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Xtra Mile Resources



Legacy on the Line
Selling a business is Easy. Hard is letting the company's leaders buy you out. Hard is passing this legacy to your family. We're seeing the growing popularity of Private Equity Buyouts and EBITDA multiples in headlines across the SMB world. But what if cashing out isn’t the legacy you dream about? Maybe you want to create a life-changing opportunity for the people who helped build your business. Or maybe your deepest desire is to pass it onto your children, who have grown alo

Ross Paterson
1 day ago2 min read


No Improvement Means No Job
If your next move after an underperforming employee asks to stay is hoping their behavior magically improves from one hard conversation, you are wasting your time. You need a formal Turnaround Plan. We ran this framework recently with a $100M commercial construction firm. A C-suite executive (and close friend of the owner) was destroying the culture by belittling and screaming at his team in the vein of “getting things done”. He chose to stay, but a vague promise to "be nicer

Ross Paterson
May 11 min read


Say THIS Before Your Company’s Underperformer Leaves for the Weekend
One of our clients, the founder of a digital marketing agency, had a developer who had been with him since the startup phase. The developer loved working directly with the founder on projects but, as the business grew, opportunities for 1-1 time became rare. The developer’s attitude and motivation quickly tanked. With our coaching, the founder asked him what was going on, and the teammate admitted missing the days when they worked side-by-side. Since this old business model d

Ross Paterson
Apr 241 min read


The Marketing "Easy Button" Doesn't Exist
When we started this business 20 years ago, I just wanted marketing to work like the manufacturing processes I had led for decades. Input. Action. Result. The frustration I experienced and still struggle with today is that marketing is the most non-linear process in my business. The activities that gave us fruit for two years stop working. Then a random encounter on a bike ride leads to one of our biggest contracts ever. How do we know what to work on? Here are a few things w

Ross Paterson
Jan 221 min read


Stop Taking Your Foot Off the Gas: Bridging the Human Capacity Gap
The fastest way to kill momentum in a growing business? Run out of people right when your revenue expansion is creating new opportunities. If you’ve done the work to build your Quarterly Plan (insights into how HERE ), you know where you're going. But if you don't have enough of the right people, with the right training, in the right positions, that plan will likely fall apart before April. Question 6: Who Does What? Now, imagine your business has doubled. Draw out the org

Ross Paterson
Dec 18, 20251 min read


If Everything Is a Priority, Nothing Is: The Leadership Skill of Saying 'No' to a Good Idea
According to a study by the Project Management Institute: Teams focused on three or fewer critical objectives see a 23% higher success rate in project completion than teams managing six or more at once. If your team has done the SWOT work from last week’s lesson (click HERE to review), it's time to start laying out our strategic work into a plan for 2026. Your tactical/technical teammates are probably scratching their heads right now, overwhelmed while looking at this

Ross Paterson
Dec 11, 20252 min read


The CEO's First Job: Answering ‘Why Are We Here?’
Would it sting to know your team is whispering, “There’s no point to any of this”? This feeling could be circulating right now, behind closed doors and around the water cooler. Lacking motivation is actively draining your team's energy and desire to give their best every day. We worked with a finance firm that kept losing people. The founder was confused: he had great benefits and ran a relaxed office with lots of freedom. But his problem wasn't about the strong environment h

Ross Paterson
Nov 7, 20251 min read
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