Joseph Poling

Joseph Poling

You're not alone. It's possible. It's hard. It's worth it.

Always come back to this in your content creation journey.

Movement one

The destination, backward

01

What I want out of it

To be a resource. Somebody has a problem and you're who they think of. Either you know, or you know who does.

02

What I have to be known for

A leader with faith who is honest about the work. The guy learning out loud, not the guy with the answers.

03

What I have to demonstrate

Failures, unpacked. What you tried that worked and what didn't. Systems you're running right now, in the middle of them.

04

What I have to learn

What other dads, husbands and owners are actually carrying. And how to say what you already know so it lands.

It's easy to show the answer, but here's what actually happened.

Where you play

Your niche

IN ONE SENTENCE

You help dads who run a business get the win at work without going missing at home.

THE CREDIBILITY UNDER IT

  • 12 years in, 5 as an owner.
  • A multi-location independent pharmacy.
  • A team of about 17.
  • Four kids, eight and under.
  • You leave at five and you don't miss practices.
  • You can price your own mistakes.
  • Pursuing church eldership through all of it.

WHY THIS ONE AND NOT THE BIGGER ONE

Faith and business is an ocean. It's full of men who do it full time, and most of them have no P&L. Your edge isn't the conviction. Plenty of people share the conviction.

Your edge is that you have a company, four kids under eight and a calendar, this week.

Faith is the engine. It shows up in most of what you post because it's why you do any of it. It is not the category.

Positioning

Who you are and who you're for

Swipe

WHAT YOU SAY WHEN SOMEONE ASKS

I'm a multi-location business owner with four kids under eight, married for 12 years, and I'm seeking to do all of them extremely well. I lean into what has worked, what it cost me, and what I'm still getting wrong.

WHO YOU'RE TALKING TO

  • 34 years old
  • Runs a business he didn't start
  • Two kids, maybe a third coming
  • Good at the work, first time leading it
  • Answers messages at 9:40 at night and calls it a season
  • Wants to be a good dad more than he wants to be impressive
  • Has never watched anyone do both at once

WHAT YOU BELIEVE THAT HE DOESN'T YET

  • Sacrifice isn't the price of success. It's the bill for bad structure.
  • The framework isn't the content. Where it breaks is.
  • You are the "they." It's an information gap, not a character gap.

WHAT YOU'RE AGAINST

The polished operator. Posts the framework at the exact moment it worked, never names the price, and leaves every reader further behind than when they opened the app.

Not a competitor. A posture.

WHAT PEOPLE IN YOUR WORLD GET WRONG (YOUR CONTRARIAN TAKES)

  • That you have to trade your family to build something. That's a structure problem sold as a virtue.
  • That it gets easier once you're established. Growth creates complexity.
  • That meetings are a waste of time. Badly designed ones are.
  • That corporations are heartless entities. Mostly it's people making calls with partial information.
  • That the gap between staff and leadership is about character. It's about who has the information.
  • That the price at the pharmacy counter reflects what the medicine costs.

These are things you should not say

Swipe

01

"I'm not qualified to talk about that yet."

You don't have to be qualified. You're not giving advice, you're reporting what you tried.

02

Anything naming a PBM or quoting your contracts.

Explain the system, never your paperwork. Have someone who reads your contracts clear the first one.

03

Culture war framing.

It turns you from the encourager into the combatant in a single post. Build what you're for and let the contrast argue for you.

04

"We," when you mean you.

You're one man with a team. Say I when it's you.

05

Anything with Sarah, the kids, the team or the numbers that hasn't been cleared.

If you're wondering whether she should read it first, she should.

06

"I'm just an average guy."

It's how you feel and it undercuts every line after it. Say what you do, then say what it cost.

The menu

Your perspectives

Open this at one o'clock when you have thirty minutes and no idea what to write. You don't need an idea. Pick a line.

Swipe

01 / THE SYSTEM I'M RUNNING

Your expert lane. You can teach any of this for an hour with no prep.

The tool, and where it breaksEOS, GTD, 4DX. How you run it, then the failure nobody publishes.
The one on oneWhat you ask. What you stopped asking.
The calendar as a documentWhat every block is protecting.
Goal to action itemThe translation step most people skip.
DelegationWhat you still do yourself and why.
Meetings, defendedBad meetings are a design problem.
Building the teamHiring, feedback, coaching, hard conversations.
What a system is forSo people get your attention instead of your stress.

