🔥Business Is BORING. (The Art of Entrepreneurship)

If you have ADHD like me, you probably find many things boring.

For example, my startup was boring.

EXTREMELY boring.

My other business partner, with whom I left the startup (who doesn't have ADHD), also found it boring.

Too many useless calls. Too many boring meetings. Too much data. Too much code. Too many boring customers. (big and slow-moving e-commerce with long sales cycles)

Our startup didn't feel alive.

There was no drive. No mission. No vision. No brand.

It was just dull and repetitive.

My business partner every morning at 8 am: "We need to make more sales."

→ NO BRO. We need a better purpose for this startup. Sales are a byproduct of the quality of the product and the energy with which the team works together—a better alignment within the business.

Yes, even boring businesses can generate substantial profits. Cody Sanchez started an entire movement on YouTube and social media around this topic.

But the point is, in many cases, especially related to people with ADHD like myself, we can't execute tedious tasks for too long. Only 20% of the business should be boring and repetitive, while the other 80% should be creative, innovative, and productive.

Because enjoyment and flow are the highest form of productivity.

And everything that involves emotions is exciting. That's why people travel, talk to each other, want to find love or hope social media is "socializing".

"Boring" businesses work and make a good profit. However, it wouldn't align with purpose and profit, and is, in most cases, better suited for people who may not have ADHD or have a natural inclination towards the topic, which is purely individual.

The Search For Atlantis.

I assume everyone is familiar with the sunken City of Atlantis.

Which, in my opinion, is generally an exciting topic.

Everything that creates a mental image or triggers imagination is something people are automatically drawn to.

That's why most people watch movies, play games, read books or create for themselves. (Consumer & Creator)

To create, people need to consume.

When it comes to business, there are many tedious tasks; depending on the business model, these can be more or less burdensome.

For example, content creation is probably the most enjoyable and exciting business model, but it is also the most challenging to get started with.

• A boring business has tedious work, but quick rewards → my startup.
• A content business or personal brand has exciting work, but a late payoff → my business now.

It took me 8 months to see my first results. There is no motivation, and learning feels frustrating, because you see 0 results. The only thing you have or should have is the enjoyment of this pursuit. And let me tell you, it is a fulfilling path.

Content creation in combination with writing and talking in public is for me the most fulfilling path, because I have always been an extremely extroverted person who loves to talk and has always been an "artist" or creative person. I started with drawing as a kid and later switched to photography. Interestingly, I also enjoyed math when I was a kid. (Maybe an Asian thing, lol)

Now I write, create, build and talk. (Could there be something more beautiful?)

To make business more fun, I have developed the concept:

"The Search for Atlantis"

There are so many movies about it:

Ariel, Aquaman, Moana, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Avatar: The Way of Water, etc.

Some of them do not directly point toward it, but are ingrained with mermaids, underwater kingdoms, or sunken civilizations, hinting and being inspired by Atlantis.

Look at the Marvel Universe created by Stan Lee. It began with curiosity and concepts, evolved into stories as comics, and then into a movie universe like no other.

You need to take this creative spirit into business; otherwise, you will end up, sooner or later, as a stressed, unhappy, unfulfilled, groggy, overweight, and lonely individual. What many bosses are nowadays.

How?

1) You Need Bigger Goals.

If you just do it for the money, you will burn out or become the groggy Ebenezer Scrooge (Christmas Story).

Purpose and profit need to align.

This was me with my startup. We made 300k in our first year of business. I lived at my parents' place to put all the money back into the business, downgraded my lifestyle for the company, and fell extremely deep after my dad passed away, because I had no money or any foundation built. Not even having a place to live for myself.

I was the only person from the entire company who wasn't in any way financially secured by the family and had an extremely toxic family dynamic. Living at home was more damaging than any other financial worry, so in my opinion, the "free rent" was not free at all.

If you decide on any business or any long-term career, you should weigh the financial and mental costs.

