Why Businesses Fail—Focus On What You Enjoy For Successful Results

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the land geek with your favorite niche real estate website, www.thelandgeek.com. and today's guest is really going to help us decode entrepreneurship in a way that I don't think we've had it decoded. But before we get to today's guest, I'd be remiss if I didn't properly introduce my co host, Six Sigma. You know him, you love him. The smartest guy in the room, Scott Todd from Scott todd.net landmodo.com and most importantly, if you're not automating your Craigslist postings, posting domination.com TheLandgeek Scott Todd, how are you?

I'm great, Mark. How are you?

I'm hitting hard on the treadmill desk today. It's actually like warm here. It's like 88 today. So I'm sweating in the office. I got to turn the air down. But it's all good.

I'm cold today, so, you know it's all good, right? No complaining.

Well, our guest is from Estonia. Now he lives in Minneapolis. Like Minneapolis, Like, I think compared to Estonia, like Minneapolis is like Scottsdale or Florida.

I don't know.

Yeah, I like Minneapolis. It's, it's pretty similar to Tallinn, Estonia. Yeah. Where I'm from.

Yeah.

Yeah, I would think so. So let's talk about Simon sander from TheEntrepreneur. Decoded.com Simon is the founder and CEO of Oscar Hamilton, which offers podcast production editing services. He also does one on one coaching and helps people, you know, really, I guess, get to the next level in their business. He's got a very simple business philosophy which we want to talk about. So, Simon, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you, Mark. Really appreciate you. And damn, you're hitting that treadmill fast.

Yeah, yeah, I'm not messing around. Right.

So tell us something you do every time.

Every time.

Yeah, I should do that as well.

Yeah. Sitting is new. Smoking. So, Simon, you've interviewed 100 plus successful entrepreneurs.

Yeah.

How would you say, what would you say is, is there a theme that you're seeing about success? If we're gonna, if we're gonna decode an entrepreneur, like what, what, what do you see as a theme typically?

I think there's so many different themes and aspects, but I think the one that really stands out to me, which kind of comes up in every single interview that I do, is first, focusing, importance of focus and not chasing, building business ideas, not chasing shiny objects, just picking a business idea and going all in on that particular thing. And second thing is consistency that comes up time after time. Not quitting when it gets hard, being with it for a long time, such as Gary Vaynerchuk preaches, be consistent. Don't give up after 6, 8 month mark when the revenue isn't coming in. So focus and consistency come up time after time on the show.

I love it. Scott, Todd, thoughts?

I mean, those are both very difficult things to do, right? Like they're, they're not easy to do.

Oh yes.

I mean it sounds easy, but you know, yeah, you know, focus is so easy to get. Shiny object syndrome. And then second, you know, the fact that you have a. What's a loser today? I think that's trying for people because it really does take grit and a lot of effort to really figure out like, how. What's the word I'm looking for, you know, like how to get that stick. Stick to it. Iveness. Right. Like, you know, and get creative to solve the problem. I mean, problems are not unsolvable. Right. You know, it's just, you've got to be aggressive with it.

The thing is, there's so many great business ideas out there. For the longest time, for years and years, I would start a new thing every other month and then I would get bored of it. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs feel the same way. In the era of consumerism and marketing, we're told that this business idea is working right now. You read a blog post about something and then you approach it right away and start a new business and the new business and, and it's really easy to get stuck in that loop of starting and starting and not finishing.

Yeah, I mean, absolutely. Can you, can you tell us an actual story about.

Oh, sure. I have a way that you kind.

Of started off focus and then got yourself on focus.

