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Antifragile's take: The secret to scaling up.

Idea threads

mikecarlooch

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Think slow, act fast.


Most people do it in reverse. There is this hype from YT gurus (and some forum members too) that odds don't matter. You just need to wish it hard enough, sacrifice family, friends, trade body parts - all if it. If you want it bad enough, you'll make 7-8 figures in your early 20s... and why? Well... just because.

Even after reading all of @MJ DeMarco books most people still do not think before they do. They act and then hope it all works out for their "Lambo" dream. That's a huge problem. Our brains are capable of running great "simulations" without spending any money. Worse yet, most fail to run real life simulations too!

Is it any wonder most people fail? Ironic. Those who scream the loudest "I am the next American Idol" are the blooper material. Same with business.

But some succeed! I applaud them.

In fact, some readers may accuse me of conflicting advice:
  • A: Do small things. Figure our what works, do more of that.
  • B: Dream, plan and go for HUGE things! Do not settle for mediocrity, it will kill your future.
Doesn't A conflict with B? Which one is it? Should I try for a massive success in my early 20s or settle for education, job, freelance and build experience?

I am not sure what is harder, to create a successful business or to write on how to create a successful business. Seriously. @MJ DeMarco - maybe you can shed some light. And worse yet, I am not even that great a businessman. I your average guy that doesn't quit. It's really that simple.

A & B do not conflict. Do both over and over again.

What does that look like in real life?

I've never been able to put the following into words - but here's my shot at it -

a common trait I've noticed in myself, and some other young entrepreneurs that I know of, is that our confusion is what makes us just jump into things without thinking, just to be on ANY path that is not leading toward mediocrity.

And when we get immersed in a particular project or sector, leaving that sector to do something else feels very difficult in the moment because we feel that we are making a huge mistake by leaving or switching directions, and also don't know WHEN to change roads.

It goes back to the scarcity mindset - clinging to what I've got - because I don't know what else I would do.

What opportunities are the women in the red dress (a distraction) and what opportunities are screaming "YES! you should do this, screw what you're doing now!" is something I'm trying to get better at and understand - because not moving and not going fast doesn't feel good, leading to an unresourceful state of mind.

Real Estate

Long ago I wrote out plans in my notepad to create a mega company. But what industry? How quickly? How?

Answer 1: cosmetics. King crab on the east side of Canada was and is a huge business. Legs are sold to restaurants but there's too much waste of the body shell. Shell dried can be crushed into powder. Powder is used in makeup! Huge, massive business opportunity. And I was in my early 20s... full of piss and vinegar. Confident little F*ck.

So I called all friends and found a buyer for the said dry shells, in China. Volume would be almost unlimited.

Next challenge. Called up a few businesses and learned that they pay to dispose of the "waste". They'll gladly give it ALL to me if I just arrange someone to pick it up.

Listen, I just won a lotto. I am about to become a mega millionaire. Free shit that's worth a fortune if I just dry it and ship to China! How much more luck does one need?

That's why I am so rich today and wiring to you all my advice from a private jet plane!
Nope. That's not how the story ends, but it is a good story. I totally f*cked up the execution part. I was such a little "brilliant" confident F*ck that I didn't think "process is king", I thought my idea was worth a F*cking billion dollars. Oh looking back, was I ever wrong. I F*cked it up. I made zero.

Answer 2: shoes. Bruised but not beaten, I leaned further into my "entrepreneur" self. Still in my 20s I come up with the next billion dollar idea. I'll beat Nike in shoes. A classmate from Asia happens to be from a family that owns a factory making sneakers. We were going to be partners. I am great at sales + numbers. Weird but mighty combo. I called retailers, lined up the Bay (they were huge back then, now struggling like most). We had manufacturer on standby.

That's why I am so rich today and wiring to you all my advice from a private jet plane!
Nope. Boy's parents decided their son was going to "grow up" and do it himself. They bankrolled him under a condition of no partners. He was beyond useless and I wasn't going to work FOR him. It all fell apart.

Answer 3:... I won't bore you with the many others. I aimed so high.

The bottom line is this. I feel I was born to be an entrepreneur. I imagine success like standing in a line up. As long as you don't quit... Eventually your turn comes!

Imagine if throughout all that, I didn't do anything else? I'd have nothing. Instead, I kept reflecting. Kept writing plans and thinking back. Eventually when I found (wish it was sooner) MJ's Unscripted book, it was perfectly laid out. It explained my shit experiences AND my successful ventures.

I continued getting my education, then jobs (yikes, but yes!), side-hustles! then promotions, learning, more side hustles... then first successful business, then the big one.

The key is that I got better. A lot better. Hear me on this: If I had to do it with what I am capable of today, I'd scale the cosmetics company into a giant venture! I wasn't good enough back then. And that's ok.



Thanks Andy, this is exactly right. This is what happened to me. I started getting pretty damn good at some things. I realized the real answer for me was Real Estate. I've ran teams, made the right calls, made money on my own properties and it's just been a blast for me. It hasn't been just good, it's been consistently great.

Why is that? Because everything I did before became my "lever". My "Jobs" taught me all aspects of having a larger business that I now use, including relationships (example: bankers knew me before I went on my own). My "side hustles" kept the fire of entrepreneurship alive (and made me extra money).

And here I am, just getting started! How can I turn this into a multibillion dollar company?

But this thread isn't about me. It's about how to succeed for young forum members like @mikecarlooch

Mike - the Video Guy!

Let's dive into specifics! Hopefully others can help too (calling @Kak, @Vigilante on top of already engaged contributors).

Mike, how do you make money? What is working? What is NOT working?
Simple short video edits. People pay thousands a month for them - however, I have a feeling of uncertainty about it and I'm not sure it's the road I'm supposed to be on.

It's hard to say whether all of the IP and info products I've created in the past few months will NOT work - because they're new and not enough people have seen them.

However, it appears that sometimes I get addicted to creating which probably isn't a bad thing in a sense but I do know based on the way I've gotten where I've gotten now if I had been making offers to people every day for the past 6 months I'd probably have more clients than I know what to do with.

Why don't I? I guess the answer I have is - it feels limiting to go me to go and message 50 people a day on LinkedIn since every person that doesn't answer a message, that message doesn't live in perpetuity, it just goes off into the wind. And it makes me wonder if I am spending my time in the wrong place.

And I know how that sounds --- like a big excuse.

Applying CENTS, what are you most worried about?
Thinking about it now - with labor, code, and media the business I'm in can in fact be scaled with the right systems.

I guess my concern is that I don't have it on paper - I know you said think slow and act fast, so my question would be .. Even before it's needed - to map out how that can work, even if that map doesn't necessarily become the exact way of doing things (because things are unpredictable)?

You clearly have the finger on the pulse of how social media works. But your execution (from what I've seen on LinkedIn) isn't great. You failed to get many likes on most of your posts. How do you reconcile that with your plans for expansion? Are you listening to what the market is telling you? What is it telling you?
Thanks for bringing this up. I've been on LinkedIn, facebook, and twitter for only 2 weeks now - and the truth is I haven't put in enough upfront effort to get my stuff in front of people to create any snowball effects of attention (connecting, starting conversations, etc).

