This ONE Question will Change Your Life (Seriously)
You'll never be able to back after reading this.
Most entrepreneurs give up before they ever have a chance to gain momentum and build something truly special.
Most people I mentor or try to help will give up on what would give them the financial freedom they crave, long before they could have reached it.
They give up on their podcast, their blog, and their Youtube channels a few episodes or articles into the process.
They create an online course, then give up on it a few months later. Burned out or frustrated by trying to maintain the product and sell it consistently. Instead of learning from the experience, they move on and try something else, maybe another online course and the same thing happens again.
Most entrepreneurs either fail or coast along because they can’t do things in a way that’s sustainable or consistent.
Said in another way: They can’t keep doing something long enough for it to become truly successful.
And yes, sometimes just being the person who does the thing the longest is how to win.
5 years from now, when all of my competitors are bored of the Facilitation topic, my company still be here making Youtube videos, podcasts, and articles about it every week. We will wear our competitors down, not through strategy or wild spending, but by stubbornly ploughing ahead with our content and products around this one topic.
But how do I repeatedly build businesses that are sustainable AND consistent? Businesses that have the stamina and capital to outlast everyone else?
The answer comes from a question I heard Tim Ferriss use, to ensure that whatever he embarks on has the ability to keep on going and going.
The question, which he spoke about in detail in a conversation with Chase Jarvis, is:
“What would this look like if it
were easy?”
This question completely changed how I live my life and run my business.
We, especially as business owners, are programmed to believe things need to be hard…
But what if they were easy instead?
When I went into creating my first Podcast, which ended up becoming a Top 10 Design podcast globally, I could have done it like everyone else.
I could have had a studio, heavily edited episodes, lots of guests, and lots of prep work.
Instead, I asked myself “What would this look like if it were easy?”
Basically “how would this have to be set up for me not to quit?”
The answers were obvious, but if I hadn’t asked I would have never come to them.
My ‘easy podcast’:
No editing, so I don’t have to listen back to the episode before it goes out
No studio, I just bring recording equipment wherever I go
No prep for episodes: it’s just a chilled chat between me and my cohost
Rarely having guests so we don’t have to coordinate
No having to upload episodes each week, have someone else do this
Wanna see the exact way I use this question in all aspects of my life?
I made this video a few years ago that shows an exercise I created, which you can use on EVERYTHING you do in your business to make it easier:
Business doesn’t need to be hard. Making content doesn’t need to be hard. It’s only hard if you don’t ask yourself the question “what would it look like if this were easy?”.
I’d love to hear what came out of the exercise above if you gave it a go!
Cheers,
Jonathan
Most annoying thing right now: wondering if people are engaging in my LinkedIn and Substack posts.
Shortcut experiment: check LinkedIn no more than once a day and get on with something productive.
Thanks Jonathan! You gave me a great question that I'll use to do my yearly planning :)