A FIELD GUIDE FOR ENTREPRENEURS COMMITTED TO SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
Leaving the Casino
Stop betting on tactics.
Start building a business that actually works.
“You have written a book that both discourages and shows the pitfalls of the “quick fix” solutions, which can be so tempting because they offer potential relief from real business woes, and *also* you have written a book that offers another way: REAL relief to common business woes, the answers to which will be different for every business owner.”
- Catherine LaSota
When you play by their rules, the house always wins.
“Charge your worth!”
“Turn on your marketing funnel!”
“Hire before you’re ready!”
“This one tool saved me 10 hours a week!”
“Launch your course and make money while you sleep!”
You’ve heard this advice from the Entrepreneurial Casino — a multi-billion dollar industry built to sell you promises of quick and easy success.
But most of that advice leads you toward someone else’s vision: performative marketing, overbuilt systems, and a business that doesn’t actually work for you.
And we’re the ones left paying the price.
Leaving the Casino: Stop Betting on Tactics and Start Building a Business that Works is a guide for expertise-based business owners—coaches, consultants, creatives, and service providers—who want to build a real business rooted in values, sustainability, and intentional growth.
Through practical frameworks and grounded guidance, you’ll learn how to:
→ Navigate trade-offs about business growth with clarity, not confusion
→ Define what enough looks like for your business
→ Make pricing, marketing, hiring, time management, and offer decisions that align with your business values and vision
→ Reclaim your time, energy, and cash from bad-fit tactics so you can grow with intention
→ Apply foundational strategies—not just stories of what worked for me—so you can design a business built for you
If you’ve ever been burned by bro marketing, exhausted by social media hacks, or underwhelmed by “just manifest it” advice, this book is for you.
Download a Free Sample Chapter
How did someone with an Harvard MBA and a strategy background end up chasing funnels and formulas that didn’t fit?
Chapter 1 shares the real story...
…How I got pulled into the Entrepreneurial Casino, what it cost me, and why I chose to leave.
About the author
A business strategist, former McKinsey consultant, and founder of Deeper Foundations. She helps expert entrepreneurs build sustainable, values-aligned businesses through strategy, structure, and systems.
Jessica Lackey
Get the Exclusive Bundle
Exclusively through my website, you’ll get the full bundle: the signed hardback book, the workbook, and the digital editions.
Package 1: the book, the workbook & digital versions
Exclusive Hardback Edition and Workbook Bundle
• Signed hardcover of Leaving the Casino
• Digital e-book
• Printed workbook + digital workbook (exclusively sold here)
• US Only / Shipping included
• 300-page Full-Color Hardback, 80-page B&W Workbook
Turn insight into action with this book + workbook set, for those who want to move from reading to implementation.
This bundle pairs Leaving the Casino with the companion workbook, designed to help you reflect, assess, and apply each chapter to your own business.
Price: $65.00
Package 2: the book & digital version
Exclusive Hardback Edition
• Signed hardcover of Leaving the Casino
• Digital e-book
• US Only / Shipping included
• 300-page Full Color Hardback
Just the book—clear, focused, and ready to shift how you see your business.
This edition includes both the hardcover and e-book versions of Leaving the Casino, so you can read at your own pace and revisit it whenever you need a reset.
Price: $45.00
Package 3: Digital versions
Worldwide Digital Bundle
• Digital e-book
• Digital workbook (exclusively sold here)
• PDFs delivered in 2025, with EPUB versions sent in 2026
• 300-page Full Color E-Book, 80-page PDF Workbook
Why wait for shipping or pay customs fees? Get the book to read on your own device.
This edition includes both the digital versions of the Leaving the Casino book and workbook.
Price: $25.00
WANT A PHYSICAL COPY INTERNATIONALLY?
• Buy the Paperback on Amazon (Available late October)
• Buy the Hardback at your local retailer in late 2025
• Kindle version available in 2026
Shipping Timeline
• Books and Workbooks shipping in 2-3 business days from order
• Digital Versions sent when you order!
• International Availability starting late October 2025 via Amazon and your local retailers
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“The biggest mistake business owners make is listening to the lies they’ve been sold.”
We’ve all seen the ads. Promising to solve lead generation and 10x our revenue in 30 days (or our money back!). Leaving the Casino makes clear that if you don’t know your business model and the business model of the help you hire, you’ll waste time and money that could be better spent elsewhere. Jessica’s critique of the Entrepreneurial Casino is apt, timely, and has taught me more than any other business resource. I can’t recommend this book enough—it’s an essential read for all coaches, consultants, and creators looking to build sustainable, profitable businesses without selling their soul.
— Dr. Matthew Jones, Co-Founder Clarity
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“Jessica’s book is the business education I didn’t know I needed.”
This book is clear, generous, and deeply useful. As someone who never wanted an MBA and never dreamed of being a founder, I was able to build the systems and structures to make my work actually work. Jessica offers the kind of operational clarity that makes vision possible, and sustainable — she respects the heart of your work while strengthening its spine. The book is perfect for people building businesses with care, integrity, and no interest in hustle culture.
— Shivani Mehta Bhatia, Tulsi Studios
The FREE tools to help you build a business that works for you.
FREE LEAVING THE CASINO COMPANION RESOURCES:
• Business Stage Quiz and Guide
• Survive / Sustain / Strengthen and Serve Calculator
• 5 Pricing Approaches Worksheet
• Map Your Marketing Grid
• Process, Prune, Prioritize Worksheet
• The Hiring Matrix
• Repeatable Processes Worksheet
Use these tools to map your own way forward—not another coach’s recycled “playbook.”
Book FAQs
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Pre-Orders will begin shipping in mid-to-late October. Books purchased after that will be shipped in 2-3 business days via USPS Ground Advantage.
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Shipping within the US is included in the price.
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The paperback version will be available internationally via Amazon in late October 2025. The hardback will be available to order via your preferred retailer in late 2025, depending on the retailer through your local Print on Demand service.
In the meantime, you can order the worldwide digital bundle and get your copy without shipping delays or fees! -
This ~300-page full-color hardcover is both a manifesto and a field guide, designed to be referenced again and again.
The ~80-page black and white companion workbook is practical and exercise-driven, printed in a large, easy-to-write-in format.
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Digital versions will be released to pre-orders October 20, at which time you can order the Worldwide Digital Bundle and get access immediately.
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The Kindle/epub version will be available in January 2026, with a PDF version being available now.
If you’d like to request an audiobook, send me an email! If there’s substantial demand I’ll consider it for 2026!
Need 30+ copies?
Bulk orders for speaking and keynotes
Discounts are available for orders of 30+ books, whether they are for your event, team, clients, students or something else.
Email jessica@deeperfoundations.com for a quote.