[Mentee] …yeah, you’re right. It makes sense to stick with the thing that’s working here. It’s really hard to say no to new things. But rather than starting this brand new thing from scratch, we should work on improving the asset we’ve already got.
Man, you must've gotten pretty good saying “no“ to the all the new late night ideas your mentees get at this point 😂 I'm just wondering about the amount of new things people wanna do that they throw at you on a daily basis.
[Olly] Well, yeah :) A lot of my time is just telling people to shut up and stay focused! It’s just that I've wasted so much time myself… on so many things… over the years, you know?
I often think about just how much time I've spent on things that haven't worked, in order to get to the things that do work. It’s a 90:10 ratio at best. When something’s working well, you shouldn’t take it for granted.
So, I’m just very, very sensitive to starting new things vs focusing down on the big things that we know work.
[Mentee] Seems like my desire for “new” comes from being impatient with the essentials that needs to be done.
But I can see that you really insist on my sticking with the essentials, and getting them done, over new things that may or may not work.
[Olly] Yeah, you’re dealing with the things that all entrepreneurs have: impatience, wanting to do new things, the need for novelty.
These aren’t bad. These are the character traits that made you successful in the first place. They served you very well in the past to get started, to create something from nothing.
But, if you’re not careful, you’ll start to equate new activity with success. To get addicted to activity for activity’s sake.
[Mentee] What do you mean?
[Olly] Intense, scrappy activity is needed to get your business off the ground. But you’re not in that position any more. You’ve gone from “nothing” to “something”.
And now you’ve got something that’s working, the job changes. You need to tap into a new part of your character — patience and focus.
Getting comfortable with repetition. Doing more of the same things — more of what’s working. Not new things.
Getting comfortable saying “no. Because that's what's needed to grow your business at this stage. As my old mentor said: ”Boring is profitable.“
[Mentee] Thanks man, it’s a good lesson.
[Olly] You’re doing great. Namaste.