Alignment should be your goal, while scaling takes a back seat.

I've always said that if you're the smartest person in the room, then you're clearly in the wrong room. Any time you spend with business leaders or entrepreneurs, often leads into conversations about the same few topics on repeat: scaling, growth, expansion, and domination. Everyone wants to go bigger, faster, larger and attract even more attention through the buzz they create in the market. You want the truth? Scaling is incredible yet what I’ve seen over and over again, in my own journey and through nearly 100 business owners throughout my career: growth without alignment is just another path to burnout.

There was a time when I thought hitting bigger numbers would finally bring peace of mind. More agents in my office, higher commission splits and more robust training and coaching to drive more revenue, better systems, more structure. And while some of it worked on the surface, deep down I was operating way out of alignment with what I really wanted. I said yes to things that weren’t true to me. I hired people who didn’t fit the culture. I built a machine that didn’t feel like mine anymore.

The truth is, scale is easy to measure. Alignment takes work to feel difference and see the impact. So the real question is what are you building? Answering this question brings a sort of clarity that doesn't quite fit into the box of a business plan.

When I coach business leaders today, the first question isn’t "how do we grow this?" It’s "what do we want this to look like?". Growth that pulls you away from your values, your family, your feeling of being in the "zone of genius", or your peace of mind isn’t success. It’s a trap.

So here are three alignment checkpoints I want you to lean into:

1. Business Model Check: Does your model support the life you want to live? Or are you chasing a version of success that belongs to someone else? Are your goals based on what you would like to see in yourself or rather, are you trying to

2. Calendar Check: Show me your calendar, and I’ll show you your values. If your day-to-day doesn’t reflect what matters most to you, something’s off. Remember that if what matters to you most is not intentionally a part of your calendar, then be prepared to live without it.

3. People Check: Are you surrounded by energy-givers or energy-takers? Are the people around you aligned with the culture and mission you believe in? Or maybe you're constantly feeling like you're in a vortex of people that suck the life out of you.

Alignment doesn’t mean everything is perfect. It means your actions, your schedule, your goals, and your people are all pulling in the same direction. That’s where fulfillment lives. That’s also when scale becomes sustainable.

If you’re feeling like your business is growing but your joy is shrinking, take a step back. Audit these three areas. Realign. Then move forward. The goal isn’t just to grow. It’s to grow into the life and business that actually fits.