25 things I learned about business before the age of 25.
My entrepreneurial journey started quite early and unexpectedly when a friend asked for some help to fund-raise for a little mission he’d begun in Nepal.
Not even three years later, all my plans for myself have been subverted and I took a path I would never have foreseen myself taking. Having previously been interested in film, and studying psychology, I withdrew from an honours year to begin a journey in the world of business and social impact.
The term ‘entrepreneur’ gets thrown around a lot these days (very loosely I might add) as a flashy and fashionable word. And rightly so… it does sound pretty cool. Perhaps this can mask the real lack of glamour that often goes hand in hand with a significant journey into a venture or ventures.
Having begun my own real estate agency, and been involved in a hybrid nonprofit/business space with From the Ground Up, I have learned a lot in a short space of time. I have also soaked up as much as I can from others, ranging from international personalities to my own family’s building and developing business.
The following are the 25 most important things I’ve learned about business, entrepreneurship and life all at once before I myself have turned 25.
1. Your customer has three brain cells in their head.
This began occurring to me quite naturally, but I must credit the exact term to Mark Ritson. Awareness is a massive thing, right? I think everyone can agree on that. I have learned that the easier something is to explain, the easier it is to make it stick in someone’s mind.
I have found the temptation to put too much information on a sign or banner all too often, or to advertise a long line of services. The problem is, too much information makes it harder for the right information to hold. The customer has three brain cells, especially these days. They don’t have time to learn your life story, they are browsing hundreds of things at once and just need to know what your product or service can do for them.
To that extent, I’ve learned that it if there’s too much information, it’s hard to actually stick out and be remembered for what you do.
2. Less is/leads to more
This one I attribute to many valuable business influences, but in particular Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook. His book on the first step of entrepreneurship, “Zero to One” seems to ironically have very few direct tips on business. This is because business and the startup environment are such diverse animals, differing in form and type from case to case. But he points out that all the successful, major, and international brands have in common that they started by dominating a small niche first.
It was only after this they were able to diversify or expand services and products horizontally. Stand out and dominate one thing first, to get the opportunity to do more. Since I learned the value of this principle, I have pushed for more selectivity and specificity over objectives. Doing so has already made clear how much easier it is to refine, perfect and place close attention on major areas.
3. Words are not actions
This too is something I have learned very organically. I have sat at countless meetings or got needlessly excited over so many deals because someone tabled something interesting, or promised business and developments. Others promised or indicated that they would help. How often these promises are substantiated is disappointing to say the least. I have learned it to be more valuable to judge people by past actions, rather than words said about the future.
Looking at Eric Ries’ Lean Start-Up, the argument is made that while market research can be useful, the only real validation is not someone saying they will use your product, but actual behaviour and buying it. There is no substitute.
4. Managing and coordinating people is tough
Across all involvements, I have noticed that finding the right people is the most important thing to get right. I know some great people who have actually built their business model so they don’t have to have many people internally to manage, in order to bypass what is often a major challenge: people management.
Most people require some form of management, and the right people with initiative have been very hard to find. Do people change much? It’s hard to say, but we know that getting the right people is an ongoing challenge that we must try to get right.
5. The value of focus
I turn my nose up at those who are involved in fifty different ventures at once — they are not practical business people. I don’t see any way of being successful for those who do not consolidate focus, time, energy, motivation and have skin on the line for one central project at a time. Even the famous businessmen who run or are involved in multiple ventures do not tend to launch them all at once, from what I’ve observed.
Rather than physical time, it is the degree of focus which I have noticed to be important. Even having time to make decisions is incredibly underrated, and the mental energy to perform or make sure the big picture is heading in the right direction.
Therefore rather than having time in one’s schedule, it’s the mental load or focus I’ve identified as the most important resource.