02 / WHAT IT COST ME

Three of these are already priced to the dollar.

The number$25,000. $300,000. Eighteen months.
The signal I ignoredEvery failure had a warning you overrode. Name the month.
"We'll get it eventually"The sunk cost sentence and what it has cost you.
What it cost other peopleNot just money. Seventeen people's time.
Good at this, so I'll be good at thatThe acquisition.
Six months too lateThe decision you should have made sooner.
The one I'm still insideAn open failure, published mid stream.

03 / WHAT I HAVEN'T FIGURED OUT

Open questions. Report, never prescribe.

The week, honestlyWhich part of you got the leftovers and why.
What we're trying this monthSabbath, date night, the rhythms. Week one results.
What I'm reading and what changedSpecific book, specific behavior.
Home at fiveWhat it costs and what breaks when you break it.
Recovering achievement addictAttaboys, people pleasing, pleasing man over God.
Saying yes too oftenYour own fair criticism, with this week's receipt.
What I'm figuring out in the businessAn unsolved operating problem, out loud, right now.
The question I'm carryingNo answer offered.

04 / HOW I THINK ABOUT IT

Your convictions. Contrarian, never controversial.

What I'd turn down money overEvenings. Integrity. Health. Your own bonus.
Define failure firstThen work backward to success.
I am the "they"The information gap inside a company.
Organizations aren't creaturesThey're people making calls with what they know.
It doesn't get easierGrowth creates complexity. Credit Groeschel.
The posture I'm againstDescribe it, never a person.
Success on a TuesdayNot the exit. The ordinary day you're building toward.
Ask out loud and you usually get itYou've watched enthusiasm beat a better plan.

05 / WHY ANY OF IT

Faith where it actually shows up. Inside a decision, inside a week.

The moment that reordered itThe pastor and his wife. Your in-laws and how they give.
Where faith changed a business callA specific decision and the option you passed on.
"I don't know how you have hope without Jesus"The question people ask you, and the answer.
Pursuing eldership while running a companyUnresolved, out loud.
Pleasing man or pleasing GodWhat the achievement thing was underneath.
Scripture doing work this weekNot a verse of the day. One you needed.
The abundance questionWhat everyone is chasing and where it actually is.

06 / THE COUNTER

Use these later. Will probably work best as short videos.

Why your prescription price makes no senseMechanics only.
What an independent pharmacy isAnd why there are fewer every year.
Questions to ask at the counterSaves people money. The cleanest entry point.
Small margin, high volumeWhat it teaches about every other business.
Healthcare economics for everyone elseMost people have never had it explained once.

YOUR WEEK, FIVE POSTS

  • Monday   01 or 02. Something you know.
  • Tuesday   03. Something you're working out.
  • Wednesday   04. Something you believe.
  • Thursday   02. Something that cost you.
  • Friday   05, or whatever got replies this week.

If a day gets away from you, cut Monday. Never cut Tuesday.

Voice profile

How you sound and how you should sound

WHAT YOU DO

You self-interrupt. You start a thought, double back, and land it on the second pass.

WHAT TO DO WITH IT

Write in two beats. The try, then the correction. Don't smooth it into one clean sentence, because the correction is the part people believe.

"I thought we'd be good at it because we were good at the last one. We weren't."

WHAT YOU DO

You open on a hedge. "I mean." "I guess." "Gosh." Then you say something true.

WHAT TO DO WITH IT

One hedge per post, at the very front. Cut the rest. The first one buys trust. Every one after it costs you.

"I guess the honest version is I knew at month four."

WHAT YOU DO

You undersell the landing. "...you know." "...kind of thing."

WHAT TO DO WITH IT

Land flat and stop. Your strongest lines are short and have nothing after them.

"Never again."  /  "Problems get bigger as you get bigger."

WHAT YOU DO

You downgrade your own answer while you're giving it. "I don't know if that's right."

WHAT TO DO WITH IT

Say the thing, then stop. Let the reader decide whether it's right. Understatement works. Apologizing for the point does not.

Not "I don't know if this is right, but be present." Write "Be present. That's the whole thing I've got."

