Delete, Delegate, Double Down - Alan Lazaros on Scaling a Team

Success doesn't make life easier. Alan Lazaros, CEO and co-founder of Next Level University, says running an 18-person team is the hardest thing he does, and explains the delete, delegate, double down plan that got him out of his own way.

Alan is a computer engineer with a master's in business who walked away from a corporate career after a car accident at 26. His podcast had passed 2,076 episodes the day we recorded, and his company coaches and produces shows for 106 podcasters and business owners.

Read the full recap on Unscripted SEO.

In this episode

• Why control gets a business owner to a certain level and then becomes the ceiling
• The 3D plan: delete what isn't profitable, delegate what others can do, double down on the 20% only you can do
• Going from 119% average annual growth to cutting 24 departments down to 8
• The four-column time log every team member keeps, tied to three priorities, and the monthly ChatGPT review of where the hours went (the full playbook is on SEO Arcade)
• Nine rubber balls, three glass ones, and why you never drop the gold one
• Why the principles of success are the same in every industry while the setup is different for everyone
• Jeremy's first management job, two very different managers, and why you have to stop being the bottleneck
• The one skill under everything you do

Quotes

"If you're already overwhelmed at this level, why would you go to the next level?"

"Undying self-belief is hard to sustain when you're losing. Humility is hard to sustain when you're winning."

"Beneath everyone's success is a skill no one else notices."

Mentioned

• The Next Level University podcast
• Next Level Hope Foundation
• Free monthly meetups and the Next Level Book Club
• Memory Rescue by Daniel G. Amen, and Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths

More on scaling: Colby Wegter on why freelancers fail at scaling.

Connect with Alan on Instagram, and if you reach out, give him context.