Fear's Two-Sided Role in Entrepreneurship
Fear has been both a fantastic motivator and the biggest limiting factor I have faced in my career as an entrepreneur.
On one hand, being afraid of becoming a financial failure motivates me to spend time planning and modeling my business to ensure our spending stays within our means. It helped my keep Draft.dev profitable while growing from $0 to $2.7 million in revenue in two years, and it helped me keep the company alive as we had to cut the team in half over the course of the next year.
Fear is a valuable tool…in moderation.
On the other hand, fear still wakes me up at 3 a.m. a few times a month. I then spend two hours fixated on the million little things that could take my business down, the goals I’m not going to hit, the customers I might lose, and the risk to my family if I don’t keep the ship floating. Fear is a massive distraction when you let it be one.
In this month's blog post, I wrote about the way fear has helped me and held me back, and what I do to push through feelings of fear or uncertainty. I also included my interview with Andy Hite of Scaling Minds about fear. Read more...
Sweat-Proof Scaling: Agencies, Acquisitions, and Apparel with Jim Huffman
In this episode of Retained Trust, I talked with Jim Huffman—founder of GrowthHit and CEO of Neat—to discuss the journey from agency work to e-commerce entrepreneurship.
Jim shares his pivot from finance into growth marketing, how he built and scaled GrowthHit, and what led him to acquire a unique, sweat-proof t-shirt brand.
From Pipeline to Profit with Simon Severino
In this episode of Retained Trust, I spoke with Simon Severino, founder of Strategy Sprints, about building scalable and sustainable agencies. Simon shares insights from his 22-year journey in go-to-market strategies, offering practical advice on pricing power, ideal client selection, and creating repeatable sales systems.
Most Service Businesses Don't Reach $1mm in Revenue...
So, what's the difference between those that break through and those that don't?
Here are three simple principles I've consistently seen work across $1M+ agencies...
Why Your Agency Exit Probably Won't Fund Your Retirement
Most agency owners think their exit will fund their retirement. This is naive.
After reviewing a lot of agency acquisitions this past year, I noticed a pattern:
The founders who were able to retire completely weren't necessarily the ones with the biggest exits...
Traction/Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) is Not a Silver Bullet
Of course, the consultant trying to sell you the $30K+ implementation package wants you thinking otherwise.
Here's my advice...