When George Elossais invited me onto the Trained Well Podcast, I knew it wasn’t going to be a surface-level conversation. George doesn’t do fluff, and neither do I. If you’ve been following my journey—whether from my lawn-care days or through Carroll Media—you already know I don’t play the “guru” game. I talk about what works, what doesn’t, and what business owners actually need to hear.
This episode was one of those conversations where the truth comes out whether you’re ready for it or not. We didn’t talk about trends. We didn’t talk about hacks. We talked about what it takes to win in today’s digital marketplace—and why most people are losing before they even start.
Betting on Yourself Changes Everything
How did a kid mowing lawns end up building Carroll Media, running multiple companies, and creating an AI team member used by agencies across the country?
It didn’t happen because I had money. It didn’t happen because I had connections. It happened because I made one decision early on:
I bet on myself.
And here’s the truth most business owners avoid: Betting on yourself isn’t about confidence. It’s about responsibility.
When you decide you’re the one who’s going to change your life, your family’s life, and your business… you start operating differently. You become the person who shows up earlier, stays later, and pushes past the point where most people quit.
You stop hiding behind excuses. You stop blaming the market. You stop waiting for permission. You build the discipline that produces results long before success ever shows up.
That mindset—more than money, strategy, or talent—is the turning point for every entrepreneur. It was mine. And if you’re in a rebuilding season, this is where you start.
The Three Fundamentals of Business Success That Never Change
Everyone’s chasing leads, automations, funnels, shortcuts, “passive income,” whatever the flavor of the week is. But none of that matters if you ignore the fundamentals. I break them down into three simple things:
1. Brand: Your brand is how people feel about you.
It’s not your logo, colors, or fonts. It’s how you show up. It’s the consistency, reputation, and presence you build over time.
Brand is the thing that gets customers to choose you before they even know your price.
2. Hustle: It isn’t about grinding yourself into the floor.
It’s about moving with intention and urgency. It’s doing the reps. It’s taking action while everyone else is debating it.
It’s velocity. And in today’s world, velocity is everything.
3. Execution: Ideas don’t grow businesses. Execution does.
Most people fail not because they don’t know what to do, but because they don’t do what they already know. If you fix your execution, everything else in your business gets easier.
These three fundamentals built my career. They’re also the same fundamentals every successful business owner I’ve ever met leans on—whether they realize it or not.
How to Actually Win with GEO and AEO (Yes, It Matters)
If you’ve never heard those terms before, you’re not alone. But you will—because this is where the marketplace is heading.
Here’s the simplified version:
The internet used to be dominated by search engines. Then social media took a huge slice. Now AI is changing the way people find information again. Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and even AI-powered voice assistants are becoming people’s first stop for answers.
If your brand isn’t feeding those engines—
If your content isn’t AI-friendly—
If you’re not showing up where AI pulls its information from—
You’re going to disappear from the places people now trust most.
This is the next era of visibility.
And the businesses who understand it early will win big.
Why “Internet Leads” Are a Trap
This is the part a lot of agency owners didn’t want to hear. Internet leads are a crutch.
They make you feel like you’re playing the marketing game when you’re actually outsourcing the most important part of your business—your brand—to a third-party vendor.
But here’s the real problem: Internet leads don’t build anything.
They don’t build trust.
They don’t build recognition.
They don’t build a pipeline.
They don’t build demand.
At best, they keep you on a hamster wheel. At worst, they train you to be dependent on someone else’s funnel. The businesses that scale are the ones building their own brand, their own audience, and their own lead flow.
If you want sustainable growth, stop renting attention and start owning it.
How AI Team Members Like Alli Are Reshaping Agencies
I give up some industry secrets on how we built Alli, our AI team member at Carroll Media, and why agencies are adopting her so quickly.
Most agencies think they need more staff. What they really need is more capacity.
Alli answers calls.
Alli books appointments.
Alli routes leads.
Alli follows up.
Instantly. Accurately. 24/7.
Your employees shouldn’t be stuck answering the same questions 40 times a day. They should be building relationships, solving problems, and delivering experiences AI can’t replicate.
AI isn’t threatening agency jobs. AI is threatening agency bottlenecks. And that’s a good thing.
You Can Win Bigger Than You Think
If you take nothing else from this episode, remember this:
The marketplace rewards the people who move. Not the people who wait. Not the people who complain. Not the people who hope next year will be easier.
The ones who build brand, take action, execute consistently, and leverage new tools—those are the ones who rise.
This world is changing fast. But the opportunity is bigger than it’s ever been if you’re willing to bet on yourself and step into it.
