A Tale of Two Startups (and the Power of Pause)

Once upon a time, when the world was much younger (or at least, I was), I had a super cool idea.

Sterling & Stone would be a story studio that published micro-books (fiction and nonfiction) on a weekly basis.

I had two partners, ample investment, and an entire team of writers and editors. We spent two months making super cool shit in preparation for our launch. We had mockups, content calendars, and even a few finished micro-books ready to go.

But I couldn’t sleep the night before we were scheduled to sign the final paperwork that would bind the three of us as partners in the company forever. Guilt was like gasoline in my stomach, and it got worse as I entered the office. Quiet was almost a character in the conference room as we looked over the final contracts one last time.

I was only pretending to read.

“We can’t do this,” I finally announced to the room. “And I think that if we’re honest with ourselves, all three of us know that starting this business together is a mistake.”

I felt that truth in my marrow, but after saying the words out loud I could instantly feel that my former partners felt it too. We had the right business plan but the wrong team.

Painful to acknowledge, but one of the best things that ever happened to me professionally, teaching me that the right team is more important than any brilliant idea or plan.

If I had stuck with the wrong team, I might never have had the success I was aiming for with the studio. At least not without a lot of unnecessary turbulence.

But I found the right team for Sterling & Stone soon enough.

Once upon another time, a dozen years later, I had another super cool idea.

Story Merchants would be a beacon for entrepreneurs wanting to maximize their earning potential by elevating their storytelling skills, with micro-books (all nonfiction) published every week.

I had two partners, plus a trusted team. We spent a month making cool shit in preparation for our launch. We had a website ready, a content strategy mapped out, and even an email course on leveraging personal stories in business.

But yesterday, just two days before our launch, we took stock of our next steps and realized that something wasn’t quite right.

We have the right team but the wrong business plan.

Creating the 1.0 version helped us see that there is a much better way for us to build this new business, but that better way means being patient and taking a lot longer to build something 100x better.

Sometimes you have to build something cool that isn’t quite right to see the bigger picture and its potential.

So we made the hard choice to pivot — even though we were excited to share what we’ve already created with you.

We would rather build a better business that will tap even more deeply into our collective strengths, despite it delaying our launch.

We can’t wait to help you story smarter and profit harder. If you’re reading this now, then you will be among the first to witness the birth of something truly special — when it’s ready.

And as we build the 2.0 version of Story Merchants, I’ll still be here, sharing as we learn, so you can learn right along with us.