WORDS THAT FLOW OUT OF YOU

kiddosman,goshbakery hoursgalvanizingtriagerouteattaboyscave timespeak lifebe a lightzombiesrhythmsstructurebrain dumpfinish linepep talkrecoveringpresent

WORDS THAT ARE NOT IN YOUR FLOW

leveragethought leaderhustlegrindcrushing itunlock10xscalegame changerjourneywe (meaning you)

Associations

What you're paired with

"Branding is the intentional pairing of relevant things, done consistently. Brand is how people perceive you because of it." Caleb Ralston

If you don't pick the pairings, your audience picks them for you.

PAIR YOURSELF WITH

  • Runs a growing business and is at every practice.
  • Talks about a mistake and names what it cost, to the dollar.
  • Leaves at five and the work still gets done.
  • Shows you the system and shows you where it broke.
  • Pays his executives before he pays himself.
  • Talks about faith and profit in the same sentence without apologizing for either.

NEVER PAIR YOURSELF WITH

  • The dad whose kids know his work schedule better than his face.
  • The post that shows the framework and hides the price.
  • Anything that makes people less healthy in order to make money.
  • Cheap product, fast money, gone in a year.
  • A business that counts its customer as a margin.
  • Being right in a way that costs you the relationship.

WHAT A READER SHOULD FEEL

encouragedintriguedinspiredjoycouragehumilityperseverancecuriosityresponsibility

WHAT A READER SHOULD NEVER FEEL

sadhopelessangryanxiousbehinddishonored

Disagreement is welcome. Anger is not. Give yourself permission to write posts people can argue with.

15 stories you can own and ship

Same four beats every time. Setup, tension, the moment, what it means.

Swipe
The acquisition
SETUP
You'd run your pharmacy well for years. Another one came available.
THE TENSION
The logic was we're good at this so we'll be good at that. You bought it on that sentence.
THE MOMENT
Realizing the thing you were good at was a specific building, specific people, specific conditions you never noticed were holding it up.
WHAT IT MEANS
About $300,000. Competence doesn't transfer. The confidence was the expensive part.
Day trading
SETUP
A few months trading on the computer. Made money fast.
THE TENSION
You knew three weeks in it was Vegas and stayed because you'd been up.
THE MOMENT
Giving all of it back, and then some.
WHAT IT MEANS
$25,000 to learn what a fast win does to your judgment.
The inventory system
SETUP
A new inventory system. Seventeen people touched it.
THE TENSION
Eighteen months and it never worked. You knew at month four.
THE MOMENT
Hearing yourself say it again: we just keep pushing, we'll get it eventually.
WHAT IT MEANS
A fast bad decision is cheap. One you keep funding because you've already funded it eats a year.
The rule you made up
SETUP
You'd wanted to post for a while.
THE TENSION
Every time you sat down: can't write about marriage, too much room to grow. Can't write about church, not doing enough.
THE MOMENT
Saying it out loud and recognizing it wasn't humility.
WHAT IT MEANS
You're not giving advice. You're reporting. That clears the bar today.
The attaboys
SETUP
School, sports, captain. Whatever the next thing to win was.
THE TENSION
You learned early that achieving is when you get told you're loved.
THE MOMENT
Calling yourself a recovering achievement addict without planning to.
WHAT IT MEANS
The engine that built everything leaves you with nothing on a day that produces nothing.
Five o'clock
SETUP
Bakery hours. Eight to five, and you actually leave.
THE TENSION
Everyone around you treats leaving as something you earn later.
THE MOMENT
Deciding what failing looks like before deciding what winning looks like.
WHAT IT MEANS
Once that's the definition, five o'clock isn't discipline. It's just not failing.
I am the they
SETUP
Most of your career you said they. They decided. They're out of touch.
THE TENSION
Then you bought in.
THE MOMENT
Realizing you're the they, and that nothing about the view actually changed.
WHAT IT MEANS
It's an information gap, not a character gap, and nobody's job description includes closing it.
It doesn't settle down
SETUP
You believed that at some point it gets quieter. Right systems, right people, calmer.
THE TENSION
It never got quieter.
THE MOMENT
Groeschel's line landing differently the second time. Growth creates complexity.
WHAT IT MEANS
Problems get bigger as you get bigger. You stopped waiting for the calm version of the job.
The bonus
SETUP
Asked what you'd turn down money over.
THE TENSION
Family time, integrity, health. Then one you didn't expect.
THE MOMENT
You'd turn down your own bonus to give it to your executives, because it makes the job more fun.
WHAT IT MEANS
You know what you're buying with money, and it isn't more money.
The pastor and his wife
SETUP
Seven years ago. Mid-level manager, new dad, home later than you wanted.
THE TENSION
You were hunting for the thing that would fix it.
THE MOMENT
Your church opened a second campus and you watched a strong marriage at close range for two years. No mentoring. Just proximity.
WHAT IT MEANS
What you needed wasn't information. It was watching someone do the ordinary parts.
The in-laws
SETUP
You married into a family that gives away more than anyone you know.
THE TENSION
They never mention an amount. You only found out by paying attention.
THE MOMENT
Seeing it wasn't a decision they made each time. It was decided years ago.
WHAT IT MEANS
Generosity you decide each time is a mood. Generosity already decided is a structure.
The yes problem
SETUP
Nine things going at once. Fully on top of two.
THE TENSION
You've read every book about this. Knowing was never the problem.
THE MOMENT
Naming it as a fair criticism of yourself without being asked twice.
WHAT IT MEANS
The yes isn't a scheduling failure. You like being needed, and every no is a withdrawal from that.
Intern to owner
SETUP
You started as an intern.
THE TENSION
Twelve years. You didn't found it and you didn't inherit it.
THE MOMENT
Buying in.
WHAT IT MEANS
The ladder exists. You climbed it instead of skipping it, and you can describe every rung.
Zombies by bedtime
SETUP
Four kids, eight and under. You and Sarah at the end of a day.
THE TENSION
Brain dead by bedtime, and you both know that can't be the rhythm.
THE MOMENT
Putting date night on the calendar anyway. Third wheel and all.
WHAT IT MEANS
The rebuilding is ordinary and unglamorous, which is exactly why it's worth saying out loud.
Phone numbers
SETUP
You used to write clearly and people told you so.
THE TENSION
Now you write and immediately hand it to AI to improve. And it does.
THE MOMENT
Realizing it's the same thing that happened with phone numbers. You knew forty once. You know two now.
WHAT IT MEANS
The tool isn't the problem. Reaching for it before the thinking is done removes the part that made the writing good.

