return on experience

David E. Bryant – Return on Experience and Expertise: Why Staying Humble Allows for Big Time Growth (AoL 168)

Return on Experience and Expertise, or RoEE, is something we all should realize we have. Whether you’re more street smart or climbed your way up the twin towers of formal education and the corporate world, you do have experience which can serve not only you, but those around you.

However, that said, it’s up to us to realize what expertise can truly help others. Unlike our Passion, we don’t get to choose our Purpose and where we fit with others.

However, when we can pair up our Purpose with our Passion, then we have the seeds to greatness. Add it to a unique Process, and we have a winning formula for awesome Profit!

Sound familiar? It should. I shared briefly about the 4 P’s of the Ikigai in this blog post recently.

Today’s guest, David Bryant, is a prime example of someone who’s not only found this sweet spot in his career, but also has been able to take advantage of it. How? By staying humble and learning lessons wherever or from whoever he can.

In this chat, Andy and I get the chance to learn how he’s done this over his career and some of the key things he’s learned along the way.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • What lead Dave to study sports marketing and business? 9:19
  • How did spending time and learning in the MLM industry compare to the knowledge he picked up from getting his business degree? 14:42
  • What are some of the topics that David learned in his time in LegalShield that he can share with teens and college students? 20:41
  • What does he think are some of the key foundational learnings he’s had where he can now turn around and maximize on experience or expertise? 24:43
  • Which business lessons has his faith taught him? 29:19
  • How did LegendBorne get its start? 31:24
  • What are some challenges that he’s given himself for the upcoming year? 48:41
  • What books are his top 3 favorite that he gifts or tells others about? 52:18
  • If he could ask anyone living or dead a question, who and what would it be? 52:54
  • What are three truths that Dave has learned over time that he wants others to know? 54:02
  • How can someone be a difference maker in their community? 58:05

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

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SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Why the Name LegendBorne?

Dave on why LegendBorne is Unique

LegendBorne Sportswear in the Field

Akuma vs LegendBorne – Which Jersey Should You Buy?


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on CastboxiTunesStitcherPodBean, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

political satire

Andrew Heaton – Creating Opportunities through Political Satire: Using Your Unique Talents, Interests, and Experiences to Fulfill Your Mission (AoL 165)

In general, politics is a topic that people are really engaged in or they want to keep away from it with a 10 foot pole. Personally for me, I’m a bit of a junkie. And in fact, the shows that I tend to listen to engage in political satire. They don’t take themselves too seriously.

I love that because it’s such a break from the norm. Because when you think of politics today, you often think of this side vs that side. One side is right while the other side is wrong. One side is Trump and on the other side you have the Pelosi lead Democrats.

This wasn’t always the case.

Today’s guest, Andrew Heaton, is someone I started listening to sometime last year in his last podcast called There’s Something Off with Andrew Heaton. That particular show concluded this past summer and since then he’s been busy building his own show entitled The Political Orphanage. (He also has a new show called Alienating the Audience , Sci-Fi based show, which we’ll talk a bit about in the interview.)

Listen in as Andy and I get a chance to find out from Andrew what his process has been as he’s been building his new platform. And what he can share with other creators in regards to getting on the national stage.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How does Andrew connect at a different level with his audience than most political commentators? 10:38
  • Are politicians in DC the same people behind the scenes versus what we see in the news and media? 14:11
  • What’s Andrew’s advice for a student to set themself up to work in Washington DC? 17:08
  • What are some action steps he recommends to creatives, such as podcasters, who are in the hunt to get on a larger stage? 23:11
  • How does he go about getting guests on his podcasts? 35:49
  • Is there a certain way Andrew recommends to grow a contact list? 41:01
  • What business lessons has he learned through his experiences as a standup comic? 56:50
  • How has “always saying yes” affected him as a podcaster? 59:37
  • What’s Andrew looking forward to in the New Year? 1:02:12
  • Which book, film, and song would Andrew add to the National Curriculum? 1:04:47
  • What’s Andrew do when he becomes overwhelmed or unfocused? 1:07:32
  • What’s a topic that would be found in a handbook for entrepreneurs if Andrew wrote it? 1:10:33
  • Is there something he wished was still a thing? 1:12:12
  • What’s the secret to achieving personal freedom? 1:12:45

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Uberdunger Cologne for Men

Game of Thrones: Libertarian Edition

Star Wars: Libertarian Edition

Baby Yoda for President


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on CastboxiTunesStitcherPodBean, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

practicing mindfulness

Manuj Aggarwal – Benefits of Practicing Mindfulness Daily: Why Searching Within Can Lead to Our Next Big Opportunity (AoL 162)

When it comes to achievement in the creative space, you have to put in the actual work to get there. However, we’re not just talking about performing a particular skill like you would in a job, though. In fact, it starts with building one’s mindset. And one way to work on one’s mindset is through the form of practicing mindfulness or perform meditation.