God, I have so many stories like that. I think the biggest one, which I wasted a lot of time on was I started this stock photo site. It was pretty much the same time when unsplash.com was, was coming around. And my business idea was really simple. Every, every week I would send out 20 or 30 photos. I started off with 20 photos a week to people who subscribed to my email list and just do it for free. And I ran this model for six to eight months. I think I took all the photos myself. So you can imagine the time that I put into it. And there was no revenue whatsoever coming in. And so around six month mark, I realized maybe this is not the best idea because unsplash is Offering photos for free. Why should I? What kind of revenue model could I possibly come up with? So what I started was I did a monthly subscription service and I had like 15,000 people on my email subscriber list who got those free photos and they loved it. The engagement rate was insane. The open rate to emails was, I think, like 28%, which is quite high for an industry average. So I, I launched this premium subscription form where people would get access to all the photos I've taken over the years. And out of those 15,000 people, I think 0.2% signed up. And then I realized, oh, crap, I wasted a lot of time and I ditched that idea and moved away from it. I deleted the domain, I deleted the email list and just went after the new idea without even thinking, maybe I can still make it work.

That's. I think that's even harder to do, Scott, because it's a sunk cost, essentially. And so many people want to chase that money. Right, or chase that time that's lost and they want to double down on it. Well, if I just pivot right, that takes real courage, Simon, to look reality in the face and say, this is not working, and time to just scrap it and do something else at the same time.

You need to realize when you shouldn't quit and when you should keep going. I think a lot of podcasters started because of John Lee Dumas from EO Fire. I think a lot of the generation of podcasters today have been inspired by Johnny Dumas and his revenue numbers and the hostel he puts in. And that was one of the reasons I got started as well. Even though I love podcasting, I love listening to podcasts. I thought that would be a pretty easy source of income when I started off, and that wasn't the case. And after a few weeks, I really had to think about it. Do I actually enjoy podcasting or am I doing it for money?

Obviously you enjoy it, of course.

Yeah, I really had to think about it and I changed my model. I kind of started off like Johnny Dumas, really strict questions, really strict agenda. But then I really started thinking, what do I enjoy? What kind of conversations do I enjoy having? And I follow the same model as you guys are. Really conversational and no pre written questions. And it's not about money anymore, it's about enjoyment.

Yeah, Scott, I mean, don't you think that's a huge lesson in business?

I do. I think that, you know, like, I think that that's where a lot of people, like, fail in the business approach, is that they, they chase it for the money. And look, you have to make money, right? Like, there's not a business that can, can survive without making money. You have to pay your expenses and you, you have to be able to put money in your bank at the end of the day. But if you're, if you're looking at things and saying, like, okay, well, man, you know, I had plans of making a million dollars in my first year. Well, a lot of people do, right? Like, yeah, but that's a, that's a rare thing to do, right? You know, like if you look at every business, I don't care how big they are today, they all started at zero. And they grew over time and maybe, maybe not, you know, like a hockey stick, but they, they grew. And some businesses take longer than others. Yeah, but you, you have to have that longer term focus. Like look at like Amazon, you know, like Amazon's got what, like a hundred year focus or something? Yeah, I'm stupid focus.

So, Simon, of all the people that you've interviewed on Entrepreneur Decoded, I want you to pick three of them, okay? And they're gonna come to your house, they're gonna have dinner. What three people would you pick and what would you talk about?

Three people. So out of 130 entrepreneurs, I have to pick three people to my dinner party?

Simon, we didn't say this is gonna be an easy podcast.

That's a hard one, man. That's a hard one. Okay, I think the first one who I would pick was my last week's interview. His name is Mike Vacante and he was the personal trainer for Gary Vaynerchuk for two years. He took Gary Vaynerchuk, who was overweight, eating crappy food, to Gary Vaynerchuk, who you see today, that would be the first guy then probably Mark Manson, the most famous blogger today who writes about really controversial stuff that is happening in the world. And one of his main, most famous articles that I'm sure everybody who's listening right now has a read. It's called Stop Giving a fuck. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a fuck.

Yeah, right? Yeah, that's it. Yeah, it's a very popular book.

So he wrote a book with the same title with the blog post. So that's, I think that would be the second one and I think third one, Joe Paulozzi from Content Marketing Institute, who was so kind to let me interview him as my first ever interview year ago.