6. Be effective, rather than efficient.
Very much credited to Tim Ferris’ Four Hour Work Week, one of the easiest traps to fall into is being efficient on a daily basis on unimportant tasks. It is easier to pick smaller, less dense tasks to fill one’s work day, and cram them in so that one feels productive getting them all done over twelve hours. This tends to be very ‘ineffective’ as menial tasks by definition tend to inhibit growth. Operating like this is often stressful day-in-day out, and unproductive, but sucks you in because of the short-term reward of ‘having got through a lot today’.
In effect, it is much better to be ‘effective’, and working on one-to-two major important items per day that are taking the business in the right direction, and then attend to some smaller ticket items. Everything else must be removed from your day through systems, automation and delegation. Otherwise the trap is too big and will hold you static.
7. Small is beautiful
“Small is Better: Economics as if people actually mattered” is a book by E.F. Schumacher. Tim Ferris recommends this reading in order to highlight the value of deliberately constraining and limiting growth so that a business can remain manageable and enjoyable. The traditional capitalist urge for ‘constant growth’ is not always as glamorous as it seems, the conditioning to chase more and more and more a path likely to lead to disarray at some stage.
The argument is that, depending on the goal of the business, there can be a major benefit in deliberately remaining small. Massive businesses are wrought with inefficiencies and difficulties, with large tasks to coordinate, a mass of employees to manage and investors to account to. There can be major beauty to be had in keeping it small.
8. The importance of clarity and goals
Pointed out to me when listening to a School of Greatness Podcast on High Performance, was that based on studies the highest correlator with high performance was ‘seeking clarity’. When you think about it, this makes sense.
Whilst correlation doesn’t equal causation, seeking clarity means always having a specific target to aim for, and knowing where the ship wants to go. By logic, this makes it a lot easier to lead it there. It means you know what meetings or activities to avoid because they’ll be a waste of time, it likely means you have more motivation to overcome obstacles, and are more purposeful and deliberate across the board.
9. The rules of the game: There are no rules
You need to be kind to employees, but you need to show employees tough love. You need to have a deep purpose to your business, but flaky missions are pointless. To need to plan excessively, yet planning is the kiss of death of entrepreneurship. Never give up but don’t do something for the sake of it if it’s not working.
The literature and guidance on business is as diverse as one could imagine, and the advice incredibly conflicting from source to source. The resultant learning for me has been that there are many paths and ways to success, that differ from person to person. The one rule is that there are no real rules. It seems you need to figure out what works for you, and be absolutely loyal to that.
10. DTA: Don’t. Trust. Anyone.
Credit: My Father.
Incredibly cynical on paper, but this principle instilled in me long ago by my old man conveys a lot of truth about the business world. Yes, you can and must trust people, but always prepare for the worst. The unglamorous but crucial advice here: Everything is in writing, clarified beyond any doubt and you always take provisions to protect your position, so that you can work alongside people.
A big difference between business in Australia and Nepal is that our legislative infrastructure in Australia allows us to better protect our rights and seek compensation, whereas in Nepal it is much harder to enforce legality. This heightened protection must not be taken for granted.
11. Learn to say no.
Credit: My father & Others
My old man has also frequently related to me an important message; an observation of his is that in business, too many people feel compelled to always say ‘yes’. The reality is that it is often fine, if not essential, to say no.
Looking again at Tim Ferris and the benefits of being selective over clientele, you see the benefits in theory over this approach if Pareto’s Law, the 80/20 principle rings true (20% of your customers will deliver 80% of your revenue… 80% of your headaches will come from 20% of your customers).
12. Set precedent early.
Credit: Multiple Sources
This is one of many principles which I see as being true in life as well as business. My father even talks about how he and my mother set the parameters of their marriage down at the start. I have also learned the value of being upfront and honest, to make sure expectations are clear and established early in the piece.
This way it is hard to skew apart in what either party understands over a situation or relationship. In real estate we set our new tenants conditions of renting early, and for my other clients, we clarify the state of the market from the outset. It is much more equitable to get these things out of the way, to avoid wasting time on a relationship, and to avoid pointing to things like the market later on when the project hasn’t gone well, where now it looks like a puny excuse!
13. Build, Measure, Learn.
Credit: Eric Ries.
