From Impossible to Inevitable: How SaaS and Other Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue

by Aaron Ross

Every time an employee comes to you for a decision, you're stealing a chance for them to practice their own decision-making. You're teaching them to depend on you.

Owners need to improve their decisiveness and confidence, which comes from practice and coaching. So as often as you can, find opportunities for them to make more of their own decisions, and live with them. One rule: they have only to ask for advice from someone else before they make it.

When you make a decision for an employee, you're robbing them of a chance to practice it themselves, to learn. Even if the decision ends up being a painful one, making mistakes is the cost of doing something new—especially when learning how to be entrepreneurial.

If you're not failing, frustrated, or disappointed almost every day about something, you're too comfortable.

Ownership isn't about how “big” or “small” something is, as long as it's important to someone, and is appropriate to the owner (not too easy, not impossibly challenging). It can mean owning the fridge, the company blog, the phone system, fun team-building events, an internal wiki, a product launch, a multimillion-dollar product line, or a conference.

The more you involve your people in the process … the better the result for the company and all its stakeholders.

If there are remote workers in your company, find a way to get them together in person even if it's once a year. Video calls work better than ever, but there's no replacement (yet) for getting to work and know someone in person, whether it's a coworker or customer. There's no replacement for face-to-face meetings.

Help people find their individual strengths, desires and genius, to work together as a group of talented individuals, not clones.

Do you channel your frustration and anger into figuring out how to change? Or do you let it simmer and fester inside, without doing anything about it?

The Painful Truth: You're letting frustrations stop, rather than motivate, you.

When we ask executives, “What do you wish employees knew?” they answer that employees have way more opportunity than they realize to make an impact in the business, their careers, and their lives.

Employees: You wait around for others to tell you what to do, to help you, or to motivate you. You're letting yourself become dependent on others, and that's not going to get you to your goals.

There will never be an ideal time, opportunity, or idea—there will always be challenges. Owners and entrepreneurs succeed despite them, not without them. Even in baby steps. A step is a step, no matter how small.

Clocking hours at work doesn't count. What are you learning that's important to your goals—and not just through watching videos or reading books, but by doing it? (The best way to learn how to market or sell is to … market or sell.) How are you contributing beyond what's expected at work, or from customers?

It's fun to dream about success. Making it happen—and keeping it going—is a lot tougher. And far more rewarding.

Can you find a problem that requires you to learn or do something from your list?

Money and passion are like water and food. You need both, though you can last only a few days without water (money) while you can go for weeks without food (passion) … even if it's unpleasant.

You need to (a) explore your interests and passions while also (b) learning how to create value and create money.

Yeah, and how much do 99% of those international, beach-lounging, yoga lifestyle, work-from-home-in-my-underwear people actually make? Except for a small number of standouts, much less than you probably assume. We aren't against beach yoga, and as for the ones doing it—great for them! The problem is when you read those sexy stories and assume you're failing, or think that you need to quit whatever you're doing to start from scratch, or buy into a overnight success pitch. Because 95% of you shouldn't make such a drastic change, and instead need to take what you're already doing and dig back into it, build on it, and expand on it.

Remember that those successful people whom you’re following (including ourselves) still have plenty of problems. It’s just more fun to write about how awesome life is than to share the sucky parts—especially on social media where your friends are watching. It’s embarrassing to write “I’m doing yoga on the beach in Bali, but after a few months it’s not that great, and I want to go back to a job where I see friends every day and can rely on a stable salary.”

For example: Creating financial stability and choices for your family. Marketing and selling products, yourself, and your ideas. Saying “no” to people, ideas, and opportunities that threaten to overwhelm you. Spotting problems that others would be willing to pay to solve. Finding new ways every month, every week, and every day to learn in your routine job, and learn something new (avoiding the Grass Is Greener trap). Learning outbound prospecting, and how to drum up business. Communicating clearly in emails, speaking, or messaging. Creating and maintaining relationships: authentic curiosity about others, impeccable honesty, small talk, eye contact. Connecting with people, making small talk, having conversations—not just via email, texts, or social media (or dating) apps. Building your confidence by taking on new challenges, and “going for it,” then—whether you succeed or fail—learning and try, try again. Exiting toxic situations whether with a manager, business, or customer. Having the hard conversations with coworkers or customers that you've been avoiding, even when it scares the heck out of you. These passions aren't sexy, but they're examples of what you need to do to make as much money as you want, doing what you love. Work—every day—to find passion in what you do, including in making customers successful, learning how to make money, and managing people.

Questions What skills do you want or need? How can you get paid to learn and do it now? What baby step can you take today toward doing it? Nurture a passion(s) in something you already do.

Pick an important life or work goal. What are you doing about it, or need to, to reach it? How can you get paid to learn and do it here, wherever you are right now? What baby step can you take today to move forward?

Happiness is a funny thing. It's transitory, often coming and going on a moment's notice. And happiness today can be the enemy of happiness tomorrow, if you let it make you complacent.