What Happens When You Stop Doing Everything Yourself
There’s a phase almost every creator-led business goes through.
You’re busy all the time.
Your calendar is full.
You’re involved in everything.
Events are happening. Content is being published. Sales are coming in.
And yet… growth feels capped.
Not necessarily decreasing…just harder than it should be.
I heard this articulated perfectly on the My First Million podcast when Tommy Mello described his own turning point.
For years, he was a hustler. Scrappy. Involved.
The business grew, but only to a point.
Everything changed when he stopped relying on hustle and started building systems and leadership leverage.
As he put it:
““The hustler has to die for the leader to be born.””
He followed that with a distinction that stuck with me:
Hustle culture says: work more, scroll more, grind more.
Leadership says: think clearer, decide faster, and get out of your own way.
If your calendar is full but your impact is small, it’s time to swap hustle for leadership.
This feels differently when you’re already doing “a lot” and still feel like you’re not making much progress.
Why Hustle Stops Working (Even When You’re Good at It)
Hustling feels productive because there’s constant motion.
You’re responding. Fixing. Jumping in. Saving the day.
It works early on. Sometimes for longer than it should.
But at a certain size, hustle turns into a bottleneck.
Not because you’re lazy.
Not because you’re doing it wrong.
But because everything still depends on you.
Leadership starts when you stop measuring effort and start measuring outcomes.
That requires a different identity:
Hustler mindset: “I need to be involved for this to work.”
Leader mindset: “I design how this works.”
Once that flips, the work changes.
What the Shift Looks Like in Real Terms
Here’s how the difference shows up in day-to-day decisions:
Hustlers chase every opportunity.
Leaders choose the right one and ignore the rest.Hustlers keep tasks because it’s “faster to do it themselves.”
Leaders document the process so it doesn’t depend on them.Hustlers talk about being busy.
Leaders track what actually moved revenue, reach, or retention.
This isn’t about working less for the sake of it.
It’s about removing yourself as the critical dependency.
How I’m Applying This Inside HobbyScool (Actual Examples)
This shift isn’t theoretical for me.
It’s what I’m actively doing and documenting inside the HobbyScool $1M Experiment.
Here are a few concrete examples.
1. LinkedIn Outreach Runs Without Me Writing Messages
Sponsorships and corporate wellness partnerships used to live entirely in my head.
Now they run on:
SOPs for LinkedIn outreach
Message frameworks for different partnership types
Clear qualification rules so only aligned conversations reach me
Simple tracking systems so nothing gets lost
Outreach happens consistently.
I review outcomes…not inboxes.
2. Pinterest Traffic Is Systemized, Not Guesswork
Pinterest used to feel random.
Now it’s:
SOPs for my Pinterest VA
Custom GPTs for keyword research and pin descriptions
Defined weekly deliverables
Clear performance expectations
I don’t brainstorm pins.
I don’t rewrite copy.
I look at results.
3. Monthly Live Events Run Without Hovering
HobbyScool runs full live virtual events every single month:
Landing pages
Speaker onboarding
Promotions
VIP offers
Replays
Deliverables
And I barely touch execution.
Not because I don’t care, but because the systems already exist.
The timelines repeat.
The roles are defined.
The decisions were made once, not re-decided every month.
That’s what leadership leverage looks like in practice.
This Is Why I Started the $1M HobbyScool Experiment
I didn’t start the $1M HobbyScool Experiment to show off wins.
I started it to document how decisions compound over time.
Because real growth doesn’t come from:
one launch
one funnel
one viral moment
It comes from seeing how systems, tradeoffs, and constraints stack up over months and years.
Which brings me to one very specific moment inside the business.
Free Report: The Decisions Behind a 17,958-Attendee Creative Event
I put together a free report breaking down a recent HobbyScool event that brought in:
17,958 attendees
$39K in revenue
$22K in profit
The report is called:
The Decisions Behind a 17,958-Attendee Creative Event
How one set of tradeoffs produced $39K in revenue and $22K in profit — and what I’d decide differently next time.
This is not a blueprint, checklist, or formula.
It’s a decision breakdown, written for experienced creators who want to see how real choices are made while a business is scaling.
What’s Inside:
The decisions that turned free registrations into $39K in sales
The collaboration choices that drove 17,958 attendees without a large team
Where profit was made, where it leaked, and what I’d change next time
The tradeoffs behind funding list growth with ads instead of organic-only traffic
Why I chose specific platforms and systems — and what I intentionally ruled out
This report captures one moment in time.
The $1M HobbyScool Experiment exists because the real leverage comes from watching how decisions build on each other — across systems, revenue, and operations.
Get Your Free Report
📥 Instant access to the 17,958-attendee event breakdown
🗝️ One real decision breakdown, not a blueprint, checklist, or formula
FAQ: $1M HobbyScool Experiment
What is the $1M HobbyScool Experiment?
The $1M HobbyScool Experiment is a behind-the-scenes documentation of how HobbyScool is being scaled through systems, decision-making, and operational leverage — not hustle or constant founder involvement.
Who is the free report for?
The report is for experienced creators and operators who already run events, products, or communities and want to see how real business decisions are made during active scaling.
Is this a step-by-step guide or template?
No. The report focuses on decisions and tradeoffs, not formulas. It’s meant to show how thinking, constraints, and priorities shaped outcomes.
Why focus on decisions instead of tactics?
Tactics change. Platforms change. Decisions compound. Seeing how decisions are made in context is more useful long-term than copying surface-level tactics.
Do I need to be in the $1M HobbyScool Experiment to read the report?
No. The report is free and designed to stand alone as a snapshot of one scaling moment inside the business.
