Marco was a legend in the kitchen. His wood-fired pizzas? Divine. People drove across state lines for a bite.

So when he opened Volcano Pie, expectations were sky-high. He did everything himself—hand-picked tomatoes, made his own dough, even stacked the firewood.

The first week? Packed. Local press. Foodies. Instagram blow-up.

Week two? Still slammed, but wait times hit 90 minutes. Marco refused to hire help. “No one touches the pizza but me,” he insisted.

Week three? Reviews started tanking. “Great food, but not worth the wait.” “Owner yelled at a kid for asking for ranch.” “Still waiting for my order from Tuesday.”

By week four, the line was gone. So were the customers.

A few months later, Marco shut down Volcano Pie and blamed the town for “not appreciating true craftsmanship.”

But everyone knew the truth: the pizza didn’t fire Marco. Marco fired the pizza.

Don’t be the bottleneck in your own business.

Talent can spark growth, but systems scale it. If you're the only one who can do the thing, you're also the only thing stopping it from growing.

That’s business lesson #00. Thanks for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow—bizzness as usual.