I know a lot of people will look at this title and think, “What kind of cons could there possibly be to making $55,000 a month, if you’re barely making ends meet. I get it, m, it sounds like a dream.

I was on the phone with a friend recently, and we started reminiscing. We used to  mentor him  in the e-commerce space, and while we don’t talk about that season much, we ended up having a deep conversation that lasted 30 minutes longer than planned—all about this topic.

And I thought to myself, this is something my students in The Ground Up Academy need to hear.

Here’s why:

I was coaching someone who wanted to go into a full launch of their website to start selling their products. Now, let me be clear, there are situations where a website is necessary early on. For instance, if you’re doing a simplified version of a site to help establish proof of concept or to show your trademark lawyer that you’re active in the marketplace, that makes sense. But this particular student wanted to skip past all the foundational work and go straight into a full-scale launch, and that’s where the issue was.

If you haven’t built out your foundation pillars, launching too soon is dangerous.

Let me explain.

I won’t go deep into every pillar here, but you need your why, your mission, your values, your brand identity, and of course, your trademark. This isn’t optional. This is essential if you’re building a real brand. If you’re doing a side hustle, you might still benefit from this, but I’m just being honest, I’m not your guy if you don’t want to build it the right way.

Now let’s talk about the graphic design phase, because that’s where the connection begins. This is where you build the story around your visual presentation. This is where you start connecting your marketing before you ever spend a dime. People think marketing starts when you run ads, but it actually starts when you design the visuals that represent your message. This is your first impression, and it matters.

From there, everything else connects, especially content creation.

Price matters.

Profit matters.

Systems matter.

That’s the biggest thing my friend and I were talking about. When he got to $55,000/month, it got crazy, because he skipped a few steps, and some of his systems weren’t in place. The money came in so fast, it was overwhelming. It became hard to maintain and manage, and that’s when you realize that more money doesn’t mean less stress if the foundation is weak.

I hear people say all the time, “I want to scale, scale, scale.”

And yes, scaling is amazing. But you have to be ready. You have to build out your systems and think strategically. It takes real planning to sustain growth. Will it be perfect? No. But if you prepare well, you give yourself the chance to manage it with grace and confidence.

It’s doable. Be encouraged.

Align yourself with the right people.

Keep learning.

Keep growing.

Every single day.

God bless the entrepreneur®️