I spent 30 years building one business. For 25 of those years, the business was "okay." Unfocused. Too many priorities. Not enough accountability. I was working hard, the team was working hard, and the results didn't reflect it.

In year 25 I hired a coach (Sean Evans), installed Metronomics as our business operating system, and 2 years later I joined the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO). Our business coach and the operating system clarified our strategy and created the rhythms needed to execute on it, and most importantly accountability for delivering it. EO gave me a community of entrepreneurs who were committed to my success and never failed to be radically candid when I didn't want to hear it. Between Sean and EO, it became very difficult to fool myself.

Over the next 5 years the company went from okay to a growth engine that forward delivered profit, and most importantly, cash, at a pace that I hadn't previously thought was possible.

A few years into this transformation I realized I didn't actually need to run the company. A performance culture had taken hold that self-generated momentum, and I was standing in the way of the COO's career advancement. I promoted him to head of company and I stepped back to focus on coaching the executive team. That is when I discovered how much I really enjoyed this role and I began my coach and mentorship learning journey.

At this point I was spending under 10 hours a week on the company and the business was running without me, not because I checked out, but because we had put a flywheel in place that just kept spinning faster and faster. In year 30, we sold at a premium multiple with no earn-out and no employment clause. The team still runs and grows the company today.

My path from chaos to enjoyable growth and success took 5years from the time we committed to a singular market focus, a differentiating strategy to win it, and the systems, structure and accountability to achieve our ambitious goals. Looking back I should have done it in 3 and it's those lessons that I want to share with entrepreneurs so that they avoid the winding30 year road that I took. In gratitude to all those who so graciously shared with me along my journey I am now committed to giving back to my community at EO and publishing what I have learned at darlison.com with the hope it's of some value to 100,000+ entrepreneurs over the next 10 years.

I’m passionate about business strategy and the systems and structures to execute upon it. When not thinking about how best to do this I ama bit obsessed with the process of making espresso, and when not indoors I like to ski, bike, backcountry camp, and I am starting to get really stuck on golf, albeit reluctantly.

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