I Thought I'd Be Further Along by Now

Andrea started her business 10 months ago as a side hustle. She thought she'd be further along. More revenue. More profit. Less time. She's considering quitting.

The wall is real. Around 9-10 months, the initial excitement burns off. The wins don't come fast enough. The inner voice says: call it a day.

Scott almost tapped out at nine months. If he had, he'd be in a corporate job today.

It's physics, not failure. Starting a business takes rocket launch energy. A side hustle splits that energy three ways: day job, family, business. If you're launching on a third of the fuel, the timeline is longer. Give yourself grace.

There are no bad goals. There are unrealistic time horizons. If you thought you'd be out of your job in a year, make it three. The goal isn't wrong. The timeline was.

The 30X training rule: If a task takes an hour a week, be prepared to spend 30 hours training someone to do it.

The control trap kills side hustlers. You only have a few hours. If you spend them running everything, you'll never get leverage.

When you're feeling defeated, stop. Look at your tasks. Is it $10/hour work or $1,000/hour work? If it's $10/hour, it's not meant for you.

The J-curve: Profitability dips when you hire. Then it rises. That's the trade.

The ones who break through aren't working harder. They're letting go of work they were never intended to do.

Congratulations. You are right on schedule.

Got a business question? Ask Scott here: scotttodd.net/ask