Operator · Founder of Sierra Exclusive

Ten years of running real businesses. Now I help owners get found.

I've worked every seat, from the dish pit to the owner's chair: operations, hiring, supply chain, compliance and marketing. Today I bring that operator's view to local business owners who want to get found on Google Maps and named when customers ask AI who to call.

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Portrait of Seth Gillen
CaliforniaOperator since 2016
  • 10 yrsrunning my own businesses
  • 3companies I help run today
  • Every seatops, hiring, supply chain, compliance, marketing
  • Rebuiltfrom a full shutdown, in a year

The short version

Every stage taught me something.

Nothing here was handed to me, and none of it happened alone. Most of what I know about business, I learned by doing it wrong first and fixing it.

  1. The start

    Dish pit to general manager

    I started bussing tables and washing dishes at Chipotle. About three years later I was running the store.

    Running a store taught me systems, scheduling, food cost and people before I ever owned anything.

  2. The side hustles

    eBay, Amazon, swap meets

    I sold on eBay and Amazon, had a couple of businesses fail, and worked swap meets on weekends to make ends meet.

    Small failures are cheap tuition. Test the idea before you bet the house on it.

  3. 2016

    Building from scratch

    I started my own company with a few hundred dollars of product and built every piece myself: sourcing, hiring, operations, the customer experience.

    An owner has to understand every job in the building, even the ones they hand off.

  4. The shutdown

    Losing it all

    We got shut down over legal complications and lost our inventory. I made sure my team got their final paychecks, and there wasn't much left after that.

    Compliance and cash reserves aren't paperwork. They're what keeps the doors open.

  5. The restart

    Rebuilding, faster

    I put what I had left back into the business and started again. With a team that stuck with me, we rebuilt it within a year and were fully licensed one year to the day after the shutdown.

    The second time is faster because the systems live in your head. Write them down so they live in the business.

  6. 2022

    Owning the supply side

    We started a distribution company so we could own the supply side instead of depending on it.

    Own the links in the chain that can sink you.

  7. Today

    Still building

    Today I help run three companies with people I'm grateful to work with. Sierra Exclusive is where we take what worked for us and run it for other owners.

How I think about business

Four things I'd tell any owner.

01

Own the position. Don't rent it.

Paid leads stop the day you stop paying. Being the business people find and trust on their own keeps working.

02

Systems before scale.

Growth only multiplies what's already there. If it's chaos at ten customers, it's worse at a hundred.

03

Know your numbers every week.

Not at tax time. The owner who looks every week sees the problem while it's still small.

04

Make it boring to run.

The best businesses don't need a hero every day. Automate the repeat work and keep your people on what matters.

Work with me

Customers ask Google and ChatGPT who to call. Are they naming you?

Through Sierra Exclusive, my team gets local businesses found where customers actually look: the map pack, the AI answer, the first page. There's no magic trick. It's consistent work done right, every week.

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The visibility audit

A live look at where you stand in your own city, and what's costing you calls.

  • Where you rank on the map, street by street
  • Who ChatGPT names when someone asks for your service
  • What your top competitor has that you don't
Get my free audit

By application

Growth Partner

For established businesses doing $3–10M a year that want an operator in their corner, not another vendor.

  • Built around your numbers, not a package
  • Retainer plus profit share: I win when you grow
  • Limited spots, so I can stay hands-on
Book a call

How I operate

My companies run on AI agents.

Every morning, before I open my laptop, dozens of automated agents have already done the work: reports pulled, inventory synced, competitors checked, sales calls graded, and the results waiting in my inbox.

I build them myself with Claude. It's how a small team runs several companies without living at the desk, and it's the same thinking my team brings to client work.

Watch me build them on @sethvibecodes →

  • Inventory sync3:00 am
  • Uptime check, every site5:00 am
  • Payroll report7:00 am
  • Competitor watch9:00 am
  • Sales call graded and emailedafter every call

Questions

Straight answers.

Who do you work with?

Local service businesses: chiropractors, dentists, contractors, plumbers, med spas and other owners whose customers search for them nearby. Growth Partner is for established businesses doing $3–10M a year.

What's in the free audit?

Where you rank on Google Maps across your area, whether AI tools name you when someone asks for your service, and the specific gaps between you and the business that's winning. You keep it either way.

Do I work with you or your team?

Both. I set the strategy and stay close to the numbers. My team at Sierra Exclusive does the day-to-day work.

How long until I see results?

Some fixes move map rankings within weeks. Owning the position in your market takes months of consistent work. We'll show you the baseline on day one so you can see it change.

Are you still running your own companies?

Yes. That's the point. Everything we recommend, I've tested on my own businesses first.

Start with the free audit

Find out who's getting your calls.

It takes a few minutes to request. You'll see exactly where you stand and what to fix first.

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Get your free visibility audit