defining the kind of business I will build

I’ve decided to build a business. There is no turning back.

Okay, there is – but I’d like to pretend now that there isn’t. That’s how I know to do scary things that I want to do. While I was in the army, there was a 5metre-high platform that cadets were supposed to jump from as some Confidence Jump ceremony thingy…

I was very much not a cadet. We were just the camp guards at the Officer Cadet School.

I quit half my job in May. I could have asked for more than 50% of my salary still but I was thankful enough for the security of a regular income + getting back 2.5 days of my week to myself. 5 months in and a small part of me wonders whether burning the pier would have forced me to learn how to swim faster…

…until I remember that while I do want to get into the water, I love breathing space and hate drowning. I want to do it on my own terms. I want to take that step off the platform.

That’s one of the things I’d like to remind myself as I get serious about building a business. Writing this has two aims:

1. I want to feel like it’s been decided. There is no if, maybe or possibly. I am building a business.
2. & if I’m just scared I’ll lose myself along the way (as many have – a legit fear), here’s a reminder on what really matters to me.

But first, a definition.

defining a business

I listened to Josh Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA on the Indie Hackers podcast episode here & I like how he approached this…because it’s like a more systematic, productive & ambitious version of how I tried to learn what a business actually was.

I learned what a business was by getting thrown in the water, drowning and learning how to swim – for the sake of everyone else in there with me, and for the sake of our mission.

But also, I read a lot. Like a lot, a lot – borrowing 193 books in 2 years a lot. The more stressed I was about a problem or something new we were facing, the more obsessed I’d be reading about how someone else thought about it.

Josh was just as obsessed. The good part is that – like a human ChatGPT (what…) – he absorbed all the information from reading hundreds of business book and distilled it into an overall framework and guide to business. You can read it more about it here: https://personalmba.com/manifesto/

For the purposes of this post, I just wanna extract a definition I like from his five parts of every business:

“A business is a repeatable process that makes money. Everything else is a hobby.”

Paul Freet, serial entrepreneur and commercialization expert

So that’s number one.

10 things the business I build will do (or won’t)

1. Make money (don’t lose money)
2. Have documented, repeatable processes
3. Focus on 1 & 2 from the very start
4. Involve only people I genuinely am curious about working with – whether team, collaborators or customers (and avoid those who I do not, before it’s too late and I have to pretend that I do)
5. Have the successful money-making process be linked directly to the skills I’m good at and enjoy using (and minimising dependence on stuff I’m weak at or hate)
6. Be a fun vehicle to constantly be learning something new
7. NOT be a physical product (there are enough things in the world)
8. NOT chase endless growth & constantly rising numbers (the upper limit is getting a salary of 10k/month. I do not think I’ll need more. Get there, and it’s time to set other, better goals)
9. NOT rely on fundraising or grants to be sustainable
10. NOT hire anyone except for projects (no, I do not want to have to make payroll)

That’s it then. Nothing left to do but start. See you in the water.