale that, those itty-bitty problems become massive, and now you have a lot of them. So it's a terrible strategy. So the way that we were able to effectively start scaling, which was crazy because I don't know many other online businesses— like, we launched this thing, we went from $0 to $500K month 1 and then higher. And like, we've, you know, to me again, back to the idea, the idea is so big, right? And as long as we can execute on it and really deliver on the promise that we say we're going to do it, you can crush it, right? We were, it's been an amazing experience. We never went from like $0 to $20,000 to, did that just get really dark?
Yeah, yeah.
We never went from like $0 to $20K to $30K to $50K to $200K. It was like $0 to half a million dollars. Month 2, we did $1 million in sales, right? And my best piece of advice for anyone, because anyone can do this, okay? It's not just me, right? Like, I'm just a normal dude. I drink beer. I hang out with friends and family. I'm your normal guy you can sit and talk shit with. Like, I'm just a— I'll watch football with you, right? The difference was you have to start building systems and infrastructure in your business. There's now 25 of us now, I think. Roles become more defined because when you're building a business, you kind of put on every different style hat possible and you're just like, I'll do this, this, and this. So, A, you start building infrastructure, right? Because as you, as sales increase, you start seeing where the gaps are. I call it Swiss cheese, right? It's like where are the holes in your business? And then you start filling those holes with systems, processes, people, and tools, right? You have to create a system for each thing. So As we started growing, we had to create more systems, which means we needed more people, which means we needed more tools and software, which means we needed more standard operating procedures to execute on things and make sure they're streamlined and seamless. So the real difference from a million, you know, going from zero to a million to actually consistently generating income like that, it's really just putting infrastructure in the form of people, processes, and tools in place and filling the gaps that you're running into. And you might be sitting there like, Blake, what are the gaps? Like, what am I going to run into? You'll know, like, trust me, when you wake up every day and you go to bed, like, stressed over something, That's something to focus on. Do I need to create? Do I need to remove myself from this part now and replace myself with a system to successfully accomplish what we're dealing with? And you're just gonna— you as the owner, what you're gonna start doing, you're just gonna start doing that every day. And like, oh, we need to create a system here, we need another system here, we need infrastructure here. And as you do this over and over again, you now create something where you can step away for a day or 2 days or a week or 2 weeks and your business is going to run fine. Because for the longest time, Tyler, I could not step away from anything. I was like, I was a victim of this own business. And it was frustrating because I knew that if I stepped away, it's like, it's going to be a disaster when I come back. Fires are going to be everywhere. And then when you start realizing, okay, I need a system for that, I need to build infrastructure for that. That's when you can actually kind of fire yourself from your own business, which is, it's an amazing— you would think as an entrepreneur, you're like, no, no, no, I want to grind. I want to, you know, Gary Vee it, right? However, Gary. Yeah. Which I love Gary. Gary's a G, right? But you, it's really cool to be able to pull yourself away from parts like that and really focus on the vision of the business. Because ultimately, you always, you have to stay in the clouds, Gary Vee style, clouds and dirt. You have to have the clouds because you got to know where you're going. And then, you also have to be in the dirt to execute on it. And when you're able to put the infrastructure in place, you can pull yourself away from it and focus on bigger, longer-term vision. So, To answer your question, more words than needed. The difference is you put people, tools, and processes in place of the problems you're experiencing, and that you start building this infrastructure. And you never build it all at once. You build it all— it's kind of like, you know, train tracks. You lay one piece and you keep going. Next thing you know, you got this like Snowpiercer train running the tracks. But yeah, one thing at a time, and then next thing you know, you look back and you have a business now that can sustain great growth, great customer service, great things like that.