My question again like above would be how long do you do something before determining it doesn't work? Creating content is a certainty for me because it lives on forever, that's the main reason I'm posting so much on all platforms currently.

And what is your main business? Video editing or teaching how to go "viral"?

It's video editing at the core of it. I don't agree with virality and believe in a slow, steady, and quality process on social rather.

How can we help you get there?
Answering this question is tough for me because at the core I understand that you've basically laid it out all for me already above, and I don't know what else to ask for.

There is a quote I like that maybe can answer this - "Eliminating friction upfront before revealing the ultimate form of simplicity"

The simpler something can seem, even if it's not simple, seems to be easier to grasp.

What parts of this (or other threads) are most useful?

Your concept of leverage along with a few other things are the most useful nuggets of wisdom I've taken away. And in your planning thread you mentioned "borrowing, stealing, and inventing" systems.

Those two things opened up that creativity is the only limitation when it comes to scaling and finding ways to automate things, and there is no silver bullet (beforehand I thought there was).

And more importantly, what changes have you made to your process?
My process over the past 2 months changed drastically. Notice that I wasn't on the forum that much - this was because I truly was in a full-on producer mode until I stopped myself and realized that the things I was producing weren't growing my revenue and just keeping me busy. I am grateful for what I've created. But now in terms of business, generating revenue is my highest value, and whenever I think about generating revenue more, for some reason it throws me off and confuses me. I think about needing to get on calls with a bunch of people who don't want to be on calls with me etc.

And I know that the above mindset needs some real work.

Usually I always try and keep what I say in an empowering state, but since I really am trying to get help here to get myself on a path to true success, I'm sharing how I truly feel.

Also, here's the answers to the questions you send me last night in dm:

How are you spending your time?

The first hour or so of my work day is when I distribute all of my content, and then I don't touch social media for the rest of the day. I see this as something that can be leveraged, so that's why I see it as important to do.

The next part is about finding untouched audiences to target with engagement ads on facebook marketplace (trying to find a goldmine of an audience) and adding more ads into that campaign

Then I will do outreach, but not nearly enough. I don't feel like doing 10-20 of them is enough at all and it feels like reaching out to those 10-20 people takes way too much time.

Sometimes I will get thrown off a bit at this point in te day after that because I start questioning if what I've been doing all day is beneficial. The way that I combat this feeling, or "cover it up" I guess, is by creating something new. That could be an information product, a new long form article, a video, a webinar, etc.

Fulfillment is done end of day.

How rewarding are your efforts?


Simply put, they need to be more rewarding. I know I need to change it up if I want to reap more rewards.

How well did you capitalize on the opportunities that were right in front of you?

Can you expand on this a bit?
 
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mikecarlooch

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Have you seem Mike's TikTok accounts though? Very large followings and engagement. What's confused me is why he's left that behind to start anew on LinkedIn.
I actually started posting not just on LinkedIn but everywhere. I do twice a day on tiktok on 2 accounts each currently
 

Andy Black

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I actually started posting not just on LinkedIn but everywhere. I do twice a day on tiktok on 2 accounts each currently
Ah. My bad. I thought you'd dropped TikTok in favour of LinkedIn.

Would it be better to focus on one format (video) and focus where you've got skills, experience, traction, and an audience (TikTok?). Posting text on LinkedIn is very different from posting short videos on TikTok. I think your content is even different on both.

As you know, I was mucking about with video last year then decided to stick to my strength and build on that instead. I still post a bit on LinkedIn and Facebook, but that's mostly text I've posted to the forum.
 

BizyDad

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Thanks for this comment Andy!

Here's my answer -

From all of my personal references, all of the videos I've made successful that have gotten millions of views, or hundreds of thousands, it was all inside of the structure, topic, headline, and differentiation of a video that made it successful.

Not the fancy editing.

It is hard to say that anything on a short video in terms of editing beyond a headline (maybe subtitles, but not really), and cutting matter very much.

That service in itself is without a doubt a commodity.

It's much more about the actual context in the video.

However, I have "specific knowledge" in this sector, as Naval Ravikant puts it. I do believe that anyone within the entrepreneurship space, I could grow their brand significantly on social media with a combination of engagement ads and my ways of doing things. With the right amount of time, I'm so confident in that, that I'd be willing to refund any compensation I received from it.

However when I think about that - like @Antifragile brings up - what leverage is in that? (I'd be open to some ideas if you guys have any off the top of your heads) - but a concept like that feels like I'm confined to giving up my own time unless the magnitude of compensation is so big that it doesn't matter.

Therefore, the closest thing there appears to be with leverage in short videos, is services. Editing for people, automating for people, distributing, creating derivatives, etc.

And there's nothing wrong with that, what I've added recently is a personalized gameplan that virtually guarantees some kind of success on social, which uses that plan in order to make the actual service work. I'm just having a hard time seeing the path to leverage.

Like @Kak says - I'm wanting to avoid freelancing like the plague (I still edit videos for clients, and the pay is much better than a job) - but if there's a path to leverage and CENTS commandments - I have no problem giving up personal time at first to make that happen. I guess the lack of clarity on that is a temporary handicap. The goal is fastlane and only that.

Edit:

Some may look at Mr Beast and conclude that editing matters a ton. No. Mr Beast is a master at storytelling, persuasion and psychology and implements all of those things into his videos in order to create an extremely compelling video. Fancy editing or not, it's something people want to watch.

Okay you've built a skill. Why aren't you building a brand?

I don't mean a brand that helps people with their TikTok videos. Loochmedia is a fine idea, but it's not your fast lane.

Why aren't you taking your skills, and, I don't know, selling your own brand of dumbbells or hats or muscle shirts...

Taking that one step further.

I don't know the dumbbells or hats or muscle shirts actually solve any problems that you want to be solving.

But what is a problem that you want to see solved, and you think you can invent a product for it?

Can you invent that product, and then leverage your super awesome social media wizardry to get the word out about your own product?

Being able to grow audiences and generate leads are valuable skills. There's many ways to monetise those skills.

As Antifragile said before:

"Start small and simple, and become an expert over time so that you can lead into bigger, more complex things."

I love how it takes me like 17 paragraphs to say something that Andy can say in five sentences.

You have a gift my friend.

Think slow, act fast.


Most people do it in reverse. There is this hype from YT gurus (and some forum members too) that odds don't matter. You just need to wish it hard enough, sacrifice family, friends, trade body parts - all if it. If you want it bad enough, you'll make 7-8 figures in your early 20s... and why? Well... just because.

Even after reading all of @MJ DeMarco books most people still do not think before they do. They act and then hope it all works out for their "Lambo" dream. That's a huge problem. Our brains are capable of running great "simulations" without spending any money. Worse yet, most fail to run real life simulations too!

Is it any wonder most people fail? Ironic. Those who scream the loudest "I am the next American Idol" are the blooper material. Same with business.

But some succeed! I applaud them.

