I am downright shocked that this is the 100th edition of Retained Learnings.
I started writing this newsletter before launching TheMilVet.
What a tremendous difference 2 years makes!
I launched this newsletter to document my progress and lessons learned. The last two years have been a rollercoaster, but life has trended in an obnoxiously positive direction!
For the 100th edition, I wanted to deep dive on my most important lesson learned from the last two years - the value of consistency.
There Are No Shortcuts in Life & Business…
My first startup after business school was called Paintru. Paintru is an art company that takes our clients’ most precious photos and has them expertly hand-painted by a professional artist.
As a new entrepreneur, I was convinced that there was a marketing secret I was missing.
I searched high and low for a marketing secret to generate more sales.
If I could just nail the right combination of creative, copy, and targeting with our advertising, then we’d be slinging paintings.
I never found that combination, but over the last two years, I’ve learned that my search was in vain.
Short of winning the lottery, there is not a single thing that we can do as founders or humans that will bring us immediate success.
The only solution to great challenges is consistency and time…
The Magic Formula: Consistency + Time
A few years ago, I saw a pitch deck for a consumer business that showed incredible revenue growth over time.
The punch line on the page said -
“An Overnight Success 8 Years in the Making!”
I think about that page often and believe it is profoundly important for founders and life.
Consistently showing up and doing the work we’d rather avoid is the best career and business advice I’ve come across.
As a founder, this manifests in a myriad of ways -
I rarely feel like writing this newsletter or my daily LinkedIn posts
I never feel like sourcing candidates for our open roles
I hate reaching out to folks through cold messages on LinkedIn
And yet - these actions drive results in our business.
A simple 1% improvement every day has dramatic impact over a year -
The More Profound Implications…
Our business model has a long sales cycle.
It may take 2-3 months to close a client, 2-3 months to execute a search, and another few weeks for a candidate to start.
I’m about to get paid for my work with one client in August/September of last year!
It’s brutal.
This long sales cycle is a curse in many ways (especially from a cash flow perspective), but in other ways, it’s wonderful.
Fewer people can stick with headhunting for the amount of time required to reap the rewards, so there’s less competition
It has taught me patience and to measure success with a much longer time horizon
The real bonus?
I’ve come to recognize that there is no joy of success without the anguish of challenge and time
I’ve never felt a sense of accomplishment from a quick win.
Life and business require tenacity, perseverance, and the ability to pick yourself back up, dust yourself off, and get back into the fight.
I’ve fought through 100 editions of this newsletter.
I’ve written it at midnight or later.
I’ve written it after 14-hour days.
I’ve felt inspiration to write only once in 100 editions
Because of the challenge, I am incredibly proud of passing the 100 edition milestone. Here’s to the next 100 - I hope they’re easier than the first…
This week’s edition of RL was somewhat shorter. I’m celebrating the 100th edition and working hard to build momentum this quarter.
I can’t wait to share some exciting updates with you in the coming months, but for now, I hope you have an excellent remainder of your week!
From the bottom of my heart - thank you for your support over the last 100 editions.
Best,
Brendan