Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
When I first quit my job and started trying to build a business, I was working 12 to 16 hour days.
And in my first year…
I made less than $6,000.
Elite financial performance, obviously. Next Elon coming through, make way everybody.
What’s funny is I still work long days now, but the work is completely different.
Four hours of my work today would beat the snot out of the sixteen hours of my work back then, and it’s not because I became some productivity wizard despite that being my college nickname.
I just have a better idea of what to work on now.
Early on, so much of business is not knowing.
You don’t know the next step.
You don’t know why it matters.
You don’t know how to do it well.
You don’t know what is moving the business forward.
So you stay busy.
You tweak things. (Logo, I'm looking at you)
You overthink things.
You build things nobody asked for.
You avoid sales while convincing yourself you’re “working on the business.”
I did plenty of that (and still do at times!).
The hard truth is I probably wasn’t spending enough time on revenue-generating tasks because I didn’t know how important they were.
I thought if I was good enough, customers would just show up.
Cute idea. 💅💡
Usually not how that works.
You can be incredible at what you do, but if nobody knows you do the thing, nobody can hire you for the thing.
Skill matters.
As does distribution, because:
Sales matters.
Marketing matters.
Positioning matters.
Follow-up matters.
Being busy is not the same as building.
I’m 1000% still learning this, but I trust focused work more than long work now.
The goal is not only to work hard, but to work on the right things long enough to get good.
What task feels productive in your business but probably isn’t moving the needle?
Hint: probably the thing you like to do that you're good at (at least that's what it was for me).
When I first quit my job and started trying to build a business, I was working 12 to 16 hour days.
And in my first year…
I made less than $6,000.
Elite financial performance, obviously. Next Elon coming through, make way everybody.
What’s funny is I still work long days now, but the work is completely different.
Four hours of my work today would beat the snot out of the sixteen hours of my work back then, and it’s not because I became some productivity wizard despite that being my college nickname.
I just have a better idea of what to work on now.
Early on, so much of business is not knowing.
You don’t know the next step.
You don’t know why it matters.
You don’t know how to do it well.
You don’t know what is moving the business forward.
So you stay busy.
You tweak things. (Logo, I'm looking at you)
You overthink things.
You build things nobody asked for.
You avoid sales while convincing yourself you’re “working on the business.”
I did plenty of that (and still do at times!).
The hard truth is I probably wasn’t spending enough time on revenue-generating tasks because I didn’t know how important they were.
I thought if I was good enough, customers would just show up.
Cute idea. 💅💡
Usually not how that works.
You can be incredible at what you do, but if nobody knows you do the thing, nobody can hire you for the thing.
Skill matters.
As does distribution, because:
Sales matters.
Marketing matters.
Positioning matters.
Follow-up matters.
Being busy is not the same as building.
I’m 1000% still learning this, but I trust focused work more than long work now.
The goal is not only to work hard, but to work on the right things long enough to get good.
What task feels productive in your business but probably isn’t moving the needle?
Hint: probably the thing you like to do that you're good at (at least that's what it was for me).