Three frameworks to pull from anytime

When a story isn't in the fifteen, drop it into one of these.

THE REVERSAL

  • What I believed
  • What happened
  • What I believe now
  • What that means for you

Best for convictions that changed.

THE NUMBER

  • The number
  • What it bought
  • What I'd do differently
  • The question for you

Best for mistakes and money.

THE WITNESS

  • What I watched someone do
  • Why it stopped me
  • What I changed
  • What to look for

Best for people who shaped you.

60 things to write about

Pick one. Write for 20 minutes using a framework. Stop.

Swipe

01 / THE SYSTEM I'M RUNNING

  • The system you'd defend in a room of people who hate it.
  • The part of EOS you got wrong for two years.
  • What you ask in a one on one, and the question you deleted.
  • The silence you've learned to leave in a conversation.
  • How a goal becomes an action item at your company.
  • The task you should have delegated eighteen months ago.
  • Why you like meetings, and the design that makes one worth having.
  • Your calendar, and what every block is protecting.
  • The Pomodoro technique or any other technique, and where it falls apart for you.
  • The first fifteen minutes of your day, and why it isn't email.
  • How you give hard feedback to someone you like.
  • The system you built that nobody uses.

02 / WHAT IT COST ME

  • The $300,000 acquisition, as a scene. Where you were when you knew.
  • The $25,000, and what a fast win does to your judgment.
  • Eighteen months of the team's time, and the month you knew.
  • The question you now ask to catch a sunk cost.
  • A thing you were right about too early and gave up on.
  • Something you're paying for right now that you're not sure about.
  • What "we're good at this so we'll be good at that" has cost you, twice.
  • The cheapest mistake you ever made and why it taught you more.
  • Who paid for your mistake besides you.
  • A time you were wrong in front of your team and what you said next.

03 / WHAT I HAVEN'T FIGURED OUT

  • This week, honestly: which parts of you (man, husband, father, entrepreneur) got the leftovers, and why?
  • Something you are figuring out in the business right now, unsolved, in real time.
  • The rhythm you're trying this month and how week one went.
  • What Habits of the Household changed in your actual house.
  • Sabbath, attempted. What broke.
  • What you're learning about what an elder actually is.
  • The attaboys. What you were really chasing at nine years old.
  • Saying yes this week when you should have said no.
  • Cave time, and the three things that got through it.
  • What you called a season that's now four years long.
  • Something you believed about fatherhood at kid one that kid four killed.
  • The hardest twenty minutes of your average day.

