MBA2709 Should You Start Something New?

Summary

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The $100 MBA Show — Episode MBA2709

Title: Should You Start Something New?
Host: Omar Zenhom
Date: November 28, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Omar Zenhom tackles a question all entrepreneurs inevitably face: "Should you start something new?" Drawing on more than 20 years of entrepreneurship, Omar shares a five-step framework to evaluate whether a new business idea is a brilliant opportunity or simply a distraction threatening your momentum. He emphasizes the critical importance of clarity, disciplined focus, and leveraging the power of compounding progress over time. This actionable, no-fluff lesson is designed for founders who must decide between doubling down on their current path or launching a new venture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Dilemma of New Ideas (02:30)

• Theme: Deciding whether to start a new project can either push your career to the next level or jeopardize existing progress.
• Omar: "That new idea in your head right now. It could be genius. Or it could be the fastest way to lose momentum and lose everything you built." (02:45)

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2. Omar’s Five-Step Framework for Vetting New Ventures

Step 1: Check Your Why (03:30)

• Are you escaping boredom, or genuinely drawn to new impact?
• Distinguish between a fleeting urge for change and a persistent drive toward a new idea.
• Omar: “Expansions grow roots. If you have a new idea... it’s going to grow in its manifestation in your head... It won't just disappear.” (04:05)
• Only pursue ideas that linger for weeks or months—those quick urges are typically distractions.

Step 2: The 70% Rule (05:07)

• Your current business must be at least 70% optimized and able to operate largely without you before you move on.
• Quantitatively: If you’re working 40 hours/week, can you pull back to 10 and the business still runs?
• Don’t collect projects—collect progress. Ensure existing projects build wealth even as you start something new.
• Omar: “If you physically can't [step back], then you’re not ready to start something new... Get it to at least 70%. If you want to be safe, 80%.” (05:45)

Step 3: The Opportunity Cost Test (06:38)

• Every “yes” to a new idea is a “no” to something else—what will you stop or sacrifice?
• Evaluate the true cost in time, energy, relationships, and business stability.
• Omar: "Anytime you say yes to something, you are saying no to everything else." (07:23)
• Ask: What will stop happening if I pursue this new project?

Step 4: The Micro Experiment (09:51)

• Do a one-week test to validate market interest—build a one-page website, make a few posts, gauge audience reaction.
• Curiosity should be cheap. Only commit after seeing real market validation.
• Omar: "If the marketplace thinks this is not a good idea... then I’m sorry to say... it’s a terrible business idea." (10:41)
• Commitment is expensive; validate with minimal risk.

Step 5: The Alignment Check (11:40)

• Does this new venture align with the life you’re building, or is it just busywork?
• Avoid treating “being busy” as a badge of honor; focus on a fulfilling, balanced life.
• Will this new commitment force you to give up things you value (family time, hobbies, rest)?
• Omar: "A fulfilling life is a well-rounded life... So, whatever you are thinking about building, how will it impact your life, your lifestyle, the people around you...?" (12:13)

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3. Personal Anecdotes: Staying Creative Without Starting Over (13:45)

• Omar shares his own struggle with shiny new ideas during WebinarNinja’s growth.
• Instead of always seeking something external, find creative renewal within existing projects (e.g., adding a YouTube channel to this podcast).
• Omar: “Creativity meant staying creative inside of the things I was already working on, so I can stay committed, so I can have momentum, so I can actually honor the things already built.” (14:22)

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4. Hard Truths on Consistency, Focus, and Momentum (16:16)

• The early thrill of a new project is seductive, like “falling in love”—but real value comes from sticking out the plateaus and building depth.
• Jumping from new idea to new idea prevents lasting success (“one leg in, one leg out” is mentally and financially damaging).
• Focus drives compounding growth, like compound interest.
• Omar: “Momentum is one of the most powerful things you have in business... Focus is a multiplier.” (17:34)
• Run your new idea through all five filters; at least four must be “yes” to proceed.

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5. Final Thought: The Real Source of Breakthroughs (19:12)

• Most breakthroughs come right at the edge of boredom or friction—often before you’re tempted to quit your current project.
• Freedom comes not from chasing constant newness, but from finishing and building assets that work without you.
• Omar: "Most of my wins came from ideas that came right before I quit. Every breakthrough idea hides behind some sort of boredom, some sort of friction, some sort of feeling of like, I need something different." (19:36)
• Omar: "You’ll never run out of ideas. Ideas come to us constantly as entrepreneurs, but freedom comes from finishing." (20:07)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Expansions grow roots.” (04:05)
• “Don’t collect projects, collect progress.” (05:52)
• “Focus is a multiplier.” (17:35)
• “Freedom comes from finishing.” (20:07)

