Why Michael Carrillo treats business as stewardship, not ownership

“I steward this business — I don’t own it.” That line from Michael Carrillo lands like a thesis statement for the whole hour: business as vocation, not vanity.

Michael grew up in Santa Clara, moved to San Diego before junior year of high school, then back up to San Jose State to play football. Two details show up again and again in the interview: he treats risk like a muscle developed on the field, and he treats success like something to be stewarded rather than flaunted.

The three apps he’d keep (and what they reveal)

Michael’s quick answer — the Bible app, Slack, and the Tesla app — reads like a miniature manifesto. The Bible app is the anchor: daily reading, prayer walks, and a discipline of gratitude he credits for keeping him humble. Slack and the Tesla app are practical: team communication and his car key. Together they sketch his priorities: faith, relationships, and the systems that keep work moving.

That morning routine matters. He called it a daily choice: prayer, scripture, and a long beach walk. When a business hits a good run, gratitude is what keeps pride from settling in.

“I start every day praying, reading my Bible, going on long beach prayer walk pretty much every single morning.” — Michael Carrillo

The circle you keep changes your trajectory

Michael says picking your circle is an act of stewardship. He prays for, and intentionally cultivates, friends who are godly, successful, and fun — three qualities he once had in separate groups and wanted united.

Two practical points:

• You will grow at different paces from old friends; intentionality is required to be around people who help you grow.

• The right circle opens doors and provides specific exposure you otherwise wouldn’t get.

He gave a concrete example: friends and contacts across Dallas and Miami that aren’t convenient to see, but are worth the trip because they share similar vision and push him farther. That’s not vague networking — it’s strategic spiritual formation.

How his business was born out of uncertainty (and what it looks like now)

Michael started his marketing company during COVID because he didn’t want to stop playing ball and he wanted to build something on the side. What began running ads for fitness coaches became referrals, organic marketing, and a focus on local, brick-and-mortar practices — dentists, med spas, orthodontists, home services.

Fast facts about the business:

• Team size: about 20 people.

• Typical client lift: an increase of $40k–$80k per month in production within three to four months; top cases saw $130k–$150k increases organically.

• Tactics: local search optimization (Google Maps, Apple Maps, Yelp), review campaigns (50–400 reviews in month one), call-answering systems and AI receptionists, paid ads, PR, and app development.

Michael’s priority is always outcome-driven: start with the client’s goal, capture the low-hanging fruit (people already searching locally), then convert those inbound leads without relying on cheap, price-driven gimmicks.

What AI actually does (and what it doesn’t)

Michael frames AI as a tool that improved two things for his clients: efficiency and capacity. He calls the work “LLM optimization” or answer-engine optimization — preparing profiles, reviews, and structured content so search engines and large language models can find and present a business well.

A memorable concrete story: one of their AI receptionists booked a high-value implant consultation end-to-end after picking up an organic call from Google Maps — no human needed for that scheduling moment.

But he also warns about overreliance. He’s seen clients paste AI prompts into briefs without understanding what they asked for, or expect AI to replace strategic human work. The takeaway: AI scales good process; it doesn’t replace domain knowledge or honest stewardship.

Faith, detachment, and how he responds to success

Michael uses spiritual disciplines to combat pride. Two practices keep him grounded:

• Gratitude every morning (prayer + Bible + walk).

• Detachment from outcomes — daily surrender with the posture: if this isn’t God’s plan, I’ll shut it down.

That posture of detachment is the theological engine for his risk tolerance: move before you feel ready, but don’t be reckless. He counsels would-be founders not to wait for a cinematic sign from God; faith often looks like stepping forward and staying detached from identity or revenue.

The concrete offer to clients (how he defines success for them)

Michael starts every client relationship by asking: what’s your goal? From there his team executes a three-step path for local practices:

1. Be visible where people are searching (local maps and directory presence).

2. Build credibility (reviews, photos, optimized profiles).

3. Capture and convert those calls (front desk systems + AI receptionist backup).

That order — visibility, credibility, accessibility — is how they routinely move production into the six-figure monthly range for practices.

Personal texture you wouldn’t expect

A few small surprises that make Michael real: he plays piano (mom’s rule growing up: no sports unless you played an instrument), he’s been on TV (Ellen, small parts on 13 Reasons Why and All American), and he recently turned 30 and still thinks in terms of near futures: marriage, kids, multiplying the business, and possibly selling into private equity while stewarding the company forward.

Parting sentence worth keeping

If you only remember one thing from this conversation: stewardship changes how you build. Treat what you lead as God’s, not yours — that posture reshapes risk, success, and the people you bring along.

If you want the full hour, listen to the full conversation with Gabe — it’s practical, candid, and full of the little details (butter client stories included) that make stewardship feel teachable rather than theoretical.