Optionality is Killing Your Momentum
In this episode Ray shares why having too many good options might secretly be sabotaging your success—and reveals the tough decisions he made to break free. If you're juggling multiple opportunities, this might be exactly what you need to hear.
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Welcome to Repeatable Revenue, hosted by strategic growth advisor , Ray J. Green.
About Ray:
→ Former Managing Director of National Small & Midsize Business at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he doubled revenue per sale in fundraising, led the first increase in SMB membership, co-built a national Mid-Market sales channel, and more.
→ Former CEO operator for several investor groups where he led turnarounds of recently acquired small businesses.
→ Current founder of MSP Sales Partners, where we currently help IT companies scale sales: www.MSPSalesPartners.com
→ Current Sales & Sales Management Expert in Residence at the world’s largest IT business mastermind.
→ Current Managing Partner of Repeatable Revenue Ventures, where we scale B2B companies we have equity in: www.RayJGreen.com
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Transcript
Few weeks ago in my email newsletter, I
wrote about the hardest word in business
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:being no meaning, saying no to good
ideas, uh, that come at the expense of
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:not having the energy or the time or the
focus to pursue the great ideas and how.
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:Not developing the discipline or
the chops to say no to things and go
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:all in on, on certain things ends up
screwing you in business because you
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:feel like you're playing it safer.
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:You know, you feel like you're, you're
hedging to a degree, um, but you're
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:really not like, you're actually, you're,
you're keeping yourself from succeeding
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:because you're not putting all of your
resources and all of the, the, the
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:attention and the focus that you need
to make the one thing, the great thing.
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:Actually work, right?
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:So you're reducing the likelihood of
success by saying yes to too many things.
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:And the reason I shared that was
because at that time I was going
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:through that process exactly right.
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:Because, uh, since launching my
new business, MSP Sales Partners
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:in January, we've seen a, a
huge uptick in, in enrollments,
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:especially these past few months.
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:And of course we want new
enrollments, we want new customers.
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:Like that's great.
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:Like we're, we're growing.
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:Awesome.
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:The downside is it comes at a cost, right?
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:Because everything in, in business,
everything in life comes, there's
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:a trade off associated with it
and with growth in the business.
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:For me, what it is meant
is trading off time, right?
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:Because that's time is one of
the, the very few things in.
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:In the world, that is
actually a zero sum game.
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:You know, you can find ways to maximize
it, you can find ways to, to leverage it.
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:But at the end of the day, I can't
manufacture more hours in the day.
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:And so when something starts to
consume my entire calendar, my entire
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:schedule, and I simply can't pack
anymore in, then I've gotta start
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:looking at what I, what can I say no to?
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:And, and that was, that was kinda the
background on that, on that newsletter.
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:Like, that's what I've been going through.
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:And, you know, the thing is, we've
actually, in the past couple of weeks,
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:we've made some really tough decisions.
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:Uh, you know, I've, it's done some,
some really like, honest analysis
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:on what can I take off of my
calendar, like, what can I say no to?
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:And you know, the shitty part is
all, all the easy stuff is gone.
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:Like at this point, all the things
that make obvious sense, you go, okay,
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:like kill that, kill that, kill that.
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:I've already done all of those things, so
you know, we're, we're at a point where
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:we're looking at the calendar and I'm.
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:I don't wanna say no to any of them.
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:I wanna do all of them.
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:And I have up to now found ways
to like, keep them all going.
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:Um, but it's reached that point
that it's, that it's not gonna work.
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:So, you know, last, uh, last week, uh,
we actually made an announcement that
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:we're shutting down the community, uh,
that we built community of entrepreneurs.
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:And, um, like, frankly,
it was disappointing.
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:You know, like I.
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:I've spent time building that thing.
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:I've enjoyed the relationships
that we've built in that thing.
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:Uh, you know, the, the weekly call,
we would do like an office hours
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:every Friday, and it was a call
that I looked forward to, you know,
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:I, I got energy from that call.
