124. The Secret to Becoming an Overnight Success

We are going to give you the real view of what it's like to grow and scale a business. Spoiler alert. It sucks.

This was the first Christmas in four years that I didn't feel like the world was ending and I was depressed and anxious and sad and thought everything was going to go to zero and just wanted to end everything.

The bottom line here is you have to do the work. Anything worthwhile requires an abnormal, abnormal amount of time if you want to succeed.

And also you have to give up stuff you're going to it was 0:40 into October and now we're calling back. It is a load of nonsense that anything is an overnight success. Welcome back to another episode of the Ben and Bergs Podcast. I'm Ben, your favorite high school dropout and founder of Collective Shift alongside me as Bergs, your favorite MBA and CEO of Collective Shift. Join us as we bring you world class crypto research and strategies to help you dominate this crypto bull market. As well as a behind the scenes view of us scaling a fully remote crypto subscription business here in Australia. And today, ladies and gentlemen, we're giving you one of those behind the scenes looks of us building Collective Shift fully remote crypto SaaS research company for the last three and a half years. And we're talking about the secret to becoming an overnight success now. Not gonna lie to you folks, bit of a clickbait title because it is a load of nonsense that anything is an overnight success.

And mate, no, we've done this title specifically because you see this bullshit everywhere. On Twitter, on LinkedIn, whatever the hell I was. I was only $600,000 at Facebook and then I quit. Can you believe it? And then in three months my company is making a million dollars a month and it's all absolute horseshit. We are going to give you the real view of what it's like to grow and scale a business. Spoiler alert. It fucking sucks, man.

My favorite is how to go from working a 9 to 5 job to earning $10,000 a month without lifting a finger.

Oh, amazing. And it's literally anyone that. Yeah, yeah, working a 40 hour week. If you own a business, you're working like minimum 60 hour weeks because you have to do everything. It's not just your job. Like do people get paid? Are the customers coming in? Why are they refunding? Has this payment gone through? Now I've got this HR issue now someone's trying to sue me. Oh, we're out of money again. Oh my God. And all of a sudden people are like, you Guys are an overnight success. And how long have you been doing this for, Ben?

Yeah, I've been building in crypto for. This is coming up on seven years now. Collective shift, three and a half years. So.

Yeah, and you did have some success at the start when it was the other business, but success is not a good teacher at all. And the last three and a half years have been mental. And it was really highlighted to me how crazy it was for you when we were just breaking for Christmas and you said how you were feeling before you went in.

Yeah, this is sort of set the episode up. So this was the first Christmas in now four years that I didn't feel like the world was ending. And you know, I was depressed and anxious and sad and thought everything I was going to go to zero and you know, like was just tied to my computer and just wanted to fucking end everything.

And if we go back like the last three Christmases, you know, the first Christmas in the business, we'd been around for six months and had a huge business.

Business partner separation. Everything was going to shit. Media legal losing 20, 30, 40% of our revenue overnight down only. It was horrendous. And I just remember not knowing what to do. I was in a state of panic. This is when I started to talk to Aaron about potentially coming on and helping me. I was trying to hire people to come and help. I had no idea. It was just a complete nutter disaster.

You were worried that people were going to rock up to your house as well because of what had transpired with your previous business partner.

Yeah, I had to move house. It was just. It was disaster. All of it was just horrendous. The following year was. Was not the same problems, but different problems. We'd sort of built a base, we'd sort of leveled things out, but I was completely broke. The business was broke. We're losing money. I just broken up with my ex girlfriend. I was living out of a suitcase. It was just like. It was just. We're just losing a lot of money. We're trying to raise money. The market was down 75%. It was just horrible.

We bleeding. We were bleeding customers a lot. No one cared about crypto.

No one coming into the space. No one gave a fight for Whoza. No one knew who we were. Disaster. So back to back disasters.

And we didn't even. We didn't even have a brand. So the previous business partner was pretty much the face of the business. He was the brand and we had to rebuild that. You had to get in front of Everyone and start creating content.

Yeah. Which I swore I'd never do. And then I kind of had to. Was forced into it. Yep. And the last Christmas was again, completely different and still awful because we were getting sued for just some absolute nonsense reasons. We end up, you know, winning, winning that very, very comfortably. But at the time, it was just a pain in the ass to deal with. That was over Christmas. It started just before Christmas and ended just after Christmas. And that just took all my attention away from enjoying the time away and the break. So, yeah, that was as well, was just another thing that all businesses, business owners go through, but you just don't ever see or hear about.

And it was wild as well, where, you know, we didn't have much money, so we had to downsize our team. Then you went to the States, couldn't raise money. Went to Dubai, ended up raising money. We're like, hey, great, we've got money. And then you get a lawsuit that hits. And you're like, why is this happening? This doesn't even make sense. But I have to treat it like it's a real thing. Even though you know it's bullshit, Your lawyer knows it's bullshit, but you have to go through the motions. You're still wondering what's going to happen because of all those, like, things that happened in the lead up to it.

