Most entrepreneurs are giving themselves the wrong advice. Not because they're lazy, and not because they haven't read enough business books — but because the business advice industry doesn't sort itself by phase. So they end up doing the right things at the wrong time: hiring a fractional COO when they need ten new clients, building complicated org charts when they still can't take a weekend off, choosing typography when they should be making sales calls.

In this episode, Chris Cooper walks through the four phases every entrepreneur moves through — and most get stuck in: Founder, Farmer, Tinker, and Chief.

It's a preview of his rewritten book Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Chief — originally published in 2018 as Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief. The first three phases are sharper. The fourth is completely reimagined.

You'll learn:

1. Why building a business is a triathlon, not a marathon — and why the stroke that wins the swim will crash you on the bike
2. The primary goal, the primary trap, and the exit signal for each of the four phases
3. Why "Thief" became "Chief" in the rewrite — and what it really takes to build a movement instead of a company
4. The six parts of a real movement — and why your competitor is never your villain
5. A five-minute audit you can run on yourself this week to figure out which phase you're actually in

There's also a twist in this episode — one the audience doesn't see coming. Stay until the end.

Listen, subscribe, and share with the entrepreneur who needs to hear it.