Everything I’ve Learned (So Far) About Building in Alignment

Twelve years into running Foxwell Digital. Four years into Foxwell Founders. Dozens of coaching conversations and thousands of DMs later. This is the short list of what I’ve learned. Thanks to Evan for having me on to discuss these things.

Some lessons came from scaling a business.
Others came from being a dad during a pandemic.
Some came from burnout.
Some came from biking uphill.
Most came from slowing down long enough to actually pay attention.

This is some of what I know, for now. Always learning and evolving.

On Alignment, Awareness, and the Whole Self

If your body says no, believe it.
Alignment is not an idea. It’s something you feel. You feel it in your stomach, in your chest, in how drained or how alive you are after doing something. I’ve coached a lot of founders who spend their days doing tasks that quietly wear them down. They don’t realize how much it’s costing them because they’ve learned to ignore the signals their body is giving them. But the signals are there. Once you notice them, you can’t unsee them. And that awareness is the beginning of changing how you work.

You don’t need to be miserable to be successful.
There’s a myth that misery is the price of growth. I don’t buy it. You can build something that matters, make great money, and still have a life. You do not have to wait until you are 65 to start enjoying yourself. I’ve made more money in my business when I focused on building something I actually liked. The market can tell when you’re aligned. Your customers can feel it.

A calendar audit can change your business.
Here’s the easiest clarity tool I know: Print out your calendar. As you go through the week, score each meeting or task from zero to ten. Zero means it drained you. Ten means you loved it. Anything under a six is something you need to find a way to get off your plate. You can delegate it, systematize it, or eliminate it. But you should not keep doing it long-term. I’ve done this with a lot of founders, and the patterns show up quickly.

Slow down to move forward.
Culture tells us to move fast. To stay ahead. To launch before we’re ready. But most of the biggest breakthroughs I’ve had came when I stepped away from the laptop. Long bike rides, quiet mornings, walks without a phone. That’s when the real ideas arrive. When you slow down, your brain stops racing and your intuition finally has space to speak up.

Fear will keep you working on the wrong thing.
You’ll keep grinding on something that’s not working because fear convinces you it might still pay off. You’ll convince yourself the answer is just around the corner if you keep pushing (sunk cost bias). But often, fear is the thing that keeps us from changing direction when we know deep down that we should.

You can build your business around your life, not the other way around.
This has been the mission from the beginning for me and Gracie. We didn’t want to build something we had to escape from. We wanted to build something that let us live the life we already wanted. It’s possible. It’s not always easy, but it is possible.

Success compounds when you stop pretending.
I used to be proud of being a chameleon. I could fit in anywhere. But a few years ago, I realized I didn’t want to keep shifting who I was depending on the room I was in. I wanted to be the same person everywhere. The moment I started doing that, things aligned. The business grew. The community grew. Everything got easier.

On Coaching, Growth, and Helping Founders

Most agency owners are stuck in a sell-and-serve loop.
They are great at selling and great at serving, but they never give themselves space to do both well, so their agencies don’t grow. They’re constantly reacting. Growth stalls because they haven’t created time for intentional selling. If you want to grow, you have to treat sales as a real job and make room for it or hire it out.

More founders should ask: What actually gives me energy?
It’s not enough to do what you’re good at. You need to pay attention to what energizes you. What you look forward to. What you finish and feel proud of. When you build around those things, everything gets lighter.

People crave clarity more than strategy.
Tactics are everywhere. But clarity is rare. Most of the people I coach already know what they need to do. They just need help naming it. Understanding it. Believing that it’s okay to want something different. Once they do that, the strategy part becomes easier.

Let your curiosity guide your pivots.
One of the best ways I’ve found new revenue streams is by following what felt good. Recruiting, for example, is something I’ve always done. I didn’t set out to turn it into a service line. But it felt good, so I kept doing it. It naturally became a meaningful part of the business.

Productize what you're already doing.
If you’re already doing something manually that works, there’s probably a way to package it and sell it. Foxwell GPT is a great example. We took our course content, trained a GPT model on it, and now it’s a helpful tool for members and a revenue stream that makes a few thousand a month.

You probably already have a product inside your service.
Most agency owners have frameworks or methods that they use without realizing they’re unique. Give it a name. Turn it into a thing. The more specific your approach is, the easier it becomes to sell.

On Community and Building With Care

The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.
People join Foxwell Founders for tactics. But they stay for how the community makes them feel. The relationships. The trust. The connection. That’s what keeps people around. That’s what actually makes a community valuable.

Lead with generosity, always.
Every member of our team is empowered to spend up to $500 on any member for any reason. We’ve sent flowers when a member’s dog passed away. We’ve mailed books, gifts, notes. It’s not about scale. It’s about care. And care compounds.

Quality is the brand.
I’ve studied the best luxury brands in the world. The way they deliver service, the way they design experiences, the way they make people feel seen. That’s what I’ve tried to model in how we run Foxwell Founders. That’s the bar.

People don’t remember what you said. They remember how you showed up.
We try to respond quickly. Thoughtfully. With intention. That’s how you build trust. That’s how you build something people don’t want to leave.

Every founder thinks their challenges are unique.
Then they get in a room with other founders and realize we’re all dealing with the same stuff. The validation that comes from that is powerful. It gives people the confidence to move forward.

On Self-Discovery and Identity

Slowing down is the real competitive advantage.
Modern life is designed to speed you up. But speed can only get you so far. Insight requires space. Strategy requires quiet. You can’t outwork misalignment. If you are someone that can create space and slow down, people will notice.

Ego isn’t all bad, but you better have a relationship with it.
Especially if you’ve been rewarded for confidence. Ego unchecked will push you into bad decisions. It’ll keep you from asking for help. I wish someone had talked to me about this when I was 25! You can’t eliminate it, you just need t notice it.

You won’t reach self-actualization if your basic needs aren’t met.
Maslow was right. If you’re not getting rest, connection, joy then no amount of business strategy will fix it. You’ve got to care for your full self before you can truly lead others.

Beginner’s mindset wins.
The older I get, the more curious I become. I used to think I knew everything. Now I know that I don’t. And that’s made me better at what I do.

Being the same person everywhere is the unlock.
When you stop performing and start showing up honestly, the right people find you. And the wrong ones fall away. That makes everything simpler.

And yes, I also said these things on the live stream

• I was in a college freestyle rap group. My MC name was Mr. Lolo. There were choreographed bits.

• I have strong karaoke opinions and stronger karaoke performances.

• I once tried to start a recruiting firm in New Zealand while on a trip. It didn’t work. But it turned into something that did.

• I’ve been known to do wildly inappropriate R&B interludes in front of an audience. That season has passed. Mostly.

The next Foxwell Founders event is called The Whole Self. That’s not just a theme. It’s the mission. We’ll talk about Meta ads, of course. But we’ll also talk about you. Who you are. What you want. And how to build a business that supports all of it.

Your ads will work better when you are working from a place of alignment.
Your business will grow faster when it grows from who you are.
And your life will feel like it actually belongs to you.

That’s the goal.