Companies Die From Indigestion — Not Starvation

Startups typically don’t die from starvation (lack of opportunity), they usually die from indigestion (taking on too many things at once).

Have you ever felt overwhelmed, and worse, realized it was totally SELF IMPOSED?

Come on, be honest.

I know you have, because I’ve done it MANY times in the past…! — more →

… the worst it ever got was when I was building my company Spheric and I decided I wanted to double the size of the business over the next 12 months.

So what suffered?

Everything!!!

- I put on 15lbs
- My friends thought I was a workaholic
- Family stopped calling

The worst part is I knew better… I knew I was burning the candle at both ends… but I didn’t have a framework for solving the issues.

So that’s what I want to share in this weeks video… essentially the foolproof framework I developed to help me decide when / if I should take on a new project.

At a high level, I use these 3 filters to help make my decision:

- Business Fundamentals
- Success Habits
- Responsibilities to Others

What I do is evaluate each one and ask myself if taking on a new project will sacrifice my ability to execute or deliver on these prior commitments.

The trick is to define them.

What are your business fundamentals?

What about success habits?

How about the responsibilities (or commitments) you’ve made to others?

Taking the time to sit down and evaluate the “status” and stability of these areas and being honest about the free “bandwidth” you have, will give you a clear sense of direction.

Remember, the more you grow and succeed, the more ideas and opportunities you’ll have…

… the best entrepreneurs out there learn how to quickly evaluate them, and say yes/no FAST!

Do that, and you’ll kick some serious @ss!

Have an incredible day!

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.