Every now and then, you stumble upon a lesson so obvious it’s nearly invisible. Here's one I learned the hard way: More effort, when applied to something that works, can quietly outpace the flashiest new idea. If you’re rolling your eyes, I get it—I used to do the least, chased novelty, and mocked those who put in the hours. But then life spun me around: the persistent, the relentless, the 'boring' maximizers? They're the ones truly winning the marathon of business and life. Let’s peel the curtain back on why doing more (when it matters) can actually be the highest reward move you’ll ever make.
The 'More' Principle: Why Volume Beats Novelty
When it comes to business growth strategies, many leaders chase the next big idea, hoping novelty will unlock success. But the real secret behind extraordinary results is often much simpler: do more of what already works. This is the essence of the 'More' Principle—a strategy rooted in consistent execution and relentless volume, not constant reinvention.
Consistency and Volume: Outproducing Reinvention
Across thirteen years in business, the most effective move has always been increasing volume in proven channels. Consider the $105 million launch for the $100M Money Models book—achieved in just 72 hours. This wasn’t the result of a brand-new tactic, but the outcome of executing a high-volume, well-practiced strategy at scale. The same principle applies across industries and goals: operational efficiency and repetition outperform frequent changes or chasing the latest trend.
Quantity Builds Quality: Lessons from Napoleon and Business Life
"Quantity has a quality unto itself." – Napoleon Bonaparte
This quote, often attributed to Napoleon, captures a counterintuitive truth: at a certain point, sheer volume transforms into its own form of excellence. In business, this means that market expansion and diversification, when paired with high-volume execution, can drive exponential growth. The more you do, the more you learn, refine, and improve—eventually, your output becomes exceptional not because it’s new, but because it’s abundant and well-practiced.
Real-World Example: Scaling from $200M to $1.2B
Consider the story of Shararan, president at ACQ. He helped grow a real estate business from $200 million to $1.2 billion in just 30 months. How? By executing 260 events in 365 days. Instead of searching for a new growth hack, he focused on consistent execution—speaking at every possible real estate event, building demand through relentless presence. This approach exemplifies how business success strategies rooted in volume can outpace those based on novelty.
- 260 events in 365 days—a relentless schedule driving market expansion
- $200M to $1.2B in revenue—achieved through repeated, focused actions
- $105M book launch—the result of scaling up a proven process, not inventing a new one
Why Most Underestimate the Power of More
Many people hit a point where they believe they can’t do more. But it’s often at this threshold that the biggest breakthroughs occur. The volume required for real success is almost always greater than expected. As the saying goes:
"Achievement comes from actions, not aspirations."
In practice, consistent, repeated actions in successful channels outperform frequent changes. The 'More' Principle is about pushing past perceived limits, doubling down on what works, and letting volume create its own quality. For anyone serious about business growth strategies and operational efficiency, this approach is the highest risk-adjusted return move you can make.
The Trap of Optimization: When 'Better' Undercuts the Best
In the pursuit of business success strategies, it’s easy to fall into the trap of endless optimization. You might believe that tweaking your script, onboarding process, or pay structure will always lead to improvement. But the reality is that every change comes with a fixed cost and only a variable reward. This is where many entrepreneurs, especially in small businesses, unknowingly sabotage their own growth.
Why Endless Tweaks Can Hurt Consistent Execution
Imagine your current revenue or output as a steady line. When you change a process, you’re not just flipping a switch for instant improvement. Most often, you’ll see a 20% dip in performance right after the change. This happens because people need to retrain, new variables interact in unexpected ways, and the entire team must adjust. Only after this initial drop do you have a chance—just a chance—of seeing a 5% improvement over your original baseline.
- Every change has a guaranteed cost (the performance dip).
- The reward is uncertain and often minor (a small incremental gain).
- Constant changes keep your output below its true potential.
Ask yourself: Would you risk a 20% loss for a possible 5% gain? Most would say no, yet many business owners take this bet repeatedly, convinced that “better” is always just one tweak away.
Operational Efficiency: Scale Beats Micro-Optimization
Operational efficiency doesn’t come from chasing every small improvement. It comes from focusing on the scale and consistency of your actions. When you stick with a proven system and execute it repeatedly, you gain depth of understanding and skill. This is where compounding benefits emerge. As the saying goes:
"If necessity is the mother of invention, repetition is the father of skill."
Instead of swapping out what works for the latest “hack,” double down on what delivers. Over time, the returns from consistent execution far outweigh the fleeting gains of constant optimization.
Personal Lesson: Output Over Shortcuts
Consider a story from school: I once lost a coveted spot to a student who simply did more work, not because they found a clever shortcut. The lesson was clear—the world rewards output and results, not effort-saving tricks. In business, the same principle applies. Swapping proven systems for small optimizations often backfires, leading to stagnation or even decline.
