How come some entrepreneurs seem to have an endless supply of customers flowing in and their company grows and grows…

…while other entrepreneurs work day and night, but can’t get a customer to save their life?

This quick story might help explain it…

In the late 1920’s Germany, there was a lumberyard hidden deep in the Black Forest.

And every season the lumberyard needed new workers to fell the crop.

So workers poured in from all over the Rhine Valley & beyond for the summer.

After a few weeks, the boss calls everybody over and says …

“We’re going to give a bonus of $500 to whoever chops down the most trees tomorrow.

So here’s the deal …

We’ll be starting at 8AM sharp.

At high-noon, everyone gets an hour lunch break.

Then at 5PM, you’ll hear the quitting bell ring.

The next morning, we’ll tell you who won the $500.”

Everybody starts gearing up…

Then there was Ralph (everyone called him Grey).

He was an old-time logger in his sixties, working at the lumberyard for more than 20 years.

Everybody discounted ol’ Grey from the get-go…

At 8 sharp, everybody starts swinging their axes furiously.

But what did old Grey do?

At the top of every hour, he’d go to the shed…

Fifteen minutes later, he’d come out, put out his cigarette & start chopping again.

And he did this EVERY SINGLE HOUR.

So, the guys would laugh, and say, “What a loser this guy is. Every hour he goes to the shed to smoke a cigarette for 15 minutes!”

They would chop and chop, hour after hour, and laugh when they saw ol’ Grey heading up to the shed again with an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

At 5PM sharp, everybody ends with a big push, thinking they won.

The next morning at 8AM, the boss hollers for everybody to gather round the firepit, and says …

“Ralph, come here.”

(Ralph? The men wondered silently)

“Here you go buddy, you won again! Here’s your $500.”

Everyone scoffs, “Are you kidding me?”

“How in the world could he win?

He took 15-minute smoke breaks EVERY hour, while the rest of us were chopping our butts off!

How could he chop more trees, with less work?

Ralph said: ”Listen, fellas, I might be old, but I’m smart.

Every hour, I DID sneak in a few puffs …

But at the SAME time, I did what I didn’t even see ONE of you do ALL day …

Every hour, when you thought I was having a lazy smoke break, I was sharpening my axe.

THAT’s why I won.”

Their mouths dropped open wide enough to eat a golf ball.

Like felling trees …

When it comes to growing your business, you can work harder or you can work smarter.

You can spend your time cold emailing 200-300+ people a day…

…or waste thousands of dollars on marketing to acquire users and customers…

OR …

You can “growth-hack” your way to business growth 🙂