Dru's Notes | The 1 Area I Ignored Across 20 Businesses

I tried more than 20 businesses before one of them worked. One or two made a little money, but none of them got big despite working hard on each one.

Show Notes

I tried more than 20 businesses before one of them worked. One or two made a little money, but none of them got big despite working hard on each one.

Featuring: Thomas Reid

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Chapters:

(00:00) The weakest link in business
(00:13) Five areas of focus
(00:32) The mastermind that broke isolation
(00:52) The underdiversified portfolio
(01:24) Skipping leg day

Where to find Dru:

Essays: https://druriley.com/
X: https://x.com/DruRly
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dru-notes
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/drus-notes/id1888795427
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3lFHqgKxuvEHmdiEUfYShG

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Creators and Guests

Guest

Thomas Reid

Featured in Dru's Notes: The 1 Area I Ignored Across 20 Businesses.

What is Dru's Notes?

One mental model each day in a few minutes. Habits, business, building products and thinking clearly. From Dru Riley, founder of Trends.vc.

"A chain is no stronger than its weakest link."
Thomas Reid

I tried more than 20 businesses before one of them worked.

One or two made a little money. None of them got big.

I worked hard on each one.

These days I split my focus across five areas. Physical health, mental health, social life, wealth and wisdom.

Looking across those five areas revealed the problem. I spent those early years working in isolation.

I am introverted, so social connection was the hardest area for me.

In 2019 I joined a mastermind called Zero to One.

Those founders inspired me and held me to what I said I would do.

Trends.vc came out of that room.

I spent years taking care of health, mindset, learning and money. Trends.vc would not have worked if I stayed in isolation.

Think about an investment portfolio.

You can hold thousands of stocks. But if they all sit in one category, you are underdiversified.

Picking best-in-class assets across four sectors does not protect you when a market downturn hits all four at once. You focused on picking winners, but you left the fifth category empty. Without an uncorrelated asset to balance the drop, a broad decline in your main holdings can wipe out the entire fund.

Survival is not about how many assets you own, but whether you covered critical categories.

The same imbalance shows up in the gym. We all know the guy with a massive chest and arms who skips leg day. He looks formidable until someone glances down.

You cannot outwork a blind spot by doubling down on your strengths.

If a critical area is empty, that single gap can still take you out.

How could you cover an underdeveloped area of your life?