In this session, we’re talking to Manuj Aggarwal who knows all about this world. Interestingly enough, when he lived in India, he never had an interest in this knowledge. However, as he moved to the western world, he realized that it had some real benefits.

In this conversation with Manuj, Andy and I have the chance to find out what this journey looked like like for him – including when he realized he needed to start.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • What was Manuj’s perspective on formal education growing up? 10:54
  • How did he make the time to seek the knowledge to get ahead in his career? 12:20
  • What does mindfulness and meditation mean to Manuj? 17:44
  • Is there anything wrong with the general population’s perspective on money? 24:32
  • What challenges and new opportunities has he seen running an international business? 28:11
  • Does Manuj see himself as a new trend in startups and entrepreneurship in India? 30:56
  • What’s got Manuj excited for 2020 and beyond? 36:08
  • What’s his advice to those who are 50 years old or beyond and want to stay on top of technology and stay relevant? 40:00
  • If Manuj could add one song, one book, and one film to the national curriculum, what would they be? 43:42
  • Is there something he’s learning about that he’s really excited to implement? 44:41
  • What’s something that every high school student must know? 46:19
  • What’s the best advice he’s ever received? 47:20
  • How does one live a life of abundance? 48:56

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Manuj Online: TetraNoodle, Innerget, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube
Cohost: Andy Dix
Session Sponsor: Fizzle – Get Started FREE Today!
The Power of Now – Eckart Tolle

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Interview of Dr. Glenn Livingston on Developing a Healthy Lifestyle

Interview of AJ Wilcox on B2B LinkedIn Advertising

Manuj interviews Chris Prefontaine on Real Estate Entrepreneurship

Prady Tewarie on Hypergrowth in a Competitive Industry


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on CastboxiTunesStitcherPodBean, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

non fiction writing

AoL 157: It’s a Book! No Nonsense Strategies for Non Fiction Writing and Publishing with Lindsay Whiting

People get involved in non fiction writing for a number of reasons. In the thought leader space, the number one reason books are created is for their ability to be a lead generator. Many times, they’ll be at the front of a sales funnel that leads to higher and higher priced products such as courses and live events.

However, sometimes the book is the end message. And for me, before I got into the content production world, I always thought that was point of a book. The point was to actually increase the awareness of your readers. The book was the end… not the means to an end.

But, as a good authorpreneur knows, you can have the best of both if you really care to make the effort. You can create something of value while at the same time using it as a tool to grow your business.

This session’s guest, Lindsay Whiting, is all about helping writers do just that. She finds joy in helping new writers write a good book while at the same time helping them navigate the publishing waters.

If writing a valuable non fiction book is something you’ve wanted to do and your goal isn’t to just be an Amazon Best Seller, then you’ll get a lot out of this interview.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Where’d Lindsay get her start in literary and publishing work? 6:31
  • What inspired her to start her first business? 15:14
  • How did she get the idea to become interested in the idea to help others with their book writing process? 20:30
  • What does she feel are the most common mistakes that authors make when they’re entering the publishing space? 28:30
  • What is Lindsay excited for in the not too distant future? 47:31
  • What are her top favorite books that she gifts or tells others about? 51:51
  • Is there a specific gift does she like giving others? 52:51
  • What would she like to see popular still today? 53:39
  • What’s something that every high school student must know? 53:55
  • How can someone be a difference maker in their community? 55:00

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Lindsay on Selecting a Good Book Designer:

Lindsay on Finding Book Models for Your Book

Veronica’s TEDx Talk

Stories of Elders: The Documentary


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on CastboxiTunesStitcherPodBean, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

entrepreneurial finance

Real World Strategies in Entrepreneurial Finance

This past week I had another chance to go to a business accelerator event here in Indy. This one was hosted by Techstars, who helps sports based businesses with entrepreneurial finance here in Indiana.

As I was listening to the pitches by various companies, (some I’m sure you’ll be hearing about soon in your everyday life!) I started thinking about how some of them had seen such great success in fairly quick periods of time.

Not only were there founders from these various companies in the room, but they were joined by representatives from sports partners from around the city. This included the Pacers, the Colts, Indiana Sports Corp, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and others.

Soon I started thinking about a common connection of the talent I saw in the room. The success here was different than you hear about from the online entrepreneurial world.

The companies in the room were talking about sustainable growth and building opportunity and jobs in the community. Online, you hear more about “earn $5k in your first month doing…”.

