The Startup Method That Exploded My Business Growth

So this is why a startup mentality is the ultimate unfair advantage. Startups innovate, they focus and they commit. Mature businesses often fall into maintenance mode. The goal is to inject that startup fire if you're coming out of the gate with something new or if you have an existing business. Most businesses flatline. Why? Because first off, they don't model proven practices. They just go at it like they have an idea and they're like, I'm going to make this happen no matter what, and they just go for it. Well, why do 80% of businesses, when they're started by a Solopreneur, fail within five years? 50% fail in the first year? Because a lot of times we have so much energy we want to go that we don't model someone who's already been there. And sometimes businesses, when they've been around too long, forget that. So you got to model proven practices, and startups do that so well. Also, they don't seek guidance, they don't seek mentors, they don't seek consultants. Right. They're like, again, I got this idea, I'm going to go for it. Rather than getting someone to guide them along the way, they focus on things that really don't matter. I've watched so many new businesses and businesses that have been around so long focus on the things that don't move the needle. Maybe they're easier, maybe they're innovative, maybe they're creative. But they're not moving the marketing, they're not moving the sales, they're not bringing in money. As a startup, when you have a deadline, you don't have that option. You have to focus on what really does matter. They pursue what flatlines a lot of businesses on the start or if they've been around for a while. Without a startup mentality, you pursue too many goals at once. I'm gonna get this done. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. If you're focused on multiple things, that means you have no focus at all. So how can we apply a startup mindset to all businesses? You see startups, they must win or they die. So how do you get a win? You have to manufacture real urgency, create stretch goals, and a strong deadline to force clarity. When you have a stretch goal, think about startups. I'm going to take over the world. I'm going to change everything. This is going to be the standout. I know 80% of them fail, but not me. They're creating such a stretch goal, and then they also Have a strong deadline. When you were in school, if you had homework due on Monday morning, why were you up at midnight on Sunday night getting it done? Because you had a deadline. So you have to force a deadline and sometimes you want to shrink it. Sometimes you want to take a three year goal and turn it into 12 months. You want to take a 12 month goal, turn it into three months. Because when you collapse that, it forces innovation, it forces creativity, it forces you to look through a lens that maybe you didn't before because you don't have the time which creates that innovation. And I said this before, but you want to focus on one thing. Startups. And again, I've been around so many of them lately, I've invested in so many startups, survive by doing only one thing thing. Some new entrepreneurs and those on the opposite side that have been in business while mature companies, they dilute their efforts without even seeing it because they got so many things focused on. Like I said earlier, if you got that one thing mindset, then we have to decide what to eliminate so you can go deep on what really matters. It's important to know what to say no to. Actually just as important, if not more important, what to say no to, as well as what do to what you must say yes to. Build a bold path. Innovation typically comes from pressure. If you go online right now and Google Fortune 500 companies, you'll see the majority of them were started during a recession or a down market. Under pressure. When you're under pressure, think about the biggest breakthroughs in your life. It was probably when your back was against the wall. Innovation, creativity, moving forward. Uncomfortable action happens when you're under pressure. So setting those stretch goals with a deadline force better strategies and new innovation. And then on the opposite side, don't optimize dead ends. Once you focus and you realize that you've been going down too many roads, find out what those dead ends are sooner than later and cut them. Reject comfort, commit to scaling, commit to going to another level. Commit to making those dreams become a reality. Listen, I heard once live the hard way now so you can live the easy way later. Think about in just typical terms or normal terms, right? If you don't take care of your health now, maybe it's easy to eat pizza, which I love. Pizza and pasta. Oh my God, right? And ice cream and sit on the couch and just veg out on Netflix, right? That's easy now, but it's hard when you're older, when maybe you're not as healthy as you want to be. That you didn't live into your full potential and you missed your window, right? It's harder to exercise now, but it's easier to be in your 70s and 80s and be healthy. It's harder now to live and reject comfort. To choose commitment over convenience is harder today, but that'll lead to an easier life later when your business takes off because you got that startup mindset. Remember, startups don't hope to grow, they have to grow. So live the hard way now and push that growth. It's time to stop playing, not to lose, and start playing to win. What do I mean by that? Especially in uncertain times, a shifting market, a shifting economy. Sometimes when we're out front trying to score goals, if you picture like a soccer team, all of a sudden you get a little insecure and you go, oh, I just don't want to lose. And you slowly back up and you just play goalie, protecting what you have. But if you're protecting what you have, you're not growing, you're not hitting your stretch goals. You don't have your deadlines, right? And you can't win by just playing defense. You have to play offense. So how do we use this in our business? Set a bold stretch goal. Be bold, be brave. Set something so big that it's uncomfortable, that it forces you to look through a new lens, to gain new skills, to model proven practices, to find people that can mentor you, guide you, and take you to the next level. Give yourself a 12 month deadline, a 3 month deadline, a 30 day line. Shrink the deadline to force you to move today. Audit what you're doing and then raise your standards. Build a focused scalable path. Watch what you need to do. Measure the growth and success you're having. A lot of times we make moves and we're not looking at what we've already accomplished. How it can take us to another level. We have to look, look forward to where we want to go. But we also got to peek in the rearview mirror and see, hey, we built this path, we're measuring it and we're moving forward. And then rally your team. If it's just you, rally yourself. Look in the mirror. Treat this like a true startup launch. Find that enthusiasm, find that naive craziness that lives inside of you that says I am doing this no matter what. You know, who makes it in business. Up market, down market, sideways market, innovative idea, taking something that already exists and making better. You know who makes it. Those hungrier, those that model proven practices. All the things we're talking about, but you have this level of hunger and startups have to have that or they don't survive. Lastly, some thoughts to ponder. What goal currently drives your business? What is the goal? Do you know it? Can you say it to me? If I met you right now, we were in an elevator just going up three floors and I said, what goal currently drives your business? Would you know? And even if you know it, whether you do or not, how must that goal change or evolve right now with this discussion, how can it become more stretch? How can you reduce the time? What are you doing that you shouldn't be doing? Right? Really think about it. If we think thoughts to ponder, what should I stop doing? It's keeping me busy, but it's not moving the needle. It's more of a trick treadmill than running on flat ground, right? You run 100 miles an hour on a treadmill, you're not getting anywhere. So what should you stop doing? And then here's two questions. If you had one year to ten times your current company, or ten times what you originally thought this new startup could do, what changes would you have to make today, immediately, in fact, what would you do if this was day one? Here's what I'd say. Build a bold vision, gain radical clarity on where it is you want to go, and create a startup mentality which creates the urgency to get it done. Burn the boats, don't have a B plan, and live into who you're meant to be.