Welcome to The Business Academy.

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Introducing the Enduring Ventures Shareholder Summit (May 8th to 10th). Once a year we host a 3-day event for our shareholders and friends. You can expect to meet fellow investors and business owners, eat delicious food, and enjoy few days of good fun. This year we're hosting our event in beautiful Napa Valley.

We keep the group small so you can get to know other attendees. If you would like to join us this year you can apply here. We will pick a few people off the list to join us this year.

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I used to think low pay was the path to a successful business.

In my first company, I didn't pay people well. My team often got paid 50% of what they could make at another job. I didn't have money to pay people, so this was my only option at the time.

I thought this frugal attitude was going to be our secret to success long term. I was wrong.

If you need to pay people lower wages because you have poor margins in your business, you have a problem...

Because one of the following is true:

a) you are running your business incorrectly. Either you're not pricing high enough. Or your operations are inefficient, OR,

b) the "market" is telling you that your business shouldn't exist. People don't need your service, or there is too much competition.

I recommend you listen to these signals.

If you can pay people at their market rate, or above their market rate. Your employees are more likely to stick around. You are more likely to attract great people. Great people will help grow your organization, which will allow you to hire more great people that you can pay well.

When I say pay, I also mean benefits. Sometimes you pay a lower salary but provide great benefits. It's all a tradeoff and depends on what you want to prioritize in your company.

When I was paying my employees below their market rate, I was working within my constraints. I didn't feel I had a choice. But I did have a choice. I should have been thinking critically how to change business models or industries so I could work in a business where I could pay people well.

It's a lot easier, and a lot more fun that way.

So what happens if you're in an industry with low margins? Or you already started a business with poor margins?

STOP NOW.. and seriously consider changing your business or business model.

It's painful to stop the momentum of your business. You need to pay your bills, you need to pay your employees, and service your customers. But you don't want to go years down this path with a bad business model. It's going to be painful. If you restart with a good business model, with a good margin you can run that business for many years and reap the rewards.

All business is hard. You may as well pick a business where customers are paying you well for the product or service you offer, which allows you to work with great employees.

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🔑 One great read

​How to attract customers to your business on Reddit- I have a few friends who have built their businesses on the back of Reddit. It's a great place to drive A LOT of customer attention. However, it's very challenging to navigate. The moderators are likely to remove most content you post and ban you...here's a good tutorial on how to use Reddit the right way for your business

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🔑 I met a 25-year-old with a $30M+ gas station business...(interview)

Kris Danielson started a gas station in his early 20s. Now he owns one of the largest gas stations in Toronto that generates over $30 Million per year in revenue. Listen to our conversation on Apple​ Podcasts, Spotify, and my new YouTube channel.

Have a great week,

Sieva

PS: Readers told me they enjoyed the Enduring Ventures shareholder letter I shared last week. If you didn't get a chance to read it, I'm including it here one more time. You can read it in in long form here, or the Twitter thread here.

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