In short, it’s looking at long term decisions yielding true wealth vs short term hustle.

And, really, I think successful online entrepreneurs are doing their followers and students a disservice. On top of how to create income online, they should also teach them how to leverage the funds they already have to keep growing!

The Hustle Approach to Finances

When we think of online business, many of us think of 24/7 hustle. We think if you’re not working, than you’re limiting yourself. Why hang out with friends and family when you should be out there making content or the next deal? It’s only when you’ve been successful doing these things that you’ll have your Ferrari and nice high-rise apartment. 

So go out and get it done!

Well, for one, that mentality doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone in business. There’s people who aren’t the best hustlers, but they’re great at making the hustlers around them more efficient.

And, two, this thought process suggests that you can always outearn any financial issues that you’re having. If you just bring in more income, you’ll be richer.

That isn’t necessarily the case.

In fact, I’d say that more often than not, when people earn more, they’ll spend more. And if your goal is to be wealthy in all aspects of your life, this method isn’t going to get you too far.

That said, there’s other bad financial decisions a business owner can make. So let’s take a look at those before we start improving our decision making.

Bad Entrepreneurial Financial Habits

When it comes to where people go wrong with their finances, there’s a few that are pretty widespread. Here’s a few examples:

No Personal Organization

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met first time entrepreneurs who don’t know anything about keeping records of their business. They don’t have a system for receipts, they don’t have a business banking account, and really, they’re not sure what their actual profit is.

No Tax Strategy

So, of course, because they’re not actively keeping track of their expenses and profit, there’s really no existence of accounting. So, everything gets cramped up to the last 2 or 3 weeks before the yearly tax deadline. And really, that makes things so much more stressful than it needs to be.

Money Is Earned to Spend

On the podcast, one of the questions I occasionally ask the rapid fire question segment is “What is something that all high school students must know?”. Often, the response is something to do with the management of finances.

We live in a world where we’ve grown up with media telling us to “Buy New, Buy Now”. Consumerism is king. If you don’t actively participate, you’re not part of the “in crowd”. So without financial education in schools, thinking that you have to keep up with the Kardashians is pretty prevalent.

As I’ve found out, wealthy people and successful entrepreneurs know how to create cash flow, but they also know how to manage their finances.

Changing Your Financial Paradigm

If any of the above sound like habits that you use in your business and life, it might be time to make a few tweaks.

Here are a few basic concepts I’ve learned about managing wealth.

Think of Money as Water

When I think about money, I look at it as a resource. In fact, I look at it like I would water in a post-apocalyptic world like you’d find in The 100 or Mad Max.

In that type of environment, water is more than just water. It’s a commodity. And because water is vital to life, clean water is going to be in short supply. Just like money is today for so many people.

If we had a way of providing clean drinking water in that world, we’d have the potential to be on the top of society.

Same thing is true with your business and its ability to make more money at will.

With that type of mindset, I think it’s easier to get a grasp on how money should be used. Here’s a couple of habits you can practice to be more successful in this arena.

Keep Track of It

If we’re looking at money as a resource that we have to be smart with we need to have metrics on where we’re at any specific time. In our analogy, we need to know how much is going out to the market. We also need to know if anyone is stealing any.

So with that in mind, it’s important that we get used to regularly checking our bank account. On top of that, we need to keep track of income and expenditures. 

Get used to asking yourself and tracking:

  • How much do we plan to make versus how much we actually did. 
  • How much do we predict to spend versus how much we actually did.

Cut things out when necessary.

Build Up a Reserve

If you’re the person in charge of delivering clean water to a community in this new world, you might want to consider something.

What if there’s a problem in getting the water? What if the rain doesn’t fall or the wells don’t work? How long does it take for you and the leaders of the community to start growing concerned?

If your business functions on the funds that you get directly from income, then you might have a potentially huge problem. Be prepared and build at least a month’s reserve of cash for emergencies. Or even better, perhaps 90 days or more. The bigger the reserve, the more insurance you give yourself to be able to dig yourself out of a bad situation.

However, just like water that sits in a reservoir or lake, if money isn’t moving, it’s not doing you any good. Naturally, if water is stagnant, then it tends to go bad. A great example of this is the Salton Sea in California. However, if there’s inflow and outflow of water such as a river, then the water is useful for sustaining life.

Same thing for money. If money is stagnate, then we tend to get overprotective of that money. Being frugal and smart with money is one thing. Being a miser and potentially those around you miserable, is another. You don’t want to be a Scrooge from a Christmas Carol.