In fact, some readers may accuse me of conflicting advice:
  • A: Do small things. Figure our what works, do more of that.
  • B: Dream, plan and go for HUGE things! Do not settle for mediocrity, it will kill your future.
Doesn't A conflict with B? Which one is it? Should I try for a massive success in my early 20s or settle for education, job, freelance and build experience?

I am not sure what is harder, to create a successful business or to write on how to create a successful business. Seriously. @MJ DeMarco - maybe you can shed some light. And worse yet, I am not even that great a businessman. I your average guy that doesn't quit. It's really that simple.

A & B do not conflict. Do both over and over again.

What does that look like in real life?

Real Estate

Long ago I wrote out plans in my notepad to create a mega company. But what industry? How quickly? How?

Answer 1: cosmetics. King crab on the east side of Canada was and is a huge business. Legs are sold to restaurants but there's too much waste of the body shell. Shell dried can be crushed into powder. Powder is used in makeup! Huge, massive business opportunity. And I was in my early 20s... full of piss and vinegar. Confident little F*ck.

So I called all friends and found a buyer for the said dry shells, in China. Volume would be almost unlimited.

Next challenge. Called up a few businesses and learned that they pay to dispose of the "waste". They'll gladly give it ALL to me if I just arrange someone to pick it up.

Listen, I just won a lotto. I am about to become a mega millionaire. Free shit that's worth a fortune if I just dry it and ship to China! How much more luck does one need?

That's why I am so rich today and wiring to you all my advice from a private jet plane!
Nope. That's not how the story ends, but it is a good story. I totally f*cked up the execution part. I was such a little "brilliant" confident F*ck that I didn't think "process is king", I thought my idea was worth a F*cking billion dollars. Oh looking back, was I ever wrong. I F*cked it up. I made zero.

Answer 2: shoes. Bruised but not beaten, I leaned further into my "entrepreneur" self. Still in my 20s I come up with the next billion dollar idea. I'll beat Nike in shoes. A classmate from Asia happens to be from a family that owns a factory making sneakers. We were going to be partners. I am great at sales + numbers. Weird but mighty combo. I called retailers, lined up the Bay (they were huge back then, now struggling like most). We had manufacturer on standby.

That's why I am so rich today and wiring to you all my advice from a private jet plane!
Nope. Boy's parents decided their son was going to "grow up" and do it himself. They bankrolled him under a condition of no partners. He was beyond useless and I wasn't going to work FOR him. It all fell apart.

Answer 3:... I won't bore you with the many others. I aimed so high.

The bottom line is this. I feel I was born to be an entrepreneur. I imagine success like standing in a line up. As long as you don't quit... Eventually your turn comes!

Imagine if throughout all that, I didn't do anything else? I'd have nothing. Instead, I kept reflecting. Kept writing plans and thinking back. Eventually when I found (wish it was sooner) MJ's Unscripted book, it was perfectly laid out. It explained my shit experiences AND my successful ventures.

I continued getting my education, then jobs (yikes, but yes!), side-hustles! then promotions, learning, more side hustles... then first successful business, then the big one.

The key is that I got better. A lot better. Hear me on this: If I had to do it with what I am capable of today, I'd scale the cosmetics company into a giant venture! I wasn't good enough back then. And that's ok.



Thanks Andy, this is exactly right. This is what happened to me. I started getting pretty damn good at some things. I realized the real answer for me was Real Estate. I've ran teams, made the right calls, made money on my own properties and it's just been a blast for me. It hasn't been just good, it's been consistently great.

Why is that? Because everything I did before became my "lever". My "Jobs" taught me all aspects of having a larger business that I now use, including relationships (example: bankers knew me before I went on my own). My "side hustles" kept the fire of entrepreneurship alive (and made me extra money).

And here I am, just getting started! How can I turn this into a multibillion dollar company?

But this thread isn't about me. It's about how to succeed for young forum members like @mikecarlooch

Mike - the Video Guy!

Let's dive into specifics! Hopefully others can help too (calling @Kak, @Vigilante on top of already engaged contributors).

Mike, how do you make money? What is working? What is NOT working?

Applying CENTS, what are you most worried about?

You clearly have the finger on the pulse of how social media works. But your execution (from what I've seen on LinkedIn) isn't great. You failed to get many likes on most of your posts. How do you reconcile that with your plans for expansion? Are you listening to what the market is telling you? What is it telling you?

And what is your main business? Video editing or teaching how to go "viral"? How can we help you get there? What parts of this (or other threads) are most useful? And more importantly, what changes have you made to your process?


il_fullxfull.2314246116_p2fl.jpg

I resonate a lot with what you said here. I recently changed my signature to reflect my path, so that other people can see a job, freelancing, agency, 2 successful businesses (no Cents yet), and the evolution continues.

I just wish I could link to all the threads that talk about each stage... Hrmph.

Answering this question is tough for me because at the core I understand that you've basically laid it out all for me already above, and I don't know what else to ask for.

There is a quote I like that maybe can answer this - "Eliminating friction upfront before revealing the ultimate form of simplicity"

The simpler something can seem, even if it's not simple, seems to be easier to grasp.

If I may be so presumptuous...

It sounds like you lack a greater vision for your life.

Or, perhaps you have a somewhat nebulous greater vision of your life, but you lack specifics for it.

And most importantly, you feel like you need a road map to figure out how to get there.

Without the road map, you don't know what the next step you should take is.

Does that sound right to you?

Hopefully my previous comment might get you thinking in a new direction.

I'm also curious if my hub strategy wouldn't also apply to you. And if I'm right about you feeling like you need to map out a plan, then read the story that I share about meeting MJ.

(Links in bio. I am becoming more like @Andy Black every day... Lol)
 
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mikecarlooch

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Okay you've built a skill. Why aren't you building a brand?

I don't mean a brand that helps people with their TikTok videos. Loochmedia is a fine idea, but it's not your fast lane.

Why aren't you taking your skills, and, I don't know, selling your own brand of dumbbells or hats or muscle shirts...

Taking that one step further.

I don't know the dumbbells or hats or muscle shirts actually solve any problems that you want to be solving.

But what is a problem that you want to see solved, and you think you can invent a product for it?

Can you invent that product, and then leverage your super awesome social media wizardry to get the word out about your own product?
OK now this makes sense to me.

Now to put another puzzle piece together, I have another question.

I've got a list of probably 100 different product ideas that I've scribbled onto notebooks and probably 100 more in the notes app of my phone when in creative states from the last 5 years, and all of them look good to me, which obviously is never the case lol.

What types of questions would you ask yourself when choosing through a list like this?

How much time do you take to think about product ideas like these before jumping into them?

And when do you know if a product idea is a flop and you should retreat? (I ask this because I get extremely obsessive over things and have a hard time walking away from things that I've started)

Makes me think I should probably take a day to relax and think about this.

Is the answer to go back through and read TMF again? probably lol.

Why I've never thought about inventing a product? Good question. I don't know.

Hopefully I'm asking the right questions now..

If I may be so presumptuous...

It sounds like you lack a greater vision for your life.

Or, perhaps you have a somewhat nebulous greater vision of your life, but you lack specifics for it.

And most importantly, you feel like you need a road map to figure out how to get there.

