The Truth About Success: Is #1 Really the Worst Spot?

Is being the number one business really a burden, or is that just a bad excuse? In this reaction, Matt breaks down the idea that being at the top is somehow worse than being second or third. The truth is, being number one comes with more opportunities, more recognition, and more control over your industry.

The argument that the pressure of success makes it less desirable doesn’t make much sense. Every position in business comes with stress, so why wouldn’t you aim to be the best? This video dives into why settling for less isn’t the right mindset if you actually want to succeed.

There are tons of people out on social media giving business advice. Some of it is good advice, but most of it isn’t good. In this series watch CapForge’s owner react to different advice videos. He’s an expert in all things business and has 20+ years of experience under his belt. Some of the things he reacts to might even surprise you!

Video Transcript: 

Business Advice Video:

I don’t make a lot of money, but I’m the number one guy. Number one has got to sell the dream. Number one has got to sell the vision. Number one has got to seem like even though we’re about to go out of business, they’re at peace, they’re calm, they carry the burden, sleepless nights. That’s number one. Who wants that burden? Nobody wants that burden. 

Matt’s Review:

I don’t know what this guy’s talking about. You can make a lot of money if you’re the number one company in your industry, or if you’re the number two or three or four. There’s nothing magic about being two through 6 in his explanation. There’s nothing negative about being #1. It really comes down to the individual businesses. Being number one is usually the best place. That’s usually where you want to be. There was an old car rental company, most people are probably too old to remember. I think it was Avis, I don’t know. Their slogan for a while was, “We’re number two, we try harder.” Meaning they were trying to get to number one, and the number one company was sort of resting on its laurels. And that’s a good marketing campaign, but the reality is, if you’re the biggest, You generally have the most opportunities. People know you the best. They come to you first. They set the standards of what other people are delivering by the standards that you’re delivering. So you really have a ton of opportunity there being number one. So I’m not sure what this advice is meant to do for people to help them think that number two is fine. You should stop there. Somehow number two is better than number one. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. He didn’t explain his reasoning very well other than to say number one comes with a lot of pressure. Yeah, they all come with pressure. Three has pressure, five has pressure, #172 has pressure. So not sure about this advice. I’ll just say be the best that you can possibly be. And if that gets you to #1, then great, then aim to stay there.