I wasn't building any sustainable wealth or any foundation with this startup. It was an awful and tedious job, working 12 hours for zero safety, insurance, or private income.

Building a financial foundation would be:

• Creating an audience online.
• Investing monthly money.
• Buying and renting property.
• Building a product.

Think about investing your entire life in the search for a treasure or Atlantis, even though it might be just a vivid dream.

There is this Japanese poem I often mentioned in the newsletters:

In short, it discusses the concept of the infinite game. The pursuit of the highest possible goal to achieve in your area. (Mount Fuji) However, it is never actually achieved, because it can only go down from there. Learning to enjoy the climb. Slow like a snake, but extra "slow" to enjoy every breath towards it.

Similar to the Search for Atlantis.

The goal needs to be so ambitious that your entire life's purpose revolves around achieving this goal, while also learning to enjoy the daily pursuit of the craft.

An endless path to growth of becoming better to achieve the infinite goal, but enjoying every single step until your last breath.

Along the journey, you probably realize it was never the goal itself, but the infinite pursuit of knowledge, growth and becoming.

Overall self-actualization.

2) Choose Wisely. The Earlier The Better.

A few rules to consider, which I have learned with starting my "first" business with 19 (photography) and my second with 21 (startup):

1. It needs to be an infinite game. For example, making the world a better place through teaching emotional intelligence or implementing practical solutions for ADHD.
2. It needs to be scalable, while your work hours remain the same. (what most people can't strategize) For example, I work 4 hours a day. I write for 1-2 hours and manage newsletters, posts, videos, and coaching afterwards. Newsletters, posts, and videos can attract an unlimited number of people without increasing my workload. With coaching, I can raise prices, do a cohort or later switch to a scalable product.
3. It needs to solve a pain point where you are emotionally connected. For example: ADHD, emotional intelligence, psychology, flow, writing.Something that helped you along the way to solve in your life. Writing, flow and a second brain solved the problem with ADHD, productivity and my past unorganized mind.
4. It should include both "write and talk in public". These are two topics I often discuss. The entrepreneur needs to represent the brand, whether it is a personal brand or a business brand. He should be a one-person marketing army. See Hormozi, Dan Koe, and even Elon Musk do it. As an entrepreneur, you need to be able to write and talk in public. This will make your business pursuit more lucrative and purposeful.
5. It needs to integrate into your lifestyle seamlessly because you can outperform 99% of entrepreneurs who don't do it. If you can go off the computer after 4-6 hours of work and someone films you while training, talking to entrepreneurs, or you take people with you as a "behind the scenes" experience, you put additional trust in it, even without actively working. That's why content creation is so powerful.

3) Create Your Own Philosophies, Concepts and Unique Mechanisms

If you want to succeed in life and business, you need to have more philosophies, concepts and unique mechanisms.

Explaining why and how you are doing things.

→ Why are you doing this in life or business? (Philosophy)

e.g. 4 hours of deep flow work. Writing for business and life.

→ Where can they categorize it? (Concepts)

e.g. Chaos To Clarity. Second Brain. 4-Domains of Clarity.

→ How can they replicate it? (Unique Mechanism)

e.g. Coaching. Cohorts. Courses. Products.

1. Philosophy: Philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, and reason. (They Why)
2. Concepts: Concepts are ideas or mental models that help us understand and categorize the world. (The Where)
3. Unique Mechanism: A Unique Mechanism is a distinctive process, framework, or system. (The How)

Use this to explain life and the universe to yourself.

Write daily to your past self.

• What could your past self have done better?
• What is a life philosophy you have learned too late in life?
• What concepts would you wish you had learned earlier? (for me, chaos to clarity, mental/digital organization and writing)
• What are the unique mechanisms that would have saved you years if reflected earlier?

Become a teacher for your past self and share your experiences online. Everyone has a unique journey; share it online to attract the people you want to attract.

Give without expecting something in return. (The essence of love)

You will be returned 10-fold, but you need to be patient.

It won't be easy, but it will be rewarding, I promise.

See you next time.

Jeff

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