Without the road map, you don't know what the next step you should take is.

Does that sound right to you?
In a way, yes, the main issue is that I actually have goals that are so clear but so long term and large and not having a clear path to achievement is the cause of lacking clarity.
Hopefully my previous comment might get you thinking in a new direction.

I'm also curious if my hub strategy wouldn't also apply to you. And if I'm right about you feeling like you need to map out a plan, then read the story that I share about meeting MJ.

(Links in bio. I am becoming more like @Andy Black every day... Lol)
I'll check these out. Thank you!
 

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What types of questions would you ask yourself when choosing through a list like this?
We have three constraints as business owners.

Time.
Money.
Knowledge.

Most people say you should go after the idea that has the biggest possible return. That is certainly one way to go. But it also often leads to analysis paralysis. Especially if you don't have the requisite knowledge to be able to birth it.

That's @Antifragile 's crab story all over again.

Personally, I asked myself things like...

Which one of these ideas am I capable of executing on today?

Which one of these ideas will take up the least amount of my time?

Which one of these ideas can I execute on the fastest?

Which one of these ideas will tie up the least amount of my funds?

Which one of these costs the most money to start? The least?

Which one of these ideas will make enough profit that I bring people on board the fastest?

After asking myself a series of questions like that, I usually take a look at the answers and the choice becomes pretty clear.

Worst case, then maybe you at least have it narrowed down to two or three ideas.

And then I start talking to some people. Doing some market research. Coming up with a game plan in my head for stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 of the company.

And remember this, you don't need all the stages in order to start executing on stage 1. That's what that MJ post is all about...

Hope that helps.
 
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mikecarlooch

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We have three constraints as business owners.

Time.
Money.
Knowledge.

Most people say you should go after the idea that has the biggest possible return. That is certainly one way to go. But it also often leads to analysis paralysis. Especially if you don't have the requisite knowledge to be able to birth it.

That's @Antifragile 's crab story all over again.

Personally, I asked myself things like...

Which one of these ideas am I capable of executing on today?

Which one of these ideas will take up the least amount of my time?

Which one of these ideas can I execute on the fastest?

Which one of these ideas will tie up the least amount of my funds?

Which one of these ideas will make enough profit that I bring people on board the fastest?

After asking myself a series of questions like that, I usually take a look at the answers and the choice becomes pretty clear.

Worst case, then maybe you at least have it narrowed down to two or three ideas.

And then I start talking to some people. Doing some market research. Coming up with a game plan in my head for stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 of the company.

And remember this, you don't need all the stages in order to start executing on stage 1. That's what that MJ post is all about...

Hope that helps.
@BizyDad

I have a long way to go and I know speed is key here.

But just so you know these 2 messages helped me a lot. I never considered something else as a possibility.

Thank you !
 
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We have three constraints as business owners.

Time.
Money.
Knowledge.

Most people say you should go after the idea that has the biggest possible return. That is certainly one way to go. But it also often leads to analysis paralysis. Especially if you don't have the requisite knowledge to be able to birth it.

That's @Antifragile 's crab story all over again.

Personally, I asked myself things like...

Which one of these ideas am I capable of executing on today?

Which one of these ideas will take up the least amount of my time?

Which one of these ideas can I execute on the fastest?

Which one of these ideas will tie up the least amount of my funds?

Which one of these costs the most money to start? The least?

Which one of these ideas will make enough profit that I bring people on board the fastest?

After asking myself a series of questions like that, I usually take a look at the answers and the choice becomes pretty clear.

Worst case, then maybe you at least have it narrowed down to two or three ideas.

And then I start talking to some people. Doing some market research. Coming up with a game plan in my head for stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 of the company.

And remember this, you don't need all the stages in order to start executing on stage 1. That's what that MJ post is all about...

Hope that helps.

I can say this helps me at a time when I suffer from decision paralysis due to so many options. I screen shotted those 6 questions and wrote on a paper and went on my wall. Thanks man.
 

Antifragile

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Coming up with a game plan
Boom. Do that on paper. Real paper! Old school, not some Google docs or Notion.

Try it. Changed my life.

You can’t write as much garbage by hand as on a computer. Helps to narrow down best ways to get to the end goal.


Edit: also, please don’t be “reasonable” when choosing what venture to pursue. I don’t focus on the most profitable or most likely to succeed. I focus on what I think has the highest need in the market.

OK, you’ll say “but then I’m not the one to do it. Didn’t you tell me I need expertise?”

Who said it has to be your expertise? Leadership solves this problem.

Money? Who said it has to be yours?

You get the point. Lean into the market. Be unreasonable! Aim high. Just never stop doing the little things that already work.

It’s like a barbell strategy. Does it make sense?
 
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Antifragile

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Another way to put it:

Never create a product that’s looking for a problem to solve.

Too many died on that hill…

But you all already know that.
 
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Ah. My bad. I thought you'd dropped TikTok in favour of LinkedIn.

Would it be better to focus on one format (video) and focus where you've got skills, experience, traction, and an audience (TikTok?). Posting text on LinkedIn is very different from posting short videos on TikTok. I think your content is even different on both.

As you know, I was mucking about with video last year then decided to stick to my strength and build on that instead. I still post a bit on LinkedIn and Facebook, but that's mostly text I've posted to the forum.
Yes probably - the TikTok in-app editor + phone camera has been the best attention-getter ever.
 

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The secret to scaling up.​


Imagine a tailor who has little experience with suits making a one of a kind suit for you. Imagine he had to get it right the first time! It's not going to end well. And that's just a suit.

That's how most people approach business. They have this big spark! Great idea that launches them and then they must create this big thing.

---
Let's back up a little

The story begins in 2010, in Shanghai. We are at one of the most expensive seafood restaurants and ordering a fish. Not just any fish but one that was just flown from Hong Kong. The inspected fish is perfect and to ensure this is the one that gets cooked... our host makes a unique cut.

The host of our lunch was a mega successful entrepreneur in his 50s. He not only launched great businesses, he took them public and created perfect exits, not once but 3 times. He owned properties across the world and happened to have one in Canada, which is how we met.

He told me to quit my job and start a business. His advice was "think about scaling up". Does that remind you of anything?

CENTS - see that S? :rofl:
---
There is a reason why it gets harder to become an entrepreneur as you get older. With age and higher income, you have more responsibilities and more to lose! We feel losses +/- 4x harder than gains, so me being a high earner ...

My host said "quit your job now, it'll only get harder as you get promotions".

Hey, great post, and loved the fish story. Thanks for sharing @Antifragile.

I picked up the essence of your first post as this: Think Big but start small.

I think many people either can't adjust their thinking to be bigger and get wrapped up in the small stuff (e.g., "freelancing") or just start too big and end up shooting themselves in the foot and completely paralyzed (been there a few times myself).

Although, the problem with the person stuck in perpetual freelancing or the highly paid employee afraid to let go of the golden goose is really the same. It's, like you said, the fear of losing what you already have (whether it's $2k per month or $20k, loss is loss). That's why most people get stuck in linear opportunities doing the same thing longer than they should. They fail to make step changes and think bigger.

