This is Synthetic Mind. Today we have more surprises than a box of chocolates from Forest Gump.

• 🚨 The Biggest L in My Career

• 💸 How To Lose $70K In 4 Months

• 🧠 How NOT To Lose $70K In 4 Months (Lessons)

🚨 The Biggest L in My Career

I lost $70,000 dollars. 

When I realized that was over 8,235 Chipotle burritos, it felt even worse.

Before I touch on how, let’s back up. Three years ago I started an email marketing company named ‘Settler Systems’.

At the beginning of 2023, I made a promise to myself. I would commit to “betting on myself”

Why?

Because I was craving progress.

Everyone has their own “entrepreneurial style.” Mine has always been ultra ultra conservative. I would penny-pinch every single expense, and hesitate to take any risk.

Don’t get me wrong, this initial mindset helped me survive the hard times. After a while, it became the prison that locked us into the same revenue repeatedly.

One day I was eating dinner with a buddy who told me about a website called “Design Pickle.”

“They’re a design firm that charges a flat rate for unlimited designs. Services charged like software.” He explained as he cut into his steak.

Services charged like software… It hit me like a ton of bricks.

We already have good demand for our products. This is just a better version. It’s EXACTLY what we need to do.

💸 How To Lose $70K In 4 Months

I spent the entire night creating my “bulletproof” game plan:
(Side note: If someone tells you their plan is “bulletproof”, 9 times out of 10 it has more holes than a strainer)

Step #1: Build a software that turns our email services into a dashboard

Step #2: Market the h*ll out of it. Offer unlimited emails, it should be easy.

Step #3: Cash in, big time.

At the time, I thought this was my key to success.

Within a month I built a team of two devs, and two marketing guys.

By the end of month two, I felt like I was running on a treadmill of problems. Bug after bug pushed back the launch date further out.

Within three months, I knew I was in way over my head.

I figured I should reach out for help.

The next day I was introduced to a guy who built a software with over a million users. The conversation went something like this:

“Okay - Here’s the awesome idea, what do you think?”

“Love it!”

“Okay great. So how should I get this thing moving a long, what dev-”

He cut me off. “Don’t build this.”

“What do you mean?” Realizing I forgot to mention we were already $20,000 in the hole on development costs.

“Look. Everyone has great ideas. I’m sure this is too, but just build a minimum viable product.”

“A what?” My head was spinning

“Can you just make a form on Google and see if people will use it?”

“Yah but we need a dashboard and - ”

“You need to test the idea. Not the tech. If the idea’s good, and people like it they’ll forgive you.”

I got off the phone as quickly as I could.

With my ego a bit bruised, I had a decision to make. 

Pause all development, and move into this “MVP” thing… Or just keep swimming.

I decided to push forward. More determined than ever, we were going to launch. And do it successfully.

I was losing $750 a day at this point.

I felt like cash was literally evaporating from my bank.

Once the product was “good enough” I had to get it moving. The entire reason I made this thing was to differentiate ourselves.

Then I had my next bright idea: Launch ads.

(Some of them were actually pretty funny - like this one)

$30k in ad spend later I was on a call with a mentor. He looked over our ads. His one piece of advice was to “change the offer completely.”

AKA start a new business.

Sh*t.

🧠 How NOT To Lose $70K In 4 Months

It took me $70K to learn these 3 lessons.

Pay attention to the end so you can avoid the same pain.

#1 - Don’t keep digging (Sunk Cost Fallacy)

“Don’t cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it”

I kept pushing forward because I had already spent so much time and money. I knew I should build an MVP or not test heavily on ads - but I felt I was too deep in to get trigger-shy now.

#2 - Test the damn thing, first

I made a new term from this experience:

Idea drunk - When you’re so blinded by the potential of an idea you lose all your senses.

Now, I want to be clear. No one loves a steamy hot idea more than me.

But we could’ve saved $40,000 if we had just taken the simple route and tested the core idea before spending a penny on development.

Instead, we paid a premium to be fancy.

#3 - Take it slow

My biggest mistake was trying to hit my financial goal in months. Not years.

Looking at my product through a 6-month lens cost me a lot of money.

Instead, I should’ve asked ‘How can I guarantee to hit my goal in 5 years’.

So when you start to build something you’re proud of, take the long road and build it right the first time.

- Johnathon

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