The 3 phases every founder cycles through

We’ve learned from a young age that growth feels like momentum. It’s the string of A+’s that made your teachers call you gifted, the weeks when you stuck to the gym and saw your body changing in the mirror, the first time you posted online and people responded, the rush of validation that made you feel like you're on the right path. The promotions, the praise, the wins stacked back-to-back.

Growth has always been paired with forward motion, with visible, undeniable proof that you were progressing.

But the truth is, for any of that growth to happen, you need to go through an uncomfortable period of uncertainty and it rarely feels good in real time.

It often feels like systems collapsing, people around you underperforming, meetings running long, and fires multiplying faster than you can put them out.

That’s the real face of growth.

And it’s exactly what I’ve been experiencing these last two weeks.

Despite our agency growing faster than ever (we’re up 110% from last year and on track to beat that by Q4), it’s felt like everything is falling apart.

Automations broke.

Team processes got messy.

Algorithm worked against us,

At first, it felt like failure.

But then I zoomed out and remembered something that’s shaped how I operate:

Business moves in cycles. And if you don’t know which cycle you’re in, you’ll start fixing things that aren’t broken or quit too early. So the first step is to identify which cycle we’re in of the four:

Cycle 1: Preparation 

This is the foundation phase.

You’re building systems, hiring team members, structuring deliverables, writing SOPs, planning campaigns, and tightening client experience without immediate ROI.

This cycle doesn’t look like growth. But it creates the conditions for it.

If you skip this phase or half-ass it, you’ll pay for it later.

Cycle 2: Patience

This is the “nothing’s happening” phase. You’ve built the machine. Now you have to wait for the momentum to build. This cycle is mentally brutal for high-performers because it tests your trust in the systems you’ve created.

That’s why I’ve seen lots of founders slip up here. They mistake silence for stagnation and rip out everything before it takes root. But if you’re in a patience cycle, your job is to wait without getting passive. To stay visible, keep optimizing, and give the system time to work.

Cycle 3: Chaos

This is where most people panic. Your offer is working, leads are coming in, revenue’s growing.

But now your old systems can’t keep up and mistakes pile up. Team capacity maxes out. Little cracks turn into client-facing problems.

You feel like you’re losing control. But this isn’t failure. It’s a sign that the system has outgrown itself.

The challenge is rebuilding while running and fixing the tires without stopping the car.

And that’s where I’m at now.

We’re tightening everything again:

• Rebuilding our internal dashboards

• Auditing team performance

• Standardizing deliverables

• Automating checklists

• Launching a proprietary internal app to make client work more efficient and traceable

• Adding a new acquisition channel and refining retention systems

It’s been a stressful season.

But I’ve learned to laugh at the chaos.

Because every breakdown is a breadcrumb toward the next level and I asked for this when I set bigger goals, aimed for higher targets, and pushed our standards up.

If your business feels messy right now…

If you’re making mistakes you swore you already fixed…

If your systems are wobbling even though your revenue is growing…

You’re not doing something wrong.

You’re just in a different cycle.

Talk soon,

Wiz

If you want content systems that hold up as you scale, regardless of whether you're in a preparation, patience, or chaos cycle, I’ve got two paths:

→ Join Utopia to learn how we build these systems

→ Work with Mogul Media and let my team run it up for you