A mentor told me to 'just work harder' and I think that's bad advice

I was at a startup meetup in Denver about 6 months ago, talking to this guy who had sold his company. I told him I was stuck on getting my first 10 customers. He looked me dead in the eye and said, 'Kid, you just need to put in more hours. Work 80 a week, not 40.' I tried that for a month and burned out hard, making zero progress. The real fix was changing my pricing model, which I figured out after talking to other founders. Has anyone else been given that 'just grind' advice that actually made things worse?

3 comments

3 Comments

burns.ruby4d ago

Wasn't that just bad advice?

the_uma4d ago

Bad advice is one thing, but calling it lazy feels off. The person giving that advice probably means well, they just don't get it. It's not about luck either, it's about not seeing the whole picture. Telling someone to work harder on a plan that's already failing? That's not lazy, it's just kinda blind.

martinez.anna4d ago

Ugh, that "just work harder" line is so tired. I mean, @burns.ruby is right that it's bad advice, but it's also kinda lazy, you know? It ignores the actual problem, like your pricing. More hours on a broken plan just burns you out faster. Maybe it's just me, but that advice feels like it comes from people who got lucky once and think that's the only way.

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