Young entrepreneurs fall into the fallacy of having to reinvent the world.
We watch Shark Tank and think we have to create a brand new product.
We scroll through social media and feel like we need to have a lavish lifestyle to be successful entrepreneurs.
What if I told you you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to succeed as an entrepreneur?
Short term thinking is ruining a generation of bright minds. Everything has to scale rapidly, and there’s a need to be a millionaire in your twenties.
Rocket ships are a high risk – high reward business. But if the chance to get a reward is 0.01%, is it still a viable business model?
People have criticized me for being boring. I run a successful business. Why wouldn’t I scale and aim to be the biggest agency in my country?
Because I don’t care.
My values center around having low levels of stress, fun, paying my employees on time, and delivering outstanding work for my clients.
There’s nothing wrong with building a boring business. It’s often the better solution.
Imagine never having to worry about making payroll, not having to calculate a burn rate, or leaving people on the street when you have a rough patch.
All those success stories are built upon survivorship bias. We concentrate on the small number of entrepreneurs that have become billionaires by disrupting the economy instead of looking at all those that failed and face a massive debt.
Slow but steady wins the race.
For most businesses, you don’t have to scale to live the lifestyle you want.
When you create a service business, you can comfortably do what you want without ever hiring an employee, especially when it involves tech.
Let’s say you run a marketing agency. All you need is a computer and a (fast) internet connection. You have 0 recurring costs if you stay lean.
If you close three clients for a $1000 monthly retainer, you can expand and buy a few tools or a better desk. Mind you; you don’t have to do this. You can pocket the $3000/month.
So why do agencies scale? To save time.
My agency currently has five people and a nice office. Our team uses several tools, such as Ahrefs, Mailerlite, and Shopify. Those are costs, but they might make you more money in the future.
The tools allow us to save time, and we can bill it to our clients if they want to use it. By using the tools, we have built the knowledge to provide more value for our clients.
Why did I hire employees? To have more free time. I think time is priceless, so I try to have it as much as I can.
Having more free time allows you to explore more opportunities. It allowed me to start this blog, take a vacation or dabble in things like SEO (which we now sell as a service, so the ROI on free time is valuable.)
But you don’t have to scale. You can stay small and enjoy all the benefits of having no payroll, office lease, or recurring invoices.
I know many entrepreneurs who have a small business (5 employees max) that easily pay for their lifestyle with their yearly revenue. You don’t have to be big; you don’t have to build that rocket ship.
Why do you want to build a rocket ship?
Mostly because it’s cool, young entrepreneurs chase fame and fortune.
They’ve watched ‘The Social Network’ or look at the lavish mansions and cars of the successful entrepreneurs.
I’ll let you in on a secret. Those entrepreneurs did not do it for fame nor fortune.
They wanted to change the world, and many of them have. Think about services like Facebook, Airbnb, or Snapchat. Mostly tech-focused, but they changed how we lived our lives. I’m sure their primary goal wasn’t buying a Lamborghini.
If you genuinely feel like you will reinvent the wheel, go ahead. I’m not one to crush dreams. Just be aware of survivorship bias and the risk you will be taking.
Living a comfortable life with enough money to do what you want doesn’t require a rocket ship. You might not have a yacht AND a mansion, but you might have one or the other. It all depends on how good of an entrepreneur you are.
Don’t be afraid to be boring.
I love being boring. No amount of money will change my future vision.
All I want is a life where I can develop my skills, spend time on my passions, and have enough cash to pay for my lifestyle. I don’t need a Lambo; I don’t want a private helicopter.
All I want to do is spend enough time with my friends and family, take a day off without feeling guilty, and pay the people who work for me without stressing how much cash is in the bank.
I’m proud of building a boring business; you should be too.
