September 20, 2024
Story [#9]

Why?

Or a minute of purpose.

Ever asked yourself why you do what you do?

Yes, I mean business.

Really asked.

Dug deep inside yourself.

Sorted things out?

Most people start with, “To make money and live comfortably.”

Later on, many change their WHY.

Once they gain more experience and perspective.

Have you thought about it?

What’s the goal of any business?

To make a profit.

Period.

Entrepreneurship, in essence, is the same.

It’s about profit.

But...

There’s a difference.


X-Pert
Business is a system, a process, a set of functions to deliver value and earn profit.
X-Pert
An inanimate object, really.
X-Pert
A tool.
X-Pert
A machine.
The Founder
Entrepreneurship is about solving problems.
The Founder
It’s about searching, understanding, vision, and action.

And often, that goal isn’t just profit.

Here are two examples that probably most stand out:

Coca-Cola.

A perfect example of a finely tuned, flawlessly operating machine.

There’s nothing entrepreneurial left here.

All the shareholders care about is profit.

Anything an entrepreneur could create was done decades ago.

New bottles, ad campaigns, flavor variations—

it’s all just part of a well-oiled system.

Nothing more.

Elon Musk.

Founder of countless companies.

Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, X, Neuralink, The Boring Company, Hyperloop...

For him, they’re just tools.

Like a hammer.

To solve problems that Musk finds important for himself and… for humanity.

They’re all connected in some way.

Reinforcing and complementing each other.

But, ultimately, they’re resources for achieving a goal.

Just like microchips, aluminum, or technology.

Nothing more.

Obviously, these are very polar examples.

There’s a whole spectrum in between.

From hungry startups to heavily regulated global corporations.

So, why do entrepreneurs start businesses?

Simon Sinek explained this well in his Golden Circle theory: “Start With Why.”

The entrepreneur is the WHY.

The foundation.

Business is the HOW and WHAT.

The shell.

Or, as I like to say, the tool.

The Founder
When I started, I didn’t even realize I was building a business. I just wanted to support my family when my day job wasn’t enough.
X-Pert
And? What’s changed since then?
The Founder
Honestly, not much. Except I don’t want to build a big company anymore.
X-Pert
Wasn’t that your WHY?
The Founder
Haha, smarter now? No, I just figured myself out.
X-Pert
Figured out what’s truly important?
The Founder
Exactly. Beyond money, my WHY is helping non-technical entrepreneurs scale their businesses and get their time back.
X-Pert
It’s pretty rewarding to see how you’re helping someone make their life better.

Entrepreneurs create businesses to achieve goals.

And those goals change over time.

Some create startups with one goal—to sell.

Whatever they say, it’s about the money.

Maybe it’s a bit of a game, too.

But mostly, it’s about money.

Others build lifestyle businesses for decades.

Adapting to the times.

Pour their soul into it.

Selling it?

Why?

That’s fine.

There are no rules.

What you decide is right.

Business gives opportunities.

To leverage efforts.

To reach goals.

But the most important thing?

Understand your WHY.

Reflect on it.

It’ll give you peace of mind.

And help you see the path to your goals.

You can’t get somewhere if you don’t know where or why you’re going.

If you want to know more about other mess-ups and lessons on my entrepreneurial journey — subscribe to Eugene’s Stories.

See you soon!

- Eugene

And one more thing.

A quick video I made on the topic. Might be useful.
That’s all for today. See you next week.
— Eugene

Three ways forward from here:

1.  Keep reading.

Every Friday, new story. New lesson. Free.

2. The Different Tuesday Founder Kit (free)​

My ebook Business Black Box Unpacked, the 5‑Day Ops Setup email course, and mini tools to simplify your operations.
→ Explore The Different Tuesday Kit​​

3. Need deeper 1-on-1 strategy work?

A 60-minute 1:1 Strategy Session for founders ready to fix operational bottlenecks.
→ Book a Strategy Call

Join the founders learning how to build without burning out.

And get free The Different Tuesday Kit. The tools I wish I’d had while scaling my agency.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Hi, I’m Eugene.

My first daughter was six months old when I quit my job to start an agency. Leap of faith.

No clients. No savings.
A laptop in the bedroom and a promise to my wife that this would be worth it.

20 years later — 80 people, 3 continents, 7-figure revenue.
But for many years, I was the bottleneck in my own business.

Now I help founders escape the same trap. Through systems that actually work, not theory.

I write weekly: operational war stories, decision systems, and lessons learned the hard way.

For founders who want to build without burning out.

More Stories

RECENT ISSUES OF

Founder Stories

May 29, 2026

I believed control meant caring

Or minute of realizing being needed was the problem

I've been doing digital archaeology for the past few weeks. Digging through old emails from a decade ago. Financial spreadsheets from twenty years back. Confluence pages from five years ago. JIRA artifacts. Looking for pieces of memory I've lost. Because here's what's weird about memory: I remember emotions vividly. Some moments are so clear it's like I lived them yesterday. But the facts? The sequence of events? The actual decisions that led to outcomes? Those blur over time. We fill in gaps, rewrite narratives, smooth out the sharp edges.
May 22, 2026

What are you actually optimizing for?

Or minute of realizing most founders never ask this question

I was at the gym last week between sets, scrolling LinkedIn on my phone while catching my breath, when I saw a post from a founder I'd talked to a couple months back. I don't even remember what the post was about. But seeing his name triggered the memory of our conversation, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I went to the treadmill, started running, and let my mind wander. Because when you're running and there's nothing to do but think, sometimes you arrive at conclusions you didn't expect.
May 15, 2026

18 months I should've decided faster

Or minute of counting what hesitation actually cost

I've been working on something lately that's turned into an unexpected time machine. A timeline document — every major moment in 20 years of running my agency. Financial records, old P&Ls, my personal spreadsheets and calculations, status newsletters I sent to the team, recorded company meetups, our Confluence knowledge base. It's monotonous work, honestly. Digging through old emails (most didn't survive server migrations), sifting through documents I haven't touched in years. But every time I hit an artifact — a photo, a message, a spreadsheet — the memories flood back. Not facts. Emotions. The joy of wins. The bitterness of losses.

Join the founders learning how to build without burning out.

And get free The Founder Decision Kit. The tools I wish I’d had while scaling my agency.
Thank you!
Didn’t get the email?
Make sure to check your spam folder.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.