The Simple Truth About Success

This week we learned Uber passed 2bn cumulative rides on the platform, six months after reaching 1bn. Facebook Messenger now has 1bn MAUs (monthly active users and companies like Kissmetrics and Mixpanel similarly have One Metric That Matters. This represents a single number that you care the most about at the current stage of your startup.

Similarly when we make the leap from education into employment we face a tough decision when we think about the one job we go into to start our careers. However when some of us are faced with numerous ideas we want to turn into business ventures, often instead of focusing on executing on one idea at a time, we end up trying to do it all.

Sadly spreading ourselves thin on two or three ideas at once often leads to poor results for the sole reason that we struggle to focus on one thing that matters, which is putting your all into making one idea succeed before moving onto the next.

Story of Abe

On the subject of storytelling, this week I was contacted by the founder of Theater production company, Abe. With permission of course below is the summary of the conversation we shared about the simple truth about success.

I met Abe through a mutual friend we share and he is a writer who has recently started up his own company, Creative Blue Balls (CBB). It was something he wanted to do to primarily build on the interest/ following he had from productions he had put on.

In tandem, he has aspirations to create a platform for other writers too. For now, it’s something Abe is running as an MVP alongside working to pay the bills. He has aspirations by 2017 to make the shift into running CBB full time.

So far he has staged three short plays to sold out audiences of 300 people. Personally I was pretty impressed as it validates there are customers willing to pay to enjoy his productions, but let’s continue with his story before I share my POV.

His 18 month roadmap includes putting on four full length plays, five times a day for a week. Total reach will be approx. 700–1,000 people per play, and there will be opportunity for other writers to contribute and create plays too. Pretty impressive right, well here is the dilemma….

Since 2013, Abe has been plagued with a recurring dream of starting a bar in London. He has a concept in mind, he is passionate about putting in the time and making this dream a reality.

Our mutual friend who heard the bar concept was like “why the hell aren’t you doing this now, this is an incredible concept!” and Abe replied “there’s no time.”

One of Abe’s final words during our conversation was:

Ultimately, I’m someone who always has ideas and very much someone who wants to get them off the ground. Without a doubt, writing and CBB are the primary focus but there are other things I would like to do too.

The Paradox of Choice

Similar to Abe, at my core I am simply a story teller curating stories based on my experiences travelling to nearly 40 countries in the last 5 years due to work and leisure as well as sharing stories learned from others. My stories just happen to be exclusively about moving the dial and helping aspiring first-time entrepreneurs execute on ideas. Such as Do I Have to Quit My Job To Start a Business?

I have been fortunate to work as a global and niche management consultant over the last 5 years. This has afforded me the opportunity to work with VC investors, startups and corporate’s to learn about innovation, product management and basically translating a vision into actionable steps (strategy) and following through the game of inches to deliver a product to market (tactics).

Enough about me (for now!). Abe’s passion and area of expertise as a story teller is clearly in theater productions and he has validated that there is a market need buy actually selling out shows which is GREAT. So mini fist pump (well done Abe!).

For me, Abe actually shared a clear vision and strategy, he just needs to follow through and take action everyday to gain an inch and make progress towards his goal.

Now….. he faces the classic first-time entrepreneurs dilemma. The paradox of choice. He has more than one great viable idea that he could execute on and he genuinely believes he could succeed at.

I believe the most successful entrepreneurs understand that decision making is at it’s core based on taking calculated risks. What I mean by this is that founders need to ensure they are taking risks they can afford to take regardless if you win or lose.

We all need filters or criteria that we can turn to when making the more difficult decisions. These principles should guide us to make decisions such as “what idea should I execute on and why!”

For Abe, for sure it looks clear that he has started getting traction with CBB and it is worth seeing through and executing on, for three reasons specifically.

1. He is passionate about writing
2. He is good at attracting audiences to his productions (MVP)
3. There is a market need (validated by attendance figures)

Following the success on CBB a pragmatic approach would be to leverage retained profit as initial capital for getting his bar off the ground.

I would NOT recommend pursuing two ideas in tandem as you cannot be a serial entrepreneur before being an entrepreneur. You must build a track record of succeeding at ‘something first’ before trying to succeed at something else. After all, you should be putting your all into it!

Success is Conquering One Mountain at a Time

Vince McMahon is for me is one of the epitome of an incredible storyteller. The WWE brand has sustained growth and influence over 50 years. From the classic Attitude Era where the WWE took over competitor WCW to the birth of characters such as Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker and Stone Cold.

A classic example is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The first mountain he was climbing was his career as a Miami University football player. He descended that mountain then became arguably the greatest wrestler to have graced the planet as “The Rock”. He has now climbed to the top of the his third career as the highest paid actor in Hollywood.

We take our hats off to this legend, but also take heed of the wisdom he had to focus on succeeding at one thing at a time. I am sure along his journey he was tempted in dabbling in other things but he recognised he was playing a game of inches and eventually he would get to the finish line if he minimised risk and stayed discipline.

Caption below from The Rocks instagram page

“The wolf is always scratchin’ at the door” was the first thing I said when we found out from @forbes I was officially the world’s highest paid actor. Well, actually the first thing I said was “Aw shit!”, then I said the wolf part.

Receiving news like this will always serve as my anchoring reminder to continue to work even harder. We not only want to “embrace the grind”, but take the grind to new levels.

I learned a few invaluable lessons a long time ago that can help all of you guys out there succeed at whatever it is you’re doing.

Greatness is never achieved alone. Surround yourself with hungry, brilliant individuals who not only buy into your philosophy, but who are all willing to work just as hard as you. Power of teamwork.

And don’t ever forget where you came from. I was evicted at 14yrs old and completely broke by 23. Every day I wake up as if that eviction notice is right around the corner waiting for me.. which is why I always say, “the wolf is always scratchin’ at the door”. He’s scratchin’ cause he’s hungry and never satisfied. 
We embrace and respect our past (even if it was f*cked up), but we never let it define our future. Let’s stay hungry and chase that greatness.

I will now jump in my pick up truck, go to work and figure out whether or not I need psychiatric therapy for this damn wolf that’s become my best friend.”

Nice parable above from Dwayne Johnson right. The paradox of choice is a very common struggle for aspiring entrepreneurs who struggle with making the “right” choice with what idea to pursue first.

In the comments let me know what you would advise Abe to do with two ideas that he would want to pursue?

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