2 Years in: The Expensive Lessons No One Else Talks About

Rise of Us had it's 2nd birthday last month! Two years in, and I'm supposed to tell you it's all figured out. Right?

That the business is humming. That I've cracked the code. That it's been hard work but steady progress since day one. That I replaced my corporate salary on immediately and now I'm making more money than I ever dreamed of, with freedom to boot. That what consultants and fractionals post all over Linkedin.

In this post:

• Why expensive consulting didn't work — and what I did instead

• The 3 frameworks I used to rebuild — ICP/IPP separation, offer stack lock, anti-mania protocol

• How I went from 1-3 meetings/week to 7-10 — and why I recalibrated again

• What's next for Rise of Us — operator panels, cohort work, speaking circuits

  
  

The hard truth? Most of 2025 was a revenue rollercoaster. It was actually harder than 2024 was. The thing no one tells you about launching a business like this? Your first few clients are easy, but that well dries up faster than you think. So I invested heavily in consulting to help me grow (a number that hurt a lot) and my ROI from them was literally zero. They didn't generate a single, solitary lead!

I tried a lot on for size. Some of it worked, most of it didn't. And by December, I realized I was making the same mistake I've been stopping clients from making my entire career.

I was trying to "hire" my way out of a systems problem.

Across my corporate career, my coaching work, and now my own business, the pattern has been the same: the default move is to throw money at a revenue problem. Be it sales hires, sales consulting or coaching, a new marketing agency to generate more leads, a redesigned website.

• At one company, I stopped the CEO from hiring 12 salespeople he didn't need. We hit 132% of quota with the team we had by fixing customer success, partnerships, and marketing alignment.

• At another, I stopped the owner from doubling the sales team. 4 avoided hires, hundreds of thousands in saved spend, better results through automation and more efficient systems.

The pattern repeats at every engagement. Founder reaches for more: headcount, tools, outside help. I stop them, fix the system, and get the same or better results for less spend. But then I almost did it to myself.

So I did what I tell my clients to do. I ran a diagnostic on my own business. I scaled what worked, killed what didn't, and dialed everything in to my specific positioning. 90 days later, everything changed.

The Part Where I Admit I Was Running a Hope Plan

You know what a Hope Plan is, right? It's when you hope the people refer someone. Hope your partners reciprocate. Hope the content converts. Hope the LinkedIn lurkers finally DM you. Hope that people remember you. Hope that when they need what you have they find you. Hope that the person you hire can fix your shit.

I had a dozen projects or offers still in motion or launched and set aside that weren't serving the primary directive. Shiny. Object. Syndrome. No wonder I was working all the damn time!

The consulting investment? That was supposed to fix it. Expert advice, proven frameworks, accountability... all the things you're supposed to buy when you don't know what you don't know. Except it did not work. Not for me, anyway. (Allegedly it worked for all their other clients, but that can't pay my mortgage.)

I knew the date my contract was up with them and I pre-scheduled an email to drop at exactly 8:00 am that Monday morning. Just that act felt great. And my anger fueled my confidence. I didn't need them, I could do this better on my own!

Note: This is the part where I tell you to read to the end because I am a revenue systems architect. I literally do this for a living. I do not recommend that you try to DIY your way out of a problem unless it is with the solution that you sell to your clients. Kids, please don't try this at home.

The Part Where I Took My Own Medicine

End of December, I blocked off my calendar and strategized. As much as it pained me, no outreach, no Client or collaborator calls, no podcast recording.

So I forced myself, and it wasn't easy, to kill whatever cool idea didn't serve the north star. Projects that sounded smart but went nowhere. Offers that felt like they should work but never converted. Channels that looked busy but produced nothing. TikTok videos and SubStack newsletter, looking at you.

Framework 1: ICP/IPP Separation

I stopped investing in strategies built for someone else.

• Startups? Great energy, no budget.

• Anyone in "we're struggling" mode? Wrong engagement model.

