Some things that shape the way I think

An ever growing and evolving list

Jun 04, 2025

2025 has been a whirlwind year, to say the least. It can’t believe we’re already in June. I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun!

This year has been notable to me for a handful of reasons. I have a lot of things to be thankful for in life, both personally and professionally. One of the most notable changes for me professionally was my official promotion to President of Impact Cleaning Services. My family's janitorial business that I have aspired to run since I was a child.

Once I was promoted, people would ask me “do you feel any different?”. At the beginning I kept saying “no”. Because it really didn’t feel all that different. I have always done my best to be a leader and behave as if I was accountable for all the outcomes of the business. I also don’t treat anyone any differently than I did before. We were still the same team with the same goals.

But lately it has felt a little different. There are two things I feel now more than ever before:

Pressure
Patience

I definitely feel a little more pressure today. No one is putting this pressure on me. In fact, I have such an amazing team around me that gives me an incredible amount of support. I think I am putting this added pressure on myself. I believe it’s psychological, because I don’t want to let anyone down. I don’t mind it. It helps me stay focused. But there are days where it can make you anxious because you don’t know what lies ahead and what outcome will follow a decision you make.

This added pressure has surprisingly led to an increase in my patience. Those who know me know that I am not a patient person. I’m not entirely sure how that can be possible. I would’ve thought pressure would’ve led me to want to move faster and be more impatient. But I think the patience is coming from my appreciation and understanding of my father.

Don’t get me wrong, I have always been incredibly grateful and appreciative of what my parents have done for my siblings and I. I can just see now that I didn’t fully appreciate the stress my father must have been under at all times, building the business. Four decades alone in the trenches, dealing with all the ups and downs and still being an amazing father to three crazy kids. What a guy!

Now that I am responsible for all the outcomes, I feel I better understand what he went through, though still not entirely. Mainly because he almost lost the company twice (for different reasons), and he had no partners to bear some of the burden. I am incredibly blessed to have my siblings by my side, my parents a phone call away, and a kick ass leadership team. Hopefully we won’t have to experience the things he did. Another reason I put so much pressure on myself.

Thankfully, pressure and patience don’t seem like terrible emotions to feel while embarking on a journey to build a generational 9-figure business. Plus, you need both pressure and patience to create diamonds. So I’ve been told.

The purpose of this post is to take a second and earmark this point in my professional life. I turned 35 this past April and I’ve already spent 20 years working in our family's business. More than half my life has been dedicated to the commercial cleaning industry. I feel incredibly fortunate to be in the position I am in and have been blessed to be surrounded by so many incredible entrepreneurs and leaders. Most of what I have learned to this point is from listening to and observing those people who are much smarter and more successful than I am. Not just monetarily, but in experience, health, and happiness. I won’t list all the names, but if you’re reading this, and I spend time talking to you on a somewhat regular basis, you can bet you’re in that list.

I feel confident and ready for what lies on the road ahead. Primarily because I’m surrounded by such great people that I can lean on for advice. But there are many things I am curious about that I have not been able to learn from those around me. So beyond listening to those around me, I’ve also spent my entire professional life-to-date listening, learning and filling in the gaps with self taught lessons. I was never the best student. I hated reading in school. But once I got into the working world I discovered that reading and studying the greats isn’t so bad when you get to learn about things that excite and inspire you.

As I enter this new chapter of my professional life, I wanted to take a second to document this milestone in the journey. I think being an entrepreneur is the coolest thing ever. It’s stressful. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I still have so much to learn. I know that I have barely scraped the surface. But I plan on doing this for a long time, and I refuse to let anyone down who has entrusted me with their money.

So I intend to keep listening and learning. But I’ve also listened and learned a lot so far. I recently tried to dig up all the books, podcasts, interviews, writings, and tools that have shaped how I think about building a great business. I figured these resources might be helpful to you. It doesn’t matter where you are on your journey. It doesn’t even matter if you’re on a journey that doesn’t involve entrepreneurship or commercial cleaning. I believe these learnings can provide value in many aspects of personal and professional life.

The ever-evolving list of things that have shaped how I think about business building

Podcasts:

Books:

Other writings:

Newsletters:

Axios Closer - How I business and markets news
Axios Pro Rata - How I get my tech/venture news
Atomic Habits - Short lessons and thought starters
Huddle up - If you love the business of sports
OnlyCFO - Technology finance & operations newsletter
Mostly Metrics - Annual planning, business model dynamics, financial metrics, and fundraising
SatPost - my favourite fun weekend read about business, tech, and memes
The Greek Analyst - How I get my greek business/economy news
Exec Sum - Major daily news round up from Wall Street to Silicon Valley

News:

Productivity Apps:

Habit Tracker - My daily checklist
Countdown - How I track major upcoming events
Google Task - Stuff I need to do, when I have time
Google Calendar - How I manage my life and where I allocate my time

YouTube Channels:

This is obviously not a complete list of all things that shape the way I think about business building. There are a ton of other sources that influence and shape my thoughts, mental models, and decision making. This is simply a list I started making a few weeks ago to see if I could recall some of my favourite resources over the years. Figured it might be useful to you on your journey.

Nothing is in any particular order, and as you can probably tell not everything has to do with business building. Also, I have no affiliate links and compensation for posting these links. Just sharing stuff I find valuable.

Thanks for reading :)