I learned the hard way so you don't have to.
I came out of the Marine Corps and built a painting company from borrowed tools. First year, we did $1.2M — and I took home almost nothing, because nobody teaches you the real cost of running a business until you're already bleeding from it.
I got so good at building systems, I trained myself out of a consulting contract.
Since then I've run general contracting jobs for real estate investors, managed medical field operations, built a screen printing business, and managed a remote VA team. Every one of those was the same problem wearing a different uniform: the business only runs if you're standing on it.
Rue Knows is what I wish someone had handed me on day one — the systems, the delegation playbook, and the AI tools that let a trade business run without you personally holding it up.