Issue 180, Part Time CEO Newsletter

Hey, it's Dhiren 👋,

Friday night. I'm on a call with my podcast co-host, Preet, and both of us are staring at our latest video on YouTube.

The screen says: 1 view.

One.

Ten episodes into a side project I make purely for the love of it. And this is what we're looking at.

And I'm sitting there realising I've spent months asking the wrong question. How do I make this work? Wrong platform. Wrong thumbnail. Wrong posting time. I'd been debating all of it for weeks.

The real question was a lot scarier.

Why am I doing this at all?

Then a line I'd read recently came back to me.

The secret to scale is scissors.

We all think growth means adding. More content. More channels. More offers. More hustle. I've always believed it's the opposite.

Two forces, one trap

Here's the uncomfortable part.

I coach founders for a living. A lot of what I do is help them cut. Kill the offer that isn't landing. Drop the client who drains them. Stop running in four directions at once. I'm good at it. From the outside, it's easy to see.

So why can't I do it to myself?

I've been sitting with that one. And I think it comes down to two forces that trap every founder. I've watched both of them do it to other people for years.

The first is FOMO. Fear of missing out. What if this is the one? What if I cut it right before it takes off, right before the audience shows up and the thing finally works? So you keep it alive. Not because it's working. Because you can't stand the thought of it working without you, right after you let go.

The second is SOS. Shiny object syndrome. The pull of the new thing. It's fresh. It's exciting. It isn't the hard grind of the business you already have. So you start it. And starting always feels like progress, even when it's really just motion.

Here's what I've realised. Those two don't take turns. They tag-team. Two seasoned wrestlers who know exactly what they're doing. Shiny object syndrome is why you start the thing. FOMO is why you can't stop it. One gets you in. The other won't let you leave.

That's the trap. Not the projects that are obviously failing. Those are easy to cut. It's the ones you were excited to start and are now too afraid to end.

Turns out knowing the exit and taking it are two different things.
​
​Holding the scissors

So I am doing the thing I'd tell any of my founders to do. I've picked up the scissors and I've got them pointed at my own stuff.

Just one question. The only one that actually matters.

If this disappeared tomorrow, would my real business grow?

And I'm sitting with it. Because every hour on the podcast is an hour off the business I've spent years building. The one with the depth. The clients. The thing I actually set out to do. So the podcast isn't sitting there being harmless. It's costing me the one thing I can't go and buy more of. Time. My time.

And I know all this. I've known it for weeks. And I'm still holding the scissors open.

Because here's what nobody tells you about the scissors. Knowing where to cut is the easy bit. Actually closing them is the hard bit. The blade just hovers there. And you find one more reason to wait. One more month. One more episode. One more what if.

But this is what scaling actually is. It was never about piling on more. The founders who make it aren't doing twenty things at seventy percent. They're doing one thing so well nobody can touch them. And they got there by cutting everything else. The good stuff too. Especially the good stuff.

That's the part that stings. The podcast isn't a bad thing. It's a good thing. And the good things are the hardest to cut, because you can always find a reason to hang on to them.

So the scissors are still open. Still in my hand. Still hovering.

​
Your Turn

You don't scale by carrying more. You scale by carrying less.

I know that. I've built a business on knowing that. And I'm still sat here with a pair of scissors I can't quite close.

So maybe don't take this as advice. Take it as a guy thinking out loud, hoping it's useful.

Here's what I'd ask you, though.

What's the thing you've been keeping alive that you already know the answer on? The project you're excited about but can't quite justify. The one you'd never start today, but can't bring yourself to end.

Or maybe it's the opposite. The shiny new thing you're itching to start, that you already suspect you shouldn't.

Either way, you've probably got a pair of scissors hovering somewhere.

Hit reply and tell me what it is. I read every reply. You might help me make my call, or show me what I'm missing.

​
ps: did someone forward this to you?​
​
Join 200+ creative entrepreneurs getting sharper every week.
Add your email so it can be delivered to your inbox every Sunday
👉 Part Time CEO Newsletter ​

​
Cheers