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7 Mistakes to Avoid While Building Your First Business

2024-03-01 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 18:21 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Business and entrepreneurship (also: Goals, purpose and life design, Productivity and time) · mode: List of tips or lessons · tags: His own products discussed, His own numbers, Lesson from a book, Sponsor segment present

Ali lists seven mistakes from growing his business to over $5 million a year: no goal, too many goals, not seeing the unknown paths (ask people who have done it), scattered focus, doing things in parallel instead of in sequence, no metrics, and too little time to think, which is where the Part-Time YouTuber Academy idea came from.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Why he is making the video: a business grown to over $5 million a year and 14 staff

  • ★★ Ali says that over the last few years he has grown his business from zero to over $5 million a year in revenue and his team from just him to over 14 full-time employees. — 00:00:00

00:00:35 — Mistake one: not having a goal

  • ★★ Ali's first mistake: for much of growing his business he had no clear goal or north star, and told coaches who asked that he had no revenue goal beyond being profitable. — 00:01:09
  • ★★ In his early days on YouTube Ali avoided goals outside his control, such as a subscriber milestone, and only set himself to make one or two videos a week; he thinks that bias to action worked at first. — 00:01:33
  • ★★★ Once Ali started hiring, his team looked to him for direction and, as he had no goal, were fairly lost, like crew hired by a ship's captain who is not sure where the ship is going. — 00:02:02
  • ★★ Ali used to avoid goals for fear of being disappointed if he missed them; he now finds that logic flawed, since disappointment is a choice and you can set goals without being disappointed when you miss. — 00:02:02
  • ★★ Eric Partaker (quoted): Ali's CEO coach Eric Partaker told him that without a goal he was throwing darts blindfolded: take the blindfold off, and just seeing the target makes you far more likely to hit it. — 00:02:39
  • ★★★ Ali tells students of his Part-Time YouTuber Academy and Accelerator who ask for advice to first define the goal, such as 100 grand or 10,000 subscribers this year (2024) or simply enjoying the process: a rough vision makes the path infinitely easier to find. — 00:03:08 · Part-Time YouTuber Academy
  • ★★ Ali says you can change a goal once you are moving, as he has done with his business goals, since a moving ship is easier to steer than a stationary one; having no goal makes the journey harder. — 00:03:38

00:03:54 — Mistake two: having too many goals; Productivity Lab as the one goal for 2024

  • ★★★ Ali's second mistake was setting too many goals: set ideally just one goal for your business, plus perhaps two or three others that help you reach it. — 00:04:02
  • ★★ A couple of years earlier Ali posted his business's long list of OKRs (revenue, margin, subscribers, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, email list, courses) on Twitter, and experienced entrepreneurs told him it was far too many. — 00:04:38 · Twitter
  • ★★★ Ali's one goal for his business in 2024 is to launch a new product, Productivity Lab, and try to get it to $5 million a year in revenue; everything else is filtered with that in mind. — 00:04:38
  • ★★ Ali says he is not wedded to the Productivity Lab revenue goal: if the business does not get there he does not really care, but it is a cool destination to work towards. — 00:05:07
  • ★★★ When coaching entrepreneurs, Ali has them list what they would like to celebrate a year from now, then asks which one goal they would pick with a magic wand: that is the one thing, and the rest are paths to it. — 00:05:59

00:06:00 — Sponsor read: HubSpot's free ChatGPT ebook

00:07:07 — Mistake three: not seeing the multiple paths from A to B; who, not how; the bee at the window

  • ★★ Ali says his business was aiming for $5 million in revenue in 2023 and hit that goal. (hedged) — 00:07:07
  • ★★ On the way to $5 million Ali knew of making more videos or selling a $1,000 course 5,000 times, but did not see a high-ticket offer not tied to his time, software, a business-to-business service or corporate consulting and workshops. — 00:07:07
  • ★★★ Ali's third mistake: not seeing that any destination has multiple paths, some you know about and some you do not. — 00:07:45
  • ★★★ For the unknown paths Ali wishes he had read more books on getting from A to B, perhaps asking on Twitter for recommendations, and above all spoken to people who had already done it. — 00:07:45 · Twitter
  • ★★ Ali did not think to hire a coach who had grown a business before, as he thought few people had grown one built on a YouTube channel; he now says the principles of business and life are broadly the same whatever the vehicle. — 00:09:01
  • ★★ Ali takes a phrase from Ben Hardy and Dan Sullivan's book Who Not How: on the path from A to B, do not start by asking how to get there but who could help along the way. — 00:09:01
  • ★★ Ali's business now has a goal of $10 million in revenue sometime next year (2025), because why not: a fun goal. — 00:09:01
  • ★★ Like a bee bumping against a window that does not know of the hole a few metres away, Ali says, spend time with people who have reached your destination and run your strategy past them to find the paths you miss. — 00:09:45