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:Uh, and it didn't feel like it
consumed a ton of time, right?
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:So like, the, the time for
money trade off wasn't, wasn't
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:necessarily a, a bad equation for me.
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:Uh, but.
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:Like I said, like there's just,
there's only so much time in the day.
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:So if I want the MSP business
to really take off, I have
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:to start saying no to things.
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:Um, so that was one decision.
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:Like we, we shut down
the, the, the community.
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:Um, this week, in fact, uh, I
made the announcement to, I.
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:All my coaching clients that we
were shutting down the accelerator
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:coaching program, which was
also really disappointing.
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:Like, this is something, I've been
running this for three years and it's gone
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:through a handful of different iterations.
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:Like it was, we started to scale
it at some point, then I peeled
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:it back and, you know, said I,
I wanna focus more one-on-one.
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:So at this point, like everyone
that I'm working with are people
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:that I know, like I've, again, good
relationships with them, like they've
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:been with me for a couple of years.
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:And not something that I
wanted to necessarily turn off.
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:But here's the thing, like while we,
like, I'm doing a lot of things really
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:well, like pretty well, but none of
them like are actually getting done
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:as well as they really could be.
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:Like if I was being really honest
with, with this and truly objective
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:and looking at this and saying,
Hey, if you, if you only did the
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:coaching thing, could it be better?
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:If you only focused on the community,
would it be better if you only
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:focused on the MSP business?
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:Would it be better And, you know,
good enough, maybe good enough.
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:But the, the reality is I know
that we could be doing better.
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:And when I really just like stepped
back to, to assess that, like the,
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:the truth was pretty evident to me.
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:Like it was time to, to go all in.
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:So we made some of those decisions and
other things, uh, we've, we've turned
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:off a, a few other things as well.
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:And you know, the thing is like.
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:It made sense logically, you know, like
sitting in a room with my advisors, you
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:know, like, and kind of going through
this and looking at the numbers and
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:looking at the calendar, you go, you
know what, this makes complete sense.
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:Easy to make the decision, right?
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:Like, Hey, I'm gonna cut a
few smaller revenue streams.
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:I'm gonna get back, you know, 10, 15 hours
a week, and I'm gonna put all that time
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:and that energy into, you know, growing
the business that's already growing.
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:That's already starting
to take off really simple.
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:Right, but implementing it was
a totally different ballgame.
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:Easy to make the decision.
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:Implementing it was tougher.
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:And the thing like I, what I found
was there's like this emotional
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:part of implementing decisions.
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:When you're saying no, when you're
cutting, when you're turning off things
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:that are good and making room for things
that are great, you get it in concept.
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:You get it factually and logically.
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:But when you start to, to put it into
place and execute it, there's a, like, a
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:motion starts to kick in and, you know,
you start, I'm doing pretty good at sales,
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:so I start like selling myself on this.
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:You know, like, well, maybe, maybe we
could keep this one going just a little
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:bit longer, like maybe till the end of the
year, uh, you know, may, well, what if the
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:MSP business doesn't completely work out?
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:Isn't it better to.
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:You know, to, to have some like hedge
this and, you know, have three or four
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:different, different streams, is it,
do I really need to do this thing?
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:And, and this is the, this is the battle
that I think a lot of operators face.
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:You know, like we, we have this tension
between the strategy and the logic,
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:like the things that make complete
sense to us, and then this emotional
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:homeostasis that keeps us where we're
at that wants to keep us where we're
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:at and we know what needs to be done.
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:Executing on those decisions.
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:That's where the shake gets really
hard and it's, it kind of reminds me
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:of when I, when I was my first CEO
role and I had a, a board of directors.
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:Who group of smart guys, young,
smart guys, all had successful exits.
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:Couple Harvard MBAs, a Booth, BA,
they had family offices, you know,
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:sitting with some sharp dudes and there
was one, one in particular, Carlos,
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:and he used to kinda always say,
well, you know, optionality is good.
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:We want, we want more optionality.
