Personal MBA

Treat cognitive context shifts as “productivity poison.” The more you switch your attention from one target (say, a report you’re writing) to another (say, an inbox check), the more exhausted and dumber you become.

On top of that, these are the only two metrics that you can “improve” in your business → either making customers worth more or reducing the cost to acquire them. You should be able to tie every project on your list directly to the improvement of one of these metrics.

6. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size, or fixed expense.

7. Jeff said many times that if we wanted Amazon to be a place where builders can build, we needed to eliminate communication, not encourage it.

To keep it low risk, I reached out to the only other person I knew running a ghostwriting business.

They gave me a freelance role at their company. So I started getting the reps in. At the same time, I also committed to the craft of writing:

• Minimum of 500 words per day (hit this for 660 days in a row)

• 30-minutes of daily copywork (hand-copying great

Your early writing or business will probably suck.

Mine did.

They’ll improve but only if you give yourself permission to suck first.

Talent and performance in humans are surprisingly tied to a sacred bond to a discipline or mission (a fact that the world's cynics / careerists / Roman Empires like to downplay, only to then find their lunch eaten by the ambitious interns / SpaceXes / Christianities of the world).

I have a rule called the "Rule of 100" for getting your first customers, and it really works…You need to do 100 outreach attempts every day, spend $100 on ads daily, or work on content for 100 minutes each day and post it… You stick to this plan for 100 days. I promise if you do this, you'll get a customer.

Aim to make 100 genuine outreach attempts

My Chief of Staff started documenting every system without being asked. She created training videos for future team members we hadn't even hired yet. When I travel, things improve because she keeps finding better ways to run the business.

 

The cost of a micromanaged business is your freedom. The right hires should return this freedom to you.

In an idea world, what you’re really buying is that person’s entire life experience. All the problems they’ve already figured out how to solve that you don’t. All the shortcuts they’ve learned about that aren’t even on your radar.

You expand the capacity of the business by adding more people who know more than you do.