Most CEOs obsess over sales. My guest on The Scaling CEO, Jamie Shanks, says that’s the wrong focus. The biggest money isn’t made in the deals you close. It’s made in how you structure your company.
Jamie is a three-time agency founder who pioneered the social selling movement with Sales for Life, scaling it to over $15 million in revenue and training a quarter of a million sellers worldwide. Today, he leads Get Levrg, a company that helps CEOs stop doing $5-an-hour tasks so they can create $500-an-hour value. He’s built, sold, and restructured businesses, winning some, striking out in others, and he’s brutally honest about what he’s learned.
The Real Million-Dollar Decisions
Jamie says most founders think the money is in products or services. It’s not.
“The decisions you make upfront around your partnership, your partnership structure, and around the business model itself could be more important than anything you ever do to your products, your services, your go-to-market strategy.”
He’s made millions from how he structured businesses and lost millions when he didn’t.
The takeaway for CEOs: your structure defines your scale. Everything else sits on top of that foundation.
Recurring Revenue Beats Recurring Stress
At Sales for Life, Jamie made what he calls a “first-base hit”, meaning a good business, but not a great one. Why? He focused on project-based revenue instead of recurring revenue.
“We had the opportunity in the early days to turn it into a recurring revenue business… instead, we chose project-based. It meant we were constantly hunting for new business.”
He learned that recurring revenue not only stabilizes cash flow, but it also buys peace of mind. CEOs who chase one-off deals stay in survival mode. Those who prioritize predictability scale faster and sleep better.
Cash Flow Kills Faster Than Competition
Jamie made another painful discovery: bad cash structure can bankrupt good businesses.
“If you go beyond 30 days, you’re using a line of credit to pay for revenue you should’ve got 30 days ago… the bigger you scale, the worse the problem becomes.”
He woke up with over a million dollars tied up in accounts receivable from enterprise clients like Microsoft and Oracle. His fix? Collect on signature, not on net-30. The first principle: cash first, work second.
The 3 Ps of Structure
Jamie now teaches a framework he calls the 3 Ps:
- Principles: your non-negotiables, like recurring revenue and cash-first billing.
- Process: the system to enforce those principles.
- Platform: the tools that make it scalable.
In his current business, Get Levrg, customers pay upfront by credit card using Stripe and WooCommerce. No invoices. No delays. No exceptions.
“The moment you bend a rule once, you give everyone in the company permission to break it.”
Founders Are Paying 10x for the Same Outcome
When Glenn asked why CEOs resist leveraging global talent, Jamie didn’t hesitate:
“If the outcome could or should be the same, it would be insane for me to pay 10 times for that outcome.”
He argues that many founders pay North American wages for work that could be done globally for one-tenth the cost. That inefficiency compounds: every $100,000 you save is the equivalent of $500,000 in new revenue you no longer need to chase.
The 10/80/10 Rule
Jamie encourages CEOs to adopt what he calls the 10/80/10 model:
“The founder’s job is the first 10%, which is the vision and milestones. The next 80% is executed by others. The final 10% is you coming back to check quality and push it out the door.”
This rule prevents founders from doing everything themselves. CEOs who refuse to delegate never scale beyond their own energy.
AI: The New Margin Machine
At Get Levrg, AI isn’t replacing people. It’s multiplying productivity.
“Every employee uses AI. About 25% of their workflow is done through AI… It’s not replacing anybody, but it’s making outcomes better, faster, cheaper, better quality control.”
Because his business charges per outcome, not per hour, AI increases margins without changing pricing. That’s the future: outcome-based work powered by human talent and AI acceleration.
Final Takeaway
Jamie Shanks’ story proves that structure, not deals, makes millions. CEOs must think like architects, not firefighters. Design for recurring revenue, protect cash flow, delegate ruthlessly, and let AI drive efficiency. A well-structured company can survive market chaos. A poorly structured one can’t survive success.
I’m Glenn Gow. I coach CEOs who want to scale through smarter structure, not endless deals. On my podcast, I reveal the strategies top leaders use to grow faster and build companies that last.
Listen to the full episode of The Scaling CEO with Jamie Shanks for practical lessons on structure, delegation, and scaling profitably.
