1497: GOOD IDEAS MUST BE REMOVED! (Sometimes... and here's why...)

Speaker A: Hey, what is up? Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast. As always, I'm, um, your host, Brian Lo Fomento. And this is a very special week here on the show because as we lead up to episode 1500, which is a crazy milestone that I never could have dreamed of, we are doing something very different on the show this week. And if you've been following along in this week's episodes, then you already know that this miniseries is all about the seasons of entrepreneurship. We've already talked about planting season. We've already talked about growth season, which a lot of people wanna talk about, but we talked about why it's a little bit counterintuitive. There's so much important stuff that happens inside of growth season, and that's why today we're moving on to the next season, which is one that I don't think most people want to talk about, which means it's even more important to talk about. So I'm excited about this one. Let's dive in. So my big disclaimer at the top of all of these season episodes, this the fact that not every season is linear. Not every season happens in order. Not every season happens just once. Seasons, just like seasons that we're all used to, are cyclical in nature. But unlike calendar seasons, when it comes to entrepreneurial seasons, sometimes these seasons might be days long, weeks long, months long, quarters long, even years long. And sometimes we could go through multiple seasons all in one day. And so that's why it's so important that we are aware of the different seasons, the very important roles that they play, how we must navigate and function within those seasons, and from a mindset perspective to understand why these seasons exist and why we feel this way. Because, of course, we are never alone in this entrepreneurial journey. All of us entrepreneurs have experience and will continue to experience all four of these seasons. And so if you missed Monday's episode, you don't want to miss that. It's all about planting season, which doesn't feel great when we're in it as we plant those seeds. Definitely check out that episode. The second season that we talked about yesterday is growing season, which for so many of us, we think that that is the season that we're targeting. But there's a lot of discomfort that happens with growing, and that's why we have the phrase growing pains. And that's why this episode is all about the season that I don't think we want to talk enough about. And that is pruning season. The Thing about pruning season is that almost nobody talks about it. Everybody wants to talk about starting, everybody wants to talk about scaling, but nobody wants to talk about letting go. Yet some of the biggest breakthroughs in entrepreneurship happen not because of what you add, but because of what you remove. And you've heard me talk about simplification, the concept of simplification that I learned through chess so many times. I've used that as an example in many episodes, including interview episodes with our amazing guests. But we're gonna take a little bit of a different spin on it. So through the lens of pruning season, because there is a very strange assumption in entrepreneurship, and that assumption is more is better. We think that more customers is better, more products, more content, more opportunities, more partnerships, more ideas, more revenue streams, more everything. But nature teaches the exact opposite lesson. A healthy tree doesn't grow because every single branch survives. A healthy tree grows because. Because some branches don't. And that's the counterintuitive truth about this season, is that pruning looks destructive. That's why people resist it. You cut something away, you remove something, you reduce something. From the outside, it looks like loss. And heck, from the inside, it might even feel like loss. But pruning isn't about making something smaller. It's about helping something grow stronger. And I. I've been an entrepreneur for a long time, almost 20 years now, and I very much understand how many of us entrepreneurs, in how many different regards, we are kind of like hoarders. Not of stuff, but of opportunities. We have a tendency to collect things. We collect and we hold onto and we keep ideas, projects, offers, partnerships, commitments, platforms, responsibilities. Everything that comes across our desk. Our laptops, our inboxes, our minds. All of these things seem valuable. Everything feels like it might become something. Our to do lists, uh, the reason why every single thing is on our to do list is because we genuinely believe this might be something. So we keep adding to it and adding and adding until eventually we have built a business that is too complex to thrive. And so one of the hardest lessons that I've had to learn in entrepreneurship is realizing that. This is gonna sound funny when I say it out loud, but not every opportunity is an opportunity. Some opportunities are actually distractions, wearing a disguise. And the better you get, the more opportunities you'll receive. Ironically, success here creates a new challenge. You have to become better. And at saying no, the entrepreneur with no opportunities struggles. And also the entrepreneur with too many opportunities struggles a bit differently. And that's the big idea. We often Confuse movement with advancement. Adding something always feels productive. It feels so good. I love adding ideas. I love whiteboards. I love just. I love post it notes. How easy do post it notes make it to just write something really quick, rip it off, stick it to a whiteboard or your desk, and then write another one and just stick it and just fill the whole thing. Removing something feels scary. But think about all of our journeys. How many times does progress come from eliminating something? We can eliminate a service, a client. I think we've all learned that lesson the hard way. I love that concept of PITA clients. P I T a pain in the butt clients. Took me a long time to learn that lesson. We can eliminate a process, a commitment, an expectation, a direction. Sometimes subtraction creates more momentum than addition. Now, all these things are easy for me to say, but I have to recognize that pruning does hurt. Because pruning forces us to confront sunk costs. We think very frequently. I've already invested time, I've already invested money, I've already invested effort into this thing or this idea. And because we've invested so much, we wanna keep going even when we know that something, um, no longer fits. And the longer that we nurture a branch, the harder it becomes to cut it. And when we have this conversation, you know, inevitably, in most of these solo episodes, that I'm gonna wanna talk about identity and mindset and the inner game of entrepreneurship. Because sometimes pruning isn't about the business. It's about us, the entrepreneur. There are versions of ourselves that got us here, but will not get us there. There are beliefs that match that criteria. Habits, routines, ways of thinking, definitions of success. Growth often requires releasing many of those old identities, not because they were