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How it works4 min read

Why We Make You Apply (and Who We Turn Away)

Operator Mode is invite-only. Here's why the application is the first step of the work, who it's built for, and who it isn't.

By Aaron Ball

The words by application only beside a frosted glass door, slightly open, with blue light spilling onto the floor

Most software lets anyone in. You enter a card, you get a login, and you're on your own.

We do the opposite. Operator Mode is invite-only, and you have to apply. Here's why, and who it's not for.

The application is the first step of the work

The application isn't a velvet rope. It's where the diagnosis starts.

Operator Mode is a growth operating system. It works when it's set up around a real business: a real offer, real buyers, real numbers. A login handed to someone without that doesn't help them grow. It gives them another thing to learn.

So before anyone gets in, we look. What do you sell? Who buys it? Where do your leads come from now? Which numbers do you know, and which ones don't you? It's the same diagnosis I've run across 1,000+ campaigns: find the constraint first, then build around it.

Who it's for, and who it isn't

A pen-and-ink notebook page with two columns: a fit if you have an offer to sell, you decide on numbers and you move in days not months, with blue check marks; not a fit if you want it to run without you, you're still looking for an idea or you want another tool to learn
Honest on both sides. A wrong fit costs you more than it costs us.

A fit if:

  • You have an offer to sell. Courses, coaching, consulting, a community, a service or products. If you're already selling, you want more buyers, faster. If you're about to launch, you want to launch right.
  • You decide on numbers. You'd rather know which campaign paid for itself than guess. If you don't know your numbers yet, you want to.
  • You move in days, not months. When something works, you double down. When it doesn't, you change it this week.
  • You want to direct, not do everything. You're ready to make the calls and let your Operator agent do the work.

Not a fit if:

  • You want it to run without you. Operator Mode runs a lot on its own, but you stay the Operator. You decide the offer, the message and the spend.
  • You're still looking for an idea. If you don't know what you'll sell yet, start there. We'll be here when you do.
  • You want another tool to learn. If you're shopping for software features, this isn't that. It's a system for growing a business, run by an agent you direct.
  • You want a promised number. Nobody can promise your results, and we won't. What we can promise is that you'll see your numbers clearly and have the machine to act on them.

What happens after you apply

Five steps: apply, we review it, a short call, set up together, and your AI team at work; a poor fit is pointed somewhere better, and at the end you run it or we run it for you
From application to a machine running your growth, in five steps.
  1. You apply. About two minutes. Tell us about your business and the numbers you know.
  2. We review it. If it isn't a fit, we tell you why and point you somewhere better.
  3. A short call. The call is the demo. We look at your business together and show you what your Operator agent would take on first.
  4. Set up together. We plug your business in, around your offer and your numbers.
  5. Your machine at work. You run it with us on hand, or we run it for you.

Why we keep it small

We bring on a small number of businesses at a time. Not to create pressure, but because every business gets set up around its own offer and its own numbers, and that takes real attention. When room opens, the strongest fits go first.

What you're applying for

Plug your business in, and one machine handles your operations, acquires new customers and brings in new revenue, run by an Operator agent that knows your business. More than 25 jobs, handled by one very powerful machine dedicated to helping you strategically grow, scale and operate your online business.

  • Strategy is built in. It's built on the direct marketing and business systems behind 1,000+ campaigns and more than $200 million in verifiable results for online businesses.
  • Your Operator agent does the work you direct. Pages and funnels, ads, emails and texts, follow-up, booking and voice assistants, built when you ask and live when you approve.
  • The numbers show what's working. Revenue, leads, calls and sales in one view, traced to where they came from.
  • Your tools stay. It connects to the CRM, payment processor, webinar platform, calendar and community you already use, and sends your leads and their details straight into them.
Operator Mode's Home for a sample business: revenue, sales, new leads and a monthly goal, what needs the owner, what the agent is working on and suggested next moves
Operator Mode's Home: your numbers, what needs you, and what your agent is working on.

Apply

If you read the "fit" list and recognized yourself, the next step takes about two minutes.

P.S. The fastest way through review is to be specific. "We sell a $2,000 coaching program, get about 300 leads a month and close 8% of calls" tells us more than three paragraphs about your vision.

Now accepting applications

See where AI fits in your business.

Tell us about your business in about two minutes. If there is a fit, we set up a short call to map where AI fits first. We bring on a small number of businesses at a time.