Trying to grow your business, but still the one making every decision?

In this episode of Self-Made Is a Myth, Coach Tim Campsall sits down with Addison Newell from Prevenient. Prevenient runs commercial buildings in Central Indiana. They help ownership groups acquire, renovate, and build out spaces across co-working, office, event, retail, food, and hospitality.

Earlier in the business, Addison saw that work was still waiting on him or leadership before it moved forward. The team defaulted to him. Important work did not move unless he stepped in. Decisions slowed. Follow-up stalled.

As the business grew, that started to change. But a new version of the same constraint showed up. Addison remained the strongest salesperson in the company. Much of what made him effective came naturally. He could step into a conversation and close quickly. That approach did not easily transfer to others on the team.

This is what the Messy Middle looks like when the business is growing but still stuck in the day-to-day. The team is in place. The owner is still the bottleneck. Progress and revenue still depend on them. Until that changes, the business cannot fully scale. Everything still runs through the owner.


What You’ll Learn:

• Why decision-making bottlenecks keep teams from moving work forward
• How unclear expectations cause teams to wait instead of act
• What changes when you start defining how work should move without you
• Why sales success that comes naturally to the owner is hard to transfer to the team
  
  

Looking To Scale Your Business:
Did you know that only 9% of businesses make it to $1,000,000 in revenue and less than 1% reach $10,000,000. The hustle and grind that got you to $1,000,000 will not get you beyond it. To scale past the Messy Middle, you need stronger systems, clearer structure, and disciplined execution. Book a Discovery Call to see how our ActionCOACH Business Operating System (ABoS) and coaching help you get unstuck and move toward sustainable scaling so you can achieve your personal dreams and business goals. https://tbcactioncoach.com/discovery-zoom-call/


Timestamps:
(00:01) The past problem, waiting on leadership to move things forward
(01:45) How stalled execution hurt momentum and pulled Addison back in
(03:04) Why guardrails, direction, and clear objectives mattered more than loose autonomy
(05:36) What Addison learned about accountability, clarity, and management
(09:10) What Provenient does and how the business model works
(14:20) The current problem, being the best salesperson keeps pulling him back in
(16:03) Why the business cannot scale if sales still depends on Addison
(18:03) The cost to the business when the owner stays in frontline sales
(22:12) Lessons Addison wishes he had learned sooner about building and selling
(27:03) How mentors helped him see what he was missing
(30:39) The people who helped him most and what support really looks like


Born in rural Indiana, Addison found his faith and career ambitions while studying and playing tennis at Olivet Nazarene University. Desiring to be a constitutional lawyer, a clear, divine moment occurred that sent Addison to become a public school teacher in Indianapolis then to the missions field in rural South Africa with his wife, where he started his first business, then pivoting back to the US during COVID, working from corporate consultant to turning around a commercial building and business to launching Prevenient where he does the same for other commercial buildings around Central Indiana. Addison is a father to 4 amazing children and has been married to his college crush for 9 years.

#MessyMiddle #ScalingBusiness #SalesLeadership

If you’re growing, but still getting pulled back in because the back office cannot keep up, this conversation will feel familiar.

That is a common Messy Middle problem in owner-led businesses. One bottleneck gets solved, growth continues, and then a different part of the business starts falling behind. The work is still moving, but the systems behind it have not caught up.

In this episode of Self-Made Is a Myth, Coach Tim Campsall sits down with Tanner Atkins from UTS Engineering & Construction.

Earlier in the company’s growth, Tanner was the sole reviewer for all engineering work going out to clients. As the team grew, the work stacked up, deadlines slipped, and more engineers did not solve the problem because all final review still ran through him. It created late nights, stress, and a process that would not scale.

To work through it, Tanner promoted two strong engineers into management roles, brought them into the review process, and helped build SOPs around how engineering work and reviews should be done. Over time, those managers became the final reviewers, and the quality of work improved.

Now the pressure shows up somewhere else. The current challenge is in the back office, where financials have fallen behind, invoicing is complex, and too much of the work is still manual. That creates stress, weakens financial visibility, and makes growth decisions harder because the numbers are not where they need to be.

This is what the Messy Middle looks like when progress in one area exposes a different system gap somewhere else. The business is no longer bottlenecked by engineering review, but it is still being held back by back office systems, financial visibility, and the difficulty of changing old ways of operating.


