I’ve been running businesses for 17 years. Have a team of 100+. And have generated my clients over $7.8 billion in sales.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes and paid for these lessons in full.
Here are the business cheat codes I know now at 38, that I wish knew back when I was 28…
I’ve made a lot of mistakes and paid for these lessons in full.
Here are the business cheat codes I know now at 38, that I wish knew back when I was 28…
Cheat Code #1: If you want to buy things without looking at the price. Work without looking at the clock.
Cheat Code #2: Longer games have less players. Play in decades. Not years.
Cheat Code #3: People buy value, not price. Relentlessly focus on adding more value than everyone in your market.
Cheat Code #4: The hardest of steel is made in the hottest of fires. The game doesn't get easier. You just need to get better. Bath in the fire.
Cheat Code #5: Build a business you would want to be a customer of. Don’t chase trends. Because it’s gotta be an extension of your soul, if it doesn’t become an extension of you… you’ll never build something big and you’ll never be happy building it.
Cheat Code #6: Plan your year out in advance. Not just work stuff. Plan the fun stuff too. Holidays etc. Then have a quarterly 'board meeting' with your partner to review progress. Getting on the same page is EVERYTHING.
Cheat Code #7: When hiring there are 3 vectors of value. Salary is one. The others are learning and experience. And then there is the network that you build while you’re there. And it’s the aggregate of these things that form an offer. Most people over-index on the salary.
Cheat Code #8: A compelling offer is 10x more powerful than a convincing argument. My litmus test for a good offer is: If the offer doesn’t keep the founder up at night. It’s simply not strong enough.
Cheat Code #9: Comfort is the enemy of progress. There can be no progress without struggle. If you want keep growing you must chase discomfort.
Cheat Code #10: Expect more of yourself than anyone else ever could. Feeling sorry for yourself will take you nowhere. Bath in your loses to make the wins that much more sweeter.
Cheat Code #11: Average is the enemy. Do everything in your power to avoid it in every area that it rears it's ugly head. Average marriage, average energy, average marketing, average sex.
Cheat Code #12: Don't ask someone to buy until they're already sold. Marketing’s job is to make sales easy.
Cheat Code #13: Everything is your fault. Extreme ownership is the key to freedom in all areas of life.
Cheat Code #14: 90% of media buying doesn’t matter. Focus on the creative.
Cheat Code #15: Don’t pay for something with time when you could buy it with money. The most expensive currency you can pay with is time.
Cheat Code #16: Partner your days with activities. Say no to everything else. 'Got a minute meetings', will murder your goals.
Cheat Code #17: 80% of copywriting is knowing what to say, 20% is how you say it.
Cheat Code #18: One good hook is worth more than a thousand words of masterful copy.
Cheat Code #19: Spend 10x more time than you think you need to develop a product. Remarkable products are rare and multiply your marketing efforts.
Cheat Code #20: Once you’ve completed 90% of a project you’re halfway there. (read that again).
Cheat Code #21: Business team members vs house team members. When it comes to business people don’t have an issue with hiring help. But with their home. They’re too proud. This is silly. Work out your effective hourly rate and hire help for everything below that.
Cheat Code #22: Compete on economics, not marketing. Funnels are easy to copy. Economics arn't.
Cheat Code #23: Culture isn’t just important. It’s everything. Focus/invest in it appropriately.
Cheat Code #24: If a team member can leave and steal your business. You don’t have a business. This one took me longer than I'd like to admit to learn.
Cheat Code #25: Ideas are cheap. Execution is priceless.
Cheat Code #26: You can teach hard skills, not soft skills. Hire for culture and values above everything.
Cheat Code #26: Hire missionaries not mercenaries. Mercenaries have “a lust for making money,” while missionaries have “a lust for making meaning.”
Cheat Code #27: 90% of the time. More volume is the answer.
Cheat Code 28: Hire missionaries not mercenaries. Mercenaries have “a lust for making money,” while missionaries have “a lust for making meaning.”
Cheat Code #29: Never don’t have a split test running. This is the easiest way to add 10-30% t your bottom line.
Cheat Code #30: Whenever you’re about to walk into a room. Think about how you can 'light it up'. Energy is the biggest equaliser.
Cheat Code #31: Don’t make ads, create campaigns (with lots of ads/hooks). And do it in sprints.
Cheat Code #32: You don’t need more data. You already know what needs to be done. Just f*cking do it.
Cheat Code #33: Add a big benefit and intrigue in every single ad.
Cheat Code #34: You don’t need cheaper traffic, you need better funnels and economics. Ad costs are only going one way. Up.
Cheat Code 35: Never underestimate how stupid people are. I don't care to elaborate. I'll let this one marinate.
Cheat Code 36: People you love and trust will do things to hurt you. Never act in malice, let the emotions pass. They will. And then let the winning do the talking.
Cheat Code 37: Buy a good pair of shoes and a good mattress. When you’re not in one. You’re in the other.
Cheat Code #38: So many people know what they need to do, but don’t do what they know. Don’t go seeking answers to problems you don’t have. Execute on the boring fundamentals better than the competition and you’ll be rich beyond your wildest dreams.
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