You already know the move you need to make. Raise the prices. Get the help. Join the room. Make the call you’ve been dodging for months.
And you’re not doing it.
You’re waiting. Waiting to feel ready, waiting for the market to turn, waiting until the kids are older and the business is less of a shitshow. Let me be blunt: that day isn’t coming. And while you wait, the meter’s running.
The No Bullshit Version
- Waiting feels responsible. It isn’t. It’s just fear wearing a sensible coat.
- Every move you delay – prices, help, the room – is money quietly leaving the building.
- The market never gets less scary and the kids never make it convenient. There’s no perfect moment coming.
- The men who win aren’t braver than you. They just move before they feel ready.
Barney, my 12-year-old son, is disgusted by my car.
Disgusted.
My old man Lexus (nicknamed the “sofa-on-wheels”) does not meet his standards.
To him, it is not a car, it’s a retirement home with indicators.
And the pain is made worse by our neighbours.
Where there are Mustangs, tractors, diggers, and, weirdly, a pretty sweet speedboat parked up.
Anyway, the other day we were driving home in the sofa-on-wheels, when Barney released a dramatic sigh.
Him: “Daaaaad…. why don’t youuuuuu get a cool car?”
Me: “When you make the money, you choose the car.”
He was not thrilled with this answer.
But here’s where I had an ace up my sleeve.
Because inside my motley crew, there are quite a few men who are into motors.
And one of them, Chris, owns the one car that my boy worships above all others.
The Ferrari.
Red, of course.
Now here’s what’s interesting about Chris and his Ferrari.
It is not waiting in the garage.
It is not waiting for special occasions.
It is not waiting for a Sunday drive.
Chris drives it.
He drives it down to meet the other guys and me.
He drives it on the school run.
He drives it to the Tesco big shop.
He even took my grumpy 12-year-old out for a tear around the mean streets of Lichfield, which made his week.
Not too bad for a lad from a council estate in Glasgow.
And there’s a lesson here.
Because most men do the opposite.
…They wait.
Wait until they feel ready.
Wait until they’re more confident.
Wait until the market improves.
Wait until the kids are older.
Wait until the business is less chaotic.
Wait to raise their prices.
Wait to get help.
Wait to join the room.
Wait to make the move they already know they need to make.
And while they wait?
Nothing happens.
Except time leaks away.
Opportunity disappears.
Money quietly slips out the back door.
…And the life they said they wanted sits in the garage getting rusty under a dust sheet.
Why do business owners keep putting off decisions they know they need to make?
Because waiting feels safe and doing feels risky – but it’s a con. Waiting is just fear in a sensible coat. The market never gets less scary, the kids never make it convenient, and the ‘right time’ is a fairy tale you tell yourself so you don’t have to move today.
Should I wait until I feel ready to raise my prices or get help?
No. ‘Ready’ is a feeling, not a milestone, and it never turns up on schedule. Every month you wait to raise prices is margin you’ve handed away for free. Move before you feel ready – the confidence comes after the decision, not before it.
What does waiting actually cost a business owner?
Time you can’t get back, opportunities that go to someone quicker, and money quietly slipping out the back door while you deliberate. Worst of all, the life you keep saying you want sits under a dust sheet gathering rust while you tell yourself you’ll get to it next quarter.
How do successful business owners make big moves without overthinking them?
They don’t wait to feel certain – they decide, then figure it out. They treat the decision as the starting line, not the finish. The ones driving the Ferrari aren’t braver or smarter than you. They just stopped waiting for permission that was never coming.
What To Do Next
You’re not evil for wanting to replace jobs with profit. You’re running a business, not a crèche. If you want the full playbook – the exact method hundreds of UK men have used to hit £1 million without a payroll dragging them under – start with my best-selling book. It’s here on Amazon
