If You Get the Sunday Scaries or Want to Start a Business - Read This!

Most of my consulting calls are with people that essentially say,

"I want to quit my job and start a business. How? Should I?"

This is my long-winded answer, written from a hotel bathroom at midnight.

Burn the boats.

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You’ve heard the phrase, yeah?

Apparently it’s the title of a book I’ve never read. The synopsis goes as such,

In this gripping rags-to-riches instant classic, Matt Higgins provides the blueprint he used to go from a desperate sixteen-year-old high school dropout caring for his sick mother in Queens, New York, to a shark on Shark Tank and the faculty of Harvard Business School.

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I have no idea if this book is any good, but I know that burning the boats is a good thing.

But what does that phrase mean, exactly?

It means to destroy all possible ways to go back to a situation.

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In other words it can mean:

1. Quitting your job to start a business

2. Selling your house to move somewhere entirely new

3. Deleting your dating apps after finding “the one”

4. Throwing away all the sugar in your house

5. Pouring 100% of your savings into something you’re passionate about

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If you've never heard of Dude Perfect, they're the most entertaining yet wholesome YouTubers on the planet.

I highly recommend watching their whole documentary, but there's an especially moving part about burning the boats. I've attached it in the first comment below this post.

What a perfect example of "when burning the boats goes right."

But alas, there are still two competing viewpoints in my mind.

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1. Burning the boats is good because when there’s no Plan B, Plan A HAS to work.

2. Burning the boats is foolish because it’s wise to always have a backup plan.

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Is it okay to believe both of these things at the same time?

How can both be true? And when do we choose one, but not the other?

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Story time.

I couple weeks ago I posted about the iPhone parts resale biz I started, after selling my iPhone repair stores.

When I sold those stores, I cut a deal with the acquirers. It was a no good very bad deal, in fact.

It turns out I still had a lot of learning to do in the year my brain officially became fully developed (25 - I’m a late bloomer though, my brain is still forming today.)

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The deal was this:

1. I had 4 stores, and my acquirer had 1

2. They pay me $20k upfront and ⅓ of all combined store profits, passively, in perpetuity.

3. They invest $50k into making the branding of all 5 stores match up so it could become franchisable.

4. They do all the work, and I sit on the beach and collect mailbox money.

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But here’s the thing, I launched my parts resale biz the day after I sold those stores. I was certainly allowed to do this, as Phone Restore didn’t sell parts, nor had any plans to, and there was no noncompete anyway.

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But my two partners soon learned how successful my new venture was becoming. As a dumb 25 year old, I likely told them too much (oops).

I got a profit check in months 1 and 2, but never again, despite the fact that the business kept growing and growing.

Why? Well, I can tell that story another day, but that’s not the point. The point is that my two partners burned my boats for me, without my consent.

I sat on the white sand and watched those catamarans disappear into the Caribbean, bloody Wilson at my side.

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My new business HAD to work, or I couldn’t feed my kids. So I willed it to work.

I’ve had a couple other “burn the boats” moments, and guess what, they always just worked.

But I’ve had many, many Plan B moments, and my success rate on those startups is around 30%.

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Why? Because when the going got tough, I shrugged my shoulders and quit. Why keep grinding on thing B when thing A was printing mailbox money?

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I had a company called Presto Cars once. It was a concierge car buying service. I didn’t reinvent the wheel, as this is a well-proven business model. But the company failed.

Why? Because I really don’t like cars, and it was kinda hard, so I quit.

But the real reason I quit is because I didn't have to be doing it. You better believe I’d still be slangin’ Toyota Avalons today if I had to.

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But let’s talk about having a Plan B for a moment.

I often have friends tell me about their business idea and ask me if they should quit their 6 figure job. I almost always tell them no.

They're hoping and expecting I'll say yes! They want me to say yes!

I can’t advise that because the thought of doing such a thing scares me to death.

I could never dream of encouraging you to risk your family’s livelihood, especially when you might turn out to be a totally crap business owner!

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Burning the boats is NOT taking a poorly calculated risk. If burning the boats is done right it will feel like the obvious decision.

And remember, most every time I burned the boats in a big way, it was done for me. I can’t think of a time (in business at least) when I’ve willingly chosen to burn the boats on a scale as grand as quitting my job, hoping that the next thing goes well.

Sometimes that fire arrow comes arching from behind the ridge and lands right on the stern, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

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So how can this help you?

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Well, because you should know that you can do both.

You can have a Plan B and burn the boats at the same time. You can both have and eat your cake.

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One more quick story time.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I have never tasted

Alcohol
Drugs
Cigarettes/Weed

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So when I go to networking events and I’m offered a beer, the temptation to say yes is precisely 0.00%. I made up my mind as a kid and I’ve never faltered.

So at age 31 when I looked in the mirror and saw how fat I’d gotten in my 20s, I knew I had to make a change. I knew I had to lay off the carbs.

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But how?

I simply treated carbs as if they were a drug. Like I had already made up my mind to avoid them decades ago.

Once I flipped this switch in my brain it literally wasn’t even an option, much less a temptation.

5 months later and I was down 60 pounds and I’ve kept it off ever since (5 years now).

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That’s a “burn the boats” moment. Your BTB moment doesn't have to be quitting your job, it can be smaller things, too. You can do the same with whatever your “burn the boats moment” needs to be.

In a practical sense, let’s say John makes $180k/year and wants to open a mini donut stand.

He’s all in. He wants to start with 1 and then create a franchisable model that he can scale nationwide.

John doesn’t go and quit his job, no, no, no. John burns the boats by committing to this plan, in this order:

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- Day 1 - He sets a revenue goal within a reasonable timeframe. If these goals are hit, he quits his job. If not, he stays.

- Months 1 - 3 - Spend nights and weekends learning everything about the business

- Month 4 - 5  - Finds and buys a mini donut cart on eBay.

- Month 6 - Learns how to operate everything in his spare time

- Month 7 - Spends weekends at fairs, festivals and farmers markets slangin’ donuts and learning the ropes.

- Month 9 - Buys a 2nd cart and hires his first employee, etc.

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You get the idea. By the time he really burns the boats and quits his job it feels like a no-brainer.

Many of you reading this either own or want to own a business or real estate.

Both categories will always need a burn the boats moment. Maybe it’s to open location #2 or maybe it’s to quit your job.

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Side note: I can’t remember ever having a conversation with someone about a major trial they faced and had them not tell me something to the effect of “but man did things get so much better afterwards.”

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Many of you reading this are likely going through some serious suck right now. I promise that your greatest days are ahead of you. I don’t know why this post is taking this weird turn, but it feels right. Maybe it's for you?

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If you burn the boats and run out of coconuts, you’re about to find a herd of cattle and a spring.

If you burn the boats and you get desperately homesick, you’re about to be rescued.

If you burn the boats and you feel hopelessly foolish, I promise you’re about to be vindicated.

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What doesn’t kill us doesn’t make us stronger, it reveals the strength we’ve always had.

You can do this. Burn those boats, but do it strategically. I'm sure there's someone out there that regretted burning the boats, but I've never met them.