Any tips on how to cheat?

[Coblong]

Hi there fastlaners...

I have just finished reading The Millionaire Fastlane and can honestly say it's one of the best books I've read and I've read a lot. Maybe it just caught me at the right time but it resonates so well with me and how I am feeling about my life right now.

I am a London-based "entrepreneur" who has been grinding away (and not really getting anywhere) for about 6 years now. My company has had some modest wins but I have not seen any fruit from these wins. The business is doing better and better but I am constantly struggling financially even though I don't think we live that lavishly. And the most depressing thing about my situation is that I can't see it improving any time soon without drastic changes.

On the plus side, I have been able to extricate myself from my business a bit so it's not consuming all of my time anymore. Then, about a month before I started reading The Millionaire Fastlane I started working on a new business venture that is quite out of my comfort zone.

This new venture feels a lot more fastlane than my main business but I am a bit concerned by chapter 44 "Choose Monogamy Over Polygamy" in TMF . Unfortunately, I can't just drop my main business at this stage.

So...does anyone have any tips or advice on how to get the best results with 2 businesses? Is it ok to cheat on my new love with the old ball and chain?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Treat your current business as a job, your new business as the Fastlane venture.

Incremental progress, small wins. Don't make big moves until your new Fastlane venture forces you to.

In effect, your struggle is the same as someone with a normal, full-time job.

 

[Antifragile]

If you really want help, you'll have to be a little more vulnerable and brave enough to share details.

It's not as simple as you may think.

For example:

• why is your current business not doing as well as you'd like?
• what if you decided to 10x your current business, what must happen for that to become a reality?
• how relevant do you think is your state of mind (excitement) over a business to the value your customers perceive?
• what makes you think the new business will do better?
• what if you are wrong?
• how are you changing your style, approach and business based on what you read in MJ's books?
• what were most surprising revelations "aha! moments"?
• by stepping aside from your business to free time, was that a decision because you were "tired, demotivated" or because it was the right thing to do for the business?

Lastly, Elon Musk runs a number of businesses... what does that fact mean to you?

In short, what are you doing to get better? YOU may need to get a lot better. It may not be about your new business at all and you are potentially asking the wrong question on this forum.

 

[Coblong]

Treat your current business as a job, your new business as the Fastlane venture.

Incremental progress, small wins. Don't make big moves until your new Fastlane venture forces you to.

In effect, your struggle is the same as someone with a normal, full-time job.

Good points. As much as it pains me. Thanks MJ

 

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[Coblong]

If you really want help, you'll have to be a little more vulnerable and brave enough to share details.

It's not as simple as you may think.

For example:

• why is your current business not doing as well as you'd like?
• what if you decided to 10x your current business, what must happen for that to become a reality?
• how relevant do you think is your state of mind (excitement) over a business to the value your customers perceive?
• what makes you think the new business will do better?
• what if you are wrong?
• how are you changing your style, approach and business based on what you read in MJ's books?
• what were most surprising revelations "aha! moments"?
• by stepping aside from your business to free time, was that a decision because you were "tired, demotivated" or because it was the right thing to do for the business?

Lastly, Elon Musk runs a number of businesses... what does that fact mean to you?

In short, what are you doing to get better? YOU may need to get a lot better. It may not be about your new business at all and you are potentially asking the wrong question on this forum.

Thanks Antifragile, you've given me a lot to think about there.

There are a lot of things I don't like about my current business. The vision has completely changed, we have a dysfunctional/absent board, disinterested investors, we raised too much money, my relationship with my partner has broken down, and more.

What would need to happen to fix it and 10x it? That's a good question that probably comes down to effort vs reward. Do I think the potential upside is worth the effort? I will have to put more thought into that.

As for the new venture and what I am doing differently, that ties into me extricating myself from my current business. I am a software guy and I used to do it all. Working 12 to 15 hours a day 6 days a week and getting pissed off that nobody was pulling their weight. At the same time, my team was miserable because they felt that I didn't trust them to do anything. I tried cutting back but that didn't work. In the end, I decided to stop coding altogether which was a big chunk of my time. Development slowed down but morale improved.

So going forward, my new ethos is to do as little work myself as possible. Automate where I can and hire where I can't.

Thanks again for your response. Really helpful

 

[Antifragile]

Thanks Antifragile, you've given me a lot to think about there.

There are a lot of things I don't like about my current business. The vision has completely changed, we have a dysfunctional/absent board, disinterested investors, we raised too much money, my relationship with my partner has broken down, and more.

What would need to happen to fix it and 10x it? That's a good question that probably comes down to effort vs reward. Do I think the potential upside is worth the effort? I will have to put more thought into that.

As for the new venture and what I am doing differently, that ties into me extricating myself from my current business. I am a software guy and I used to do it all. Working 12 to 15 hours a day 6 days a week and getting pissed off that nobody was pulling their weight. At the same time, my team was miserable because they felt that I didn't trust them to do anything. I tried cutting back but that didn't work. In the end, I decided to stop coding altogether which was a big chunk of my time. Development slowed down but morale improved.

So going forward, my new ethos is to do as little work myself as possible. Automate where I can and hire where I can't.

Thanks again for your response. Really helpful

While you ponder the other stuff, here's more based on your reply.

There is this misconception that you must do everything yourself at some point. Then there is this misconception that you must outsource everything asap and do as little as possible. Both are wrong.

I tried to document my thinking here, and this model worked for me very well over the years.

GOLD! - EXECUTION - 8 Steps To Help You Plan for Business Success, a How-To Guide

Planning is essential to the success of any business. But what exactly should you be planning for? And how do you know if you're over-planning? There is no one way, but it is better to have a method than not. Before we go on, I lied in the title - there are no 8 steps, there never are the 8...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Sidebar comment:

- I view my commitment to investors as sacrosanct. If you leave your business and leave your investors with losses, you've done yourself a disservice. Unless it is something out of your control, you don't run away from your commitments. The world is just too small for that even if your moral compass allows for it...


Good luck.