What You’ll Learn:

• Why solving one bottleneck often exposes the next in a growing business
• How owner-led review processes become unscalable as the team expands
• What changed when Tanner built managers and SOPs into the review process
• Why weak back office systems create stress, uncertainty, and missed opportunities
  
  
  Looking To Scale Your Business:
  Did you know that only 9% of businesses make it to $1,000,000 in revenue and less than 1% reach $10,000,000. The hustle and grind that got you to $1,000,000 will not get you beyond it. To scale past the Messy Middle, you need stronger systems, clearer structure, and disciplined execution. Book a Discovery Call to see how our ActionCOACH Business Operating System (ABoS) and coaching help you get unstuck and move toward sustainable scaling so you can achieve your personal dreams and business goals. https://tbcactioncoach.com/discovery-zoom-call/
  

  
  Timestamps:
  (00:11) Tanner as the sole reviewer and the bottleneck
  (00:30) Late work orders, missed deadlines, and a review process that would not scale
  (01:00) The personal cost: late nights, stress, and physical strain
  (01:27) Promoting engineers into managers and redesigning the review process
  (01:55) Letting managers take over final review and improving quality
  (04:01) The new problem: back office work pulling Tanner into the day-to-day
  (04:11) Five months without financials and manual credit card entry
  (05:05) Invoicing complexity and falling behind on both income and expenses
  (05:52) Flying blind on growth, investment, and planning decisions
  (07:28) The real issue: reasonable staff, weak systems, and delayed change
  
  
  Tanner Atkins was raised in Mooresville, Indiana and still lives on the south side of Indianapolis. He helped start UTS Group with his father in 2018 and is now a second generation business owner.
  
  #MessyMiddle #ScalingBusiness #BackOfficeSystems

If you’re stuck in the day-to-day, still the bottleneck in your business, and growth keeps depending on you, this conversation will feel familiar.

In this episode, we unpack what happens when the owner becomes the center of everything, from decisions to delivery, and why that keeps you stuck in the day-to-day and limits your ability to scale.

Sean shares what it looked like when the business started pulling everything from him, time, energy, and even bringing stress home.

Like many owners, the early growth came from doing everything himself, staying involved in every decision, and being the one everyone relied on to keep things moving.

The shift required building structure, putting the right people in the right seats, and stepping out of the work that was keeping him stuck in the day-to-day.

Even now, there are moments where the business still pulls him back in, especially around leadership, team alignment, and maintaining culture as the company grows.

This is the messy middle, where the business has outgrown how it’s being run, and the path forward requires systems, structure, and stronger leadership to move beyond owner dependency.

⸻

What You’ll Learn:
• Why staying involved in everything keeps you stuck in the day-to-day
• The hidden cost of being the bottleneck in your business
• How team alignment impacts culture, performance, and growth
• What it takes to move from operator to true business owner
• Why leadership becomes the real work as you scale

⸻

Looking To Scale Your Business:
Did you know that only 9% of businesses make it to $1,000,000 in revenue and less than 1% reach $10,000,000. The hustle and grind that got you to $1,000,000 will not get you beyond it. To scale past the Messy Middle, you need stronger systems, clearer structure, and disciplined execution. Book a Discovery Call to see how our ActionCOACH Business Operating System (ABoS) and coaching help you get unstuck and move toward sustainable scaling so you can achieve your personal dreams and business goals. Helping business owners get unstuck from the day-to-day and scale with systems. https://tbcactioncoach.com/discovery-zoom-call/

⸻

Timestamps:
(00:18) When the business starts draining you instead of energizing you
(01:07) How doing everything pulls you out of your role as the owner
(02:11) The cost of bringing business stress home every day
(03:05) The shift from operator to owner, firing yourself from the work
(04:10) Getting the right people in the right seats to reduce dependency
(11:52) What still pulls him back into the day-to-day today
(14:03) The culture breakdown when the team is not aligned
(17:26) Why leadership becomes the real work as you grow
(20:12) The people lesson he wishes he learned earlier
(23:08) Becoming a different version of yourself as a leader
(27:41) What changed when he brought in outside perspective
(30:55) The impact of mentors and relationships on growth

⸻

Shaun Austin Gordon is a visionary leader who’s still as witty and future-focused as ever, but now even more grounded in growth. Married to his beautiful wife and proud father of three amazing kids, Shaun continues to be deeply invested in helping photographers evolve from starving artists into thriving creative entrepreneurs who use their art and hearts to impact the world.


#MessyMiddle #ScalingBusiness #OwnerBottleneck