Entrepreneurship is the Ultimate ROI

with guest Samson Jagoras #MakingBank S5E47

If time is money, then actions are investments. As an entrepreneur, you’re constantly making strategic decisions about where to spend your time and how to invest your energy into actions that will pay dividends. As Samson Jagoras puts it, “What we’re all really chasing at the end of the day, is time.” In order to have more time in the bank, so to speak, you have to see amazing ROI in your action investments. So how do you know if you’re investing in the right decisions? 

Samson Jagoras is the founder of Growth View Properties, the former VP of Strategic Investments at RE/MAX Commercial Alliance, and until very recently he served as Madwire’s Chief Strategy Officer. Samson walked away from his high-salary c-suite role to pursue success as an entrepreneur by helping everyday investors put their money to work in large commercial apartment investments.  

On his episode of Making Bank, Samson shares some of his best tips and advice for entrepreneurs and investors to plan for success, ride waves of growth with grace, and build strong foundational processes to help keep up with changing tides.  

Train, Document, Adapt 

When Josh asks what it was like to be running a company that quickly grew from 30 employees to over 600, Samson says, “Imagine you’re driving down the highway going 90, and your hair’s on fire.” At one point, he says, they were hiring 150 additional employees a year. Samson compares the rapidly growing team to a ship: the larger the ship, the more maintenance it requires, the less nimble it is to maneuver, and the more important it is to have strong, capable sailors in every position.  

Imagine the chaos of being out on your ship in a storm, and quickly realizing none of your sailors actually know what to do. When you wait to train your employees until the high-pressure moment when they need the training, you’re sinking your ship. Regardless of the timeline and the urgent need you may have for new hires, it’s absolutely crucial to have a documented training program. Train your employees early and effectively, and then train some of them to take over the training program for you. If you’re thorough, you’ll only have to do it once, and you’ll feel confident and prepared to weather all the storms.  

Samson reiterates how crucial documentation is by describing his “hit by a bus” theory. If you never document anything and all the key information needed to run the company simply lives in your head, could the company survive if you were suddenly hit by a bus? Taking the time to document and share key information can feel tedious in the midst of rapid growth, but it’s one of the most important actions to consistently invest your precious time into. What’s more valuable than the longevity of your business’s hard-won processes and operating knowledge?  

As your business grows, things are going to change. “What got us here won’t get us there,” Samson reminds us. The processes that work perfectly for a team of 30 won’t be perfect processes for a team of 600. It’s important to stay adaptable as your company grows; continue to document, audit training programs, and reflect on your best practices. Don’t be afraid of change, it means you’re doing something right.   

Scaling Yourself Out of a Job 

While discussing rapid growth, Samson references the book The E-Myth by Michael Gerber to describe how many entrepreneurs will get stuck building themselves a job, without ever thinking about how to scale themselves out of that position. As an entrepreneur, you start from scratch, you’re building everything from the ground up. So whatever role you hold in any phase of business is always going to be temporary; your efforts and responsibilities will change as your business grows. The key is to be leaving clear blueprints and processes for the people that take over those responsibilities, so that you’re able to truly reclaim your time to go and build the next role.  

Entrepreneurship is lucrative, yes, but at the end of the day, the goal is to get your time back. Samson warns, “If you can’t ever get your time back because you never built a process or a system that doesn’t actually need you, then you don’t have a business, you just have a glorified job.” Make sure that you’re investing your time and energy into actions that will return value down the road. Your business will scale, your employees will be efficient and informed, and you’ll get plenty of time back to spend on yourself.