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Key Segment Timestamps

• 02:30 — Dilemma of new ideas: risk vs reward
• 03:30 — Framework intro & Step 1: Check Your Why
• 05:07 — Step 2: The 70% Rule
• 06:38 — Step 3: Opportunity Cost Test
• 09:51 — Step 4: Micro Experiment
• 11:40 — Step 5: Alignment Check
• 13:45 — Personal anecdotes: Creative renewal within your current venture
• 16:16 — Consistency, focus, and compound growth
• 19:12 — Final thoughts: Breakthroughs and finishing strong

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Tone, Style, and Practicality

Omar keeps the episode conversational, motivational, and pragmatic. He blends personal experience with actionable frameworks—always aiming for clarity and real-world utility for business owners.

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Summary Takeaway

Before starting something new, run your idea through Omar's five filters:

1. Check Your Why — Is it escape or true passion?
2. 70% Rule — Is your current business nearly self-sustaining?
3. Opportunity Cost — What will you sacrifice?
4. Micro Experiment — Test your idea with minimal risk.
5. Alignment Check — Does it fit the life you want?

Choose your next move wisely: breakthrough often comes from pushing past plateaus, not starting from scratch. Finish strong, focus your efforts and remember: freedom in entrepreneurship comes from finishing what you started, not constantly chasing the new.

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Transcript

[A]

Oh, hey, welcome to gift wrapping.

[B]

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[A]

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[C]

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[C]

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[A]

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[C]

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[C]

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[A]

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[C]

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[B]

Forget that.

[C]

Aunt Liz will be jealous.

[A]

Sounds like my family drama.

[C]

Oh, I got it. I'll give it to my abuela. I'll take reindeer paper with. Hey, where are you going?

[A]

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[B]

Visit t mobile.com Listen. I found that the best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. So when you want to reach the right professionals, I Recommend you use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, including 130 million decision makers. That's people that have the ability to say yes to your offer. That's why LinkedIn has the highest B2B ROAs of all online ad networks. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com MBA that's LinkedIn.com MBA Terms and Conditions apply. That new idea in your head right now. It could be genius. Or it could be the fastest way to lose momentum and lose everything you built. So today I want to show you five quick filters that I use to know the difference. To know the differ. Is this something that's brilliant I should pursue? Or is this a distraction? By the end of this episode, you'll know when to double down and when to walk away. Welcome back to the Hundred Dollar MBA show. I'm your host Omar Zenholm where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. To help you start grow and scale your business before we jump in. Can I get 30 seconds of your time? We love guiding you on your business journey and we want to help even more people build their dream businesses and lives. So if you could hit the follow button on this podcast app, it would be greatly appreciated. It's completely free and it helps us out more than you know. Thanks. Let's start with that five step framework I just mentioned. Because when you have clarity, it's easy to take action. You know what to do. Let's start with step one. You want to check your why. Are you running from boredom or maybe complacency? Maybe your business is going well and you're running fine and you're making some money, but it's not challenging you anymore. Are you moving towards impact? Maybe you see an opportunity that you really want to chase. You know, I want to say something out of experience. When you feel that feeling of wanting to escape your current business, your current endeavor, that feeling, it actually fades fast. If you just let it pass within a day, it kind of kind of goes away. The things that you know that you need to. To kind of pursue are the things that just linger in your head for weeks and months. I always say expansions grow roots. So if you have a new idea for a product or a service or a whole new business, there's a good chance that if it's something that's solid, something that you feel like you really need to do, it's going to be in your head and it's going to grow in its manifestation in your head. The idea is going to grow and you're going to get clear on what it is. As the days and weeks roll on. It's