In all of these cases, comfort is the problem. Not as in “relaxed and happy.” Comfort as in “doing what you’ve always done” – even really well or even when it hasn’t worked. Comfort as in “what is familiar, known, or taken for granted”. Unfortunately, comfort is the enemy of growth. The irony is, what’s already worked best for you so far (what your familiar and comfortable with) can be the enemy of faster growth, because you become dependent, complacent or just too busy to keep up. The idea of tripling your prices, redoing your product, rebuilding a sales team, firing a revenue leader and taking six months to find someone new, going for 10x deals, creating a whole new way to generate leads, swapping out sales automation systems, writing a book in your non­existent spare time… these potentially game­changing initiatives feel impossible to get to with so many other demands on your energy. A drastic change might be required to Nail A Niche or get on the path to scalable growth along with the other lessons in this book. With any big change or investment, you’re going to obsess with how long it’ll take, how much it’ll cost and whether it’ll affect sales at all. By definition it’s a big risk with an uncertain payoff, or else you would have already done it. Honestly, most people can’t handle this much uncertainty, so staying with the devil you know is easier than “going for it”. In a bicycle race, when your bicycle tire’s leaking air but not flat yet, it feels easier just to keep pushing. You don’t want to lose time. It’s harder for you to feel like it’s worth stopping in the middle of a race, to get off the bike, fiddle with it and finally fix it, before starting up again. Likewise, you put off restructuring the sales team. Or firing the executive you know needs to go. Or rebranding and repackaging. Or doubling down on a target market, making the change from “What problem do you need solved?” to “We solve (x) problem, do you have it?” You put it off until you end up in a Year Of Hell, with your back against the wall with no other options, and you’re forced to change. It’s the same reason employees will bitch and moan about their manager or their job, but do nothing about it – because it’s easier (more comfortable) than finding a new job, confronting their manager or changing their own attitude. At least in the short term. MARK SUSTER’S QUESTION: “SHOULD YOU LEARN OR EARN?” A mutual friend of ours is Mark Suster, past serial entrepreneur and now partner at LA­based venture capital firm Upfront Ventures, and writer of the popular blog “Both Sides Of The Table”.