If I Had to Star Over [What I Would Do If I Had to Go Back to My 20-year-old self]

I've made a lot of mistakes in my career and my business ventures. I've literally lost over hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in opportunities and money that I've invested in. But if I was to look back and if I could go back to my 20-year-old self, if I can give them one lesson, if I can share something with my 20-year-old self, I would summarize it into one word and that is Akeel, focus. My name is Akeel Jabbar. Welcome back to another episode of SaaS District. What I want to talk about today is what would I do differently? What would I focus on? And what would I do differently if I was to start all over again back in my early 20s? So when I was in my early 20s, when I was in university, I started my own company while I was working. I would have a service company where I was recruiting engineers for tech companies, and in between classes, after classes, I would be doing cold calls. I'd be talking to clients, replying to emails. But then after a few months, after launching and running it for about 3 months, I was making about $10,000 a month, which is actually amazing, making more money than any of my classmates. And what I realized was instead of just continuing it at that point, I decided to, to stop working on it. I had a partner at the time. I decided to bring him in later on when I was making some money, decided to split the, the revenue. But a few months later, as I got into it, I just thought, you know what, I don't know how to scale this. I don't know how to grow this. I was getting overwhelmed. And instead of just figuring it out, try to bring somebody on to help me, I just decided to sell my shares to my partner for really cheap and just move on. I said, you know what, I'm done with this and I'm moving on to the next venture. So I only lasted in that company for building that company for about, say, 6 months and decided to move on. So looking back now, what I mean about focus is the real, real value when you're building a company actually comes from compound interest. And that comes when you focus on one thing and you go deep into it. Time over time is where you'll get the real rewards. So if I didn't know what was I getting into at the beginning, and over time, the first few months I was getting money and the revenue was coming in and I was building a team, but I had no idea what I was doing. But if I stuck to that and I focused on continuing to grow it, even if until today, I'm guaranteeing it would have been at least a 7 or even 8-figure business. All I had to do was just continue focusing and keep growing and learning and pushing myself until I hit that next level. And the next level and the next level. So, and I have another example of another friend of mine. Around the same time, he actually started a cleaning business. Okay, this sounds kind of boring, like what, a cleaning business? What is that? And he just started with one. He was just calling people and he offered, he bought a bunch of used equipment, cleaning equipment by himself, and he would get these little contracts and clean these little stores. And actually I spoke to him a few months ago and I asked him, how's your commercial business, cleaning business doing? He stuck to it. He stayed focused on that business and it's been about 5 or 6 years now that he continued to grow. And what he told me is like the real results come after about 2 years. That's when you'll get the real financial results of the, of your investment. Okay. And the surprising thing is now he's doing well over 7 figures with a cleaning business. He has big contracts with enterprise, big stores, big contracts all over. He has a team of over 50 employees managing all those, that work and he's having a good time and his business is doing really, really well. Okay, so that's number one is that's my first thing I would tell myself is start a business, focus on it and go deep until you get the real results, which will take time. Now, if I was to think again, really, what would I really do now? So that's the one thing is to focus on a business. But the thing is, what would I do once I know I want to focus? Personally, I think there's 2 areas that I would focus on now that I know what I know. I think the first option would be starting my own agency, and I'll tell you why in a second. Because I do like tech, I like startups, and I like SaaS. But the problem with that is you need to know— you have to have technical knowledge, you have to know what you're getting into, and it's quite expensive to get started and get profitable. Whereas with an agency, you can start offering services from day one, you can start collecting revenue from day one, you can gain experience, you can gain knowledge, and you can grow yourself as a human being and your strengths and your experience by working on client work. And by working on client work, you're basically getting paid to do work and learn on a client. All right, so that's the first thing. I would probably start an agency, probably a marketing agency. You know, it's pretty popular today. You know, I had a recruitment agency, which was kind of the same thing, which is easier to get by, but something around that realm where I feel I have a strong upper edge, where I feel I can add value, and I can go out there and offer services right off the bat because that's where you're going to get cash flow. So when you get revenue and that's where you're going to get the real learning. Okay. And I would continue to build it. If I decided I was going to get bored or I didn't want to do this, I think what I would have done differently is hire a manager, bring on somebody to take over and continue to grow it or sell it at a proper, uh, at a proper price and valuation rather than just selling it or giving up and shutting it down. So that's number one, starting an agency. The second thing I would do if I had little experience in my 20s, is I would join a high-growth startup at the early or maybe medium stages. Somebody who was already funded and they're solving a problem that's, that's going to, you know, maybe change the world or it's actually going to grow into something big where you see a high probability. And the reason why I would join a startup is because that's where I'm going to learn. Okay? I'm going to learn from the network. I'm going to learn through experience. I'm going to look for leaders who have experience, who know how to lead a company, and I'm going to emulate them. Okay, the best ROI in your entire career, okay, is to work closely with somebody who's in the top 1% of their industry or career or in their field. It'll show you what good habits are. It will show you what clear thinking is. It'll show you what perseverance looks like, and then you can take that and emulate it into a model that fits your own worldview. Okay, so that I would say is the fastest path to greatness. And that's what I would focus on. Find a leader, find a business where you just look up to them and you want to just learn up and soak up everything from them. It doesn't matter if you come in and work for them for free, if you intern with them, or it's the lowest level job. Prove yourself, work hard, hustle, and work your way up just so you can gather all that knowledge and all that experience. Then from there you can go, and once you feel confident and you've gotten the experience, you can go out and start your own startup from there. So that's number 2, join a high-growth startup at these stages where they've had some funding and they're growing quite quickly. Number 3, this might sound counterintuitive and people don't think about this, but I would move to a different city, okay? And I'll tell you why, because you want to be surrounded in a culture of other entrepreneurs. You want people who are high performers, who are leaders, who are hustling, who are doing what you want to do. Where are those people living? Where are they hanging out? Because that's where you're going to learn. And an important thing I learned recently in the last couple years, and I really, really try to be mindful of, is who I spend my time with. Because your network is literally your net worth, okay? Because who you surround with, who you know, who knows who, is always going to lead to other doors, leads to other opportunities. And it's— you can't do everything by yourself. So your network is your net worth. And surround yourself with high performers, leaders, entrepreneurs, or other people who call it mentors, who will guide you, give you a chance to be able to grow and lead your personal development and grow as a human being. Okay, so that's it, guys. If I was to go back and start again, move to another city, join a high-growth startup, or I would start my own agency. You know, it's really up to you, your own personality, but that's exactly what I would do if I was to start all over today. If you guys enjoyed this episode and you found it helpful, please comment below. What would you do if you were to go back into your 20s? Or if you're in your 20s, what are you currently doing right now to help you grow your entrepreneur venture? What are you doing right now to hustle and grow your own business? Please comment below, subscribe, and I'll make sure to see you guys on the next video.