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In this episode of Marketing by Design, I sit down with Alex Foulkes, founder of CoLabs, to unpack how service-based and blue-collar business owners can scale without chaos. Alex shares how joining Vistage forced him into the uncomfortable rooms that accelerated his growth, how he went from restaurants to building operational infrastructure, and why the biggest wins usually come from the actions that don’t feel productive in the moment. If you’re overwhelmed, wearing too many hats, and stuck in the day-to-day — this one will hit.

CONNECT WITH ALEX

🌐 Website: www.colabshq.com

💼 LinkedIn: (add Alex’s LinkedIn URL)

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - How I structure intros + narrative editing

00:58 - Vistage: why Alex almost said no

03:09 - “Smallest person in the room” discomfort

04:30 - The Vistage speaker that changed Alex’s AI thinking

06:24 - The real value: confidence, exposure, and perspective

10:08 - The unexpected ROI: Vistage paid for itself

17:52 - Why storytelling is the underrated skill

21:19 - From restaurant chaos to structured operator

25:34 - Buying a $600K restaurant with $10K down

31:12 - How CoLabs started (no site, no logo, just proof)

37:26 - The skill behind clarity: poker + strategy

47:06 - Tactical: how Alex finds bottlenecks with data

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/