The Risk & Reward Pay Off

In the last calendar year, our e-commerce business, Rugby Bricks, generated a net profit of $208,901.49 and grew 130%+ last year.

As of writing, we are $37,140.86 into our overdraft. Our fixed monthly OPEX is roughly $40,000.

The math shows we are in an uncomfortable situation.

We were lazy over the break, invested in new opportunities, and increased our fixed costs, none of which have paid off.

The idea I wanted to share is that the same people capable of achieving our growth and profits are the same people who can take risks that can backfire just as quickly.

What traits did we embody that allowed our company to grow from 0 to 7 figures?

Determination, optimism, an inability to hear no and relentless confidence in our abilities.

What traits do we embody that could cause our company to bite off more than we can chew, discount risks that are blindingly obvious to others, and potentially lead us to shut up shop?

Determination, optimism, an inability to hear no and relentless confidence in our abilities.

The same traits that push people to the top are the same traits that push people over the edge.

The secret is understanding when we’re risking too much and which risks will eventually pay off in the long run.

Notes: Most success, in my humble opinion (Kale), comes from iterating fast enough over a long enough period for your risks to pay off.

The hardest part is the anguish of not knowing if we’ll be around long enough to see that happen.

If you are in the thick of it today and it feels too much - keep going because I’m right there with you.

Finding Your Unique Proposition (or beating competition)

Our Kiwi psyche is to stick to our own affairs - but this causes us to look at competition through a tainted lens.

We think we're trading in narrow lanes with niche offerings unaffected by the world that surrounds us. Mistakenly believing we're competing locally, on features. While consumers seek globally for benefits.

For example. Many of us go to the gym to lose fat (benefit). And the gym owner thinks they’re winning your wallet on price, location and equipment (features).

So they don't see the likes of Ozempic (fat loss drug) coming. The fat-loss wonder drug, approved in New Zealand in March 2023 that you can get on a subscription price of ~$150 per month. This is willpower in a pill - the consumer no longer needs to invest all that time and energy with the likes of F45 to lose fat.

And what about the local newspaper? They have it far worse. They're competing for attention with millions of digital nodes, who harnessed their craft in our new digital world. I doubt there’s anyone in the back-office of the Greymouth Gazette pondering how to beat Alex Cooper for millennial mindshare.

It sounds crazy, but perhaps they should be, shouldn’t they?

What’s their alternative? To sit and wait until they fall into the dying-breed-of-a-consumer’s local-only consideration stage orbit. That’s a thin slice only getting thinner.

—

"Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true. No one can compete with you on being you. Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most."

The insight here is this: It's almost impossible to become the best in the world at a single thing, like the fastest 60-meter runner. But you may have a good chance of becoming the fastest 60m runner underwater without oxygen assistance.

A combination of narrows might be the answer the Greymouth Gazette needs to compete on this global platform called the internet.

Let’s say I’m a chocolatier (if that’s a word), I don't want to compete against lollies and ice cream for the sugar dollar or with flowers and candles in the oversaturated gift market; I want to be something like the perfect thank you.

I want to know the benefit I'm giving and my unique combination of features that will make me the best in the world at providing that benefit.

Features don’t tell us apart. Combinations of features do. But you can only know what a unique combination is, once you know the benefit you’re competing for.