The important principle governs the majority of the startup world at the moment, especially in the technology and product space. The idea of a Lean Startup is that we don’t know what the market will want, so we adopt an approach that is as scientific as possible.
We test a series of evolving hypotheses, ideally as close as possible to each other in time so that we can learn what the market wants in relation to our product before our budget runs out. All the while we build an improvement, measure the feedback, and learn. Fast.
14. There is no rule of thumb to the sunk cost fallacy
I had a conversation with a close friend after one particular low point in my real estate business, and discussed my plan to persevere. We discussed a good point, when is giving up ok? Or do we resist giving up for bad reasons? My impression is that there is no fixed rule, there never could be. The reasons for sticking or leaving can range by such large degrees.
There are so many great entrepreneurial stories where innovators were set on giving up. Michael Caine was set to retire from acting at age 60, but at 85 is still going strong. We know that perseverance is important for any competitive success, so I think this is an incredibly personal thing always. No rule of thumb, but we must be committed when persevering, not half-baked, whichever way we choose.
15. Consistency over Intensity.
Credit: Joe Rogan Podcast, Firas Zahabi Interview
A more recent insight, the Head Coach at Tristar Gym discussed on the Joe Rogan Experience the idea that consistency in a workout is more valuable than intensity. That great athletes are perceived to train at full intensity day-in, day-out, but this is a farce. He claims that doing so creates too much pain and fatigue.
Even physical workout must be enjoyable to be done on a daily basis. This relates to all forms of training, and I think this relates to business as well. “Make everyday a 7/10” he says, and if doing 10 pull-ups today is your full intensity, then do 5 every day until you can do 6, and so on. This way you will end up getting more training and development in than those who wear themselves out.
It is hard to make everyday in business a 10/10. But if everyday was a 7 we would fare ok.
16. If it can’t be effectively implemented and tested it is not a good idea
Credit: From the Ground Up (Charitable space).
Many may disagree with this line. I think there is potential for a great range of business ideas to work, but it is always a matter of risk and time. The fact is, if something cannot be implemented, it won’t exist. In my experience cool yet impractical ideas inspire a lot of passion in their authors, but can find it hard to engage more practically minded heads of supporters.
I have noticed that most elaborate and large charitable models for instance struggle on this point. For example, we ran a very concise analysis that in the community of Ghumarchowk in Nepal, finding that it was easier and more direct to create jobs in one area (construction) through a company, rather than in the school we built. Education was too ambitious a revolution for a band of twenty-one year olds.
17. Don’t be incrementally better — find a new category.
Credit: Tim Ferris, Peter Thiel
One of my favourite pieces of business advice. When I found myself starting a real estate business, this crossed my mind constantly. I don’t identify as being another real estate agent, it’s a crowded space with many more experienced than me. What can we do different?
I see a lot of business models that are based around being incrementally better in a category that is already competitive; a big example in the real estate sector is ‘local’ residential real estate business models. Whereas the most celebrated businesses and brands have identified a new category to dominate, and for me, it is this idea of business which is more exciting and will attract my attention more in the future.
18. If you fall down, the pyramid of cards goes down with you.
Credit: From the Ground Up
I remember talking to Nick Abraham whilst he was on long stints in Nepal, and was often the voice telling him it was ok to come back to Australia for a break. Whenever we talked to senior advisors and mentors on our From the Ground Up journey, they always asked how we were sustaining ourselves.
Why? Because without you guys, none of the work gets done. It was a simple truth. Sometimes I have found the best thing I’ve done for my involvements is to have a break, rather than throw away more hours into work. Balance and sustainability are the building blocks, not deserts at the end.
19. Passion is almost everything.
Credit: Ernesto Sirolli.
The father of ‘Enterprise Facilitation’(™) in his book How to Start a Business; And Ignite your life harps on about passion first and foremost. For people to succeed, he argues, it is much more worthwhile, if not essential, they be doing work they are passionate about. This makes sense.
