50k down the drain

Last week, I almost wired 50k down the drain. Here’s the backstory ... ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ No longer interested? [Remove yourself here from all my emails.]( Hey , Last week, I almost wired 50k down the drain. Here’s the backstory… As you know, after selling my businesses, I took some time off to travel the world with my family. Now, I’m figuring out my next big thing. I’ve been helping friends scale their businesses and dabbling in a few small projects, but nothing major just yet. It’s been great spending time with the kids, but I’m itching to dive back into something big. (Would [love your help]( with that, by the way 🙏) So, I decided to test the waters with a new idea for a SaaS business. Since I don’t have a dev team anymore, I immediately started vetting developers to hire and build my next team. After sifting through 300 - 400 applicants, I narrowed it down to four and started small projects with them (tip: for important roles, I always hire 3–4 people to do a small ± $500 task before deciding whom to hire long-term). One of my favorites then quoted $50,000 for the full project and estimated it would take 3-6 months. Here’s the thing: if a developer says 3-6 months, it’s likely to take 6-12 months 😂 (no offense, developers!). This was just an MVP, enough to test if it solved a core problem and if customers were willing to pay for it. Waiting a year wasn’t an option. Then it hit me – I was moving too fast by trying to build a team immediately. I skipped a crucial step: asking myself if I could achieve 80% of the results with just 20% of the effort. Turns out, I could. These days, no-code and low-code tools can get you a functional MVP in a fraction of the time. With platforms like Bubble, Make.com, and various AI APIs, I could build a solid MVP within a few weeks, mostly on my own. It’s not just about building SaaS with no-code tools. This principle can apply to almost anything. Often, we spend months on something when we could achieve 80% of the results in a fraction of the time. So, here’s my question to you: What are you currently spending a ton of time or resources on that you could achieve 80% of in just 20% of the time & resources? Reflect on this. It might save you a lot of time and resources. (Hit reply if you want my ChatGPT prompt to help you discover this: happy to share ✌️) Sometimes, doing the 80% reveals that you’re on the right track, allowing you to fully commit with confidence. Talk soon, Wilco P.S. I’m thinking of documenting my journey of starting new businesses. Should I make videos about it? Would you watch them? Reply and let me know what topics you’d like me to cover (I’ll also share my 80/20 prompt with everyone who replies). P.P.S. Could you help me out by answering a few questions? [Click here to take a quick survey]( so I can better understand how to help you. You’ll also get a sneak peek at the directions I’m considering for my next business! [Wilco de Kreij] Thanks for reading ! 🙏 My mission is to give small businesses the marketing power of giants. Inside my emails, you’ll get proven best practices, innovative strategies and real-world tactics that I’ve learned in my businesses. Prefer not to receive these emails? No problem - you can [unsubscribe]( at any time. This email reached you at {EMAIL} because you signed up for my newsletter or purchased one of my products. You can always [unsubscribe]( or [change your details](. Emarky B.V., Gageldijk 21, 3602AG Maarssen, The Netherlands