Okay, so you've got these three guys. Yeah, man. Mark Manson, Mike McCanty. Mike McCanty. And who's the third one?

So, Joe.

Joe Polizzi. Yeah.

Joe Polizi and Mike Vacanti.

Yeah. Okay. Okay. So they're. They're at your house. They're in Minneapolis. They're a little cold. Let's face it. You know, they're like, come on, put on. Put on some chili, Simon. But what would you ask them?

So for months and months, and still I try to have this question in every interview that I do. It goes like this. What is the one thing that you do that you feel has been the biggest contributor to his successes so far? And that's a question I ask in my interview. So I think I would ask the same question in that. In over that dinner party.

What do you think they would answer? Joe?

Joe has been running Content Marketing Institute. I'm sure he would talk about content marketing. Start putting out massive amounts of content. And I think a lot of people in your audience, Mark and Scott, know that it's so easy to fall off the content marketing wagon. And it's hard to write blog posts. It's hard to put out podcast episodes. So start putting out content and do it regularly. I think that would be the first one from Joe Paulozzi. Mark Manson, he's kind of sarcastic guy. He's a really cool dude. He lives in New York now, and he doesn't care about a lot of things. So I think he. He would honestly say that. Stop giving a fuck about stuff that doesn't matter. Stop. Start saying no. Start enjoying life. Say no to meetings. Say no to 99% of the stuff because it doesn't matter. And 1% of the stuff go all in. So I think Mark Manson would say that. And then finally, Mike Vacante, the personal trainer to Gary Vaynerchuk, he can get everybody ripped. So I think he would talk about the importance of habits and that every single person who has been successful has good habits. So pick one habit that is bad for you, whether it's smoking and whether it's watching TV after work, whether it's not saying I love you to your spouse, like anything that isn't bringing you, bringing you happiness or joy. Turn that bad habit around and make it a positive one. So instead of watching tv, read two hours a day. Instead of fighting with your spouse, try to make it work. Take a bad habit and make it a positive one. So those three, three things, Scott, do.

You have a habit you're trying to break right now or start.

Oh, man, I got too many of them, you know? Yeah, yeah, I want to. I want to catch up to you and walk 10,000 or more steps a day. But I don't have the cool treadmill desk. And so, you know, like, even though I have the stand up desk, it's still, you know, I still have this desire to move, you know, like, and so that's like the habit that I'm working on and I'm not there. But I want to, I want to keep that going. I mean, I think that, I mean, Simon's right. Like if you just take one habit and focus on it.

Yeah.

Say like, okay. Like Mark, when I, when I worked in my corporate gig, we, we would start off every year and you know, like we would end the year and we would, we would mark up on like a whiteboard, like the things that we wanted to get rid of in the following year. Like, and we had, we caught it. Literally we caught our kill list. Okay. And so, you know, we said, okay, by the end of next year we're going to kill these three. These three things that have been problems forever. Four things.

Right.

And the way that you attack that is you attack it basically one at a time. I mean we try to attack all four at a time. But if you're just an individual, you're like, okay, this quarter, I'm going to kill this thing. And if you can do it for a quarter, I mean even if you did it for a month, you're on the right, you're on the right track.

Yeah. I think you mentioned something really important, Scott. Instead of trying to change all of your bad habits or try to start new habits, like five at a time, just pick one and start really small. Like it's gonna, you'll be fine. Like you'll honestly be fine. If you want to start working out, you don't need to start working out seven times a week. Start with, I don't know, once a week, then twice a week. Small changes bring be big results.

Yeah. I've got this great app Simon called streaks. All I have. You've seen this app.

I use momentum. I think it's kind of same thing. Kind of?

Yeah, same thing. It's like don't break the chain. Right.

