An old story who’s author I cannot recall:
In a small village, a young apprentice named Elias had trained for years under his grandfather, a successful and respected hunter. Every morning, they would track deer, practice archery and study the forest.
One evening, as the sun dipped behind the peaks, his grandfather said, “Elias, you’ve learned to strike your targets in the daytime, when the paths are clear and the light is good. But there will be times when you need to hunt in the dark of night. When you do that, remember that the forest at dawn and dusk hides more than it shows and can fool your eyes into thinking your target is closer than it is. In those instances, always aim a little higher than your eyes tell you. It’s easy to underestimate the distance and miss by hitting too low. Aim high.”
Elias nodded, though he didn’t fully understand.
A few days later, Elias was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of foxes raiding his family’s chicken coop. Heart pounding, he grabbed his bow and crept outside into the dark to discover a fox attempting to sneak away with a chicken in its jaws.
He drew his bow and nocked an arrow, ready to shoot, but then recalled his grandfather’s advice about shooting at night. Elias adjusted his aim just a bit higher than he had planned and released the shot.
The arrow flew true, striking the fox and saving the flock.
This story is a fable about setting and hitting targets in life.
In my experience, most MSPs grossly underestimate how far they can go and how much they can achieve over a lifetime of running their business. They aim low and say things like, “If I could just get enough MRR to pay the bills,” or “If I could just get a few more customers in the door this year,” or “If I could just find one good salesperson.”
They aim low because aiming low feels safe. Aiming low doesn’t feel greedy or overly ambitious. Aiming low feels like it will take a lot less time and effort. Aiming low is less risky.
But here’s the truth: Most MSPs aim too low and then miss even the “easy” targets they’ve set for themselves because their goals aren’t big enough to inspire the massive action needed to hit even the “low aim” goals.
The real problem here is not a lack of talent, but a lack of self-esteem and, possibly, a lack of honest ambition. Most cannot and do not see themselves as “having what it takes” to accomplish greatness. They believe it’s beyond their intelligence, experience, or ability to get their business to $10 million or $20 million or beyond. They say things like, “I just want to get to $5 million, then I’ll sell,” assuming that’s enough to set them up for life. In most cases, it’s not.
Maybe that’s you right now. I know that was how I thought back in 2002 when I took a leap of faith and decided to be my own boss—an opportunity that was thrust upon me when I was unceremoniously fired by the marketing agency I worked for.
Back then, my goal wasn’t to get rich or build a multimillion-dollar marketing business. My goal was to “make just enough” to pay the bills … and I wasn’t living large. A very low aim.
Now that I’ve grown my business and successfully exited, here’s what I’ve discovered:
- It takes just as much time and effort to run a small, struggling, unprofitable business as it does to run a successful one. Only difference is that the latter makes the pain easier to tolerate because you’re winning and making money.
- You don’t have to get everything as “perfect” as you might think to be best-in-class and grow profitably, but you DO need to set goals, track the metrics, and focus on it. You also need to be stubborn enough to stick with something long enough to get it to work, never allowing setbacks to deter you.
- Many of the people running very successful businesses are a hot mess, with no exceptional talents or advantages. They simply have the “audacity” to set their AIM higher, outworking everyone and being willing to do what’s necessary vs. what’s easy and convenient.
The Bible says that where there is no vision, people perish. I would add that in business, where there is no big, bright, and compelling vision and mission, people burn out. Obligation without purpose is the very definition of grunt work.
When you think of your future, 5 to 10 or even 50 years from now, what do you see? Is it exciting? Does it pull you forward? Or do you wake up and “just” try to get through this day, this week, this month? Life is too damned short for that.
As actress Josie Bissett said: Dreams should come a size too big so you can grow into them.
