Running a less profitable business will actually make you happier - Krystal & Gary on #teawithgaryvee
You guys keep asking, so here we go!
In case you missed it, I had my chance to ask GaryVee a question on his quarantime show #teawithgaryvee.
The show is essentially Gary reserving 2 hours out of his insanely packed pandemic schedule to go live, and bring individuals like you and me on to ask him different business questions. It's amazing, insanely value-packed, and oddly accessible.
Zero shame - This show’s push notifications have served as my quarantine alarm, and has become one of my favorite parts of my day. It's basically the 2020 version of a radio show where people panic when they get on and start by rattling off "long time listener, first time caller!"
Somehow (at the grace of Dustin not Justin, Zain, and May), I ended up on there - and sure enough, like an entrepreneurial tarot card reader, Gary Vaynerchuk essentially answered my simple question in half a breath, and then read into a very real (unrelated) question that I absolutely did not ask whatsoever.
Gary gave me something I didn't realize I was seeking...
PERMISSION.
"Let me ask you something, do you have a hard time firing people?"
*Gut check*
me: 😳 "…. yes?"
*tries to put up silent emotional boundaries to block whatever G’s using*
Gary: "I've got to tell you this and it hurts me saying it but I think it's going to help you."
What Gary didn't know (but probably did, because he reads people like a book), is that in secret I've struggled with my numbers. Don’t get me wrong - the main ones are great.
I'm really proud of what I've built - it's sustainable, it's impactful, powerful given the current economic climate, and as a bonus, the company maintains my family's legacy. But, over the past year, I've been pushed and told my 'margins need to be higher'. I’m told I need to 'net more', I'm 'paying too much,' and there’s no way I’ll be able to sustain an economic downturn if I continue paying my current rates. These are all things that add up and make you feel like you're failing, even when you're growing.
I hate it. Gary would have no way of knowing that I had been losing sleep to this fact for months. Except, I’m starting to think he somehow did?! And didn’t, at the same time. Who knows, I’m all sorts of emotionally tripped up at this point. I make a mental note for my therapist.
Just a few months before, I had been CRUMBLING under the same garbage pressures being placed on me, and lo-and-behold, flowers showed up on my (gated entry) doorstep from the one and only GaryVee. Okay, Gary I’m listening.
It just didn’t sink in until the tea. What I didn't realize is that I was waiting for someone to give me permission to build a less profitable company. Because that meant treating people well and maintaining ethics. It had nothing to do with the numbers, and everything to do with being more heart.
I walked away from that call with an adrenaline kick, not just because I'm an introvert TERRIFIED of being in front of people who was pushed in front of thousands of people just to fumble through my question at 80mph while low-key twitching on-screen, but also because of something that took a few hours to sink in. It was the part about how I said "I'm told I pay too high," but what Gary read between the lines, was "I'm being told my margins aren't high enough."
"The next time someone tells you that, you're going to say 'That's very sweet. You run your business, Sally."
I didn't realize that although I can easily lean alpha masculine and action-oriented in business, I had been allowing how others build their businesses, sculpt how I built mine… but we're not building the same kind of business.
It's OKAY to not net 40 freaking percent. It's not only OKAY to have to grind every day - that's the part about all of this that you should love. The entire point in being okay with 'low' margins, and being proud of it, is being absolutely 1000% in love with the process of building it. It's OKAY to have to keep both hands on the wheel while navigating a small business during a pandemic.
The truth is, if things are net positive, and you're truly happy, then you're right where you should be.
The point is to not be charitable within your business, but instead to be charitable because of your business. That was the day I took control - somehow it finally snapped in my head that I can not only impact more people positively in the long run by pulling the charity out (aka hiring the wrong people, promoting them out of tenure and not because they truly deserved it, or over-paying in certain scenarios because I wanted to financially treat them better than how I was treated when I first started), but also being fine with lower margins if it removes the pressure of 'making it.' Because the point is..
Don’t be in love with the idea of owning a successful company (or hitting a specific dollar amount). Instead, be in love with the process of building that company.
I’ve since fallen in love with the journey - which is why every margin-focused meeting was sucking out my soul or making me feel insecure. Once I recognized that - it's breezy.
Since that one-on-one, I've had zero anxiety over the trajectory or the bottom line of my company.
Okay, I’m laughing my a** off at that fact. Read that again. IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC, I've been able to give my business, which relies so heavily on live entertainment (LOL right now), a little breathing room and a lot of perspective. AKA, hit me up if you’ve got work, but I’m not worried.
I think for so long, I zeroed in on the fact that I haven't made it until I've hit a specific consistent margin - rather than realizing that I love my process. I’m obsessed with my current team. And I would do ANYTHING for my clients.
I've made it already. I’m happy. And while it's okay to be ambitious for growth, that doesn't have to come from screwing anyone over, adhering to anyone's math equations, or sacrificing quality or sanity in the process. It took a few weeks for it to really sink in - and that perspective shift changed everything for me.
Thanks a million times, Gary.
Watch the episode here
