Two pounds to go — and what weight loss is teaching me about building illumination

Key illuminated insight

Building illumination has felt a lot like my weight loss journey — full of ups and downs, plateaus, and small wins that add up. The key lessons are patience, tracking the right metrics, having a baseline to fall back on, and keeping momentum after a win. These same principles guide how I help fintech founders build marketing systems that can ride the roller coaster and still deliver sustainable growth.

Step into full illumination

I’m two pounds away from hitting my 10-pound weight loss goal.

And here’s what’s surprising: the real lesson hasn’t been about food or exercise.
It’s about business.

Because just like weight loss, building illumination, my fractional CMO practice, has been a roller coaster.
Ups that feel like you’re unstoppable.
Downs that make you question if you’re on the right track.

The trick isn’t avoiding the dips. It’s learning how to sustain yourself through both.

Lesson 1: Patience is the unglamorous superpower

In weight loss, you can stick to the plan and still hit plateaus. In business, you can deliver great work, follow your growth strategy, and still have a slow month.
For illumination, the win has been resisting the temptation to overhaul everything at the first dip. The same goes for my fintech clients. Sometimes you don’t need a new strategy. You need to give the current one enough time to show its compounding effect.

Lesson 2: Measure more than the “scale”

Sure, the number on the scale matters. But so does strength, energy, and stamina.
When I measure illumination’s growth, I look beyond revenue. I track deal velocity, referral sources, and how often I’m in the right rooms with the right people.

For fintech founders, that’s the equivalent of looking past top-line ARR to see CAC, LTV, pipeline health, and market positioning. It’s the broader set of metrics that tells you whether your growth is sustainable.

Lesson 3: Build a baseline you can fall back on

On the days I didn’t feel like working out, I had habits to fall back on. In illumination, that’s my core business development rhythm: regular outreach, content, and client touchpoints that keep momentum even when I’m buried in delivery work.

For clients, it’s why I build marketing systems instead of one-off campaigns. When life or the market gets bumpy, the baseline keeps you moving forward.

Lesson 4: Celebrate, then get back to it

When I lose the final two pounds, I’ll celebrate. And then I’ll keep going, because the point isn’t the number. It’s staying healthy.
Same with business. Celebrate a funding round, a big client, a great quarter. But don’t let the system that got you there slide. Momentum is only useful if you keep it moving.

Weight loss has reminded me that both personal health and business growth are endurance sports.
The goal isn’t to dodge the roller coaster. It’s to ride it with enough energy, structure, and patience to enjoy the view at the top, and to keep moving through the bottom.

And that’s exactly how I guide my clients. Not just through the easy quarters, but through the ones that test whether your marketing engine can really sustain the ride.