You know what makes me angry in the business world?
Like, genuinely mad, fuming even? It doesn’t have anything to do with the sins I talked about in my book, this one is just plain frustrating and not instructive.
I’m talking about treading water. When I’m chatting with an owner of some company that’s been doing the same darn thing for 5+ years and never got anywhere further than being a tiny agency? When said owner is constantly trying to survive on short-term, small projects and keeps running on the same pointless treadmill of cold sales?
It’s infuriating.
Just like when I see a product that’s been around for years and brings exactly enough in revenue to prolong its own agony. Such a waste.
Clearly something you’re doing isn’t working, but yet you keep doing (or failing to do) the same things over and over and over until your entire operation decays and falls into obscurity. I hate this wasted potential, I’ve seen far too much of it growing up in post-Soviet Ukraine, I really don’t want to witness more of this destructive stuff. It’s a bit like PTSD.
Actually, the other side of that is why I like the Blockchain world, now that I think about it. It’s very fast paced.
You fail or you don’t, but it’s quick and you can tell which of the two is happening in the first year already. There’s no or at least very little treading water here. There just isn’t.
Yes, you can find a lot of shady stuff and tons of scams – but also an opportunity for real entrepreneurs to get shit done. It’s refreshing.
I think this is another thing we should all be conscious about, whether our business is in the emerging market or an established one. We better make darn sure that we can easily tell if we’re failing or not, and if we are – fix it or kill it, whichever comes first.
I know I’m rambling a bit. The takeaway?
If you find yourself stuck with your business for over a year – seek help, for God’s sake, don’t just wallow in agony like most of these no-name guys end up doing. Doesn’t have to be me, but it can be. Just snap out of this mentality that tomorrow is gonna magically be better, ‘cos you have another thing coming. Go out and earn that tomorrow.