• Anyone who thinks they're fine even though I can see they're not? Can't help you.

• Podcast guests that won't even share my post promoting their episode? Bye.

I got clear on who I actually serve best: corporate teams at $2M-$10M ARR getting ready to scale and hate wasting money, or have started to feel that growth is harder than it used to be. No "we're fine" and no "we're in crisis" either.

Corporate CMOs, fractional CMOs, strategy-led agencies, those are my referral partners. They see the problems I solve every day. They have access to the buyers I serve. Investors, CROs without access, "someday" connectors? Good people. Not my partner ecosystem.

Framework 2: Offer Stack Lock

I killed everything except three core offers.

1. Revenue Engine Diagnostic

2. Revenue RISE Retainer

3. Maintenance Retainer for past clients.

That's it. No mini-diagnostics. No quick-win products. No one-offs. No monthly offer tweaking. No experiments outside of those three unless there's a COVID-level disruption or 50%+ MRR loss.

Because here's what I learned: more offers don't fix unclear sequencing. They expose it.

Companies at this stage require one clear path: Diagnostic defines the problem. Retainer installs the system. Maintenance ensures old habits don't creep back in. Simple. Repeatable. Scalable without me exploding my bandwidth.

Framework 3: Anti-Mania Protocol

This one's personal. But useful. When revenue slows, my instinct is to add. (Control what I can control, and I am a "more if more" person on top of an idea factory.) New offers. New channels. New positioning. New everything. Typical founder behavior, let's be honest.

This is the same instinct my clients have. When revenue slows, the urge is to add. More salespeople. More marketing spend. More tools. But I've spent my entire career proving that's the wrong move. More salespeople won't save a broken system.

I had to remind myself of that in my own business. So I built guardrails. Blocked behaviors. Productive redirects.

• When I want to create a new offer? Refine existing assets instead.

• When I want to add a new channel? Activate lurkers who are already watching.

• When I'm convinced nothing is working? Pull up the last five diagnostics and see what happened after each one.

The process became the bad guy, not me. Partner scorecard grades objectively. Reciprocity tracker enforces timelines automatically. No guilt. Just systems. This is the unsexy work no one posts about on LinkedIn. But it's what actually keeps you solvent, both mentally and financially.

The Part Where I Show You the Receipts (And Then Recalibrate Again)

90 days after the reset, here's where we landed. Most productive quarter. Ever.

In Q4 2025, my expensive consultant was booking 1-3 meetings per week. Good conversations, but not enough momentum.

In Q1 2026, I scaled to 7-10 meetings per week. New people. A mix of cold outreach and warm intros. So many great conversations! And I could feel the momentum shifting.

When I tell people that number, they're gagged. But here's the thing, volume taught me something I didn't expect.

More meetings don't equal more revenue.

What I learned from all those conversations, it's what I tell my Clients all the time. More leads does not guarantee more revenue. If you have a good call and the next step isn't crystal clear? Another hour wasted.

This is where companies make expensive hiring mistakes: they set a strategy, lock it in, and assume execution will follow. Leadership needs to address structural friction as it surfaces, not six months later when the damage compounds. Your revenue should not depend on "maybe next month will be better".

Instead of chasing more new conversations, I'm going deeper with the right people. The CMOs, fractional leaders, and agency owners who are already in my network. The collaborators who see these patterns every day.

AND I'm turning those patterns into something concrete.

Starting in Q2, I'm running more panels with actual operators, not aspirational keynotes, but real conversations about the problems everyone's dealing with right now. Right-sized for this audience. Not chasing billion-dollar budgets and household names, but actual relatable work you can steal.

I'm also turning one of the most popular discussions what to do before you add sales capacity into a cohort. For CEOs hiring their first salesperson, recovering from a bad first hire, or expanding a small team without breaking what's working. I'm working with speaking circuits and CEO groups to bring this to the leaders who need it most. It's too early to see revenue recognition directly from this strategy. But the early signals are there.

