1: Carson Holmquist was a micro-manager.
In 2012, when he was 26 years old, he co-founded Stream Logistics, a construction transportation company that provides transportation and logistics (i.e., trucks and trailers) for construction companies.
As CEO, under Carson’s leadership, from 2012 to 2017, the firm grew rapidly, going from 3 to 30 team members, Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy write in 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less.
He was involved in every facet of the business. He was ultra-busy. But he didn’t feel ultra-productive.
Around this time, he joined Dan Sullivan’s Strategic Coach program, one of the world’s most successful coaching programs for entrepreneurs.
“Listening to Dan’s 10x teachings, he recognized that he was too involved in . . . the day-to-day details of his business,” the authors write. “He was dealing with constant and daily urgent battles such that he didn’t have any time to think about the future of the company.”
This pattern is a common one for entrepreneurs. Dan warns that “tightly scheduled entrepreneurs cannot transform themselves.”
“One of the first things he learned,” Dan and Ben write, “was that in order to go 10x, he needed to make his company self-managing to free himself up to innovate, strategize, and evolve himself and his thinking.”
2: Yesterday, we looked at the difference between 2X goals and 10X goals.
“2x is working in the business. 10x is working on ourselves and working on the business,” Dan and Ben write.
“2x is trying to optimize the horse and buggy, getting millimeters and inches for our efforts. 10x is stepping back and inventing the car, like Henry Ford did, where we’re getting miles for the same efforts.”
So what did Carson do? He spent the next two years hiring and mentoring a new leadership team to take over the day-to-day management of the company. By 2019, Stream Logistics had 40 team members. The company was entirely self-managing.
“Carson had nothing on his schedule,” they write. “He entirely freed himself up to begin dissecting his company, evolving himself as a person and leader, and re-thinking the direction of the company.”
Through his analysis, he determined that Stream had two client types: “Routine Freight” and “High Stakes Freight.”
Routine Freight involved straight forward projects moving equipment from point A to B. “These routine clients weren’t overly focused on quality. They didn’t have specific needs or challenges, Dan and Ben write.
“Because there was so much competition in the construction logistics space, everything ultimately came down to price. Whoever gave the best price got the business. Thus, it was a constant race to the bottom.”
In 2019, Routine Freight accounted for 95 percent of Stream’s clientele.
Growth on this path was linear. “The company had grown fast because they hired fast,” the authors observe. “If they wanted to grow their revenue by 20 percent, they’d need to add 20 percent more team members to operate and handle the various projects and workloads.”
The High Stakes Freight clients operated differently. They “had highly complex, specific, and challenging logistics and transportation needs,” they note.
“With these particular clients, everything needed to be perfect—the shipment had to be at the exact place at the exact time in the exact way. . . Sometimes, these types of logistical situations require more than five oversized load trailers, police escorts to surround the load while traveling on roads and free-ways, etc. It can get dicey and intense.”
High Stakes Freight comprised only 5 percent of Stream’s clientele, but 15 percent of the company’s profits.
“Carson believed that if Stream Logistics shifted all of their future efforts to High Stakes Freight clients, as a company, they could do something unique and special,” Dan and Ben write.
“He also knew that the profitability of working with these clients was asymmetrical and non-linear, meaning that by adding 5 percent more effort, you don’t get 5 percent more return but 15 percent or more. For every dollar you invest, you get three or more back. For every minute you invest, you gain five.
“Thus, by focusing all future energy on these types of clients, he believed the profitability of the company would grow exponentially.”
3: Carson shared his idea of focusing all his team’s efforts on High Stakes Freight and no longer pursuing Routine Freight clients.
“Initially, the team resisted the idea,” the authors write. “Abandoning 95 percent of their clients and 85 percent of their profits seemed too risky.
“The sales reps particularly resisted the idea, as focusing on High Stakes Freight clients would dramatically cut their call lists from about 300–400 active prospects down to maybe 30-40. The sales reps couldn’t see how they could realistically make a living with so few prospects, even knowing they made more money with each High Stakes prospect.”
Carson kept pushing forward. Six months later, the team had fully bought in. They would focus 100 percent of their energy on High Stakes Freight clients.
“By focusing more of their efforts on High Stakes Freight prospects, a few things happened,” Dan and Ben note. “First, as an entire team, they realized there were way more of these types of clients than they initially believed. And the specific needs of these clients were more complex than they previously thought.”
In 2019, the company posted $22 million in revenue. In 2022, Stream Logistics’s revenue exceeded $36 million. And less than 25 percent of their clients were Routine Freight.
“But more importantly, Stream Logistics as a company is over 4x more profitable than they were in 2019, and they haven’t had to add any new team members,” Dan and Ben write. “They still have around 40 employees.”
Carson believes Stream can grow profits another 50-100 percent without adding additional team members.
“10x is qualitative, not quantitative—it’s about different and better, not more,” Dan and Ben note. “Moreover, the future is enormously bigger and more exciting with their new model and focus.”
The other benefit of a 10X mindset? Massive opportunities for learning and growth.
“There is constant innovation happening in the company,” the authors observe. “They’re continually learning what what their clients need and investing in new ways to provide unique and top-of-line service for these types of clients.”
One example? Carson’s team is purchasing 75 massive new trailers to move large loads, like apartment modules, thus making their offerings even more distinctive and valuable.
More tomorrow!
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Reflection: Are there any 10X opportunities within my organization? What would we need to do to pursue them? What would we have to give up?
Action: Discuss with a colleague or with my team.
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