So bad if you do. Right. And then you don't want to do that.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think, I honestly think the only way to really break a bad habit or start a habit or have any change is and Scott and I are actually going to create this for the land geek coaching clients where there's these sites like stick me right. You're going to lose. Like it's like Loss aversion. Right, right. Like there's like, you know, you know, you put up 50 bucks and you say, look, if I don't work out five times this week, you lose 50 bucks. People don't want to lose 50 bucks. Right. That. I think that type of stuff is really powerful. What do you think?

Yeah. That was the one tip that Mike Vacante, the Gary Vaynerchuk's personal trainer, told me that anyone who wants to change a habit and has failed in the past should try reverse better. Which is exactly what you said. Start a new habit and put money on the line, whether it's five grands, $200, whatever makes you kind of like, I don't want to lose it. And make that. Make a contract with yourself that if you don't go to gym three times a week for six months, you're gonna donate five grands to this charity or this person who you dislike greatly. And that's how I got a lot of my habits in place. I don't want to lose a lot of money just because I'm lazy.

Yeah. I mean, it can be really powerful.

You know, you guys are talking about streaks or, you know, reverse bets or something. You know, that. That was really like Jerry Seinfeld secret. Someone asked him, like, hey, how do I. How do I become a better comic? And Jerry Seinfeld said, basically, get a big wall calendar and write jokes every day. And every day that you do, put a big red X through the day and don't ever break the chain. Yeah.

And that was before the app days and it worked well. So.

Yeah, so you don't have to have an app go to go get a calendar.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. So, so in our business, you know, just Send out off 20 offers a day. Don't break the chain. It's so simple, you know, have 12 ads a day. Don't break the chain.

Yeah.

So if you're using posting domination, 124 ads a day, whatever it is.

Exactly. Yeah.

So, Simon, is there any one lesson that you learned from your mom or your dad because you're from Estonia that you think really kind of propelled you to the success that you have today?

I like that question. That's a really good question. My dad's a pastor, so I grew up really religiously and my dad was really respected in the community. And ever since I was a kid, it was funny. My dad would bring me to all of his meetings and everybody in that room would treat me as equal as to my dad. So there were those important people from Estonia like ministers and really high government people. And there was this kid, me, and everybody would treat me with respect because my dad treated me with respect and kindness. So I think the biggest lesson I took from my dad was treat people kindly and don't expect anything in return.

I love that. Treat people kindly and don't expect anything in return. I often think that people from another country, when they come here have a huge advantage because there are no expectations. There are no familial expectations, there's no cultural expectations. You're an outsider from day one. Mm. And do you think that having, you know, almost no fear of failure, like, you can't fail when you come from Estonia here, like, everything's new and different and like, just amazing. Right. Do you think that's an advantage in business or you think I'm off?

I think everybody has the fear of failure. I constantly self doubt myself. You're right. In that way, I have way more opportunities here in states that I would ever have back in Europe in Estonia, which is completely true. I would never be able to interview 130 entrepreneurs in Estonia. Estonia, because there aren't 130 entrepreneurs who made it big. So. So I would be. I would maybe could have a monthly podcast, but there's always that fear of failure. But I think in a way, yes, I might have an advantage. Estonia was a previously Soviet Union Union country, as your listeners know, and. And having that drive kind of probably my DNA, that I want to make great things happen for my family when I'm. When I'm going to have a family one day, when I'm gonna go back to Estonia, I can have great stories to tell.

I love it. I love it. Scott, does this doubt or fear play a big role in your, in your life?

I think it's for everybody, you know, like everybody I've ever talked to, every successful entrepreneur, every successful executive, every single person that it's there. I think that what's different about people is you learn to embrace that doubt and you just kind of, you know, lean into it. You just kind of go do it. And that's the way you bust through it is that you continue to say, okay, I hear what you're saying, self, but shut up and we're gonna go do this anyway.

Yeah. I think self doubt will never go away. Every time I have an interview still to this day, I get a bit nervous. I still get those butterflies in my stom. And I've done it 130 interviews so far, and I doubt that this will ever go away. So I Think self doubt is a normal, normal part of our lives.

