One Question

What do you want?

Many founders struggle to answer this question.

When I was building Content Pros, one of my last productized agencies, I had the chance to be mentored by the founder of Athletic Greens.

I craved growth and more customers, thinking he had all the answers.

I remember sitting in his apartment in Medellin. He poured me some green tea and asked, “What type of business are you trying to build?”

At that time, my focus was solely on growth and “more”.

I hadn’t stopped to ask such questions. In my mind, I thought, "Bro, where are the growth strategies?"

After I struggled to answer, his next question hit even harder: “Close your eyes and imagine having your 'dream size' business and ask: who is running it, how many team members are needed, how many customers are there?”

Based on what you see, is that what you want to build?

My answer was actually NO.

I had failed to outline the type of business I truly wanted. Scaling what I had would squeeze my margins, require too many contractors, and be unenjoyable.

This exercise was vital. It showed me what I didn’t want.

After that meeting, I changed my goals and business completely.

For me, less was more.

I didn’t need a bigger business to hit my goals. I optimized and shrank the team, increased margins, paid myself more, and reduced my involvement to just a few hours a week.

I was much happier 😃 

It still took a lot of work, but with clarity on what I wanted and didn’t want, it became easier to build an aligned and energizing business.

Many of these changes made the business more valuable and eventually led to its sale a few years later.

Keep stacking bricks 🧱

Best,
TG