Ten years of business lessons in one post.
1. You're likely to lose friends.
Going 100mph towards your goals will lose you friends and supporters. But that’s okay—you’ll find better ones at your destination.
2. Business isn't fair.
You can play fair but don't expect others to follow suit. Some people will not play fair, but they win when their unfairness changes your behavior. If you avoid losing, you also avoid winning.
3. Growth requires growing pains (not joys)
Scaling Gym Launch from $7M to $27M in under 2 years was one of the most painful experiences of my life. Your mind is rarely at peace. And the amount of problems that come up when you scale so quickly is exhausting. Hard times today are us footing the bill for the traits we wish to have tomorrow.
4. Do not mistake a luxury for a requirement.
People use a lack of motivation, vision, and purpose as excuses not to start. Motivation comes from responsibility, not the other way around. Seek responsibility and motivation will take care of itself.
5. No such thing as imposter syndrome.
There's just inexperience, insecurity, and sucking before you're good. When I was 24 I felt like an impostor leading a team of 120 people. Do something a thousand times and tell me if you still feel like an impostor.
6. Success doesn't make you feel better.
My first time scaling Gym Launch, I felt constant anxiety and stress about not being good enough. I kept thinking “Once I hit certain levels of success, the pain will go away.” Success doesn't solve these problems—they just sit in a different category.
7. Delegate and reinforce.
When you delegate, you're trading the time spent doing the task for the time it takes to reinforce and reward it. As your business scales, you need to become the Chief Reinforcement Officer. Delegation > Abdication.
8. Titles don't make leaders, actions do.
Look for those who already have followers in your company. Who do people listen to? That's who I've promoted. You don't make someone a leader by giving them a title—you make official what's already happening. You make what’s obvious, official.
9. Strategy is saying “no.”
You have to say no to 99.9% of opportunities to say yes to what really moves the needle the most. At Gym Launch, we chose to start a supplement company over international expansion. Even though both companies were successful, I'm certain we'd have been 2-3x more successful focusing on expansion.
10. When to do something new?
When you cannot do anything anymore or better, do something new—but be damn sure you've exhausted all options first. Most people underestimate how much juice they can squeeze out of what they're currently doing. If you’re not executing at a 10/10, it’s likely not your strategy that’s the issue.
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