As Sam Altman once said - "I am willing to take as much time as needed between projects to find my next thing. But I always want it to be a project that, if successful, will make the rest of my career look like a footnote." He's clearly embodying this philosophy now, as I can't really remember what he did before his current startup -> Open AI. Note: this does imply that you have some initial success to build upon. If not, then go back to step 1: start small and keep going!

A great new book I recently read on this subject and mindset was "Burn the Boats" by Matt Higgins (Shark Tank guest/investor).

Creative process is *slow*, *painstaking* and intensely *iterative*.

Totally agree. Even for soft industries and creative skills where the stakes are "lower" (e.g., art, entertainment software, creative writing). I've noticed it takes a minimum of 1 year of iteration and practice before I can even reach a baseline level of "good" and gather enough knowledge to know what's what. Before that, there's always a bit of delusion creeping in. Year Two onwards is where it really starts.

This is another common trap many people fall into as well. Not being able to ascertain how good they really are. This is more prevalent in today's ego-driven instant gratification culture and quite easy to fall into even if you are aware of it (been there as well). The best skill to develop is self-awareness (thinking slow helps here), and a refined taste/eye/vision to be able to improve and know where you are headed. Some people have the self-awareness but not the taste. In this case, you need more experience to be able to judge your work objectively, and going back to part 1 also - Think Bigger. Others have the taste but not the self-awareness to know where they stand. In this case, you need to be more honest with yourself (less ego-driven) and keep improving and getting feedback (also experience).

Combine the two (cultivating excellent taste (thinking big) + the self-awareness to reach there (thinking slow)) into a *slow*, *painstaking*, and *iterative* process over a few years (experience) ... and well... that's where the fireworks start! :fire:
 

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I committed to myself that if I can just keep it this simple, and not get distracted by narratives in my head, and just go at that for 90 days without judging myself, I could gather more serious data.

@Antifragile I also have another question that I've only recently caught myself on and have been trying to make a real effort to change - and I'm sure others may have this issue too - Sometimes I find myself falling into a scarcity mindset, and I'm realizing how much impact it's had.

Sometimes I catch myself viewing the glass half empty as opposed to half full, feeling like opportunities are slipping away, and like markets are shrinking rather than growing.

Have you ever experienced something like this? And if so, how did you empower yourself to think in an abundant state of mind more consistently?
Hey I can relate on what are you saying and my method to empower myself is to take an AAR (After Action Report) from what happened and I ask myself "what went well?" and I will write what went well generously and then ask myself "what went wrong?" and I will be brutally honest with myself and tell what went wrong and ask myself "Did the temporary defeat affect your life? How so?" and will reflect on what's running on my mind when executing what's need to be done and ask myself "How can I fill my gaps?" and there's the discomfort starts and I just think what will fill the gaps and adjust accordingly. It's hard but if you don't do it, you'll not make it. I also reframe "mistakes" as "opportunity" to learn and adjust what's needed to be adjusted. And don't worry about big things since greatness is doing a lot of small things done well.
 
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I may steal a little bit of @Kak thunder from another thread:
Do I think you should use your hard earned job savings to fund a business? Not really. Your business, at least in my opinion, should reach outside of any resources you will likely amass from a job over a couple of months or even years. I understand I differ on that from a lot of people.

This is another "Secret" to Scaling Up - leverage outside resources!

Resources come in different forms:

Capital / money.

If you need more money, who says it has to be yours? Seriously. That's a limiting belief.

  • A family office that's managing a billion dollars isn't going to care about investing $1MM with you! Why? Because it's too small of a number to even other underwriting a deal. Unless you want $10M+, it's not with it for them to even look at your deal. Let that sink in.
  • A retired grandpa who's living on fixed income may invest in a REIT because he has no access to deals that are available to accredited investors. But the yield/return on such deals is much better. The world isn't fair. It never was and never will be.
  • People with money have a problem - they need yield on their money! It's hard to find good yield.

If you need experience...

  • You should bring something tangible to the table, you must be great at something. But that does not mean great at everything!
  • Say you are building a company, your product is kick a$$ but you suck at sales/marketing. You are an engineer type. Get a partner who is nothing like you! Think Steve Jobs to Steve Wozniak.
  • You now have something that works, but you want to scale it - great, hire people who are better than you. Yes, do not let the ego of "I must be the smartest guy in the room" stand in the way of success! That's stupid. Yet how many people end up hiring dumbasses just to make themselves look good? Too many.
Network, contact etc.
  • The whole world is there for the taking guys. I've met a few billionaires. How? The most recent example is simple: catching up with a banker who's been working with me for a long while. He mentioned a famous local billionaire and said that we'd get along. Without skipping a beat, I said "Introduce me, send him an email and copy me now please". Yes, dear reader, no time like the F*cking present! Now. Now it happened. When I got back to the office, I picked up the chain email and invited him for a lunch. Auto reply came from his EA. I called her and booked a time.
  • The point is simple but profound: whatever you are lacking, it's available somewhere. If you are introverted, you must have at least one friend who is not and can help you get through to whoever you need to get to.
Lastly, about pitching and getting investors... you may wonder "how". The process is simple (not easy!).

Having done this well for over a decade, I noticed a pattern. Big ticket investors look at only three (3) things, in this order:
  1. The people.
  2. The deal itself.
  3. The numbers.
People first. If they do not trust you, you are shit out of luck. You heard me. If you are an asshat who thinks moral compass is for losers, you are a loser. Good business is done by good people and its key element to the Secret of Scaling Up. And note that Trust means a lot of things: trusting that you are an honest person, trusting that you are experienced enough (or your team/company) to know how to deliver the results etc.

The deal is 2nd. If you are pitching a real estate deal to a small PE firm, you won't get anywhere. Know your audience, the PE firm probably wants a small "boring" business, not a RE deal. The deal must match the audience appetite. Do your homework.

The numbers. What are the returns on the investment? People with money (theirs or managed funds) all have the same problem. They are looking for yield. Here is the funny part... everyone I talked to over the decade + of doing this says the same thing "if you got 1 & 2 right, 3 is always right". Meaning if you have people you trust, and the deal you like, numbers always work. Why? Because good people wouldn't bring you a good deal that doesn't pencil on the numbers.



PS. @BizyDad sorry to disappoint with no "new" thread. It's a big part of getting scale. Think of Elon Musk. He's where he is because he leveraged public money, engineering talent, relationships etc. It is truly part of the "Secret" of Scaling Up.
 
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I may steal a little bit of @Kak thunder from another thread:


This is another "Secret" to Scaling Up - leverage outside resources!

Resources come in different forms:

Capital / money.

If you need more money, who says it has to be yours? Seriously. That's a limiting belief.

  • A family office that's managing a billion dollars isn't going to care about investing $1MM with you! Why? Because it's too small of a number to even other underwriting a deal. Unless you want $10M+, it's not with it for them to even look at your deal. Let that sink in.
  • A retired grandpa who's living on fixed income may invest in a REIT because he has no access to deals that are available to accredited investors. But the yield/return on such deals is much better. The world isn't fair. It never was and never will be.
  • People with money have a problem - they need yield on their money! It's hard to find good yield.

