Welcome to One Thing Better. Each week, the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine (that’s me) shares one way to achieve a breakthrough at work — and build a career or company you love.
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You’re working hard on something. You’re seeing progress. But it’s not fully working.
Maybe it’s a business that isn’t growing fast enough, or a relationship that isn’t truly flourishing.
You can’t figure out what’s wrong — because you’re putting in the effort! And you’ve gotten it somewhere! So what’s the problem?
Well, here’s a question worth asking: Is this actually working? Or are you just strong enough to keep it moving?
Those may sound like the same thing. But they’re not.
Today, I’ll help you tell the difference… so you can finally put your effort where it’ll pay off the most.
But first, here’s a story of a founder who figured this out the hard way.
The founder who pivoted
Emily Dong wanted to build a big company in the pet space. It hasn’t been easy.
At first, she built an app for pets’ medical records. Growth was slow and difficult.
Next, she built software for veterinarians’ offices. Sales took a long time. “We realized, this isn’t a thing that people immediately get and start saying yes to,” Emily told me.
Then she tried a new idea. She built a wellness plan for veterinarian care; it’s sort of like a gym membership, but it covers healthcare for your pet. This makes care more affordable and encourages regular vet visits.
When she started selling it, everything changed.
“At the end of our conversation with vets, they would say, ‘What’s the catch? This is too good to be true.’ So the sales process was very short,” she said. “Then they’d sell it to their customers, and the customers were like ‘We’ve been waiting for something like this.’”
Emily’s told me this on a podcast interview. Her company is called Snout.
As I heard her speak, I had a realization: This isn’t just the story of a good business pivot. It’s about the trap of slow progress!
It can be hard to abandon something that’s working slowly, because… well, it’s still working, right?
But what if that slow progress will never get faster?
What if, by staying on the slow path, we give up our chance to find a faster one?
What if the bravest act is to walk away from something that’s sorta working, so we can find the thing that truly does?
A boulder up a mountain
I’ll get back to Emily in a moment. But first, please imagine rolling a boulder up a mountain.
With enough willpower, you can move that thing forward. Every inch feels impressive.
And this is a metaphor for so many things in our lives! It’s the business that grows slowly, thanks to our constant efforts. It’s the friendship that sustains, because we’re always reaching out. It’s the romance that stays alive, because we try so damn hard.
I’m not saying that’s always bad. Effort can be good! New things are hard, and they won’t gain momentum without our hard work.
But still: We cannot mistake our own strength for the strength of the thing we’re building.
If we’re always pushing a boulder up a mountain, then it will only move forward because we’re the one moving it. As soon as we take a break, progress stops. That’s not sustainable.
To build something that lasts, our boulder must eventually reach the top and roll down the other side — carried by its own momentum. At that point, our effort can help guide it along. But it does not require our constant pushing.
So, how do we get it there? Let’s return to Emily…
Convincing vs relief
Emily’s first two business ideas stalled. Her third took off. I asked her: Did you do anything differently when creating that third one?
The answer was yes.
“With the first two, I started by asking: ‘What am I capable of building?’ That was very limiting,” she told me. “For the third, I started by asking: ‘What’s the biggest problem a vet or pet owner faces?’ The answer led to the wellness plans. If you start with a solution first, instead of a problem first, it can send you down the wrong path.”
In other words: She needed to convince people that her first two ideas were valuable.
But her third idea provided relief for a problem everyone worried about.
This is what we must be alert to. Are we convincing, or are we providing relief?
When you’re convincing someone — a customer, a partner, a friend — you’re the one supplying the energy. You’re doing the work of generating enthusiasm, overcoming resistance, making the case, over and over, every single time.
When you’re providing relief, it’s like tapping into energy that’s already there. The person already wants what you have; they’ve just been waiting for someone to remove whatever was standing in the way.
Consider it:
- Why does a romance blossom? It’s because you both want to see each other, and the absence is frustrating. Every date provides relief.
- Why does a friendship grow? It’s for the same reason: You both engage and enrich each other, and want more of that. Every hangout provides relief.
- Why does a business grow? It’s because your customers have a problem, and they’re willing to pay for your solution. You are their relief.
That’s the shift from pushing the boulder up the hill to setting it loose downhill.
Which now raises an important question…
Which one are you doing?
How do you know which situation you’re in? Uphill or downhill? Convincing or providing relief?
Start by asking yourself these two questions:
- What would happen if I stopped making the effort?
- Do I see a clear pathway to this gaining momentum?
If the honest answers are no, that’s useful information.
Again, to be clear: “Convincing” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on the wrong path forever. Early on, almost everything requires you to push. New ideas require explanation. Things rarely start with their own momentum built in.
But if you’ve been pushing for a long time and the answer is still “it all collapses without me,” then it’s worth asking whether you can ever reach the crest — or what changes are required to get there.
Once you find the path forward, you’ll know. The conversations get shorter. The resistance gets smaller. People start asking “what’s the catch?”
And then, finally, you’ll provide relief to yourself too. Because you deserve better than to be constantly pushing. You deserve momentum. You deserve what’s waiting for you on the other side of that mountain.
That’s how to do one thing better.
Join Megan Thee Stallion, Gary Vee, Robert Irvine… and me!
I’ll be emceeing (and am currently planning) an incredibly awesome event for Entrepreneur.
On October 23 in Brooklyn, I’ll be on stage with these legends — AND even better, the morning is dedicated entirely to solving your business problems.
Here’s how it works:
The personalized morning: We’ll put you in small groups of your peers, and you’ll all workshop a problem that’s holding your business back. Robert Irvine and I will move around the room, helping as well. You’ll make new friends, gain valuable insights, and leave with an action plan. Then there’s a VIP lunch.
The inspirational afternoon: I’ll talk on stage to Megan Thee Stallion and Gary Vaynerchuk, take your questions, and Robert and I will workshop more of your problems!
You can get tickets for the whole day, or just the afternoon.
Either way, use code JASON to get 20% off. And if you come, please say hi! I’ll be around all day.
