Leon Abboud@leonabboud
In 2024, we grew from $20k/m to $160K/month very quickly. This completely broke all our systems.
Here are 5 operational rules that we implemented in the business that saved us from complete chaos:
1. Document or die
As we grew, it became increasingly difficult for me to provide one-on-one guidance.
The same questions kept coming up, and I found myself repeating answers instead of moving the business forward.
The solution was documentation. Once we wrote things down, people could find answers without me, and our knowledge became repeatable.
Today, we have over 55 detailed docs covering our core business functions. A new hire can onboard without me saying a word.
2. Systems before staff
Initially, I attempted to resolve all the company’s problems by hiring additional staff. It felt like progress, but in the long term, it created insane inefficiency and created more work than it removed.
The solution was fixing the process first. The question here was, “If I couldn’t hire anyone for the rest of my life, how would I improve this system to reduce workload?”
When we implemented better systems, this ultimately made some internal roles redundant.
3. Single owners, not committees
I once gave multiple people “shared ownership” of a big project. Two months in? Nothing had moved. Everyone assumed someone else would handle it.
Today, the new process we have in place is characterized by clear ownership of each project/task. “If everyone is responsible, no one is responsible” became a motto in the company.
Every initiative has a single name associated with it, so there’s never confusion about who’s driving it forward.
4. Data-driven decisions > Gut feeling decisions
We used to spend hours in meetings debating opinions. With no data, the loudest and most eloquent argument won. However, we were making decisions based on gut feeling rather than data.
And here’s the thing: what can’t be tracked can’t be improved. As we grew, this became a significant problem because we were working on everything and nothing at the same time.
The solution was building dashboards and tracking the most important metrics.
Today, we have a company-wide Scorecard. Every person on the team is responsible for their own unique 2-3 metrics. That way, you can have a bird's-eye view of the business and identify areas that need improvement, fixing them accordingly.
5. Quarterly cleanups
Processes that started useful slowly turned into busywork. Recurring meetings piled up until my calendar was suffocating me. I recall a time when I had five hours of internal meetings daily. It was hell, I couldn’t do anything productive.
We brought in consultants to audit our operations, and based on their suggestions, we eliminated all meetings within the company.
We then created a culture of output over input. The important meetings were rescheduled, but all the unimportant ones were left behind.
Overnight, that cleared 80% of my calendar and freed up hours of the team member’s time.
With over 23 full-time employees, that's a massive amount of time saved, allowing everyone to focus on more in-depth work.