”Do you have the grit necessary to see it through? That's where I see a lot of people struggle.” – Zack Schneider, Founder of Agency 15

Zack started his first agency at 19. Not because he had a plan, but because he had nothing to lose. By 26, he had scaled it to an exit.

He'll be the first to tell you that naivety was the advantage.

At Agency 15, every team member keeps a carabiner on their desk with 30 fundamentals on it. 

Not values. Fundamentals. Specific, observable behaviors that managers can coach in real time.

One fundamental each day. Every day.

Until they stop being reminders and become habits.

Today's fundamental: Practice blameless problem solving.

Apply your creativity to solutions, not finger-pointing.

Learn from mistakes faster than everyone else.

Simple doesn't mean easy.

In fact, most of the things that actually work are surprisingly simple.

The biggest leadership lesson Zack learned came later.

Growing the company wasn't about strategy.

It was about replacing himself, over and over again, with people who were better than him at the things he used to do.

He compares it to mountain climbing.

As the altitude changes, some people adapt and keep climbing with you.

Others reach a level where they can't go any higher.

That doesn't diminish what they contributed.

It just means they aren't the right people for the next stage of the climb.

The companies that succeed aren't built by people who never struggle.

They're built by people with the grit to keep climbing anyway.