Business Planning: Know When to Optimize
Optimization has its place in business planning, but it should never come at the expense of your core operations. The magic lies in maximizing what already works and scaling it up. This is how world-beating results are achieved—not by chasing every 5% improvement, but by building on a strong, consistent foundation.
- Endless tweaks sap resources and momentum.
- Consistent execution delivers compounding benefits.
- Maximization and scale drive extraordinary growth.
Remember, your business will never be perfect. Accepting this frees you to focus on what truly moves the needle: doing more of what works, not just doing it “better.”
Making Bets That Matter: Strategic Focus in the Age of Distraction
When it comes to business planning and business growth strategies, most small business owners face a hard truth: your resources—time, money, and people—are limited. If you have fewer than 20 employees, you simply cannot afford to chase every new idea or trend. Instead, the most effective business success strategies start with a clear, strategic focus on a few high-impact moves each year.
Why Fewer Bets Lead to Greater Growth
It’s tempting to believe that constant change and new initiatives drive growth. In reality, spreading your focus too thin leads to diluted results. The most successful small businesses typically make just one or two major “bets” per year. These are not small tweaks or marginal improvements. Instead, you should look for projects or changes that have the potential to deliver at least a 20% impact—anything less is often not worth the disruption.
Ask yourself: If you could only do one thing this year, what would make the biggest difference? This mindset forces prioritization and helps you avoid the trap of chasing every shiny object. As one business leader put it,
'If you change nothing, people get better at their jobs.'Consistency allows your team to build skill, confidence, and efficiency—delivering steady, compounding gains over time.
The Power of Consistent Execution
Even without major changes, your business can see 1-3% improvement each month simply by letting your team do what they do best. This is the quiet power of consistent execution. When you avoid unnecessary changes, your people become more skilled and productive. Over a year, these small gains can add up to significant growth.
- 1-2 major business bets per year: Focus your resources on a few critical projects with the highest potential return.
- Let consistency compound: Trust that steady, uninterrupted work will deliver incremental improvements.
- Say no to distractions: Most new ideas are not worth the cost of switching focus or disrupting your team’s momentum.
Strategy: Decide What Matters, Then Go Get It
Many business owners approach strategy like making dinner with whatever is in the fridge—reacting to what’s available instead of deciding what they truly want. The better approach is to decide what you want to achieve, then go out and get the right “ingredients” to make it happen. This means being intentional about your business planning and only investing in changes that will move the needle in a meaningful way.
Remember, strategy is about making high-impact moves, not just reacting to what’s on hand. The less you chase distraction, the more you can capitalize on the incremental, compounding growth that comes from doing the right things—over and over again.
Wild Card: The High Cost of Being Exceptional (And Why 'Normal' Won't Get You There)
So let's get real about what it takes to achieve extraordinary business growth. If your goal is to reach the top 1%—to walk into a room of 100 people and leave as number one—you already know that ordinary effort won't cut it. But what if you aim even higher? To be in the top 0.1%, you need to outshine a thousand. To reach the top 0.01%, picture yourself in a stadium of 10,000 competitors, and you must be the last one standing. That’s the level of intensity and focus required for true business success strategies to work at the highest level.
Think about that stadium for a moment. In a battle to the finish, you have to outperform everyone—not just most people, but every single one. If you want to achieve this kind of consistent execution, ask yourself: can you do it by living a normal life? Can you keep the same friends, the same hobbies, the same routines as everyone else? Can you stay up late, sleep in on weekends, and avoid making sacrifices that average people never question?
The answer is simple: you cannot make yourself exceptional and live a normal life. Exceptional outcomes demand exceptional habits, not average lifestyle choices. This is the hidden cost of being in the top 0.01%. You will likely have to let go of comfort, familiar relationships, and even the validation of those around you. The truth is, most people won’t understand why you do what you do. They may not support you as you start to surpass them. They might even call your dedication unhealthy, unbalanced, or illogical. And in many ways, they’re right—by normal standards.
But here’s the crucial insight: normal standards will never get you to the top. If you want to achieve extraordinary business growth, you must embrace the psychological toll—and the liberation—that comes from detaching from normal expectations and social validation. When you pursue the highest levels of success, feeling alienated is not a sign you’re doing something wrong; it’s a byproduct of achievement. You must accept that an exceptional life is not always “better” by conventional measures—it’s simply different, so different that most people will reject it. And when that happens, you must be willing to reject their approval in return. Oil and water do not mix.
Internal company handbooks can help set a culture that normalizes exceptional effort and focus, but ultimately, the decision to pursue greatness is personal. Success at the highest levels is not about fitting in; it’s about standing out. It’s about consistent execution of business success strategies, even when it means sacrificing comfort and acceptance. If you want to be the wild card—the one who leaves the stadium victorious—you must be willing to pay the price of being exceptional. In the end, that’s what it really means to do more and achieve extraordinary business growth.
TL;DR: If you want an edge, stop chasing constant change. Amp up what's proven to work, focus on relentless volume, and remember—repetition is not your enemy, but your secret weapon for outsized success.
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