Starter Story - Think week

PSA: You should take a “think week.”

3 years ago, I hit my breaking point.

So… I got in my car and drove 3,029 miles.

No destination. No plan. Nothing.

This drive across the country… grew my business by 6,900%. Here’s the story:

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It’s May 2020 (my 3rd year as a founder).

I’m running 2 different businesses + dabbling in dozens of side projects.

I’m working 80 hours a week.

And I’m living with my mom at 29 years old in the name of “ramen profitability”.

But… 

I can’t even crack $10K/month in revenue.

And my revenue isn’t growing. 

I’m working myself to the bone. And I have nothing to show for it.

I’m f*ing burnt out.

Then… I come across an article about Bill Gates…

Every year, he does this thing called a “think week” at his tiny waterfront cottage in the Pacific Northwest.

He takes a week off every year with no email, no twitter, no nothing!

He just… thinks.

I ask myself: 

Should I do a think week?

Maybe it will get me out of my mom’s basement.

And give me some ideas on how I can cross $10k/month.

But… there’s one problem… 

I can’t afford a cute little waterfront cottage like Bill Gates.

I need a cheaper option.

So I get in my car and start driving across the country.

I head… west. No destination.

My only goal: to think about solutions.

Just me and my thoughts and the open road.

And I ask myself:

How do I fix my burnout? Why won’t my businesses grow? Will I ever be as rich as Bill Gates?

From mile 0 to 500, my answer:

“I’ll just work harder.”

From mile 500-1,000, my answer:

“I’ll just start another business!”

From mile 1,000-1,500, my answer:

"I’ll work smarter, go hard on X productivity system, or Y new marketing channel.”

But none of these feel right.

So, I simply… let go.

I just keep driving and stop forcing myself to think about an answer.

And then, around mile 2,000, in the middle of nowhere Oregon, it finally hits me:

My revenue isn’t growing because I’m doing 1,000 things, and I’m focused on nothing.

I’m running 2 completely different businesses at the same time - desperate to make both of them work.

Having all these projects gives me the illusion of safety. If one thing fails, I won’t have all my eggs in one basket, right?

Yes, but in doing so, I’m neglecting the one project with the biggest potential: starterstory.com

Starter Story could be huge if I gave it the time it deserved.

At this moment, everything clicked.

I had crystal clarity on exactly what I needed to do.

When I finished my road trip, I immediately shut down all of my other projects.

And went all in on starterstory.com.

Within 30 days, I doubled revenue.

Within 2 months, I tripled revenue.

And last month, revenue was 60x bigger than it was “pre-Think Week”.

During my think week, I drove 3,029 miles over the course of 8 days.

But I needed 2,000 miles of driving to come to the best decision I ever made as a founder: going all in.

And that’s why you should not take a “think day” or a “think weekend.”

You should take a “think week.”