If you need experience...

  • You should bring something tangible to the table, you must be great at something. But that does not mean great at everything!
  • Say you are building a company, your product is kick a$$ but you suck at sales/marketing. You are an engineer type. Get a partner who is nothing like you! Think Steve Jobs to Steve Wozniak.
  • You now have something that works, but you want to scale it - great, hire people who are better than you. Yes, do not let the ego of "I must be the smartest guy in the room" stand in the way of success! That's stupid. Yet how many people end up hiring dumbasses just to make themselves look good? Too many.
Network, contact etc.
  • The whole world is there for the taking guys. I've met a few billionaires. How? The most recent example is simple: catching up with a banker who's been working with me for a long while. He mentioned a famous local billionaire and said that we'd get along. Without skipping a beat, I said "Introduce me, send him an email and copy me now please". Yes, dear reader, no time like the F*cking present! Now. Now it happened. When I got back to the office, I picked up the chain email and invited him for a lunch. Auto reply came from his EA. I called her and booked a time.
  • The point is simple but profound: whatever you are lacking, it's available somewhere. If you are introverted, you must have at least one friend who is not and can help you get through to whoever you need to get to.
Lastly, about pitching and getting investors... you may wonder "how". The process is simple (not easy!).

Having done this well for over a decade, I noticed a pattern. Big ticket investors look at only three (3) things, in this order:
  1. The people.
  2. The deal itself.
  3. The numbers.
People first. If they do not trust you, you are shit out of luck. You heard me. If you are an asshat who thinks moral compass is for losers, you are a loser. Good business is done by good people and its key element to the Secret of Scaling Up. And note that Trust means a lot of things: trusting that you are an honest person, trusting that you are experienced enough (or your team/company) to know how to deliver the results etc.

The deal is 2nd. If you are pitching a real estate deal to a small PE firm, you won't get anywhere. Know your audience, the PE firm probably wants a small "boring" business, not a RE deal. The deal must match the audience appetite. Do your homework.

The numbers. What are the returns on the investment? People with money (theirs or managed funds) all have the same problem. They are looking for yield. Here is the funny part... everyone I talked to over the decade + of doing this says the same thing "if you got 1 & 2 right, 3 is always right". Meaning if you have people you trust, and the deal you like, numbers always work. Why? Because good people wouldn't bring you a good deal that doesn't pencil on the numbers.



PS. @BizyDad sorry to disappoint with no "new" thread. It's a big part of getting scale. Think of Elon Musk. He's where he is because he leveraged public money, engineering talent, relationships etc. It is truly part of the "Secret" of Scaling Up.
I like it in this thread. I have something I’m working on and I’ll post it here to support the discussion as soon as I have it.
 

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I like it in this thread. I have something I’m working on and I’ll post it here to support the discussion as soon as I have it.

Look forward to other additions Kak. But I have to admit, your keep hitting on gold with your posts elsewhere that apply here too!

Another “secret” to scaling up is … ethics!

You did a great job explaining in its own thread. Readers please go here:
Thread 'Business Ethics- Kak vs Dragon'
MINDSET - Business Ethics- Kak vs Dragon
 
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I saw this clip on YouTube and figured this would be a good thread to share it -

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n6LrehCPOQ


@Antifragile (or others) - What are your thoughts on this clip? Is there anything you'd add to it?

I'm mainly asking because I understand how powerful what Steve is talking about is - but I'm trying to understand it deeply.
 

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I saw this clip on YouTube and figured this would be a good thread to share it -

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n6LrehCPOQ


@Antifragile (or others) - What are your thoughts on this clip? Is there anything you'd add to it?

I'm mainly asking because I understand how powerful what Steve is talking about is - but I'm trying to understand it deeply.

Mike, thanks for the tag. I saw this video a few times already. Like most things with Steve Jobs... circulated videos are amazing advice, perfect delivery and I just love the man for such brilliance. On the other hand, I happen to know one of his old friends (yes, small world) and he was a real a**hole in life. He wasn't always like that, in fact back at his early days in the university before he dropped out, he lacked confidence. His mentor (an older student, now a mining billionaire himself) helped him unleash the Steve we all now know.

The point I am trying to make for you is simple. Don't listen to me, Steve Jobs etc. Seriously. You know enough theory already. The trick now is going out there and building that scar tissue. Listen to @Vigilante's latest value bomb of an episode about his worst day. THAT, my friend, builds scar tissue.

Of course I agree with Steve Jobs - consultants don't get that kind of scar tissue as what @Vigilante earned the hard way. Shit, just imagine the pressure so strong, you can't even breathe. You are grasping at air with shallow breaths, it's like it is not you anymore. Sadly, I don't need to imagine. The good news is that once you've been through hitting that "bottom", the fear of doing great things isn't there anymore. You won't be afraid.

People often wonder (and some told me to my face) where I get my confidence! I've earned it the hardest way there is. Steve Jobs did too. Remember... he was fired from Apple!

Now it's your turn - what will you do? How far will you go out of your comfort zone to build scar tissue?

Success, Mike, is often just a matter of hanging on, surviving...
 

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Wow. I am humbled by how popular this thread became overnight. Thank you all.

But there has been some disagreement, which is healthy! Allow me to push back on "experience is for suckers, I can do this out of sheer will and look at me making money fast, winning winning winning!" nonsense.

How important is experience? How important is slow/long planning?​


Some people think that if you aren't failing, you aren't trying hard enough. That my method is too slow. That deliberate approach to improving yourself is outdated and all the internet businesses are taking over.

Creativity (even in how you make money) requires a muse, not experience, not slow thinking / planning. True/false?

Hmm...

What do the following projects have in common?
  • Jaws movie
  • Sydney Opera House, &
  • Electric Lady recording studio

All projects believed creativity is something mysterious and spontaneous. It cannot be scheduled or planned.

“Necessity is the mother of invention”

And succeeded too.

These sexy stories of projects that had no plan, no budget and …

Somehow they not only made it, but are cemented in history.

Why do planning when you “work best under stress”?

Wouldn’t it be better to let what’s natural just be?

No No NO

Daniel Kahlerman wrote in Thinking, Fast and Slow that using reference-class forecasting is "the single most important piece of advice regarding how to increase accuracy in forecasting through improved methods".


Let's back up a little ...


The problem here is that projects that fail miserably are forgotten.

Projects that run into trouble but succeed are remembered and celebrated.

Survivorship bias. Overlooking those projects that failed is a bad mistake.

Sydney Opera House story:

The city held an international competition to design an opera house, and it was won by a Danish architect named Jørn Utzon. He was a relatively unknown when he won this competition. The final bill was 1,400% over estimate, one of the largest cost overruns for a building in history!
And the whole thing destroyed Jørn Utzon's career.
Have you heard of his other projects? Exactly.

But you may counter that Jaws was 300% over budget, no experience, no plan and yet somehow box office made more. It made careers. The odds of that happening are 20% based on a sample of over 2,000 projects.

80% chance it’ll be over budget and under expected value. That’s bad odds!

