In this insightful discussion, the host explores the common entrepreneurial trap of seeking novelty and challenges at the expense of established success. He shares stories, including one about a neighbor who sold his trash business for a hefty sum and planned to replicate his success in the same industry, to illustrate the wisdom of leveraging existing expertise rather than starting anew. He emphasizes the importance of redefining growth as improving one's ability to persevere rather than constantly seeking change. The host also discusses the dangers of allowing personal insecurities to dictate business decisions, proposing instead the creation of new challenges within the current business framework and setting multiple metrics for success. By introducing constraints and focusing on providing value to the customer, entrepreneurs can continue to innovate without undermining their business's foundation.
"We desire novelty. We desire challenges. We want growth, right? But the thing is, is that we think growth means new."
This quote highlights the common entrepreneurial mindset that equates growth with pursuing new and different ventures, rather than deepening expertise in a current field.
"I plan on starting another trash business and selling it right back to the guys who bought my last one."
The neighbor's plan to re-enter the same business he knows well suggests an alternative view of growth that focuses on leveraging existing knowledge and skills.
"I think that a lot of times we could redefine growth as meaning we develop the character traits to be able to persist and continue to do the same things over and over again, right?"
This quote proposes a redefinition of growth that emphasizes perseverance and mastery over the pursuit of new endeavors.
"The business doesn't exist to satisfy our internal deficiencies, right? And that's usually what most of us build it. We're insecure, we need connection, we want status, right?"
This quote discusses the problem of entrepreneurs building businesses to fulfill their personal voids rather than focusing on the value provided to customers.
"I'm going to stop doing this and then I'm going to enter a new arena where everyone else has been doing that for ten years, and there are other kingpins in that arena, and I'm going to try and relearn everything from ground zero and then try and beat them."
This quote captures the daunting task entrepreneurs face when they abandon their area of expertise to start anew in a different industry, highlighting the steep learning curve and competition they will encounter.
"If you were to gain at the same pace as the marketplace, which, by the way, when you're smaller, is really easy, right? It's 10% a year."
This quote emphasizes the ease of growing at market pace for smaller businesses and the substantial wealth that can be achieved by maintaining this growth over a long period.
"We end up breaking the thing that is actually working just fine because we have these interpersonal needs that we're trying to satisfy."
This quote highlights the common mistake of entrepreneurs disrupting their functional businesses due to their personal issues, rather than focusing on their clients' needs.
"Where to channel that is to create new front ends or new back ends."
This quote suggests focusing on modifying the existing business model, such as marketing and product delivery, to innovate without jeopardizing the business.
"Whereas if you start creating more businesses to satisfy your add, then what ends up happening is, well, you have lots of businesses and you don't have any money."
This quote warns of the financial risks associated with starting multiple businesses to fulfill entrepreneurial cravings rather than concentrating on the success of a single enterprise.
"The only metric for success that I had was how much profit and how much increase in net worth I had at the end of the year."
This quote reflects a common but limited view of success focused solely on financial gain.
"Can I increase my net worth and have a good marriage? Can I increase my net worth and be in shape?"
This quote suggests incorporating personal life goals into the definition of success, balancing financial achievements with personal well-being.
"And so that was one of the things that I did over the last twelve months was like, ok."
This quote indicates the speaker's recent implementation of time constraints as a new metric for success to maintain interest and challenge in their business endeavors.
"Ay, I want to build something that does a billion dollars a year in revenue, which is the goal for the portfolio. And transparently we're not there. We're at about $85 million a year across our portfolio."
This quote outlines the speaker's ambitious revenue goal for their portfolio and transparently recognizes the current status, which is well below the target.
"You have to make good decisions and you have to let compounding work in your favor."
This quote highlights the speaker's strategy of relying on wise decision-making and the power of compounding interest to grow their portfolio.
"Because if we have the 85 million and we grow by 10% a year, in 20 years, we'll probably be there."
The speaker provides a rough estimate of the time frame required to reach the billion-dollar revenue goal with a steady growth rate.
"The first level of achieving any goal is learning how to sacrifice everything to achieve the goal, which I think candidly, I don't know many people who are super successful who haven't done that."
This quote underscores the speaker's belief that sacrifice is a common denominator among highly successful individuals.
"I will outsacrifice everyone. So when my competitors are going out to dinner, when my competitors are hanging out with their kids, when my competitors are hanging out with their wives or being good husbands, I was like, I will get ahead."
The speaker describes their personal mindset of prioritizing work and success over other aspects of life, which they believe has contributed to their success.
"But the question is, can I build a billion dollar a year revenue portfolio working two or three days a week, right. And can I do that also while being in competitive shape physically, right. And working out one to 2 hours a day because I like it, can I do all of those things?"
This quote reflects the speaker's current challenge of balancing a significant revenue goal with personal well-being and time management constraints.
"So when I was in college, I ended up pledging a fraternity, and it was a very hard pledging process hard being like time consuming."
The speaker shares a personal anecdote that illustrates an early experience with sacrifice, which has informed their approach to achieving success.
And it was because they forced me to do 3 hours a day, every single day of homework.
The quote highlights the impact of enforced structured study time on the speaker's academic performance, leading to good grades.
And if you do 3 hours a day of work every day, and this is what I realized in college, the days that you don't have work to do, if you still work 3 hours, you get ahead on a future work.
This quote emphasizes the realization that consistent daily work, even without immediate assignments, prepares one for future tasks.
I just didn't do anything besides work, work out and go to class.
The quote underscores the speaker's commitment to prioritizing essential activities to achieve academic success.
I never worked past 09:00 p.m. And I went out most of the nights of the week.
This quote reveals a balance between disciplined work and maintaining an active social life, suggesting it is possible to succeed without overworking.
Throw my day. And so when I started applying that same kind of concept to business, it was actually fairly easy for me because I was so used to sacrificing everything, I just switched over what I was sacrificing for.
This quote explains how the discipline of sacrifice in academics was easily applied to the speaker's business endeavors.
I think that you have to learn how to sacrifice first in order to learn how not to sacrifice later, right?
The speaker suggests that initial sacrifice is essential to understand the value of balance and moderation later on.
I think you have to achieve something before you can give it up, right?
The speaker believes that understanding the value of something often requires first possessing it before choosing to live without it.
And that's how we can eliminate the desire for the thing, because we truly know what it's like to have it, right.
This quote explains that desires can be overcome by experiencing and understanding the true nature of what is desired.
So big picture here, multiple metrics of success don't change your business just to challenge yourself.
The quote advises against altering a successful business model solely for the sake of self-challenge, advocating for alternative ways to find satisfaction.
And if neither of those things are what you want to do, then just use constraints to create challenges in your own business that improve your life in other ways.
This suggests using self-imposed constraints as a means to create challenges that can lead to personal and business growth.
He's like, why would I learn another business when I'm already really good at this one?
The speaker shares wisdom from a neighbor who questions the logic of starting over in a new business when one has already achieved mastery in their current field.
He doesn't use his business to satisfy his interpersonal desires. He used his business to create wealth, which was the whole point.
This quote distinguishes between using a business for personal fulfillment versus using it as a means to create wealth, highlighting the neighbor's practical approach to business.