EP 094: Starting With A Clean Slate

I have to admit…
A lot of my earlier success was actually driven by luck 🍀

Although at the time, I thought that my success was because I could see what everyone else couldn’t…

But…

I confused my success in business,
with being a good business owner.

In reality…

My business was in an industry that was trending and growing:
Facebook Ads.

I was early,
Well-positioned in the market,
And there were very few competitors.

Consequently…

My business surged to new levels.

Sales soared,
Employees joined, and
Happiness ensued.

After this success,
I was totally convinced that I could reach the same level of success in a different business.

So…

I did the next logical step:
I launched a virtual assistants business.

Where we helped business operators access staff from overseas.

However, I learnt something very quickly.

I could not implement the same approach I did to grow my Facebook ads business here.

The industry was starting to mature.

It already had deep networks in place.

And it was impossible to compete unless you had your own network or were prepared to lower prices.

This experience in business was drastically different compared to my experience operating a marketing agency.

I realised that my initial success was driven by the industry I was in,
rather than the decisions I made, or how hard I worked.

After this humbling realisation, I changed the way I play business, forever.

I knew that if I wanted to fast-track my businesses success,
I had to start focusing on opportunities in rapidly growing markets.

Look at my current business!

Podcasts

Spotify wouldn’t have spent a billion dollars strengthening their market position in this industry,
if they weren’t forecasting increased demand, and popularity.

Remembering the lessons my VA business taught me…

I approached the current business looking to build out the infrastructure needed to capitalise on the growing market, rather than competing with established competitors.

Anyway,

In this week’s podcast episode,
Grant and I break down our best business and investing decisions.

We’ll discuss the lessons we wish we had known earlier,
and revisit the moments that changed our lives, forever.