A Canadian story:

Note that all Olympic Games suffer from "eternal beginner syndrome" because they are done every 4 years and in different countries, no experienced team does it often enough. Each country is a beginner.
  • 1976 Montreal Olympics, result?
  • 720% over budget
  • Montreal Gazette said “Olympic stadium cost so much it took 30 years for Quebec to pay it off”
How much worse could it be?

My take remains and is supported by data:

Creative process is *slow*, *painstaking* and intensely *iterative*.

It applies to your small business as much as to the little "lego" parts of the enterprise you are building. It literally applies to everything.

Just like a world class surgeon will always command a $7-figure "salary" after "wasting years getting experience"... but if you needed that surgery, would you rather have someone who didn't train as long? nope.

Still in doubt?

Aristotle said that experience is "The fruit of years" and argued that it is the source of what he called "phronesis" - the "practical wisdom" that allows us to see what is good for people and make it happen, which Aristotle saw as the highest "intellectual virtue".

Next time you fly somewhere, remember that you want the flight attendant to be the optimist, not the pilot. Can you imagine hearing from the pilot "I am optimistic about our ability to get there, I took an online course last night"?

I rest my case.
Bump.

Needed to read this very slowly to understand it fully. For some reason whenever examples are used from sources that I'm not aware of, it tends to make me bored and miss the message.

After reading Mastery by Robert Greene, this makes so much sense.

This is so important, it might be one of your best (and you have many) posts
 
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I've had a glimpse into @Antifragile's business and the new offices they just constructed. If you had any idea who this guy was, you'd stop waiting for Elon Musk to stop by, and you'd go back in the forum and read every one of his posts like I am going to do over the next week.

What I can promise you from what I learned is @Antifragile is here with a pure motive to give back, and you and I are the recipients. Drink it in while it lasts and ask him questions while you can.
 

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What I can promise you from what I learned is @Antifragile is here with a pure motive to give back
Can confirm that @Antifragile is a legend.

I've started creating a notebook with all the wisdom I'm learning from the fastlane forum, and one of his posts is the first page in the notebook.
 

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I've had a glimpse into @Antifragile's business and the new offices they just constructed. If you had any idea who this guy was, you'd stop waiting for Elon Musk to stop by, and you'd go back in the forum and read every one of his posts like I am going to do over the next week.

What I can promise you from what I learned is @Antifragile is here with a pure motive to give back, and you and I are the recipients. Drink it in while it lasts and ask him questions while you can.

Wow Dave, you are being too kind. Thank you. :love:
 
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Wow Dave, you are being too kind. Thank you. :love:
Not really. That’s not what I’m known for. Now get back to work as I didn’t intend to stroke your ego and we have shit to do.
 

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What a thread! Oh My God!
This is huge. I can't imagine I have just got through it today. Wisdom upon wisdom upon wisdom.
because not moving and not going fast doesn't feel good, leading to an unresourceful state of mind.
Yeah, sure it doesn't. It sucks. I feel it now that my original deadline has gone down the sewer. I will never quit. I have never been a quitter. But my execution will get better with experience. And that's leverage. Or part of the lever.
I love how it takes me like 17 paragraphs to say something that Andy can say in five sentences.
Andy will ask you a question that stops you, and realise shows you how blind you have been. And shows you how to get moving in the proper direction.
If you need more money, who says it has to be yours? Seriously. That's a limiting belief.
This is serious. For me it is even more serious. Extremely serious. I don't know whether to get a loan or something else.
People with money have a problem - they need yield on their money! It's hard to find good yield
They are right to have this problem. Everyone must have this problem.
whatever you are lacking, it's available somewhere.
Means it is up to me to find it.
Success, Mike, is often just a matter of hanging on, surviving...
Love this. Comes at the right time.

Many thanks indeed @Antifragile for this thread. Thanks @MJ DeMarco for clearing away the stress. It has been a very peaceful reading.

My first time to take notes from the forum. I will need a new notebook.
 

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After reading this thread I kind of feel "permission" to keep it simple, for lack of a better word.

50 Social Posts Per Day across all platforms
$15-$50 / Day on FB engagement ads (to retarget people)
50-100 Outreach per day
Finding ways to automate this process as time goes on (to get a business in the area of fastlane commandments)
Make offers, fulfill promises

Ps: all of this is already being done daily, which I'm proud of myself for.

I committed to myself that if I can just keep it this simple, and not get distracted by narratives in my head, and just go at that for 90 days without judging myself, I could gather more serious data.

@Antifragile I also have another question that I've only recently caught myself on and have been trying to make a real effort to change - and I'm sure others may have this issue too - Sometimes I find myself falling into a scarcity mindset, and I'm realizing how much impact it's had.

Sometimes I catch myself viewing the glass half empty as opposed to half full, feeling like opportunities are slipping away, and like markets are shrinking rather than growing.

Have you ever experienced something like this? And if so, how did you empower yourself to think in an abundant state of mind more consistently?

I've wasted 3 years of my life due to glass half empty mindset. It's literally paralysed me.

I haven't done much outreach really because all I can think of is the people saying No I'm not interested or even worse things.

I've spent months trying to craft messages that I think are perfect and nobody will say no to, I send a few out and when I get No's I go back and do the same thing again for months. I'll procrastinate in anything but the outreach.

I get up in the morning I feel utter dread at the thought of sending outreach messages.

Yet I read through some of my competitors reviews, their customers sound amazing, and I think to myself I'd love to find some people like that. Plus I know then there is a need for what I'm offering.

If I did literally nothing but outreach all day for my business I don't think it's possible to fail. Yet months and years have gone by now and I've never gone past £3k a month with this business.

Although in my previous businesses people came to me when they needed help, so it's a different experience for me. Plus I've been through bankruptcy and nearly losing our house because of past business mistakes. It's seriously affected my mindset more than I ever imagined.

I had 52 pence in my personal/business account combined a few days ago as I was waiting for some clients to pay.

That's literally what I've got to show for in 20 years of business.
 
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Antifragile

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I've wasted 3 years of my life due to glass half empty mindset. It's literally paralysed me.

I haven't done much outreach really because all I can think of is the people saying No I'm not interested or even worse things.

I've spent months trying to craft messages that I think are perfect and nobody will say no to, I send a few out and when I get No's I go back and do the same thing again for months. I'll procrastinate in anything but the outreach.

I get up in the morning I feel utter dread at the thought of sending outreach messages.

Yet I read through some of my competitors reviews, their customers sound amazing, and I think to myself I'd love to find some people like that. Plus I know then there is a need for what I'm offering.

If I did literally nothing but outreach all day for my business I don't think it's possible to fail. Yet months and years have gone by now and I've never gone past £3k a month with this business.

Although in my previous businesses people came to me when they needed help, so it's a different experience for me. Plus I've been through bankruptcy and nearly losing our house because of past business mistakes. It's seriously affected my mindset more than I ever imagined.

I had 52 pence in my personal/business account combined a few days ago as I was waiting for some clients to pay.

That's literally what I've got to show for in 20 years of business.


Would you mind sharing your mistakes? Lessons learned?

What is your new plan? How will you succeed? With both mindset and business?