00:10:26 — The free business coaching bundle made with Eric Partaker

  • ★★ Ali and his CEO coach Eric Partaker, with whom he started working about two years earlier, have partnered on a free business coaching bundle: worksheets, prompts, templates, a couple of video courses and a free copy of Eric's book. — 00:10:26

00:10:46 — Mistake four: focus

  • ★★★ Ali's fourth mistake, which he still has to remind himself of, was trying to do too many things at once even with a goal and a path: splitting focus across areas usually means little progress in any. — 00:10:55
  • ★★ Ali made the most progress on his book, Feel-Good Productivity, not while juggling it with videos, the business and getting fit, but when he made the book his only work for two weeks. — 00:11:29 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
  • ★★ Ali asks viewers: if you could focus on only one thing in your work, health and relationships for the next month, which would make enormous progress, the 20% of efforts that bring 80% of the result? — 00:11:50 · 80/20 rule

00:12:18 — Mistake five: doing things in parallel rather than in series

  • ★★★ Ali's fifth mistake: he used to juggle many things in parallel hoping to progress in all of them; over the years he has realised the enormous power of doing things in series, in sequence. — 00:12:36
  • ★★ As a YouTuber wanting an online course, Ali would pause videos for two weeks to make the course, the next domino, since every later video could then plug it. (hypothetical) — 00:13:06
  • ★★ Ali told his health coach Dan Go that his goal for the year was to build muscle, lose fat and become more flexible and mobile. — 00:13:06
  • ★★ Dan Go (quoted): Dan Go told Ali it is very hard to build muscle, lose fat and gain flexibility at once, so to sequence it: bulk first, then cut, then work on flexibility and mobility. — 00:13:33

00:13:59 — Mistake six: metrics

  • ★★★ Ali's sixth mistake: we always deviate from the path we set, and in business and often in life metrics tell us whether we are on track, because numbers do not lie; what gets measured gets managed. — 00:14:18
  • ★★ When Ali was not making progress on his book, Eric Partaker had him track his daily word count in a spreadsheet; it showed about 400 words a day, so he could work harder, change the goal or change the path. — 00:14:44 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
  • ★★ For the gym, Ali says a DEXA scan every now and then, progress photos and measuring your biceps help show whether you are on track. — 00:15:09
  • ★★ Ali warns that every metric has unforeseen side effects: a weight target can make you game the number instead of the true goal, which he thinks is called Goodhart's law. — 00:15:09

00:15:43 — Mistake seven: not making time to think; Clarity Hour; the coffee-shop idea for the Part-Time YouTuber Academy

  • ★★ Keith Cunningham (quoted): Keith Cunningham's thesis in The Road Less Stupid, a book of journaling prompts: once a week, for at least an hour, sit with a notebook and pen and think about your business and your life. — 00:15:48
  • ★★ Ali recommends the prompts of The Road Less Stupid for checking goal, path, system and metrics, such as which shortcuts are mirages of greed, laziness or impatience, and what to do less of over the next 100 days. — 00:16:10
  • ★★★ Ali's team holds Clarity Hour every Wednesday afternoon: everyone joins the same Zoom call with Slack and devices off and thinks with pen and paper about their area of the business. — 00:16:45
  • ★★★ Ali came up with the Part-Time YouTuber Academy, the thing that most moved the needle for his business, while journaling with a notebook and pen in a Cambridge coffee shop in summer 2020. — 00:17:13 · Part-Time YouTuber Academy, Cambridge
  • ★★★ Expecting to sell about 10 seats, Ali sold 350 for the Part-Time YouTuber Academy's first cohort, making about $300,000 in a week; with its accelerator it has made his business several million dollars over three years. — 00:17:39 · Part-Time YouTuber Academy
  • ★★★ Ali's seventh mistake, which he still makes, is not making enough time to think: no one gets big ideas in the day-to-day struggle, and making time to think brings enormous progress in work and life. — 00:17:39