Well, I think we need some anxiety actually, to get stuff done because otherwise we, you know, why get out of bed, right? You know, we need some of it. I think then you can, it can go into another, you know, sort of dark place where you're overwhelmed and then you can't get anything done.

Yeah.

So I think having that, that sort of anxious edge to you really can help as far as being an entrepreneur and working effectively and efficiently, you know that. I also think success can be a, can be a problem for some people. You know, no one teaches you how to be successful. So once you're successful and you kind of have all those things, you kind of meet all your goals now. You go back into fear mode. You don't want to lose it, right? You're, you're not likely to take bigger risks because, well, you kind of, you kind of made it, you know. Yeah, Um, I think that's a, that's something to be careful to, to avoid as well. Is, is being attached to your success or, or even having that ego, like, oh, well, now, now I've made it in a way. You know what I mean? It's like, well, yeah, it could, it could all go away tomorrow. So you got to keep pushing. You got to keep, you know, growing and learning and getting better. And in a way, like, that's kind of like what, what we do here in, you know, the short, short time we're here on Earth, you know, I mean, it's like, well, what else going to do? I don't know, Scott, what do you want to do?

Oh, man, there's so much I want to do.

Yeah, you're constantly growing and learning, like, what else is there?

You know, I think that, you know, I. Mark, I was telling, I did a coaching call last night with someone and I told them like, okay, you know, what are you working towards? And they told me that they're working towards, they're working towards their, you know, like their exit from the corporate world. And I'm like, okay, great, what are you gonna do? And they start telling me what they're gonna do? And I'm like, okay, then what are you gonna do? And they're telling me, and it's all this stuff is like basically leisure stuff, right? Like, no, no, no, you don't understand. What are you going to do? And they're like, I just told you. And I'm like, no, you see, that will be cool for about the first, I don't know, four to six weeks And I always had this vision, like, man, I'm going to get free of the corporate job. I'm going to be out on the boat every single day, man. I haven't been on the boat. I haven't been on the boat.

Right.

Like, I don't know what happened. Like, it's there. I haven't been on the boat, you know, in, I don't know, six months, maybe five months.

Right.

But you know, because you start to realize, like, okay, when you achieve these goals, man, you realize, okay, well, I'm gonna start the next one right. Like, I've done this one now, let me. Because you grow and what you don't even see on the radar today, you know, that's where the opportunities present themselves when you put yourself in a situation to where you can embrace them.

Yeah. Yeah. Simon, do you agree?

Yeah, I agree. I haven't achieved the success. That success that I kind of would stop wanting to pursue more. I don't know if that makes sense. I think Bill Gates and maybe Elon Musk and those really big players have achieved that success that they could be done with it, but they're still not done with it. So I think the beauty in entrepreneurship is that you can always set new goals for yourself. And there's beauty in that because there's something to work towards. Towards do. And that's not a bad thing, I think, because there's beauty in working and achieving those goals.

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's hard coded in our DNA.

You know, I think that's really when you're in trouble. Like when you, when you're like, okay, that's it, I'm done. Well, then, I mean, that's. I mean, that's what happens to. I mean, like, I mean, I forgot the stat mark, but there's a. There's a stat that basically says, you know, like, when executives retire, their average life expectancy is like 18 months after they retire. You know, like Fortune 500 executives, they only last like 18 months after their retirement because they've achieved. I'm talking about executive.

Right.

Like, they've achieved so much, and then they're like, okay, I'm done. They come to a stop and it's like, that's it, it's over.

You can't do that.

You got to keep, like, you can't just sit there and start, okay, now I'm just going to watch TV the rest of my life. You've got to keep growing, otherwise it's over.

Yeah, I mean, you know, getting back to what Simon said In the beginning, consistency, grit, focus. And then I would also add to that purpose. Yeah, you've got to. You got to wake up every day with purpose. And that. That can drive you. And I think if when you have that purpose, you have that, you know, tremendous. Why, that helps you, you know, focus, and it helps you with consistency. But, Simon, we're at that point now. The podcast, I get to put you on the spot. You ready?

