Which of these two is better:
- Buying a stock because you like it. The stock then proceeds to go up in value
- Buying a stock because you did detailed research on it. The stock then goes down in value
There’s a right answer, and it might not be the one you think.
If you want to find success in business, the answer is #2. If you tell me #1, then you have some fundamental misunderstandings about business and you will likely struggle.
There are two things being compared in this example. These are Good Process or Good Outcome. Good process is when you did detailed research on it. Good outcome is when your stock goes up after purchase.
All of the bankers I know, and every millionaire and billionaire I know, are obsessed on process. If something unexpectedy has a good outcome, like a stock going up but you have no idea why, then it is pure luck. A good example here is gambling at a casino. You may win money (good outcome), but the process is out of your control.
If you have a good process, then it means two things. First, you aren’t reliant on luck. There is skill involved in what you are doing. That skill allows you to create success where luck isn’t involved. Second, good process is repeatable. It is the exact opposite of a casino where you cannot replication your outcome (winning money) on command. If you have a good process in something, then you can consistently win.
Do you focus on process or outcome? Do you have a good process?
For example, regular readers will know that I’m working on starting a new business right now. I need what is called a brand guide, which means colors, a logo, style guide, and more. So, I put a post on UpWork and I interviewed someone this morning.
She spent 15 minutes straight talking about how I’m going to get a logo and it’s going to be a great logo and she’s excited to pick the colors for my compand and I’m going to love it, and she’ll charge $500 for that logo.
Can you see the problem here?
She’s focusing on the outcome.
Then, 15 minutes in, almost as an afterthought, she said: “Oh, what is your business about?”
In other words, she didn’t give a shit about the process to get to a good logo. She may have a good outcome, but if she did, that would be pure luck. I want a guaranteed good outcome for $500, which means I care about the process. So I politely told her I would be going a different direction.
Imagine instead she said this:
“I’m really excited to be potentially working with you. Let me tell you how we’re going to create perfect brand guidelines for you. First, we are going to collect information from you, such as who your target user is and what you are going to sell to them. Next, we are going to research your target user to understand current messaging from other companies that resonate with the target user. Next, we’ll create a couple of concepts and test them with the target user. Finally, we’ll bring the winning concept to you, Dean.”
If she had said that, I would have given her $500 on the spot. I would trust that, because her process is solid, that she would consistently deliver great output.
Focus on the process in your own work. Focus on the process when you sell. It makes a huge difference.
Yesterday there were 1,602 days until I turn 30 and need to make $10K a day passively. Here’s how I spent it in pursuit of that goal
The current phase of the plan
I’m in Phase #3: The Business Phase. You can read more about the phases and my plan to get to $10K/a day at 30 here.
I still consult, and I still have a job. I’m looking forward to removing both of those ASAP.
Wake up & sleep:
I woke up at 6:57 am after going to bed at 11:20, for a total amount of sleep of 7 hours and 6 minutes. Recovery was 59%
The 7 hours of sleep, despite the limited recovery, was enough for me to feel energized and crush through my work for the day. Super productive to say the least.
Exercise
I took an hour walk outside with my fiancee to stretch the legs, and I did a couple of pushup breaks throughout the day. It kept things energized.
Stress levels
I was at a 4/5, with 1 being the highest. I was energized because I’m excited about my business and because I had good sleep, good diet the past few days, and good exercise.
I need all of those three to be good, then I have more energy during the day.
Diet
Diet was coffee, cereal for lunch, and then pizza for dinner.
There goes the diet!
3/5 with 1 being the best. Going to hurt the energy tomorrow.
Don’t think that pizza was worth it.
My Day Job
A meeting or two. Didn’t really do much.
Investment real estate
As I talked about yesterday, we’re investing $5,000 into one of our properties but it will lead to increased rent of nearly $15,000 in the first year. It’s a no-brainer, so I transferred some of the money over from our personal bank account to the LLC’s bank account, then from the LLC to the property manager.
It’s an added step, but necessary to maintain the integrity of the LLC
Passive Websites
Nothing here
My Actual Business
I put that post online for the brand guides, which was a good start.
I’m aso rewatching the YC class on “how to start a startup.” I’ve watched it before, but I didn’t have an idea then. I need to rewatch it now through the lens of my idea.
Side Consulting
Business is still slowing down a bit here.
Business plan
Done-waiting on final payment.
Financial modeling
My guy is running with the modeling
Frameworking
I had a meeting on this yesterday.
Summary presentation
Nothing, I’ll need to do this tomorrow.
Market Research & Customer Interviews
A couple of interviews and a call with my client.
Going back to the first part of this post: the interviews are part of the process here. I talked with target users to understand how they think about the product, which helps inform the market research.
The only reason I sold this $12,000 project is that I focused on the process in the interview.
Sourcing new work
I got an email from an old client. They want me to build a pitch deck for them. It will be probably 2-3 hours of work and a couple thousand dollars. My expenses will be ~$50 to have my PowerPoint guy clean up the formatting. I’ll happily take this project!
$10K/day website
Daily post
Family
Long walk with my fiancee
Miscellaneous
Nothing
Rescue Time Daily Screenshot
What I made today
Current Income Streams
- Job: $170
- Rental Income (13 rental units): $43
- Framework: $250
- Customer Interviews: $430
Total: $893
Planned income streams
- 15 websites
- My Startup
- Local Serviced Based Business (cleaning business)
- Affiliate
- WordPress Maintenance Site
- Content sites
- Franchises
- Dividend Income (municipal bonds)
- Micro-SAAS’s
- Hotels
Today’s pro-rated amount of monthly & yearly expenses
Life Expenses: $89.73
- Rent, utilities, Internet: $63.33
- Phone Bill: $1.57
- Heath Insurance: $8.90
- Ladder Life Insurance: $0.83
- TrueBill for Budget tracking: $0.10
- Car: $15
My Startup’s Expenses: $0.16
- Bluehost Domain name: $0.16
Health Expenses: $12.00
- Peloton: $3.20
- Gainful Protein Powder: $1.80
- Care/of Vitamin pack: $3.00
- Whoop fitness tracker: $1.00
Productivity Expenses: $2.25
- SuperHuman to save time on email: $1.00
- Rescue Time to keep me honest on my productivity: $0.20
- Fantastical as my main calendar: $0.20
- Evernote to track everything: $0.27
- Grammarly to keep my emails looking okay: $0.38
- BackBlaze to keep my files backed up: $0.20
Consulting Business Expenses: $2
- Gusto to pay myself: $1.50
- Quickbooks to track expenses: $0.40
- Google Business Email Account: $0.40
- Fiverr for virtual support: $0
$10K a day: $12.42
- Kinsta for hosting: $1.00
- Bluehost for domain names: $0.03
- WP Rocket for speed: $0.14
- Link Whisper for SEO: $0.14
- Elementor for site design: $0.14
- Astra for theme: $0.14
- Rhino Rank for SEO: $10.83
Real Estate Investing: $0.52
- Legal Zoom Registered Agent (all LLC’s): $0.52
Today’s Income (pre-tax)
Topline of $893, spent $119, which means….
Made $774 (pre-tax)
My plan for tomorrow
Tomorrow is Thursday, and I need to do:
- A couple more interviews for the market research project
- The summary project
- Watching more of “How to start a startup”
1,601 days until I turn $30. I’m making $10K a day passively by then