not just going to disappear or dissipate. The. The things that kind of disappear are the ones that kind of you want to ignore. Because it's really a distraction. But only you can answer this question. Is this a distraction, an escape from what you're doing right now? Or are you really thinking that this is going to be the next stage in your life, the next level of your journey in business? Step two is what I call the 70% rule. If your business isn't at least 70% optimized, get it to 70%. What do I mean by 70% optimized? Well, can the business run with it? So say, for example, right now you're putting 40 hours a week into your business. Can you step away and you only do 10 hours? If you can't do that, if you physically can't do that, then you're not ready to start something new, Your business cannot run without you. There's no reason to let go of a business that is doing well, that's actually making money. You can step away from it. If you have people in place, if you have systems in place and you see yourself as an investor in your own business, that's great, that's fine. That's what entrepreneurs do. But I highly recommend, recommend if before moving on into a new project is you get it to at least 70%. If you want to be on the safe side, at least 80%. That means that you're only checking in five hours or so a week. That's like less than a day a week. So keep that in mind. Don't collect projects where you are spinning all the plates. You want to collect progress, right? You want to make sure that when you are starting something new, the other thing is self sustaining and it's building you wealth as you move on to the next step. Step three is what I call the opportunity cost test. Opportunity cost is one of the most overlooked and undervalued things in business. Opportunity cost is basically the cost of choosing to do something. So it's everything else you could be doing when you say yes to something. So if I say yes to start a video podcast, right, I start publishing videos on YouTube, let's say all the time. All the energy, all the money I put into doing that automatic makes it impossible for me to do anything else. So say for example, I'm shooting videos from 10am to 12pm every day for the next five days. Let's just say this is the example, okay? From 10 to 12, that energy, that time, all the resources that I'm using during that time can only be used for that because that's what I'm doing. So everything else I could be doing with my time, whether it's a different marketing strategy, whether it's me speaking on stage, whether me improving my speaking skills, whether it's me posting on social media, whatever it is, right? Whatever thing under the sun, something personal, you know, going for a walk in the park, you could be doing a plethora of things other than this thing. So you have to keep in mind that every time you say yes to something, it steals energy from something you're already doing. So every time I say yes to something, I got to keep in mind where am I gonna get this time and energy? You know, something's gonna get sacrificed. This is very important when it comes to planning your year, right? We're gonna talk about that in an upcoming episode. I think next episode. The point I'm trying to make here is that you have to understand you have a limited time, limited energy, limited resources, regardless of how big your team is, okay? It's not infinite. So anytime you say yes to something, you are saying no to everything else. So the test that I want you to take is asking yourself, if I start this test, if I start this new project, new business, what's going to stop happening? What am I going to stop doing? Where am I going to take that time from? Is my health going to be sacrificed? Is my relationships going to be sacrificed? Will my current business or project be sacrificed? How's it possible I'm going to be doing something new without letting go of something that exists? Entrepreneurs and business owners often struggle with sales. The problem isn't effort, it's staying organized. Missed follow ups and scattered emails mean lost deals. That's why pipedrive is the number one CRM for small to medium businesses. It gives teams a simple system to manage every deal. On average sales, teams using pipedrive close three times more deals each month. Pipedrive also cuts out tasks that slow you down, automate follow ups and reminders so no contact is missed. AI tools can analyze pipelines, summarize emails and surface qualified leads. Data tracking shows which deals are most likely to succeed and offers guidance to improve. With this visibility, it's like having a sales Coach inside your CRM. It's a powerful, simple CRM built by salespeople for salespeople. Join the over 100,000 companies already using Pipedrive right now. When you use my link, you'll get a 30 day free trial. No credit card or payment needed. Just head to pipedrive.com mba to get started. That's pipedrive.com mba and you can be up and running in minutes. Oh hey.