Threads in this video

  • restate · Should you set goals, and how? — Ali's CEO coach Eric Partaker told him that without a goal he was throwing darts blindfolded: take the blindfold off, and just seeing the target makes you far more likely to hit it. (00:02:39)
  • restate · Should you set goals, and how? — Ali tells students of his Part-Time YouTuber Academy and Accelerator who ask for advice to first define the goal, such as 100 grand or 10,000 subscribers this year (2024) or simply enjoying the process: a rough vision makes the path infinitely easier to find. (00:03:08)
  • refine · Should you set goals, and how? — Ali's second mistake was setting too many goals: set ideally just one goal for your business, plus perhaps two or three others that help you reach it. (00:04:02)
  • milestone · Productivity Lab (2024) — Ali's one goal for his business in 2024 is to launch a new product, Productivity Lab, and try to get it to $5 million a year in revenue; everything else is filtered with that in mind. (00:04:38)
  • refine · How do you decide which work to prioritise? — When coaching entrepreneurs, Ali has them list what they would like to celebrate a year from now, then asks which one goal they would pick with a magic wand: that is the one thing, and the rest are paths to it. (00:05:59)
  • refine · How do you learn how to start and run a business? — For the unknown paths Ali wishes he had read more books on getting from A to B, perhaps asking on Twitter for recommendations, and above all spoken to people who had already done it. (00:07:45)
  • refine · Should you pay for courses and coaching? — Ali did not think to hire a coach who had grown a business before, as he thought few people had grown one built on a YouTube channel; he now says the principles of business and life are broadly the same whatever the vehicle. (00:09:01)
  • refine · How do you reach and connect with people who can help you? — Ali takes a phrase from Ben Hardy and Dan Sullivan's book Who Not How: on the path from A to B, do not start by asking how to get there but who could help along the way. (00:09:01)
  • refine · How many projects should you work on at once? — Ali's fourth mistake, which he still has to remind himself of, was trying to do too many things at once even with a goal and a path: splitting focus across areas usually means little progress in any. (00:10:55)
  • looked back · Ali's first book, which a publisher asked him to write (2020) — Ali made the most progress on his book, Feel-Good Productivity, not while juggling it with videos, the business and getting fit, but when he made the book his only work for two weeks. (00:11:29)
  • shift · How many projects should you work on at once? — Ali's fifth mistake: he used to juggle many things in parallel hoping to progress in all of them; over the years he has realised the enormous power of doing things in series, in sequence. (00:12:36)
  • restate · How do you exercise consistently and get in shape? — Dan Go told Ali it is very hard to build muscle, lose fat and gain flexibility at once, so to sequence it: bulk first, then cut, then work on flexibility and mobility. (00:13:33)
  • milestone · Ali works with his CEO coach Eric Partaker (2022) — Ali and his CEO coach Eric Partaker, with whom he started working about two years earlier, have partnered on a free business coaching bundle: worksheets, prompts, templates, a couple of video courses and a free copy of Eric's book. (00:10:26)
  • refine · How do you measure your body fat and muscle? — For the gym, Ali says a DEXA scan every now and then, progress photos and measuring your biceps help show whether you are on track. (00:15:09)
  • restate · Should you journal, and how? — Keith Cunningham's thesis in The Road Less Stupid, a book of journaling prompts: once a week, for at least an hour, sit with a notebook and pen and think about your business and your life. (00:15:48)
  • refine · Should you journal, and how? — Ali recommends the prompts of The Road Less Stupid for checking goal, path, system and metrics, such as which shortcuts are mirages of greed, laziness or impatience, and what to do less of over the next 100 days. (00:16:10)
  • milestone · Ali builds a team for his online business — Ali's team holds Clarity Hour every Wednesday afternoon: everyone joins the same Zoom call with Slack and devices off and thinks with pen and paper about their area of the business. (00:16:45)
  • looked back · Part-Time YouTuber Academy (2020) — Ali came up with the Part-Time YouTuber Academy, the thing that most moved the needle for his business, while journaling with a notebook and pen in a Cambridge coffee shop in summer 2020. (00:17:13)
  • refine · How do you have more creative ideas? — Ali's seventh mistake, which he still makes, is not making enough time to think: no one gets big ideas in the day-to-day struggle, and making time to think brings enormous progress in work and life. (00:17:39)

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Eric Partaker · Part-Time YouTuber Academy · Productivity Lab

Also: People: Ben Hardy · Dan Go · Dan Sullivan · Keith Cunningham

Projects: Part-Time YouTuber Accelerator

Works: Feel-Good Productivity (book) · The Road Less Stupid · Who Not How

Organizations: Twitter

Concepts: 80/20 rule · Clarity Hour · DEXA scan · Goodhart's law · passive income · work optional

Places: Cambridge

Also centred on Eric Partaker: How I Manage My Time - The Trident Calendar System · I spent $50,000 on a business coach so you don’t have to

Also centred on Productivity Lab: Stop Wasting Time - 11 Tools to Double Your Focus · A Week in My Life · Vlog · How I Built a New $1m Business in 12 Months

← Previous: How I find creative fulfilment 🧑‍🎨 · Next → The Three Types of Burnout 😩