It looks cute and tidy on the outside, but open it up and PAKATÚN!!! (boom! for those who doesn’t know Puerto Rican Spanish!) loose batteries, 14 pens (only one works), mystery receipts, that one charger from 2012 you refuse to toss, and keys no one remembers what they open. Now, imagine running your business like that. You think you know where everything is… until you need it. You swear there’s a system, but let’s be honest, that system only makes sense to you. And when someone else tries to help? They’re lost, texting you every five minutes.

Welcome to what I call the Junk Drawer Business. And my friend, it’s not the flex you think it is.

Look, I get it. A little chaos got you through the early hustle. You wore all the hats, pulled things together with duct tape and Google Sheets, and somehow made it work. Respect.

But now? You’re the bottleneck. You’re still the only one who knows how the billing system works. You’re drowning in approvals, buried in decisions, and running on vibes, coffee, and a calendar full of back-to-back “emergencies.” That’s not sustainable, that’s exhausting. And it’s definitely not building value or getting you closer to the freedom you say you want.

If your business is built on memory, muscle, and being everywhere at once, it’s not going to grow. And worse? You can’t step away, not without everything falling apart. That’s not a business, it is a full-time job with a side of anxiety. You shouldn’t be the walking instruction manual for every process. You shouldn’t be guessing at your numbers or hoping no one asks how things really work behind the scenes. And you sure as hell shouldn’t be losing sleep over systems that collapse the second you take a day off.

So how do we clean up that junk drawer without getting overwhelmed?

Start with the basics. Document the stuff you do every day first. Organize your financials, guessing is not a strategy. Build systems that don’t rely on your memory. Empower your team to make decisions without running to you. Your business should feel clear, structured, and built for the long game, not some patched-together setup that crashes every time it’s tested.

A junk drawer can only hold so much before it jams shut. And if your business is operating the same way—cluttered, inconsistent, and overly dependent on your brainpower—it’s only a matter of time before things break.

So pour your cafecito, open that metaphorical drawer, and be honest with yourself: Are you running a business that’s clean and scalable or one that falls apart the moment someone else reaches in?

If you’re still keeping your processes, decisions, and financial analysis in your head, or scribbled on a notepad next to your cafecito, it’s time for a serious upgrade. Stop relying on memory and paper, and start building a business that’s structured, documented, and tech-enabled. You’ve worked too hard to build your team, now let them help carry the vision forward. Because a truly successful business is one that thrives with you and without you.