High Activity, Low Returns? Overcome the Straight-A Student Syndrome to Save Your Business

Business isn't always about venture capital. The real sector — trade, construction, and services — operates by its own rules, distinct from those of Silicon Valley. In this article, I discuss why classic businesses shouldn't adopt IT startup methods, how to swap a company’s "engine" at full speed, and why "C-grade" students often outearn the overachievers.

Two Different Beasts: Startups vs. Traditional Companies

If we categorize the business landscape, we find two fundamentally different types of organizations. On one side are tech startups. On the other is what we call brick-and-mortar: standard service, retail, or construction firms. These are two entirely different categories governed by different principles.

Tech startups follow venture trajectories. Their primary management tool is project management in all its variations.

Classic business is not about projects; it is about processes. These companies are operations-oriented. Unlike startups that live on investment to chase a future breakthrough, real-world businesses survive on current profitability. They grow effectively through their own means, and if they need capital to scale, they usually opt for low-interest loans rather than selling equity to investors.

The Entrepreneur’s Invisible Ceiling

The primary challenge for traditional businesses is organization. Typically, such a business is launched by an expert — a specialist in their field who hires the first few employees. However, almost every entrepreneur eventually hits an invisible ceiling.

There comes a point where the habitual "manual" approach to management stops working. The owner can no longer increase headcount without sacrificing efficiency. This is exactly where the business needs more than just new hires; it needs the construction of systemic management. This is the only way to navigate the growing pains.

The Personal Trainer Effect

People in the business world often wonder if management is such a complex science that it requires dedicated study. In the internet age, you can watch a million YouTube videos, read dozens of books, or ask ChatGPT for advice.

An analogy with physical fitness is fitting here. When someone realizes they need exercise, they go to the gym. Smart people hire a personal trainer. The "do-it-yourself" route is possible, but there is a high risk of injury, doing the wrong exercises for your fitness level, and eventually giving up in frustration.

A good trainer, much like a good business mentor, provides a specific trajectory. Instead of reinventing the wheel, you simply follow a professional's guidance and see results within a year or two. In business, it is not just about knowing the tools, but knowing how to combine them for a specific situation.

Why Doers Beat Thinkers

There is a misconception that business is a complex science requiring an MBA. In reality, most businesses are quite simple. You don't need to invent anything here, as innovation is expensive and risky. You need to be observant, not too stubborn, and smart enough to recognize what works and what doesn't.

An entrepreneur's job is to assemble a business from working pieces: observe, apply, and evaluate the result. If it takes root, you scale it.

If you look at school reunions, you might notice a phenomenal fact: the straight-A students aren't always the ones who end up wealthy. Academic success and capital accumulation are two different things. In business, the doers win, not those who dig too deep into theory. While outstanding results require intelligence, earning a solid income relies more on courage and action.

The McDonald’s Case

In the early 1950s, the McDonald brothers created a nearly perfect restaurant model. They automated processes, designed a minimal menu, established a clear kitchen logic, and achieved maximum service speed. Theoretically, everything was done right. But they got stuck in the improvement phase and failed to scale.

Later, Ray Kroc took a different path. He didn't try to make the model perfect; he took a "good enough" framework and began replicating it. He standardized the rules, accepted minor imperfections, and focused on scaling.

As a result, within 10 years, the McDonald’s network grew to hundreds of restaurants. Today, there are over 40,000 locations in more than 100 countries. Kroc wasn't the smartest person in his field, but he was a doer. This case perfectly illustrates the logic of traditional business: money is made through the speed of implementing working solutions, not the depth of theory.

Repairing a Locomotive at Full Speed

The main challenge of implementing systemic management is that you cannot stop. A business is like a locomotive racing down the tracks. You can't say, "Alright, everyone off the train; we’re going to rebuild the engine and then keep going."

Parts must be replaced while moving. The real difficulty isn't finding a brilliant management idea, but figuring out how to "screw" these tools into a living, breathing company without breaking it.

An entrepreneur doesn't need an academic almanac of every existing theory. They need a specific solution that works for their business at its current stage of development.

Copying raw theory in small and medium-sized businesses doesn't work. You can take a scholarly book on employee motivation filled with charts and graphs, but it will likely just gather dust on the HR director’s shelf.

The goal of quality business education is to transform complex knowledge into something applicable. You must take fundamental ideas and retool them into methodologies that can be implemented on the ground.

Instead of a book full of theory, an entrepreneur needs templates, benchmarks, and a sequence of steps. This allows them to rebuild the system in a functioning company within a month or two, avoiding systemic errors without stopping that "locomotive."