And yeah, Ben, when you gave your.

Talk in Perth, you were kind of at ao, were describing all the things that happened in the business and everything that's, that's been done to get us to this point. And I remember one of the questions the guy was saying, did you realize like, that you're just in this constant, like, panic and anxiety loop?

He was like, do you feel as though you're able, you're ever going to be able to get out of this anxiety and stress loop? And at the time I was still anxious and stressed, so I was like, well, I don't know, mate, we'll soon find out. And then coming into this Christmas break off the back of December being our best month ever. November and December being unbelievable months for us. Like literally 40 months of just, you know, just in the weeds, in the dirt, grinding, not winning. And then the last two months being winning. I have come into the Christmas break with no reason to stress, no reason to panic. And it has been extremely weird and difficult to remain not stressed. My body and brain is like, seeking out things to be stressed about, like seeking out overthinking, looking into things, trying to hunt down that stress and anxiety.

Isn't it Wild man, how your body's just like, yeah, everything's fine. I remember when we had that exec meeting, like, a week ago before Christmas, and you were just so happy. You're like, well, this is weird. You're almost like crying. You were so happy because there's nothing to worry about.

Yeah. Losing tears. And then, you know, it's only been sort of a week or so, sort of working on and off. But, yeah, it's crazy how the body sort of seeks that out. And, you know, if we look back over the last number of years, like, we. We nearly ran out of money a number of times. As you said, the team had to take pay cards. We severely. We took big, big cuts to downsize the team. We really had to bunker in and. And get through this. And constantly we questions ourselves. You know, are we really doing this? Even at that EO talk where, you know, one guy was like, ben, like, why are you doing this? Like, not only the anxiety, but, like, you do know that the. There is this thing called opportunity cost where you put, you know, you're putting your time and attention into something else where you could make a lot more money doing something else. Like, why are you doing it? And it was kind of a. You know, at the time, my answer was, and still is the this day is like, I just had so much conviction and still have so much conviction in this space that if everything is true and crypto is going to be bigger than it is now, and we use more digital payments and finance than we do now, and bitcoin is a part of the world more than it is now, then we will have such a huge opportunity in being able to help educate people and get on board into this space than any other of our competitors in a way that we can genuinely help people and really change the lives of everyone that joins us and the people that work for us and our lives. It's. It is an amazing feeling, not to say I didn't question that a number of times over the period. My fuck is this? Like, am I right, Ben? Am I just crazy? And now to see the last two months come to fruition, it just makes everything so much lighter.

And we didn't. We didn't quit. We kept going. We did a bunch of social media that's compounded over time. And if you think about why you stayed and did all of that, it's because you're literally all in, right? Like, you made a bunch of money in crypto, you took that money and you ended up buying this business, saving all of the employees, everyone that was there and then went through all the stuff that we talked about and had to rebuild it. You're locked in.

Yeah.

What was even more interesting was I remember at the EO Talk, one guy asked me, he's like, well, you've taken a pay cut. You're doing less hours. Like, why are you staying around? I'm like, because. Awesome. And I love the game. Like, I like the. I like the company. I like the freedom. I like my role. And I understand that this is a seasonal business. Right. If things are right at the bottom of a bare market, we're not going to make tons of cash. But when a bull market hits, I've seen what this business can do previously, and now we're starting to get a taste of that. And that doesn't mean that you just hunker down and do nothing and just have a skeleton team. You still have to perform on top of all that crap every day. You have to deliver content. You got to do Bennett and Berg, no matter how crap you're feeling. We have to do tweets, we have to do LinkedIn. We have to engage with our customers. And that is compounded so much that all of a sudden, we're an overnight success, and businesses are reaching out to us to procure our services, which is just crazy to me.

It is. And I think now being in the thick of it for three and a half years and now coming out the other end, the lessons and just insights that I share with everyone is that nothing worth having is easy. And.

That future that you want to build for yourself is not as easy as what people make it out to be.

And not to say that we've hit any sort of level that we're, you know, content or happy with. We've got a long way to go. But I guess what I'm trying to share openly and honestly with anyone that listens to podcast is like, shit's just fucking hard, man. Like, it is just brutal. And if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. And that. That is in all facets of what I've learned in life, particularly in crypto. People that are selling the dream, selling the courses, selling the returns, selling the life that you want to live in an easy way is just bullshit. All of it is. It's not. It's not reality. And because if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it. And if it was that easy, why is that person selling you that thing? Right? And I think to live the life that you want to live requires patience, requires determination, requires Knowledge requires education and requires a commitment to get through the difficult times. And Bergs has got this chart that, you know, he showed me recently around like the point of you giving up is usually, you know, just around the corner from when things get really good. And I resonated with that so much, but ours was a little bit different. I feel as though our point of like wanting to give up was a long way before we actually got to.