Leverage Your Position

As this successful water provider, you’re doing your job well when everyone is getting an adequate supply. If people feel like this isn’t a problem, then it’s one less stresser in their life. Heck, the more they have, the less they think about it.

What if your community has such a huge reservoir of water that you can start using it to trade with other communities who might not be so lucky?

At that point, you’re leveraging your position with the excess of your resource to get things in return. Sure, you might not have as much water left over in your reserve, but you are gaining things in exchange for it. Which those might be more valuable in your own community than water.

In our business, it’s a bit more simple. The more money we have in reserve, the more options we have. We need to know the difference between liabilities (fancy cars, eating out, partying, etc.) vs assets (using better tools, hiring a team, etc) when it comes to making more money. The more assets you have, the greater potential we have for generating more income.

Action Steps

So, to help you make this transition, I have a few recommendations for you to start getting better at finance. 

The first thing I’d recommend is read or listen to Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And really think about anything that the author Robert Kiyosaki has to say. He has a good enough track record that students at Purdue’s entrepreneurship department used his info in creating their own businesses when I was there.

Next, I’d recommend getting a business bank account. Keep business money separate from your personal money.

Also, I’d develop something (maybe even a spreadsheet) to monitor your cash flow. Again, how much are you forecasting yourself to earn? How much did you earn in comparison? Same thing with expenditures? Where can you cut out if necessary? This information is great to have if you ever hire an accountant to help.

Finally, I’d look into subscribing to Quickbooks and anything else that might make your accounting easier. If you don’t have a business credit card that you put all your expenditures on (which I highly recommend) then you’ll need to manually keep track of receipts. You can do it as you go with Quickbooks, but if you like waiting to the end of the month, you can use a service like Shoeboxed to do it all for you.

business ownership

Jeff Gamble – Gaining Perspective through Business Ownership: How One Entrepreneur Survived the Ride of His Life (AoL 156)

Business ownership comes in many forms. The goal of this show has always been to expose the listener to as many ways to start earning 6 or 7 figures a year. In the last session, our guest, Chris Prefontaine, built his income generating machine through real estate investing. Then, in session 150, we had Corbett Barr on who told us about how he managed to make Fizzle from the knowledge he knew about monetizing traffic online.

In this session, I had the chance to speak with an influencer here in the Indianapolis area about his background in various businesses including multi-level marketing (MLM).

As you guys probably know, I’ve been a fan of properly ran MLM groups for years. For instance, way back in session 23 of the show, Laila and I had the opportunity to interview soon to be Amway Diamond Mark Nathan.

What he and today’s guest, Jeff Gamble, can tell you is that a large part of being successful in the network marketing arena is affiliating yourself with great people.

Pair this experience of his with traditional business and the result is someone that knows a lot about what it takes to be successful entrepreneur and leader.

But don’t think that this journey of his has been easy. He’s had more major setbacks than anyone I know.

Even if you’re not interested in getting involved with an MLM company, let his story be one of inspiration to you in whatever you’re pursuing.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How was Jeff initially exposed to the multi-level marketing industry? 9:14
  • What life event made him change his perspective and look at other ways of making income? 16:02
  • When it comes to network marketing, what kind of benefits does Jeff believe associates get? 44:14
  • What are some things that people should consider when getting started with a MLM company? 53:21
  • What’s Jeff looking forward to in the not too distant future? 58:57
  • Who are three influential people who have help get him to where he’s at today? 1:01:39
  • What job or business would Jeff like to try out for a day? 1:01:49
  • What’s the smallest decision he’s made that’s had the most impact in his life? 1:02:05
  • Is there something that every high school student should know? 1:02:25
  • What’s the secret to achieving personal freedom? 1:02:45

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

How to Fix Your Credit:

John Maxwell’s Law of Leadership #20 – Explosive Growth

Going Executive Director Show Episode 78

Jeff Working Out and Getting Max Gainz!


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on CastboxiTunesStitcherPodBean, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

get stuff done

Focus at Work – Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing and Get Stuff Done!

In the last post, I wrote about how deep focus might be the key to actually get stuff done in your craft or industry. Focus on the 20% of the effort that makes you the 80% of your income. You simply don’t have the capacity to do everything under the sun.
Since that post, I’ve had a few readers of that post message me and ask why I was going against the traditional advice of building an online business.

And as I thought about it, I realized that while I might be going against the more traditional advice of building a digital business, there are examples in the real world that suggest that less can be more.

So in this post, we’re going to look at just a few such examples.

Is Less Always More?

Now you might be thinking, there are plenty of examples of businesses that have grown after they offered more products and services. One such example is Amazon. Without knowing their history, you might think that they’ve always sold all the products and online services that they offer today.

