By, With, and Through: The Real Work of Building Something Worth a Damn
When you’re on a big trek — the kind that actually matters — you don’t get to stay in one role.
Some days you’re the expedition lead calling the plays.
Some days you’re the sherpa hauling other people’s weight.
And some days you’re just the person carrying a load because the mountain doesn’t care about your ego.
You want to build a real business?
Get comfortable being all three.
The myth is that founders are heroic lone wolves with perfect Instagram lighting.
The truth is closer to a messy, altitude-sick, mud-covered convoy where everyone takes turns leading, supporting, and grinding it out.
And the faster you accept that, the faster you grow.
Special Forces understood this decades ago.
They’re the most elite fighting force on earth for a reason — and it’s not because they showed up with cool gear.
Their operating motto is simple: By, With, and Through.
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BY: Standing by the local forces they’re teaching. Shoulder-to-shoulder.
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WITH: Working with them on missions. In the dirt, not in the tent writing strategy.
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THROUGH: Enabling them to operate through their own systems — so the mission grows beyond the initial team.
That’s the whole playbook. Elegant. Lethal. Scalable.
That’s exactly how we think about Cinergy.
When we work with members, partners, coaches, operators, innovators, and business owners, we’re not pretending to be the hero of their story.
We’re building armies — together.
BY their sides.
Showing up. Not phoning it in.
Holding the rope when they’re slipping.
WITH them on projects.
Rolling up sleeves.
Whiteboards covered.
Deals moving.
Innovation actually happening — not just talked about.
THROUGH collaboration, introductions, design, and execution.
This is the multiplier effect most people never experience.
It’s also the reason a random member-to-member meeting turned into:
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a $10M idea ,
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a new fund,
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and a $5M+ deal …
…all because two people decided to show up with a high standard and actually work with, by, and through each other.
The individual hero myth? Total fiction.
People romanticize the “self-made” journey like it’s a solo summit push.
But anyone who’s climbed anything big knows:
If you try to trek Everest alone, you become a frozen road bump tourists step over.
Every business that matters is built by a team — a moving ecosystem of people alternating roles, carrying weight for each other, and refusing to let the mission die.
You want to grow 10x?
Build an expedition, not a shrine to your own brilliance.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
If you’re not willing to:
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lead when it’s your time,
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sherpa when someone else needs it,
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and carry the load when the mission demands it…
…you’re not ready for this trek.
But if you are willing?
If you show up with discipline, humility, and a bias for working BY, WITH, and THROUGH others?
Then every trek gets easier.
Every summit gets closer.
And everyone’s boat rises — yours included.