Rolling into 2Q26 I average four meetings/day, and most are collaborators I am activating, average of one new contact/day because you have to keep compounding.

More importantly, it feels calm. Focused. Intentional. Not reactive. Not chaotic. Not hoping something sticks.

Big thanks to Women X AI for the cohort that sparked the epiphany that got me here.

Note: The recalibration is on targets, tactics, activity. The North Start and the offer stack? Locked In. This is like Waze, traffic got heavy ahead, what to redirect to avoid?

The Part Where I Tell You What This Actually Means

I'm not sharing this to brag. I'm sharing this because a lot of people ask me about going fractional or starting their own consulting practice. About whether it's worth it.

And the truth is, it's hard. Harder than I expected. You ride the struggle bus for longer than you want. And the thought leaders on LinkedIn don't help because the only people talking loudly are talking about how they're crushing it and it makes you feel like you're doing something wrong.

But here's what I know now that I didn't two years ago: You can't Hope Plan your way to predictable revenue execution. You can't use what's work for others and hope/trust that it will work for you.

This stage requires systems. Clear ICP. Locked offers. Guardrails against your own worst instincts. And if you're lucky enough to have frameworks you teach clients? Use them on yourself first. I righted my business using my Revenue Engine Diagnostic and Build.

That's why I have a framework and process, but everything I do is custom. For Every Client. Because what works for an employment law firm won't work for a TaxTech company.

The podcast? That's just one piece (the fun one). The real work is the systems underneath.

Note: If you're wondering how to get on the podcast more, be on my calendar having collaborator conversations. The panel topics come from actual challenges I am solving with my collaborators.

What's Next

I spent two years learning this the hard way so you don't have to. The default move when revenue stalls? Throw money at it. Hire more salespeople. Buy more tools. Engage another consultant.

I've spent my career stopping clients from making that mistake. Then I had to stop myself.

The work now is taking what I learned and making it available to the people who need it most.

Q2 brings operator panels — not theory, not keynotes, just real conversations about the problems we're all dealing with. Revenue stall patterns. Misaligned handoffs. Founder dependency that won't scale.

I'm also running a cohort on what to do before you add sales capacity. For CEOs hiring their first salesperson, recovering from a bad hire, or trying to expand a small team without breaking what's working. This is live, interactive work — not a course you watch alone.

The systems I built to fix my own business? Those are what I'm installing for clients.

If you're a B2B SaaS or fintech leader between $2M-$10M ARR getting ready to scale and you're about to make an expensive bet on headcount, sales tooling, or marketing spend, let's talk before you do. I have room for two more engagements in Q2, after that the window won't open back up until 3rd quarter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Hope Plan? A Hope Plan is when companies hope referrals will come, hope content will convert, and hope that adding more people will solve revenue problems without fixing the underlying system.

How long does it take to rebuild a revenue system? With the right diagnostic and frameworks, most companies can rebuild core revenue systems in 90 days — the same timeline I used to fix my own business.

Should I hire more salespeople or fix my system first? Fix the system first. Across my career, I've stopped clients from making unnecessary sales hires (12 at one company, 4 at another) by installing repeatable systems that delivered the same or better results for less spend.

What's the difference between a Hope Plan and a Structure Plan? A Hope Plan relies on luck and momentum. A Structure Plan uses frameworks, enforced timelines, and objective scorecards to create predictable revenue execution.

Rise of Us is a revenue systems practice led by Summer Poletti serving B2B SaaS, fintech, and professional service companies with $2M-$30M in annual recurring revenue. We help scaling companies avoid expensive revenue mistakes including bad sales hires, misaligned marketing spend, and broken systems scaled too fast. Through the Revenue RISE™ framework, we diagnose revenue stall patterns, install predictable systems across sales, marketing, partnerships, and customer success, and deliver measurable results without unnecessary headcount expansion. Services include Revenue Engine Diagnostics, fractional CRO engagements, and revenue system implementation for companies transitioning from founder-led to leadership-led execution.