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:And that stuck with me for years
because first I was a really
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:sharp dude, very successful.
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:You know, I thought it was, I thought
it was good advice, made good sense.
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:Like optionality is good.
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:Like you, you get to
maintain some flexibility.
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:You get to hedge your risk,
you get to diversify that
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:risk, like all that good stuff.
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:It's great for an investor, theoretically,
actually, like Warren Buffett would argue,
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:and there's plenty of arguments to be
made for not diversifying in an investment
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:portfolio, but that's for another day.
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:But makes sense, right from an investment
standpoint, like hedge your bets and
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:diversify the risk and you can ensure,
or more confidently, you know, kind of
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:forecast what the results are gonna be.
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:But as an operator.
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:I optionality, I think is a curse.
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:Like I've just come to the conclusion
that optionality is not what you want.
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:Optionality is is not good as,
as an operator, as somebody who's
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:executing things, as a founder, who's
trying to figure out which direction
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:to go, because optionality makes
all of these options feel open to
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:you, and that creates complexity.
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:And complexity leads to.
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:You know, rethinking decisions
and questioning yourself and,
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:you know, having to double and
triple and quadruple check math.
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:And, you know, I just, it
leads to hesitation, right?
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:Because you're like, oh, well,
should I go this direction?
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:Should I go this direction?
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:Should I go this direction?
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:Should I go this direction?
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:And as an operator, you don't
have the flexibility of.
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:Doing multiple things
really well simultaneously.
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:Like it just doesn't work that way.
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:So, you know, I made the decision with,
with my business or businesses that
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:we're removing optionality, right?
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:Like we're putting our
eggs into to one basket.
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:We're going into MSP sales
partners, we're going all in.
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:We're gonna build like a category defining
business for MSPs for IT businesses, and.
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:I feel good about it, like,
but like I said, made sense.
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:Logically implementing it was tough.
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:But then after the decision also felt
good, like, felt like relief, felt
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:like, you know what a sense of focus,
a sense of concentration, and I.
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:That may feel risky, right?
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:Because you're, you're,
you're all in on something.
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:But like, feelings are
really misleading, right?
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:Like they're, I think feelings
are a lot like a fun house mirror.
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:You know?
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:Like they, they distort your reality.
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:They make like bold moves, things that
you've gotta do, things that actually
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:have a higher likelihood of success.
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:Feel dangerous and they make
status quo feel like it's safe.
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:But if status quo was so good, then
why are you trying to change it?
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:Right?
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:It's obviously not so you're trying
to make changes to get different
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:outcomes, but every time you go
to make significant changes, I.
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:There's like a part of you that fights for
homeostasis and that makes you feel safe.
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:And it doesn't because the, like, the
real risk is spreading yourself too thin.
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:The real risk is trying to do everything.
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:The real risk is trying to maintain all of
your options, thinking that by keeping all
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:of your options open, that you're actually
increasing the likelihood of success.
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:And it doesn't, it's a trap, right?
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:And I, I had started to fall
into it, but I, I know better.
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:Um, but it was, but even, like, even
when you know it, like I've, I've got all
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:the books, you know, like the, the one
thing and essentialism and this and that.
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:So conceptually, you know,
it, but like I said, executing
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:is a totally different thing.
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:So, you know, if you're, if you're
in a similar place, right, and
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:you're, you know, like a crossroads
and you're kind of juggling too many
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:things and unsure like where to let
go, here's what I'll leave you with.
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:Um, like clarity.
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:For me is not found in
spreadsheets and, and whiteboards.
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:It's found in motion, right?
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:It's found in movement.
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:It's found in action.
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:And sometimes like the boldest
business move that you can make is
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:say no to good stuff so that you
can say yes to the great stuff.
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:And if you're in a similar place, you
know, trying to figure out where to focus
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:your time or feeling like you're spread
too thin, hopefully this resonates.
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:If it does, feel free to subscribe.
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:Rate the podcast, do whatever,
wherever you find this.
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:Appreciate it.
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:Adios.