However, this wasn’t always the case. When the company first started, it was an online book store based out of Jeff Bezos’ garage. Did he know that it was going to become what it is today? Probably not. But as the company offered more products and brought more people on to help manage those products, it is definitely an example of “More is More”.

Sometimes Scaling Doesn’t Always Work as Expected

But for every Amazon who scales correctly from the beginning, there’s also going to be examples where adding more to the menu might not be the best course of action.

Example 1: McDonald’s

Take McDonald’s for example. I remember in the late 00’s when McDonald’s was losing out on customers because people started to get smarter about what they were eating. It was during this time that chains like Panera, Starbucks, and Subway grew like bandits. In fact, it was pretty common to hear about places in large cities that had a couple of Starbucks on the same street.

These companies were eating McDonald’s lunch. So what did the golden arches do in response? They grew their menus and model to include some competitive products to what these other places were offering. By 2013, it had 145 items on its menu.

This was nuts and completely unsustainable. It’s no wonder that they were losing money at this point.

In an attempt to right the ship, they hired their most recent CEO, Steve Easterbrook. What Steve ended up doing was removing the items that weren’t selling as well and went back to the basics of the business. This seems to have worked because in the last year or so, their stock has actually risen.

Example 2: Apple

While this might not be the best recent example, it wasn’t too long ago that Apple was the tech company to watch out for – as an investor and a competitor.

In the Beginning…

Personally, I’ve always been an Apple user. My first computer was one and currently I’m writing this on a Macbook Pro.

During that time, the company has seen its ups and downs. I remember when I was first learning about computers, I found out the hard way that Windows 95 would not work on my Mac. How could this be? I thought everyone was going to be able to use it!

Nope, I was in the minority. Windows based PCs were what everyone else had. I can’t tell you how many conversations I had in high school answering questions about why I had a Mac… even when Steve Jobs came back as the CEO!

As I got involved in the Purdue University Mac Users Group (PUMUG), I started to learn how awesome of a group Mac users actually were. I had found my people! But interestingly, we were still a small group. All the clones had been taken off the market by that point. Those of us who were still users were because we were creatives or simply loved the Mac.

The Epic Growth of Apple

However, it was also during this time that the iPod was released. And interestingly, this was about the same time that I started paying attention to the stock market. I remember in 2001 watching the AAPL stock rise almost 50% until 9-11. 

Of course, stocks were down for just about everyone at that point. But as new and better versions of the iPod came out, their stock rose. And then, the point where everyone became familiar with Apple was in 2007 when the iPhone debuted. Wow… I really should have got some shares then. (Unfortunately, I thought I had already missed the boat. Ha!)

But there’s a point in me telling you this personal story of watching Apple rise. No one would have believed it would happen when I first got my computer – an Apple Performa 575. Had they stuck around trying to compete directly with Microsoft PCs, I think the company would have folded. Even to this day, but especially back then, they were known to jack up the price on products that were matched by less expensive PC options.

But it was because Steve was able to focus on building the next best thing (as he originally did with the original Mac) that they were able to be as great as they did during his time as CEO.

On a Smaller Scale

So, there’s a couple of examples of large companies that righted their ships after bloating to try and be everything to everyone. But it’s not something that just companies that size have to deal with. There are much smaller companies that struggle simply because they don’t focus on keeping the main thing the main thing.

And because they often don’t have the necessary resources or connections to keep going, they tend to not have the time to get their act together in time.

Example 3: Marsh

One such example is a local grocery store chain here in Indiana which was named Marsh. Like many local groceries, it folded in the last couple of years. It couldn’t find its niche in the market. I believe the main reason is that they tried to be everything to everyone. Instead of focusing on having its stores in certain profitable locations, it kept trying to keep open stores that were underperforming due to local competition – no matter what the cost.

Even after the company folded a couple of years ago, there are still locations that have not been bought by other chains. When I see them, I’m reminded of the struggles they had before going belly up. 

Interestingly, though, the places that were bought by other chains seem to be doing pretty well if not better than they did while they were under the Marsh banner. Some were bought by Kroger while others were bought by a regional chain called Needler’s. In fact, the Needler store in downtown Indy is considered by many to be one of the best groceries around!

Had Marsh realized that they should just cut anchor and focus on these stores that were actually making them income, they might be around yet today!

Action Steps

So, hope that gives a little more perspective on why it’s important to focus. If you’re good at building sales funnels, do that until you can outsource it. But don’t try to do that AND build a Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) business AND build a podcast AND build a YouTube channel.

Pick one, get a handful of clients. Once you’ve done that, scale that business using ads on social media. Then from there, you can think about doing something else when the first job is sustainable.