04 / HOW I THINK ABOUT IT

  • What you'd turn down money over. All five, in order.
  • Your definition of failing, stated flat.
  • The day you realized you were the "they."
  • Why companies aren't heartless creatures.
  • It doesn't get easier. Groeschel's line and your Tuesday.
  • The posture you're against, described without naming a person.
  • Why you'd rather the bonus went to your executives.
  • Success on a Tuesday. Describe the day.
  • The advice everyone gives new owners that you think is wrong.
  • Enthusiasm as a strategy. Where you watched it beat a better plan.
  • What being present actually costs on a week you honor it.
  • What people get wrong about optimism.

05 / WHY ANY OF IT

  • Watching a strong marriage at close range for two years.
  • Your in-laws, and learning about giving by watching instead of asking.
  • A business decision faith changed, and the option you passed on.
  • The question people ask about your outlook, and the real answer.
  • Pleasing man or pleasing God.
  • A verse you needed on a specific bad day.
  • The abundance everyone is chasing and where it actually is.
  • Busyness crowding out prayer life.
  • Integrity that cost you something real.
  • What you want your kids to say about how you worked.

06 / THE COUNTER

Use these later. Will probably work best as short videos.

  • Questions to ask at the pharmacy counter that save you money.
  • Why the same prescription costs three different amounts.
  • What an independent pharmacy is and why there are fewer every year.
  • What small margin, high volume teaches you about every business.
  • Healthcare economics for someone who doesn't work in it.
  • The thing about your industry you wish one more person understood.

Trust through demonstration

What you want to show up and help people understand. Each of these is something you could teach for an hour with no prep.

Swipe

ONE ON ONES

What you know: the questions that open somebody up and the ones that shut them down. What happens in the silence after the second question.

Show it: post the actual questions. Post the one you deleted. Post what changed when you stopped talking first.

BUILDING A TEAM

What you know: how to give feedback to someone you like. How to coach without taking the task back.

Show it: post the feedback conversation you got wrong. Post your hiring filter. Post what you still do yourself and why that's a problem.

OPERATING SYSTEMS

What you know: EOS, GTD, 4DX, and what month six of each actually looks like.

Show it: post how you run it. Post the part you skipped. Post what it looks like when it falls over.

GOALS TO ACTION

What you know: the translation step between a goal and Monday morning. Most people never make it.

Show it: walk through one real goal and its action items. Post the goal that had none and died.

TIME AND PRIORITY

What you know: bakery hours, cave time, and what a calendar actually is.

Show it: screenshot the week. Explain what each block protects. Post the week it broke.

LEADERSHIP VS MANAGEMENT

What you know: the difference, and that most people run them together.

Show it: post a decision you explained instead of announced, and what changed because of it.

GETTING WHAT YOU WANT

What you know: want it enough, say so with enthusiasm, and you usually get it. You've watched it work.

Show it: the time you asked for something you weren't qualified for. What you said. What happened.

PHARMACY ECONOMICS

What you know: why a price at the counter makes no sense, and that almost nobody has had it explained once.

Show it: later, and cleared first. Start with the counter questions, which help people and name nobody.

Twenty posts, ready to go

Tap any one to open it. Change a word if it isn't yours. Don't change the shape of them.

How to actually run this

Just show up consistently in the block. 30 minutes, Monday through Friday, 1:00 PM.

THE BLOCK

Monday through Friday, 1:00 PM Mountain. Thirty minutes. Already on your calendar.

THE CADENCE

Five posts a week.

THE ORDER

Start with the first five we wrote, or use this to create your own first five. Just get the five done.

WHAT TO WATCH

Nothing, for the first two weeks. Just start posting.

YOUR FILTERS BEFORE POSTING

Start using these after you've posted for two weeks straight.

  • Would a 34 year old dad reading this at eleven at night feel more capable, or more behind? More behind and it doesn't go.
  • Would you say it out loud, to one person, in this order?
  • Is it experience, or is it advice wearing experience as a costume?
  • Does it name a cost, or only a result?
  • Could it run under somebody else's name unchanged? Then it isn't yours yet.
  • Does Sarah need to see it first? If you're wondering, yes.

You already know what you're for. You just haven't said it to more than one person at a time.