Better Than Bootstrapping

The secret to scaling your business fast.

“Bootstrapping” is noble in concept but more expensive than you think.

I’ve bootstrapped a business enough times to understand the benefits and the allure of building something without spending much cash. Unfortunately, the bootstrapping method is slow. It typically goes like this:

1. Learn and practice new tasks yourself.
2. Create a set of standard operating procedures so you can…
3. Eventually hire someone else to run those procedures for you.
4. Take on the next growing edge of the business and repeat steps one through three.

It’s how most people grow a business. You do each job yourself (initially doing five jobs at once), and gradually hire people to help as cashflow allows.

There’s a Better Way

What is the specific transaction that will generate cash for your business? Do you have a crystal-clear answer to that question?

If so, you can fast-forward the process of scaling your business (and your cashflow) very quickly. Furthermore, you can do so at a lower total cost than the bootstrapping method would require.

First, let me briefly outline the method, and then I will answer the single big objection that will no doubt arise in your mind.

Having your end goal in mind allows you to discover shortcuts to get there. If you already know what value you must create so that you can then exchange that value for cash payments from your customers, then you should turn on that cashflow as quickly as possible.

If you know how you are going to produce cash, you can get there very quickly by hiring people who already have expertise in the various roles required to produce the outcome you have envisioned.

Learning each role so you can create a system or process to teach someone else is the slow way. It’s the method called “bootstrapping,” which costs you a lot of money by delaying the time it takes to explode your cashflow.

You should not go through the painstakingly slow process of learning each step of the way only to repeatedly stretch yourself thin as you try to…