Where, oh mate, it was. There were so many f this moments where it's another thing, another thing, another thing. But we keep going and going and going. And anyone that you know that's successful, it's because they've put in the hours. You know, you don't get extreme outputs without extreme inputs and you don't get huge rewards for being average. And what we're talking about here is showing up every day and doing the hard thing. And I wrote this down. This is actually my, my journaling this morning. And successful people talk about this in different ways. Jocko will say, freedom through discipline. David Goggins will say, stay hard. Stutz the psychologist will say, place the next pearl on the string. James clear from atomic habits get 1% better each day. And other ones, like talk doesn't cook rice or even Nike. Just do it. Mine is like f your feelings, like, even if you're feeling like crap, get out there and do it. You need to exercise, you need to show up to work. You have to do the hard thing. You have to have that conversation. And if you keep doing that time and time and time again, you will succeed and you will achieve your goals.

Yeah, I agree. And the same with athletes, right? Like, you know, I think they're one of the, you know, sectors of humans that work the hardest. You know, like they, they work tirelessly, day in, day out for this reward of like they might get, you know, 20 seconds or 10 seconds if you're running 100 meter race, the Olympics. Like they train for four years for this one event. You know, like it is, it is just really like if you, if you want to get into the, the top rewards, you have to, you have to put in the effort and then learn from other people that have done the thing. You know, that's been one of our lessons learned and what we do at Collective Shift is sharing you the lessons learned and insights that we, you have in crypto. It's a, it's a great way to fast track the work you have to put in. But you still need to know where to look and you still need to, you know, Put in the time and effort to, and have the patience, I think, to, you know, to get to that point.

Yeah, and having that outside insight as well, like through eo, going to our forum, bouncing off other business leaders, having strategic advisors in other fields, that has really helped us. That is huge. And look, the bottom line here is you have to do the work. Anything worthwhile requires an abnormal amount of time to be put into it. And this could be being an athlete, working your corporate job, working up your way to CEO, building a new business unit, your family, your relationships, whatever it may be. All of these things require an abnormal amount of time if you want to succeed in them.

And also you have to give up stuff like. Yeah, you know, for, for you burgs. Like, I mean, you know, you, you were working corporate, you were on a, on a great wicket. You were, you know, being, you know, to wicked. I mean, like, you remunerated pretty well for, for, for that role. And you, coming across a collective shift, you know, took a big pay decrease, took a big risk. You got a family, you've got a mortgage, you've got, you know, a kid, you took a big risk to come across for a brighter future. And like that. That's ballsy. Like, you've gotta, you, you've gotta have conviction there. You've gotta back yourself and back what you're going into. To, to let it pay off. And. God, you know, the first two years I'm sure you've thought about a number of times. What the fuck were you doing?

Oh, mate, I was talking to my mates where they're like, they're, they're working at their corporate jobs and they're talking about their problems. And in my head I'm like, mate, those aren't problems. I'm like, I've gotta quit and join your, your mob, mate, and like, you know, double my pay, let's go do that. But I'm doing this for a reason. And it's. Yes, it's to generate wealth and own part of a business and everything, but to also put my skills on display, have that freedom, have that independence, spend some time actually growing something. See what it's like to run a business and a team and do it remotely and do it in crypto. All of those things are way more important to me than money. Because when I look back and all the skills I've accumulated over time, if I'm not actually put those to good use, that's a waste. What am I doing with my life?

Yeah, that's, that's a. I think it's important because, I mean, what gets you through the tough times? Like, if it's not money because you're not getting paid much, money never gets.

You through the tough times. So even if you pay me, let's say, half a million dollars per year.

Yeah.

The things we've had to deal with, I would tell you, stick your money. Like, I am not taking half a mil to deal with that crap. There has to be something more. Like I want to prove something or I want to learn something or I want the personal growth, like the human I was 18 months ago is completely different to who I am today. And that is absolutely priceless. There has to be more. Something more that keeps you going, fulfilling that vision and that mission rather than just money on the table, because that will not keep you there when the times are really tough.

Yeah, man. Great call. Great call. So they have a. Folks, there's sort of our insights. This story is still unfolding. The chapter has not closed. We're still in the middle of building this thing. But we thought we'd share that with you after the last couple of months. You know, we, we, we were. We were. You know, it was. It was how many months? Three and a half years. So 12? 24, 36. Yeah, it was. It was 0 and 40. It was. Owen. 40 into October and now we're crawling back. It's 2. It's 2 to 40 coming into 20, 24. So if you're building something, if you're growing something, you're working on something, stick in there. Folks, if there's anything I can tell you when you want to give up, usually just around the corner when things start to get better or just a little bit down the road.

Absolutely. Like, if you're thinking about giving up, just push that little bit harder. If it's something that you believe in, is something you truly want, put in the effort. Do not give up. Put in the work. 100.

If you like this episode, we'd love for you to share with a friend or a family member. Share with them the Owen 40 story. Share with them how getting through the tough times is really going to get them up and about if they push through. Thank you so much again for listening. Benneberg's here coming to you each every week, twice a week. Crypto research. And a little bit behind the scenes of us building our crypto subscription business. We'll see you on the next episode.

Thanks, champions.