So I start by checking in with these guys’ dreams.
“What do you wanna do or achieve?”
One said, “I wanna go to silicon valley to start the next tech startup that can move civilization forward.”
Big dreams. Love it.
“I want to start my own trade shop of some sort. Building homes maybe.”
“I want to start a videography company.”
Let’s go!
But here’s the thing:
Most people see business as complex.
And if you see complexity, you’ll make complexity.
You’ll either start and complicate the sh*t out of it, or you’ll avoid starting altogether because your brain doesn’t even want to go there.
The reality is, it’s YOUR choice.
Because here’s how I define business:
The moment somebody pays you for a product or service a business has started.
Dead simple.
So I ask this kid who wanted to start a videography company what that looks like for him.
He says, “I could make a video for someone and get them to buy it.”
I look at him and hold out my hand…
“Do you have an aspiration to be in business?”
He’s looking confused…
“I’ll give you a thousand dollars to make me a video.”
Boom.
He smiles, “yeah” and shakes my hand.
He just started a business, as a highschool kid, in the span of 5 minutes.
Like I said, too many entrepreneurs complicate the process.
The only requirement?
Offer something that helps another person, get them to pay you, and you’re in business.
Simple Scales
Not only can business be simple at the start.
The longer you hold onto simplicity, the faster you can scale.
Read that line again.
Even if entrepreneurs manage to start simple, the biggest tendency is to ADD:
Add a new product line no one asked for, create another website landing page, integrate a new HR tool into Slack because “it would be cool”.
Every new person you hire will do this too.
They’ll jump in with new ideas.
And some of them are probably really good.
Ideas are easy. Saying yes to ideas is easy.
Maintaining the system to hold the ideas stable is what gets hard.
So be careful what you add to your business.
It’s usually the good ideas that start drowning you.
