Stay Paranoid - Doc the Journey Ep 88

Yeah, in the spirit of this channel, rambling random shit as I think about stuff and sharing it. I think the thing a lot of founders deal with is just constantly being on some sort of level of stress, like a baseline level of stress. Constantly feeling a bit paranoid, at least for me. And I feel like a lot of people lose that when they get a bit of success. And I've definitely seen it naming their names in my own circles on Twitter and social media. Certainly, you know, people make maybe make the first few hundred grand personally, maybe first few million in revenue or more and then they start buying fucking, you know, crazy watches, heavily financed cars. And by the way, I was that guy originally, so I'm not saying I haven't been there, but I think I've now, you know, have my major fuck up, which is hopefully my last one a few years ago, which I documented and obviously spoke about loads on this channel that's giving me a new perspective, turn away with like, you know, benefit hindsight and a bit of maturity. Finally I feel like, you know, 2021 me up massively having that major fall off going from I think it was 13 million revenue across the two brands in 2020 with a lot of profit, but seven figures profit as well before everything up, no investors, etc, driving the Ferrari, the Range Rover, living the penthouse flat, which isn't as expensive as it looks by the way. But yeah, doing all that and then falling off and having a business go, you know, heavily insolvent, trying to save it with a lot of my own money, losing a shitload of that coming out with you know, not nothing but a lot less than I thought I'd have at that stage and that age and given how big the business had got and then bouncing back definitely like skewed my personality and changed me a lot, which probably haven't spoke about enough on this channel. And I probably still deal with a lot of that, a lot of the of side effects of that in a way, some good, some bad. But it taught me a lot of like brutal life lessons very early on, which I think a lot of people either maybe never going to have and you know, whatever, maybe I was unlucky, maybe I needed that and other people don't. But I think a lot of people will have those lessons in some way or another, maybe just later on or in a different scale or a different way. And yeah, I don't know, now I see a lot of people get super fancy after, you know, a bit of success and that doesn't align at all with like, you know, True scale success. People like on a smaller level, you know, people like Ben Francis, Gymshark, they're not flashy at all, at least online, and certainly doesn't align with people like Elon who, you know, made I think 200 million, then went back to like sleeping on his friend's couch or something. I don't know how exaggerated that is, but you get the point. They weren't like, you know, retired. And people that love the game, stay in the game and want to win for the sake of winning. And I'm not saying that's necessarily me until I'm fucking 100 years old, but it definitely is for the next 10 years plus. So, yeah, I don't know what I'm getting at. I feel like you need to stay paranoid because can always change very quickly. And I realized that and it taught me a lot. And I think it's made me, you know, increase my humility, made me a better operator, etc. And like, really great founders do it for, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. They don't do it for two years, think they're the complete shit and then not do it again. Which I think a lot of people, you know, there's guys, and I'm not naming any names, I'm thinking of specific people that have been in the industry two years, not even two years, had a bit of success with their agency, their brand, and, you know, they're out hosting masterminds, giving advice to everyone. And I find that shit crazy because they're genuinely beginners and they probably haven't even paid their first tax bill. So, yeah, it's kind of crazy. And I think the other thing as well is there's always going to be that, you know, more hungry, broke guys willing to work 24, 7, and you're not, when you get a bit comfy or at least a lot of people don't seem like they are. And they're the people that are going to beat you. So I think the early version of you, the reason that a lot of people got to where they are was doing things that they no longer do because their life's got a bit comfier. And I'm not saying you have to live that's that way forever. Like when I was younger, me and Fred from Sanuchi, who's never been on the podcast, but we lived together in like my first hustle house, I guess in London, like six years ago now. Crazy. Coming up to six, six years ago, like five and a half years ago. And we would work, we'd get up like competition to get up at like 4am and work at our desks until like 7pm it might not have been that early, but it was very early. And we thought that was how you win. And it's not necessarily the most productive way to do things, but that attitude is how you win and it's being willing to be all in none of the fancy. We weren't, you know, didn't have the cars then, didn't have any of the watches or any of the, that I went on to have and then lose a lot of and then start again. But yeah, I think, you know, that's the attitude that gets people where they, they want to go. And then I think you need to keep a bit of that paranoia that kind of like, if I don't make this work, then I'm not in a good spot. And you know, that back against the wall feeling. And I got that back again in 2021 when I did lose most of what I had, or at least a huge chunk of it. And it just made me paranoid. Probably less enjoyable way to live, but it's a much more effective way to live as a founder, I think, because, you know, you're always, you should always be a bit stressed, you know, paranoid about what's around the corner because even when things are crushing it, nothing lasts forever. But you know, on the other side, when, when things are bad, I now know that that also doesn't last forever because I've dug myself out of the hole that I was in and there's been many more mini holes since then. I'm sure there will be again, but hopefully not