[ /BOOK PAGE v1 ] Pre-launch / waitlist positioning per current homepage (book is "Coming Q3 2026"). When the book launches, swap waitlist form for buy buttons (Amazon paperback / Kindle / hardback / audiobook). TOC is placeholder structure — replace with real chapter titles from manuscript v9. Endorsements are placeholder cards — populate with real endorsements as they come in.
Master Your Ship — Build a Business that Can Sail Without You. By Alex Hays.
— Coming Q3 2026 —

Master Your Ship.

The operating system for founder-operators. Four pillars. One chain. Stripped to one discipline at a time. The book the trapped captain wishes someone had handed them ten years ago.

The book is in final edit. Pre-orders open later this year. If you want to be the first to know when it ships, the first to read the first chapter, and the first to get access to the bonus material, the waitlist is the way.

If your ship cannot sail without you, you have built a prison.
— Master Your Ship · Chapter 8
— From the Preface —

Written from the bridge. Not the boardroom.

I walked off the ship in St. Croix in the summer of 2020. Sixteen years in the merchant marine were behind me. I packed a sea bag and a backpack. I shook the captain's hand and walked down the gangway.

That ship is still sailing today. Different crew. Different cargo. Same ship. She will outlast everyone who ever sailed on her. She runs on a system built before any of us walked aboard.

Most founders are running the other kind of ship. The kind that cannot sail without them. Without their hands on the wheel. Without their head in every decision. Without their voice naming the heading every Monday morning. The kind of ship that drifts the moment the captain steps below.

I came ashore to build a business. I built one. Then I built another. Both of them were the kind of ship I had spent sixteen years learning to leave behind. I had built a job. I had not built a ship.

This book is the system. The four pillars a working ship runs on. The chain that holds them in order. The captain's standard for the founder who is ready to stop being the operating system, and start running one.

By the end of this book, you will know whether your ship can sail without you. If it cannot, you will know what to install. If it can, you will know how to keep it that way.

— Alex Hays · Captain
— What's Inside —

Coming Soon.

Six parts. The Preface that names the diagnosis. The four pillars in order. The install that puts them in your business.

— Opening — The Diagnosis
— Pillar I — Course
— Pillar II — Crew
— Pillar III — Cadence
— Pillar IV — Command
— Closing — The Install
Alex Hays — author of Master Your Ship.
— About the Author —

Alex Hays. Captain.

Alex Hays is the founder of Orion & Taurus, LLC and the creator of the Master Your Ship operating system. He holds a Master Unlimited Tonnage license, one of roughly five thousand active holders in the United States, and none of them is writing operating-system books for the founders of small to mid-size companies.

He is a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. Sixteen years at sea on tankers and chemical carriers. Cargoes from the Texas Gulf to Northern Europe. Jet fuel into Israel. Crude out of Valdez.

He walked off the ship in 2020 and built two businesses on land. Both of them taught him the same lesson: most founders are not running ships. They are the ship. The book is the system he wishes he had been handed when he first stepped off the gangway.

Alex Hays.
Founder, Orion & Taurus, LLC.
USMMA Graduate.
Master Unlimited Tonnage license.
16 years at sea. Oil tankers. Chemical carriers.
Cargoes from Texas to Northern Europe.
Middle East run.
— What People Are Saying —

Early endorsements.

Founders, operators, and coaches who have worked with Alex and know how he operates.

Robert W. Schaefer
"
I've worked with leaders in combat zones and corporate boardrooms. Very few come in ready to do the work with no ego and no excuses. Alex Hays is one of them. If I had to pick a team for a tough assignment with high pressure and uncertain outcome, he'd be one of the first calls I'd make.
— Robert W. Schaefer
Former U.S. Army Green Beret · Leadership Coach
Laura DiBenedetto
"
Alex is a remarkably competent and caring individual who has talent across many planes. He has mastered the art of living life on his terms, building incredible freedom, solid family frameworks, and independence. What he has built is so rare. Anyone looking for freedom on their terms should align with Alex. He walks the walk.
— Laura DiBenedetto
Entrepreneurship Advisor · Strategist
Steve Levinson
"
Alex offers business consulting and education for owners who want clarity about their business, their risk, and their options before time decides for them. This is such an important service for when the time is right. Be sure to connect with Alex.
— Steve Levinson
Better Business Web · Local Business Person of the Year (National Top 5)
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When the book ships, you will be the first to know. The first to order. The first to read the bonus chapter that did not make it into print.

  • First-day pricing when the book launches.
  • The bonus chapter that did not make it into the final manuscript.
  • Early access to any tools or templates released alongside the book.
— Join the Waitlist —

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