Lever Theory (If you're feeling hopeless, read this)

[Perennial]

Hey guys,

the nature of building a business (especially for first-timers like myself) is that there are times you just feel utterly hopeless.

You’ve worked hard and seen no results.
‘It’s not fair’, you think, but that’s the world.

You wonder if you’re destined to a 9-5, even though the thought makes you regurgitate.

Well today I want to share something with you that’s helped me with that hopeless feeling - and it’s not just something psychological - it’s something eminently pragmatic.

I call it ‘Lever theory’

-----------------------------------------------

Lever Theory

I will sum up lever theory with the following statement:

If you are pulling on a lever related to your goal - you will make progress towards that goal.

Levers are exactly what they sound like - any point,
method, way or means by which you can apply pressure
and receive valuable output in your business.

‘But this is obvious’.

Well, yes, but the beauty of levers is that you will always know what options you have before you - it is not action that makes you hopeless, it is inaction - and levers are effectively a list of every way you could take action in your business that has a (plausible) chance of moving the needle forward.

Example #1

Supplement Business

Let’s say you’re running a supplement business -
for a moment let’s pretend we’re Myprotein in the early days.

It’s you and a few members of staff.

What levers can you pull?

I’ll categorise these

Marketing
- Pay influencers to advertise your products for you
- Approach stores or distribution networks and ask if they’ll stock your product (if not, ask what you have to do to get it stocked)
- Make native TikToks for free advertising
- Use any of the other major ad platforms for paid ads
- Invest in email marketing
- Stage a guerrilla marketing campaign
- Go to a major city and start handing out free protein. Post this on social media. (For added effect, post a sign and tell social media when you’ll be back there)
- Start talking about your product in the gym and get a local buzz going
Costs
- Shop around for better/cost-effective suppliers
- A/B test pricing on your website
- Buy in more bulk for better wholesale prices
- Change packaging materials
- Improve manufacturing/packaging efficiency

Each of these levers are like tiny bets - and the more tiny bets you have, the more likely one of them is to pay off and return a major reward. The only problem you may have is cash flow to implement some of these levers; but this problem itself can be resolved with levers. Simply think of the levers you can pull to solve your cash flow problem.

If you use this method, then you'll always be able to put your problem into 1 of a few buckets.

You're not executing any of the levers

Your levers aren't inventive enough to have an impact

You're not pulling hard enough on any of the levers

So whenever you're doing something related to your business, ask yourself -

am I pulling on any levers here? Or am I just bobbing in the water?

How to implement lever theory

Whenever I'm feeling stuck, I make a list of every lever that has even a little bit of potential
to help me achieve my goal.

Then I'll pick one or two to focus on.

After a while, the levers I have chosen to focus on will
either reveal themselves to have been effective or ineffective.

The ineffective lever is removed, or archived, and I then
pick another lever to focus on.

This helps tremendously when I feel stuck.

Because then I know what my options are.

My levers are all there. And if I have no more levers, well...

then it's time to think of more levers.

Especially if you've run out of levers, don't fear getting creative.

Like the guerrilla marketing campaign or handing out free protein in a major city examples I gave above - don't feel that any ideas are too silly or too out there.

A major determinant of how likely you are to succeed is how willing you are to do things that others won’t.

This isn't groundbreaking stuff, but you may find the framing of 'levers you can pull' helpful
for crystalizing the actions you should take and for motivating you into taking action.

Set a timer - at first for 5 minutes, later for perhaps an hour - and let the ideas come to you.

It's highly unlikely you won't be able to come up with any levers that could progress you towards your goal.

But don't assume there aren't more levers if you can't think of any - ask your friends, family, people on the forum here.

And if you REALLY can't - then you can always go back to one of the old levers and simply apply more pressure.
Again, remember, if things aren't working you're either:

Not executing any of the levers

Not pulling hard enough on any of the levers

Your levers aren't inventive enough to have an impact

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)