Mike Andes, founder of Augusta Lawn Care, argues that comfort kills growth. He points to public speaking, daily content creation, and firing staff during a turnaround as moments that built his business. Like lifting weights, repeated discomfort builds tolerance and opens doors.
One thing I've recently began to learn is that behind every single uncomfortable situation that I put myself in is an opportunity. And behind every single opportunity is a door that potentially could lead to more success. I truly believe that in our society, we are constantly looking for the easier path and we want to make our life better. And that's, that's fine. That's human nature, is to try to improve our livelihood, improve our lives, make it easier for ourselves and our family, and set ourselves up for an easier life. But in the same token, every single time that I've put myself in a situation that is uncomfortable, it is behind that experience, that massive success, both monetarily and learning, and increasing my level of aptitude when it comes to business, that is where it lies is behind massive levels of uncomfort. And I really believe that if you have a decision and you're really asking yourself like, which one should I take? Ask yourself which one is going to be harder and more uncomfortable for you? That's probably the one that will make you more successful. I say this because it's not comfortable to stand up in front of people in an audience. It's not comfortable to create content in front of people every single day, regardless of how you're feeling, usually late at night. The way that I do it, it's not fun, it's not comfortable. It's not comfortable to share about your personal life and your businesses and make that public. It's not comfortable to, like I had to do in the past week, and that is fire an entire room of people. And that's not fun, that's not exciting, that is not glamorous. And it's that feeling of a knot in your stomach when you are going to give that big presentation, when you're going to do that team meeting, when you're going to a big customer's house. But every single, when you have that feeling, embrace it and just step back for a moment and realize the reason I'm feeling uncomfortable, the reason I'm feeling nervous, the reason I feel I have butterflies and knots in my stomach, is because I'm going up against something that is making me uncomfortable. But behind that experience is a massive learning opportunity and massive success. Because behind every single time I've had that feeling, the next hour a day, or when I get through that uncomfortable experience, it's always made me stronger, better, made me more money, made me more successful, given me great experience, et cetera. Firing a whole room of people as I have in the past week, is not fun. There was nothing about that that made it enjoyable for me. But what I realized after going through that experience is it didn't take a lot from me in terms of making me uncomfortable. I know that even just a year or two years ago in that same situation, I would have been massively not being able to sleep the night before. I would've been really nervous, I would've been agitated, I would've been thinking about what I was gonna say. I would've planned more for what I was gonna talk about during that meeting. But because you consistently put yourself in uncomfortable positions, ultimately now your tolerance for comfort becomes greater and greater. Like you can take uncomfortable situations in stride. The same way if you're lifting weights, right, if this is a heavy weight and I'm lifting it, if I lift heavier and heavier and I'm lifting 60, 70, 80, 90 pounds, all of a sudden I look back at my 40 pound dumbbell, I'm like, ah, that's a sudden. I don't get uncomfortable lifting the 40 pound dumbbell. Where just years ago because I over time have grown that muscle. Now that weight seems easy. Like it doesn't even, it doesn't make me uncomfortable, it doesn't create burning sensation. I don't get cramps by lifting that weight. And the same thing goes in business. If you keep constantly running towards uncomfortable situations, that is lifting weights, you're going to build the muscle to, to be able to run towards those opportunities, run towards the chance to get uncomfortable because you realize that by doing that, you grow the muscle. And ultimately in business, growing the muscle usually leads to larger opportunities, bigger impact on other people's lives, more employees, be able to create more jobs, create more financial wealth for you and your family. And that is the goal. The same way that someone going to the gym, their goal is to build muscle and to get stronger, be healthier and look better, more tone or whatever. And your business, if your goal is to become more successful, make more money, have a greater impact, it means you're going to have to force yourself to go into situations that are uncomfortable. And if you're going into those situations, realize that that is a massive opportunity and it's a blessing to have the chance to step into a room and have to have that level of discomfort. And it's not easy. This past week has not been easy and very, very difficult for me as we've tried to take a company and turn it around, firing most of the staff, going through lots of different things to turn the company around. It's not easy. Ultimately, it's tested every single system instead of Augusta Lawn Care. It's tested everything that I know, but ultimately I know after it. It will make me better, have more confidence in the systems, and it'll be something that I can look back to and say, that uncomfortable situation allowed me to grow the muscle of my business and my experience much better. And I promise you, in your situation, in your decision making, if you're looking between two different options and one seems eas, there's a very good chance that choosing the harder option, the one that's gonna put you in a more uncomfortable position, is the right decision to make. If you are having that thought process of should I address this with my team? This is not gonna be fun, this is not gonna be easy, or should I just sweep it under the carpet? Probably a good thing to address it and get yourself in an uncomfortable position. If you're deciding whether or not you should talk to someone that you look up to or a competitor and like, man, that makes me nervous. Like, that'd be a little awkward to talk to my competitor. Guess what? You should probably do that. And the more you do that, the more often you can lift those heavier of uncomfortability. You'll become stronger and stronger. I'm Mike Andes, founder of Augusta Lawn Care. We have about 100 locations around North America and check the links in the description below for more information. Check out mikeandies.com and check this video out here for more information and how I went from 15 making 15 bucks an hour to now making a business that does well north of eight figures. I'm Mike Andes and we'll see you tomorrow.