What do you desire for your next 20 years?
 

Paul David

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Would you mind sharing your mistakes? Lessons learned?

What is your new plan? How will you succeed? With both mindset and business?

What do you desire for your next 20 years?

I'd say the biggest mistake I've ever made and still do, is not take action on the biggest thing thats going to move the needle in the business at that time.

I've read most best selling business books and biographies of successful business people. I've got all the knowledge I'll probably ever need to make a lot of money right now, but if you spend time doing the wrong things or nothing at all you end up like me.

I liked the other thread aimed at younger forum visitors saying give up social media, I myself wouldn't say I'm addicted to social media but I'd certainly say I've now built up an addiction to "consuming" irrelevant information.

There's also a tendency to over analyse things, as Mike said further up in his post that if he sees another competitor doing the same it kind of pisses him off and invokes negative thoughts. I'm the same.

I think that there's a lot that can be said for experience in business but that can sometimes work against you, the experiences I've gone through have eroded a lot of the self belief away that my younger self used to have.

You'd think I'd be eager to make amends to past mistakes, even a few days ago I went the shop with my Wife to buy something and I knew there was only £27 left in my account, thankfully what we put in the basket came to just under £26 as I was praying I wouldn't have to suffer the embarrassment of my card declining.

I'm down on what I need to be earning each month, stress levels are through the roof with it and its causing issues with her. Does it make me go out and get a part time on the side? or even get back in front of a computer and start doing outreach? Cold Call maybe? Send an email? Send someone a DM?

Nope, i get back in the chair and tweak something on my website, or try and make the outreach message better. I'll occasionally get a referral from one of my clients and pick up and extra client or two but thats it.

One of my higher paying clients wanted to delay her new campaign last week and start it in June, meaning her payment I was expecting was delayed. I'd have probably earned more money working at Mcdonalds this month now. I've literally had to tell her that I have another client in her area who wants to work with us (they don't) and if she could pay at least 50% now. Shes said yes and last night I emailed her the invoice, still no payment but I don't want to sound too desperate but really need to get it paid.

An 18 year old kid could probably take over my company and build it up to £10k a month in no time, does he have more experience than me? nope. He does have no fear, he'll take action on what he needs to do.

At this moment it feels like the only thing thats going to jolt me is a health scare where I get told I've got something bad to get me out this rut. It's bizarre, it's like my hand will not move the mouse to do what needs to be done.

Sounds crazy but its lasted years now, at least when COVID was happened I could hide behind that as excuse.

In 20 years time I still want what I always have, freedom. I'm 42 never had a job working for someone and I'm completely against trading 5 days for 2 of a weekend and waiting for retirement. My actions say the opposite though.
 

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You know what the funny thing is. If I was working in an office with business partner for example I'd have no hesitancy in doing the outreach and probably having a laugh together at some of the rejections.

Sounds ridiculous I know. My parents left me in an arcade when I was young boy (they thought I'd left with other family members as there was a big group of us and no mobile phones back then). They realised I was missing when they got back to the caravan site and drove back and I was sobbing in the arms of a woman.

Maybe thats got something to do with my fear, I don't know ha.
 
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I'd say the biggest mistake I've ever made and still do, is not take action on the biggest thing thats going to move the needle in the business at that time.

I've read most best selling business books and biographies of successful business people. I've got all the knowledge I'll probably ever need to make a lot of money right now, but if you spend time doing the wrong things or nothing at all you end up like me.

I liked the other thread aimed at younger forum visitors saying give up social media, I myself wouldn't say I'm addicted to social media but I'd certainly say I've now built up an addiction to "consuming" irrelevant information.

There's also a tendency to over analyse things, as Mike said further up in his post that if he sees another competitor doing the same it kind of pisses him off and invokes negative thoughts. I'm the same.

I think that there's a lot that can be said for experience in business but that can sometimes work against you, the experiences I've gone through have eroded a lot of the self belief away that my younger self used to have.

You'd think I'd be eager to make amends to past mistakes, even a few days ago I went the shop with my Wife to buy something and I knew there was only £27 left in my account, thankfully what we put in the basket came to just under £26 as I was praying I wouldn't have to suffer the embarrassment of my card declining.

I'm down on what I need to be earning each month, stress levels are through the roof with it and its causing issues with her. Does it make me go out and get a part time on the side? or even get back in front of a computer and start doing outreach? Cold Call maybe? Send an email? Send someone a DM?

Nope, i get back in the chair and tweak something on my website, or try and make the outreach message better. I'll occasionally get a referral from one of my clients and pick up and extra client or two but thats it.

One of my higher paying clients wanted to delay her new campaign last week and start it in June, meaning her payment I was expecting was delayed. I'd have probably earned more money working at Mcdonalds this month now. I've literally had to tell her that I have another client in her area who wants to work with us (they don't) and if she could pay at least 50% now. Shes said yes and last night I emailed her the invoice, still no payment but I don't want to sound too desperate but really need to get it paid.

An 18 year old kid could probably take over my company and build it up to £10k a month in no time, does he have more experience than me? nope. He does have no fear, he'll take action on what he needs to do.

At this moment it feels like the only thing thats going to jolt me is a health scare where I get told I've got something bad to get me out this rut. It's bizarre, it's like my hand will not move the mouse to do what needs to be done.

Sounds crazy but its lasted years now, at least when COVID was happened I could hide behind that as excuse.

In 20 years time I still want what I always have, freedom. I'm 42 never had a job working for someone and I'm completely against trading 5 days for 2 of a weekend and waiting for retirement. My actions say the opposite though.
Paul - thank you for sharing this. It's VERY helpful.

My biggest takeaway lies in being very cautious where time is spent and that anything that doesn't involve true market engagement is something to be suspicious of, even if it feels like you're getting somewhere.

One of the biggest things I've learned recently is the importance of control in goals.

I've written goals and always felt let down when I didn't achieve them.

But the reason they weren't achieved is because I had no control over them.

Declaring that I was going to make X dollars in X time period was a useless goal.

In reality I now realize - the real focus should be this:

1. Find something that works by trying out a bunch of stuff
2. Pick a number of times to do that thing so that you reach a particular outcome
3. Do it consistently, every day
4. Get creative in how you can scale that thing that works (people, software, creative solutions, etc)

I recently heard the following said:

If a goal does not increase the amount of customers you get, the amount a customer is worth, or the enterprise value of your company, it is likely not a goal worth pursuing.
 

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An 18 year old kid could probably take over my company and build it up to £10k a month in no time, does he have more experience than me? nope. He does have no fear, he'll take action on what he needs to do.
Find him. Then get him to cold call and all the rest of it, pay him a commission, 20% of your monthly revenue for at least 1 year, he doesn't have to do anything apart from sign up the client.

If you can't do something, stop trying to force yourself to do it, as it's obviously not working. You've been trying for 20+ years. Find a way to get it taken care of without YOU doing it.

You'll be surprised how common this is with agency owners though... It's why I've done so well with my AI outreach system for agency owners... some people simply can't do these things, so the easiest solution is to have them NOT do it and build a system that handles it for them
 

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