How I 5X'd My Business Without Starting a New One

Once we had nailed the systems that made us stand out, something unexpected happened.

I found myself only working about 20 hours a week.

Fielding enquiries, managing three trucks and operators, invoicing. The business was running. Really running. And for the first time I had the headspace to look up and ask what came next.

More trucks? Another business? Something completely different?

The answer came from a conversation I almost did not have.

I was visiting a waste removal customer's investment property. Tenants had absolutely trashed it. The owner was based in North Queensland and told me it had cost them nearly ten thousand dollars just to fly down, manage the repairs and coordinate local trades.

Almost without thinking I heard myself say it.

"Give me half that and I'll handle it all."

Ten years of being involved in and organising trades. I knew just about everything I needed to make that happen. More than the customer did. The capability was already there. I just had not thought to offer it.

That one sentence 5X'd the business almost overnight.

Not a new brand. Not a new marketing strategy. Not a shiny object chased across town. Just a parallel problem solved for a customer who already trusted me completely.

And that is the part most people miss.

The trust was already there. I did not have to earn it from scratch. I did not have to convince a stranger to take a chance on me. I just had to open my eyes to a problem the person in front of me already had and ask whether I could solve it.

The easiest customer to sell to is the one you already have.

They know your work. They know your standard. They know you do what you say you are going to do. That trust is worth more than any marketing campaign you could run and most business owners completely ignore it while chasing the next new thing.

Every business I have built since has followed the same principle. Look at who already trusts you. Look at what problems they still have. Ask whether you can solve them.

The next big thing is rarely somewhere new. It is almost always hiding inside what you are already doing.

Lesson 12: Don't get distracted by the next big thing. Turn the thing you are doing now into the next big thing.

We talk about how to grow smart without chasing shiny objects every week on the TSP Podcast with Dale Meyer. Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and join The Sequoia Project community on Facebook.