Not only does passion give you energy and drive, it is contagious. It rubs off on those around you, and acts like a magnet. When things haven’t been enjoyable I’ve asked myself just this; how can I tweak this structure so that I’m doing what I actually enjoy doing?
20. Money is incredibly important, but it is far from everything.
One of my dearest mentors told me a story about the importance of earning money in a business (a painfully obvious thought). It was about a global insurance company which begun by preferencing policies which forecasted profit in year one, instead of year three. “Nothing damages culture more” he said “than getting a raise in a year when your company lost money”.
But I have learnt from seeing people come and go in their businesses or professions that chasing money alone becomes akin to a predator hunting for prey. They’ll take the nearest thing available, and quickly switch targets altogether if something easier comes into vision.
Despite the pay day, some things just aren’t worth the money. But, all businesses must have a ruthless emphasis on making money.
21. Entrepreneurship is the art of simplicity.
I have enjoyed the adventure in business thus far more than being at university. I found that the academic space is crowded with superfluous verbosity and self-indulgence in some respects, whereas the best teachers are those who make the content simplest and easiest to understand. They are not obsessed with sounding smart.
I have noticed business to be the world of simplicity. Rules of simplicity apply. Get to the point and tell me what you are doing in thirty seconds or less. Make sure what you are selling is clear to your market. It is the mechanism for creating simplicity, and talking in simple terms.
22. Don’t ask how. Ask Who.
Credit: Entrepreneurship Podcast, Unknown
The Podcast I can’t recall, but I found the advice to be memorable. Valuable because our nature is to do as much as possible ourselves sometimes, whereas it is hard to do anything truly on our own. Leveraging the expertise of others is often the way to go. As Warren Buffet says, ‘time is the only thing I can’t buy’.
I have learnt; be aware of your strengths, what you are willing and able to do, but be aware of your shortcomings and make good use of the incredible talents of others.
23. Culture is the most important thing to get right
I read a book called The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle after hearing it recommended a number of time on podcasts recently. It seemed like the next step as I sought to improve on my efforts to build a team, which I had not been able to do in the previous years. It impressed upon me the results possible when a team effectively comes together.
I feel this principle is very clearly observable in sport, when we see a team of all-stars underperforming, or a team of underdogs achieving above average. They say that culture cannot be copied, and my current focus is on creating unique, world class cultures in my current involvements. This is founded on clear values, mission, and constant reinforcement. It is as simple as changing work for the exchange of time and expertise for a paycheque, to truly feeling apart of something and belonging.
24. Despite ambitions, people will always fall back to the bare minimum of the systems they have in place.
Credit: Heard by a colleague on a podcast.
When I heard this simple line, it was a glass-shattering moment. I had almost learnt this already through both From the Ground Up and Sydney Listings. We had initially focused on creating massive incentives in both, which tended to be in the longer-term. Ambitious people are more common than people with incredible self-discipline in my opinion.
If a good system is not in place, the appropriate targets, expectations or role clarity, it is incredibly hard to get other people places, or even to get there yourself. We often waste ample time if we do not have a basic plan or routine in place.
25. Analysis Paralysis. Avoid it.
Credit: Mentor
Offered as advice during earlier From the Ground Up years, when we confused ourselves over what we should focus on out of charitable activities and business ideas for Nepal. The term ‘analysis paralysis’ quite simply indicates that if you spend all your time thinking, nothing will happen.
“Just keep doing good things” he said, “everything will fall into place”. He was right. Not two years later, we decided to stop all charitable activities and are now trying to create impact through two main avenues: businesses that empower people, and education around ignorance in the charitable sector.
Relating business lessons to life as well, this one lives true. From the Ground Up has led me on a journey of deep discovery, the results of which tear back a lot of our structures for meaning. The important note though is to every now and again, stop the thinking and appreciate the simplicity of things, accept what is as the way it is, and cherish the opportunity.
Thanks for Reading! Nothing makes me more excited than people reading my stuff, this has always been one of my dreams… to write! It took me a while but hey, I’m still a young guy!
I also hang out on Instagram and LinkedIN. In case you don’t find me boring :)
