10x Thinking: Turning Unrealistic Goals into $50M Business Growth

The concept of "unrealistic" often limits personal and business growth. Many individuals, when faced with ambitious goals, instinctively dismiss them as unrealistic. However, by challenging this mindset and adopting a "10x thinking" approach, seemingly impossible targets can become achievable. This involves not just aiming for incremental improvements (like 10% growth) but rather for a tenfold increase, which often necessitates a complete re-evaluation of strategies and operations.

The Power of 10x Thinking

The idea that "10x can sometimes be way easier than 10%" was popularized by Astro Teller, the head of Google's X (formerly Google X), their "moonshot factory." When aiming for a 10% improvement, individuals or businesses tend to focus on doing more of the same, just slightly better. For example, a business aiming for 10% revenue growth might try to get a slightly bigger audience or sell a slightly more expensive product.

However, when the goal is a 10x increase (e.g., growing a business from $1 million to $10 million in revenue), simply doing more of the same is usually insufficient. This forces a complete rethinking of the approach, often leading to innovative solutions and a departure from conventional methods. This "outside-the-box" thinking can unlock possibilities that were previously considered unrealistic.

Personal Journey: Overcoming "That's Not Realistic"

The speaker shares a personal journey of consistently encountering the "that's not realistic" voice in their head, only to later achieve what was once deemed impossible.

• Early Entrepreneurship (2007-2011): Started making $50 in 2007 by building websites, a concept initially dismissed as unrealistic by the speaker. This grew to small amounts over the next few years.
• Post-Scam Recovery (2012): After losing £1,000, the speaker considered building a business to make 10 times that amount. The initial thought was "that's not realistic," but exploring the idea led to a successful business generating £10,000 in year one, £80,000 in year two, and £150,000 in year three.
• YouTube Growth (2017-2019): Started a YouTube channel, making almost no money initially. In 2019, while working as a doctor and running another business, the channel was making £3,000 a month. A mentor suggested hiring a full-time editor for £3,000 a month, which the speaker again dismissed as "not realistic." Following the mentor's advice, the business grew from £30,000 a year to £300,000 a year.
• Course Launch (2020): Planning to launch a YouTube course for $200, mentors challenged the speaker to create a live cohort experience for $2,000. The immediate reaction was "that's not realistic." By listening to the mentors, the business revenue jumped from $300,000 to $1.2 million that year, making the speaker a millionaire at 26.
• Post-COVID Growth (2021-Present): The business further grew to $4 million the following year and has since plateaued between $4 million and $6 million annually.

At each plateau, an external perspective (mentor or friend) challenged the speaker to think bigger, and despite initial resistance, embracing these challenges led to significant breakthroughs.

Applying 10x Thinking to a Business: A Case Study

The speaker, with CEO coach Eric Partaker, applies the 10x framework to their current business, which generates around $5 million in annual revenue. The goal is to reach $50 million.

Chapter 1: Confronting the 10x Goal

The first step is to set a 10x goal without immediately layering in reasons why it's impossible. This requires suspending disbelief and imagining the ideal outcome without constraints like burnout or chaos.

• Initial Goal Setting: The speaker initially suggests $50 million as a 10x goal but immediately questions it, considering $10 million or $20 million as more "realistic." Eric emphasizes the importance of just setting the 10x goal first.
• The "It's Not About the Money" Objection: The speaker expresses a common sentiment that it's not about the money. Eric counters this by comparing it to an athlete aiming for an Olympic gold medal – there's nothing wrong with wanting to achieve the highest level, including financial success.
• Personal Application: The speaker encourages viewers to apply this 10x thinking to their own lives, whether it's business revenue, income, health, or relationships. The discomfort felt when imagining a bigger goal is a valuable feeling to explore.

Chapter 2: Opening the Black Box – Redesigning the Business Model

To achieve a 10x outcome, the current business model likely needs significant changes. Eric uses the analogy of a small training plane (Cessna) not being able to reach 10x altitude; a new, high-performance aircraft (redesigned business model) is needed. A business model is broken down into three components:

1. Product: What is sold and at what price point.
2. Market: To whom it is sold and via which channels.
3. Delivery: How the product/service is delivered.

Product Changes for 10x:

• Current Situation: The speaker's current products are not designed for a $50 million revenue.
• Observation from Mastermind: Other businesses achieving $50 million in revenue often use high-ticket coaching, consulting, or service-based models with recurring billing.
• Proposed Product Strategy:
  • Higher Price Point: Instead of selling many low-priced items, focus on fewer, higher-priced offerings.
  • Recurring Revenue Model: Implement membership or subscription models.
  • B2B Focus: While consumer products rarely hit $50 million, B2B products frequently do. Shifting the "Super Focus" product from individuals to teams could be a path to $50 million.
• The Math: If a product is priced at $25,000 per year, only 2,000 recurring members are needed to hit $50 million. This number, initially seeming large, becomes surprisingly manageable when broken down, especially with an audience of 8 million across platforms.

Market Changes for 10x:

• Outlier Mindset: Eric introduces the concept of normal distribution and outliers. Someone will always occupy the outlier data points (e.g., achieving $50 million). The question is, "Why not you?" This challenges the self-limiting belief that such success is only for others.
• Addressing Stress: The speaker raises the concern of increased stress. Eric argues that outliers in professional sports are not burnt out; they achieve results sustainably. This implies finding leverage and focusing on the 20% that drives 80% of growth.

