Two Tactics From The World’s Richest Founder

In 1904, Standard Oil controlled 91% of oil refinement and 85% of final sales in the United States. The founder, John D. Rockefeller, owned 25% of the business, making him the wealthiest man of his day.

Here are two lessons and how to apply them as tactics today:

1. Maintain a pace you can keep forever
   
   “Rockefeller was known for having a schedule that allowed him to spend time with his family. He balanced work with periods of reflection, underscoring the importance of thinking deeply about one’s business endeavours rather than merely being caught up in constant action.”
   
   How to do it: Set up a calendar invite called “Thinking & Whānau” for someone who isn’t related to your work and include it in your working schedule daily.
   
   This person acts as an accountability partner to ensure these blocks are scheduled.
   
   The best investments are not the ones that yield the best returns but yield the most consistent returns over a long period of time.

2. Collaboration Over Competition Leads To Innovation
   
   “Rockefeller understood early on that individual success in the oil industry could be threatened by industry-wide issues. He viewed the industry as an interrelated mechanism, leading him to replace competition with cooperation through strategic alliances and long-term planning. 90% of the industry wasn’t profitable, and Rockefeller’s consolidation led to an industry-wide boom.”
   
   How to do it: Reach out to founders who are your competitors and ask them this:
   
   “Kia ora,
   
   I know we’re in the same industry and competing for the same business, but I’ve always learned from others’ best insights. Would you be open to a monthly catch-up where we share what’s working best in our businesses?
   
   Love what you are doing over at X.”
   
   Naresh Ramchandani, a partner at Pentagram, consistently ranked as one of the most innovative design firms in the world, says, “We sometimes start by saying, what’s out there? What can we copy?”
   
   This means that some of our best thinking can start with our peers, and we can iterate from there.
   
   Look to collaborate over competing.

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Being Simple Works

What would you say if I told you that the worlds simplest business is worth more than $1 billion?

You’d call bullsh*t, right?

Well let me introduce you to Athletic Greens.

They have one product, one size, one colour, one flavour, one price, and one set of payment terms.

No sales teams, no product pages, no "SKUs" or features.

And they generate over $250 mil in revenue with just 300 staff.

Not since Henry Ford has an entrepreneur been so daringly lazy and successful. Athletic greens might just be the only business on earth I'm jealous of.

Imagine how wonderfully simple running that business must be. And yet, how disciplined they have been to get here.

Every other supplement company sell shakers, hoodies, stickers, and socks. Yet, Athletic Greens is proof they don't need to.

My gym sells protein bars, skipping ropes, PT packages, and more. But we probably shouldn’t.

And we don’t do it because that's what our customers want…

We're as un-altruistic as you, we’re trying to make more money. And selling more is supposedly a good way to do that.

The thinking goes… the more we produce, the more we will sell and, therefore, the more money we make.

It's a trap.

Al Ries calls it line extension: "There's an irresistible urge to extend the equity of the brand." and most brands have limited equity. Yeah, sure it can work—look at Apple, Nike, or Tesla— but it's difficult to do well.

And it’s worse than that. When you add new products, pricing options and so on to your business, you're adding complexity, and complexity is expensive.

"Let's sell this other widget —it'll make us an extra $10 per sale and add $10,000 to our bottom line."

But what gets forgotten here is the extra knowledge, stock, web pages, processes, and so on required to sell that extra widget—all that extra comes at a cost. And on top of that, you’ve now lost an opportunity. An opportunity to sell or do more of your main thing. If all that energy was just spent on trying to sell more of your main thing, 9 times out of 10, your business would be better off.

This is how good, profitable, sustainable companies become liquidation headlines. And they're blind to it.

Before adding more, we should take a second to ask ourselves how we can do more of the main thing.