10 years ago, I was working 12 hour days running a single business.
10 years later, my business partner Chris and I live the life of retirees.
Yet:
We now own 20 majority owned businesses.
With over 400 employees.
And 80 minority investments.
Plus a bakery and hotel.
10 years later, my business partner Chris and I live the life of retirees.
Yet:
We now own 20 majority owned businesses.
With over 400 employees.
And 80 minority investments.
Plus a bakery and hotel.
Thousands of complicated issues get solved every day across our various businesses.
Clients to deal with.
Code to commit.
Hackers to be fought off.
Pixels to be beautified.
Jobs to be placed.
Support tickets to be filled.
Even pastries to be baked!
Clients to deal with.
Code to commit.
Hackers to be fought off.
Pixels to be beautified.
Jobs to be placed.
Support tickets to be filled.
Even pastries to be baked!
Yet we're less stressed out than we were 10 years ago.
How?
We make far fewer decisions.
On an average day 10 years ago, we made hundreds of decisions per day. Today, we make maybe 1-4 important decisions per month.
How?
We make far fewer decisions.
On an average day 10 years ago, we made hundreds of decisions per day. Today, we make maybe 1-4 important decisions per month.
People always assume that stress scales linearly.
We've found the opposite.
Scale affords the ability to delegate to a team (partial reduction in decision making), then eventually to a CEO (almost total reduction in decision making).
We've found the opposite.
Scale affords the ability to delegate to a team (partial reduction in decision making), then eventually to a CEO (almost total reduction in decision making).
And the best part is that, unlike employees, CEOs actually WANT you to leave them alone.
They get annoyed when you try to coach or mentor them.
They don't want monthly 1-on-1s or reviews. They want to feel like the business is theirs, to be trusted to run it. To be left alone.
They get annoyed when you try to coach or mentor them.
They don't want monthly 1-on-1s or reviews. They want to feel like the business is theirs, to be trusted to run it. To be left alone.
So we leave them alone.
Some of our CEOs speak with us on the phone once or twice a year at most.
Who'd have thought that you could own a business where you make more money/have a happier team by never coming into the shop? Magic!
Some of our CEOs speak with us on the phone once or twice a year at most.
Who'd have thought that you could own a business where you make more money/have a happier team by never coming into the shop? Magic!
Today, Chris and I just check in on the numbers once a month, ask a few questions here and there, and buy a couple companies each year. Otherwise, we spend our time reading, crunching numbers, meeting interesting people, and occasionally buying businesses.
More ≠ more stress.
More ≠ more stress.
