From the archive. Originally published November 18, 2019 on Medium. This original text reflects the time it was written. Read the original.
My entrepreneurial journey has taken me all over the place, but the one thing that’s made Lasso successful above all things is focus. It’s focus from me, from my teammates, and from everyone we work with.
I meet a lot of people who have a variety of goals, who are building multiple things at once, and if they can do that, that’s fantastic. I wish I was one of those people, but I’m not. I’m a very one thing at a time person. You can ask my girlfriend, I can’t even cook and listen at the same time. I require complete concentration to do what I’m doing well.
So when I think about my role as CEO, there are many things I could focus on. Marketing, Sales, PR, Product, Ops, Supply Chain, Processes, etc. Plus there’s so many shiny opportunities, travel, invite-only events, etc. that I could choose to attend if I wanted to.
All of that to me gets a little overwhelming, and when I think about my goals, there’s really only one. Grow revenue for my company.
I remind myself of that goal every single day, and by reminding myself of it, I ensure that every task I complete is in service of that goal.
For me, this very simple, top of mind approach is what is necessary to be able to execute on my goals. It’s a repetition and drilling into my head of what I want to achieve, to make sure that I don’t do anything else that would prevent me from achieving that goal.
And it works. Every time.
I’m never going to grow presumptuous enough to try multiple things at once. It’s just not in my DNA. But if I can always do the main thing I set out to do, then I’m a happy camper.
My greatest struggle was always the “left behind” feeling I would feel when my peers would handle multiple ventures at once. However, after seeing so many fail at this, I realized that there’s no race, I don’t need to compare my journey with anyone else, I just need to do the things that are important to me.
