Podcast Guest: When Growth Breaks Your Business: How One Firm Shrunk to Scale—and Won Big

Our Founder, Jen Hamilton, was a guest on the Canopy’s Practice Success podcast. 

If you’re a firm owner or leader whose growth feels more like quicksand than a victory lap, you’re not alone.

At Hamilton COOs, we work with firms who have “made it”—on paper. But behind the scenes, the stress, sleepless nights, and spiraling operations tell a different story.

So let’s talk about - what Jen and host KC Brothers talked about. 

Growth Isn’t Always Good (If Your Foundation Is Cracked)

One of our clients grew from 3 to 30 people in under three years. From the outside, it looked like a success story. But on the inside? Chaos. Missed deadlines. Client complaints. A team that couldn’t make decisions without calling the owner every few hours.

The truth? They didn’t scale. They swelled.

And without operational scaffolding to support that growth, the business began to collapse under its own weight.

Post-Its and Spreadsheets Are Not a Strategy

If your CRM is still a color-coded spreadsheet and your most important reminders are on sticky notes, it’s not a matter of if things fall through the cracks—it’s when.

Your tools should work for you, not demand more of you.
They should operate like another team member, managing tasks, following up with clients, and helping you stay focused on strategy—not survival.

“But I’m at Capacity.”

Exactly. That’s Why You Need to Change.

We hear this all the time:

“I don’t have time to rework my systems. I’m at max capacity.”
Which is precisely why you must.

Because when you’re constantly reacting, you don’t have time to be proactive. And when you don’t invest in change, you default into burnout.

Here’s the truth no one wants to say out loud:
If you’re not actively evolving your operations, someone else in your market is—and they’ll pass you.

The Six Pillars Every Scalable Firm Needs

When we step into a firm, we don’t “fix ops.”

When we start with a client, we diagnose where your foundation is cracked. We assess six critical pillars:

1. Strategic Direction – Is everyone aligned on where you’re going?
   
   
2. Leadership – Are your people getting the most from their teams?
   
   
3. Team Clarity – Does everyone know what’s expected—and how they’re measured?
   
   
4. Client Experience – Are you delivering what you promised (or just getting by)?
   
   
5. Cash Flow – Are profitability and productivity aligned?
   
   
6. Revenue Development – Are your marketing and sales efforts actually converting?

If even one of these is weak, your entire firm wobbles. And eventually, it breaks.

Shrinking to Scale: A Real-Life Turnaround

The 30-person firm we mentioned earlier?

They made a bold decision: they downsized.

They restructured. Replaced team members who weren’t aligned. Clarified expectations. Standardized the client experience.

And the result?

• Higher profitability
  
  
• More cohesive team
  
  
• The firm owner finally took a four-week unplugged vacation

That’s what happens when operations align with strategy and leadership.

Final Thought: Are You Building a Legacy or Babysitting a Team?

Here’s the hard truth:
You didn’t start this firm to micromanage people or babysit projects.

You started it to create freedom, impact, and maybe even legacy.

But freedom doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from designing smarter.

If you're ready to break free from the operational hamster wheel and build something that works—without you constantly holding it together—Hamilton COOs can help.

We gift you the same 6 Pillar diagnostic - Business Heath Checkup - that we use with clients. Plus a free session with one of our Fractional COOs to review results and recommend where you can start working toward your four week vacation.