wrong, but because they were seasonal. This is an important point. This is one of the reasons why I've been so excited about this miniseries of seasons. Growth often requires releasing old identities, not because they were wrong, but because they were seasonal. And we see this in nature. I think that there's so many lessons. How frequently do I use other disciplines and hobbies and things, fields to steal inspiration from and concepts from. And nature is no different. A forest that's never pruned becomes crowded. The trees compete for resources. Sunlight, uh, gets blocked. And all of that means that growth actually slows. Everything survives, maybe, but nothing thrives. The same thing happens in entrepreneurship. Too many priorities, too many initiatives, too many directions, too many important things. The result is actually not abundance, it's dilution. And so that's why when most people think pruning is about eliminating weaknesses. Often it's actually about protecting strengths. I wanna say that one more time because it's something that I think about frequently. And, um, I'm in the very fortunate situation where I have an incredible team. And so many of the decisions that I make these days are, uh, to protect my team. And I know that in order for my team to succeed, it's not about giving them and forcing and throwing everything onto their plate. It's actually more frequently about eliminating things. And so I'm gonna repeat that. Most people think pruning is about eliminating weaknesses, but often it's actually about protecting strengths. You're not cutting things because they're bad. I wish somebody told me this in my early 20s. You are not cutting things or pruning those things because they're bad. You're pruning those things because they're distracting from. From what matters most. And that is precisely what makes pruning so difficult. The things you're cutting probably. I'm gonna go there. The things you're cutting probably might actually be good, just not the best. And it's funny, when we think about the seasonal nature of so many of these things that we're talking about in this week's episodes, I think about how and why most advice is actually good advice and how and why most advice is actually bad advice. And the reason why both of those coins are true is because advice is either good or bad. Based on your unique moment, based on your unique circumstances. And when I think about what planting season looks like as an entrepreneur, that's the season where we should say yes to most things. I certainly remember my earliest planting seasons. I said yes to everything. Anybody who anyone wanted me to introduce me to, anyone who wanted to have a conversation with me, my answer was always yes. And I'm glad that it was. And I still think that's the right decision. But the funny thing is, how frequently have you all, uh, if you've been a long time listener, how frequently have you told me or heard me tell the exact opposite advice? If I actually think that we need to say no a heck of a lot more, it's because these things are seasonal. Every yes creates an invisible no. If you say yes to one client, one partnership, one project, one initiative, you've simultaneously said no to something else. Time, focus, energy, attention. All of these yeses come at those costs. And the problem is that invisible no isn't immediately obvious. It's why, as an economics and finance major in college, I love the economic principle of. Of opportunity cost. Is, yes, this thing is awesome, but what is it costing me? Because every single thing we do in business and in life has an opportunity cost. We don't like to talk about that societally, but even if you do the best of things, your family time, which is an amazing thing that I wouldn't replace for anything in the world, has an opportunity cost. Sounds harsh. Sounds cold. It's the cold side of economics, especially when you start getting into behavioral economics. Oh, my gosh. There's an opportunity, opportunity cost of spending time with your family. There is, it's true. And in most cases, we choose to say, heck, yeah, I'm absolutely willing to pay that opportunity cost. But in the case of business, in entrepreneurship, like we're talking about today, you have to ask yourself, every single yes has an opportunity cost. What is it? And eventually it becomes obvious in hindsight, but usually too late. And so you already know, if you've been tuning into this week's episodes, then you know that so much of this miniseries about seasons is driven by a little bit of nostalgia and reflection for me, as we build up to episode 1500. And part of those reflections is me realizing that if I tried to keep every idea I've ever had over the last 1500 episodes, none of them would have flourished. Some things along the way had to end. Some directions had to change. Some opportunities had to be ignored. Opportunities, great opportunities. We feel as entrepreneurs, like we are constantly chasing opportunities. It sounds crazy to ignore neglect, decline, and just not chase opportunities. It sounds crazy. But some versions of the future had to be abandoned, not because they were failures, but because they weren't the path. And so in all of these episodes this week, I've really been talking about the question that it's important to reflect on in each of these seasons, and it's one. This question was very easy for me to come up with because I feel like so frequently we ask ourselves the question of what should I add? What can I do? And obviously here in pruning season, the question is the exact reverse of that. What should I remove? What is consuming energy without creating momentum? What is creating complexity without creating value? And what branch is taking resources away from the rest of the tree? Most of us entrepreneurs, it's super easy to think that growth comes from addition, more clients, more products, more content, more opportunities. But nature teaches us a, uh, very different lesson. The healthiest trees are not the ones that keep every branch. They're the ones that have the courage to let some go. Because growth isn't just about deciding what to pursue. It is equally. This is, uh, such an important lesson. It is equally about deciding what to leave behind. And sometimes the most productive thing you'll do all year is to cut something away that's no longer serving the future that you're trying to build. It's a tough lesson, but not everything that can grow should grow. And that's why pruning season is so important. I hope that you are enjoying this mini series of entrepreneurial seasons because it is important to have this awareness to understand why each season exists, how to navigate those seasons, and the gifts that each and every season brings along the way. Because ultimately, that's what's gonna get us to where we wanna be. So Monday's episode was all about planting season. Tuesday's episode was all about growth season. This episode has been all about pruning season. And I'm really excited for tomorrow's episode. So make sure you pound that subscribe button. I'll see you, as always, every single day, right here on the wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.