Delivery Changes for 10x:

• Current Delivery: Relies on one-on-one calls with coaches, with each coach managing 30-50 students.
• Scaling Coaches: To serve 2,000 students, approximately 40 coaches would be needed (2,000 students / 50 students per coach).
• Feasibility: The speaker notes that 1,200 people applied for coaching roles previously, and other organizations have hundreds or thousands of coaches, making 40 coaches a very achievable number.

The 3-1-7-2 Method: A Mathematical Framework for 10x Growth

Eric introduces a simple framework to demonstrate how 10x growth can be achieved by making seemingly small, individual improvements across key areas:

• 3x Leads: Triple the number of leads.
• 1.7x Win Rate: Increase the conversion rate by 1.7 times.
• 2x Price: Double the price of the product/service.

Example:

This method shows that by breaking down the problem into manageable components, 10x growth becomes mathematically achievable. Strategies can then be developed for each component (e.g., dominant marketing channel for leads, world-class sales team for win rate, adding value for price).

Chapter 3: Execution of the 10x Goal – The 3x3 Scallows Altitude Matrix

To execute the 10x goal, the business needs to "increase lift, reduce drag, and generate thrust." This is applied across three domains:

1. Company (Aircraft): The business model itself.
2. Leadership/Team (Crew): The people running the business.
3. Self (Pilot): The individual leading the business.

These domains are analyzed through three actions: Elevate, Eliminate, and Execute.

1. Company

• Elevate (Company Ambition/Vision/Offer):
  • Assessment: Yellow. The offer is almost there, especially with the $25k price point. The mission is to build the world's best online business school, which aligns with the need for funds and a world-class team.
  • Action: Share the 10x thinking and vision with the team.
• Eliminate (Complexity/Waste/Low-Value Products):
  • Assessment: Green. While there are lower-ticket products, they serve as an ascension funnel to higher-ticket offerings, which data supports.
  • Common Pitfall: Working on products that keep the business at 1x or 2x altitude, diverting time and focus from 10x opportunities.
• Execute (Operating Rhythms/Strategic Partnerships):
  • Assessment: Red for current operating infrastructure. Strategic partnerships are not immediately needed.
  • Action: Continue progressing with a more disciplined project management system (e.g., Spark OS sprints). Optimize systems for 2,000 students vs. 200.

2. Leadership/Team

• Elevate (Talent Bar/Standards/Culture):
  • Assessment: Green. The current team standard is high enough, and good leaders are in place for major departments. A sales leader is being hired.
• Eliminate (Misaligned Behavior/Bottlenecks):
  • Assessment: Yellow. The speaker is a bottleneck for "vibe coding" (development tasks).
  • Action: Hire a developer to free up the speaker's time, which can then be dedicated to building curriculum content for the $25k product.
• Execute (10x Seats/Critical Hires):
  • Assessment: Identify the most critical roles for 10x growth, not based on current people but on strategic need.
  • 10x Seats Identified: Student Success Lead (managing coaches), Product Lead, Developer, Marketing Lead, Sales Lead.
  • Action: Sanity check these roles, model costs, and create a hiring timeline for the next 30 days.

3. Self

• Elevate (Personal Standards/Identity/Performance):
  • Assessment: Green. The speaker now believes they have what it takes, thanks to breaking down the numbers.
  • Action: Schedule conversations with other successful entrepreneurs (outliers) to gain insights into what they changed about themselves to achieve their results.
• Eliminate (Bad Habits/Distractions/Founder Bottlenecks):
  • Assessment: Yellow. The speaker tends to get involved in others' areas of responsibility, acting as a bottleneck.
  • Challenge: The balance between hiring good people and getting out of their way, especially with high personal standards.
  • Insight: The 10x version of a business rarely has the same people as the 1x version. Great teams are optimized to win, not just to stick together like families.
  • Action: Trust new senior hires more, step back from operational involvement, and focus on leverage.
• Execute (Highest Leverage Activities/Ideal Week):
  • Assessment: The speaker's week is currently split between software development and 10x goal activities, with team meetings consuming significant time.
  • Action: Develop a plan and timeline to transition out of operational meetings, aiming for an "ideal 10x week" where the majority of time is spent on high-leverage activities like curriculum and content creation.

Conclusion and Next Steps

The exercise reveals that achieving a $50 million revenue goal is not as outlandish as initially perceived. The key constraints and actions identified are:

1. Scalable Product: Develop a $25k product for businesses aiming for $1 million+ revenue.
2. Evangelize 10x Goal: Share the vision of building the world's best online business school with the team.
3. Project Management: Continue improving project management processes (Spark OS).
4. Free Up Time: Hire a developer to take over development tasks.
5. 10x Seats: Define and plan the hiring timeline for critical 10x roles.
6. Ideal Week: Create a plan and timeline for the speaker's ideal 10x week, focusing on high-leverage activities.

The most important immediate next step is to codify the 10x goal and propagate it across the team. Since this conversation, the business has begun hiring a developer and a new sales leader, demonstrating the immediate impact of this hypothetical exploration. The speaker emphasizes that even if the $50 million goal isn't ultimately pursued, the exercise of exploring it hypothetically is incredibly valuable.