Sure. Yeah.

All right. What is your tip of the week? A website, a resource, a book, something actionable where the art of passive income listeners can go right now, improve their businesses, improve their lives. What have you got?

We've talked about finding meaning and having that excitement to get out of bed every morning. So I'd recommend the book to everybody. Man Searching for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It's a story about. About him, about a man who was in German Auschwitz camp for quite a few years and his story of finding the meaning as being the prisoner. So it's a must read for every entrepreneur, I think.

I love that book. Yeah, there's. There's a. There's a great. There's some great quotes in that book. Yeah. Scott. Todd, what's your tip of the week?

Well, there's actually one that was mentioned on this podcast, and it's the book by Mark Manson, the Subtle Art of Not Giving an F. You know, really, it's, you know, like, when you look at this and you start to internalize everything. I mean, we as humans put so much, like, pressure or stress on ourselves, you know, like from. From down to, you know, what people think about us or what we're doing to, you know, we hold ourselves back in so many ways because we're worried about, you know, oh, man, someone's gonna think this is crazy or I'm crazy or what. Just, who cares? Just do what you want to do and live your life. At the end, everything else will come back around. Read that book.

Yeah, I agree with you, Scott. It's a great freaking book. Everybody should read that.

Yeah. Yeah. The key to a good life. This is part of his. In his book is giving a F about less. Giving an F about only what is true and immediate and important. Yeah. Wanting positive experience is a negative experience. Accepting negative experience is a positive experience. You know, everything worthwhile in life's one through surmounting that associated negative experience. Any attempt to escape it only backfires, say, effort to everything unimportant life. Great book. Great, great, great, great tip, Scott. Todd.

Yeah.

All right, well, my tip of the week is let's start decoding entrepreneurs and learn more about Simon Sander at entrepreneurdecoded.com check out his amazing podcast at Entrepreneur Decoded. And he's got some great guests on there. Make it Rain. Brian Clark has been on. You know, that guy's unbelievable. What he's been able to do. You know Mike Vacante. Let's see who else is on here that I. That I know. Cloris, Kylie, heard of her. I don't know. You know, he didn't have it on this podcast.

Me.

Scott and I on.

We're missing what's happening.

Oh, Ben settle. You got Ben settle on it. He's. He's a great copywriter. Was he a good interview?

Yeah, that was a really long time ago. Was that like, what, episode 60 or.

Something like, I think in the 80s, 80s, right?

Yeah, he was a cool dude.

Yeah. Yeah. Let's see. Gosh, there's so many. Clayton Morris, Matthew Paulson. We're gonna have Matthew on.

Yeah.

Let'S see. I'm looking here. Jeffrey Slater. We had Jeffrey on. Yeah, you know, he'll take you out into the jungle. Paula Pant. Had Paul on. Tucker Max, Fantastic. Shama Heider. We know all these names. This is. This is like the podcast world. All right, well, Simon, I want to thank you. I want to remind all the guests the only way we're going to get the quality of guests like a Simon Sander to come on the podcast. If you do a small, small favor, you got to subscribe, you got a rate, you got to review the podcast. Send us a screenshot of your view to support@thelamegeek.com gonna send you for free the $97 passive income launch kit. And I just want to remind everybody, today's podcast is sponsored by Lonegeek IO one time. Set it and forget it. Automate your payments. Loangeek.com Scott, Todd, are we good?

We're great, Mark.

Simon Sander, we good.

Thank you so much, Mark and Scott. There was pleasure talking with you guys.

Thank you. And you ready? 1, 2, 3.

Let freedom ring.

I love that.

It's a work in progress.

Mark, what we got to do is you and I got to get really good at not necessarily doing this, but we need to go on mute after and then just listen to the guests.

Exactly. Exactly. All right, thanks, everybody.

Thank you.