as big. But, you know, ultimately, what you're willing to put in, the decisions you make, the shit you sacrifice day to day, is what keeps you either on the good side or the bad side of that. I suppose. I don't know what I'm getting at. I think I've just been thinking about this a lot and hopefully it makes sense. Probably slightly incoherent. Some fucking dad. And yeah, I also see like a lot of founders, again, naming no names, but there's an example in my mind for every one of these. You know, I think it's a red flag when founders start spending most of their time at fucking PR or networking events, you know, influencer events and all that shit, and just like partying too much for the all. And like, I get that maybe they've hired a team and some of these have, some of these haven't. But I think you need to stay founder mode in the best way, which is involved in every part of the business to some extent. And I think the second you stop doing that, you know, your life becomes too fluffy. Maybe you're more bothered about the fucking beanbags in the office than your CAC or your, you know, your P L. And, yeah, I'm just not a fan of that because I think. I think people get too fancy far too quick in their lives, but also in their businesses. And this is speaking, you know, I'm saying things that I've learned from people much, much further ahead of me. This isn't me being some, you know, guru or speaking gospel because, you know, I only know as much as I know and I'm still very inexperienced in the grand scheme of things. But, yeah, you know, I've had this, the stuff taught to me by people 20, 30 years ahead of me. So, yeah, keep it, keep it, keep it focused on the main thing. It's not so you can't enjoy life, but I just mean in the content context of the business, when you're working, when you're in, which should be, you know, 90 of your life at least, when you're like, at this stage, when you're locked in, then focus on moving the needle, you know, hiring the right people, doing the right. Not the PR events and the founder dinners and some of that's useful, but when that becomes your entire identity, I think that's usually when your numbers go backwards. And there's one brand in particular I'm. I know the numbers of objectively, and I'm thinking about them as an example. I'm not going to say them, but, yeah, it's like you could have seen that coming a thousand miles off, in my opinion. And there's other brands that are, in my mind, that have publicly gone bankrupt or into administration is the official term in the past few months in the uk. And I could see that coming a mile off as well, just, just from LinkedIn. And it begs the question, like, what the fuck was the founder doing? If they're more focused on X thing, naming their names than they were on, you know, considering shareholders interests and trying to secure the company financially. Because it's kind of crazy to me. But, yeah, quite a lot, quite a lot of examples of that. And a bit of me in the past was probably that, you know, I was still working a lot, but I probably got a bit too carried up and I've made some money now, so let's host the big flat parties every weekend. Let's, you know, drive the fancy cars and I wasn't doing that all the time, but looking back four years on, there probably was a bit of that and it maybe didn't help the situation I got myself into. So, yeah, I guess what I'm saying is, you know, it seems that most people after some success aren't willing to live simply and sacrifice their ego, you know, in the short term. And I went through that arc, like I said, and I got too fancy with it and really, you should keep the main thing. The main thing. And yeah, think big, act small. Like, you know, if your business is doing 20 million, it's still a fucking small business. That's how you should think. And you're not an Apple, you're not a Tesla, you're not even a Gymshark. So, yeah, I think the solution, what I'm trying to say is the thing I've learned, the thing I've seen, and the most successful people and the least. And the ones that have got it wrong and gone the wrong way eventually, at least the legit people, because, by the way, a lot of people online, in fact most people online that are flexing a lot and not who they say they are, not doing what they say they are. So bear that in mind as well. But real winners long term, you know, I think you have to always be on edge, always be a bit paranoid because shit can change super quick, for better or worse. And your actions and your mindset kind of determines which side of the coin that's going to be on. So, yes, something I'm reflecting on, it's not to say you can't enjoy life. It's not so you can't take days off. I need to do more of that, to be honest. But I think it's just really winning long term is what I've seen in the best people is they're not flexing, they're working on the business and that's what it takes. So, yeah, I don't know, ten minutes of rambling. It's pretty late here I thought I hadn't made a video in a week. My last one got quite a lot of views, even though it's a shit video. So I'll make another one. Maybe I'll just ramble a few times. This channel is basically just me sharing my thoughts at this point. It's not even necessarily about the business. I'm just a guy in my 20s trying to get rich legitimately, build cool shit, work with cool people, enjoy the process, maybe more than I have in the past few years. But also reflecting on a lot of the learnings I've had, which have been many, many, many, many, many learnings. And I always joke that, and I think this is probably genuinely true to some extent, but I take the piss out of myself and say I'm like the least financially successful person relative to how much I've learned and the things I've done and the experiences I've been through. So hopefully that's gonna catch up with itself. And it's been like bamboo. Hopefully it'll be like bamboo when it eventually really cracks, because I think I'm getting there. I feel like I'm getting momentum to where I want to be in the next few years. But it's never enough, is it? Because the goalposts keep moving. So, anyway, winners win. Good to chat. Subscribe to the pod. Catch the next one. Peace by. Sam.