[A]

Welcome to gift wrapping.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

So is Saldana.

[C]

Hey, can you wrap these please?

[A]

Wow. IPhone 17s.

[C]

You splurged at T Mobile. You can get four iPhone 17s on them. The new center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies. It's the perfect gift for everyone.

[A]

I'm the worst. I only got my mom a robe.

[C]

Well, it's better than socks.

[A]

So I have to trade in my old phone, right?

[C]

No AT T Mobile. There's no trade ins needed when you switch. Keep your old phone or give it as a gift.

[A]

Incredible.

[C]

In fact, wrap up my old phone too for my Aunt Rosa. Forget that. Aunt Liz will be jealous.

[A]

Sounds like my family drama.

[C]

Oh, I got it. I'll give it to my abuela. I'll take reindeer paper with hey where are you going?

[A]

To T Mobile. The holidays are better at T Mobile get four iPhone 17s on us. No trade in needed when you switch plus four lines for just 25 bucks a line. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 monthly bill credits and four eligible board inside essentials for well qualified customers. Auto pay + taxes fees and $35 device connection charge credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Contact Us Finance Agreement 256 Gigabytes.

[B]

$830 required Visit T mobile.com Step 4 Micro Experiment. You want to do a one week test of trying this new thing, right? You don't have to commit to it 100%. Create a one page website and see if you get any leads and or interest on the waiting list. Create one post, create three or four videos on Instagram and see if anybody's interested in this topic or what you're thinking about creating or the product that you're creating, whatever it might be. Curiosity should be cheap, right? You're trying to fulfill your curiosity. If there's legs with this idea, there's a potential with this idea. If this is something that's worth pursuing because not enough for you to say, oh I love to do this, this sounds like a great idea. This is going to be amazing. That's fantastic. But we're in business here, people. We live in the real world, in the real marketplace. So if the marketpl place thinks this is not a good idea or they don't want it, this is not a solution to a problem they have, then I'm sorry to say that that's a terrible business idea. It's not going to make you any money. So you have to test out your curiosity and see if this is something you want to commit to. Because commitment is expensive. So make sure that you just spend one week. One week's not going to really affect your current business. You take a week off, it shouldn't affect your business. But the point I'm making is that if you take one week, it's a cheap way to find out if there's interest in what you're about to build, what you want to create. See what the reaction of your audience will be. See the reaction of are people signing up for the waiting list? Are people interested in this topic? Are people sharing their pain points when it comes to this area, whatever thing you're building. So this is a great way for you to just give your curiosity a chance to see if it actually matches the marketplace does your idea actually have legs? Do people actually want what you're about to build? Step number five, alignment check. Does this new thing, new project, new business fit the life you're building or are you just keeping busy? This is so important because entrepreneurs everywhere, I'm telling you, every single entrepreneur I know suffers from this where they want to be busy because they feel useful when they're busy, they feel productive, they feel significant in some ways. And this is often coined as busy as a badge. I have a badge of honor that I'm busy. No, no, no, no, no. Okay, you have to remember, what's the point of all this? You know, what's the point of you building a business and serving customers is so that you can have a fulfilling life. And a fulfilling life is a well rounded life. A life with balance, a life with great relationships. Time for you to work on yourself, physically, mentally, spiritually, whatever it might be. So get busy with other things that don't cost you more in life. So whatever you are thinking about building, how will it impact your life, your lifestyle, the people around you, the people that you love, the things that you enjoy? Right now, for example, Nicole and I are about to do our strategic plan for 2026. Plan out exactly what's important to us, what we want to accomplish in 2026. There are things outside of business that I really love. I really enjoy travel with Nicole. You know, dinner's out, I love basketball, I love going to the gym, I love playing poker. These things. Am I going to sacrifice these things if I add something else to my play that I'm currently doing? If I'm going to add, I have to remove. So I have to make sure that whatever I'm about to do, is it going to be aligned with the way I want to live. So, for example, if one of your things that you want to start doing is become a world renowned public speaker, this is going to require you to travel a lot. Does that align with your values and what you love doing outside of work? Like meaning spending time with family or with your pets or whatever it might be. The point here I'm trying to make is that make sure that this actually is going to give you joy and happiness and will actually serve the other parts of your life as well. Now, let me tell you where this all came from. Back in 2019, Nicole and I were well underway in building our software company, Webinar Ninja. Revenue was up. But, you know, the thrill of building something new is kind of gone. It's been for almost five years of building this SaaS and I started sketching out new SaaS ideas, new product ideas, new podcast ideas. Anything new and shiny was getting my attention. And I thought creativity meant starting something new. Being creative means creating, right? It really meant staying creative inside of the things I was already working on so I can stay committed, so I can have momentum, so I can actually honor the things already built. You can be creative and do something new within what you're doing. So, for example, we've been running this podcast for over 11 years. The audio version of this podcast has been around for over 11 years. We started in 2014. And one of the ways I can create something new within this podcast is to add the video element. We started a YouTube channel last year, and we started posting more videos on social media. So this is something new that supports the project I'm already working on. Listen, I get it. As entrepreneurs, we love the beginning. We love creating things out of thin air. That's what really attracted me to entrepreneurship in the first place. New ideas, they feel like you're falling in love, right? All the potential, all the warm and fuzzies, right? And there's like no responsibility in a lot of ways, because it's not really out in the world yet. And it really can't fail because it's just new. So it feels kind of fresh, and it feels almost like a love affair. But if you keep jumping into new love affairs, you'll never a lasting relationship with the thing that you're building right now, with the thing that you committed to. You have to learn to pick and stick and to find new ways to ignite that creativity and passion with the thing you're working on. Until you get to the point where it's like, okay, I've done everything I can with this, this project, with this business. It's time for me to exit. It's time for me to sell. And that's a whole different episode and a whole different story and something that I experienced myself with my software company, Webinar Ninja, which is totally fine. And actually it's a great milestone in your entrepreneurial care, right? You're selling an asset, but don't be one leg in, one leg out. That's really bad for not only your business, but also for your own mental health. So either get it to 70%, like I said, at least 70% or more. Where some team is taking care of your business, okay? Somebody else is managing it, somebody else is responsible, and you check in and make sure it's okay. And that's like an investment. You have Running, and then you start something new or you sell the business and you start something afresh if you'd like. So the point I'm really trying to drill home is that you need to build upon the successes you already have. Momentum is one of the most powerful things you have in business. And often in business, we have plateaus where we plateau and we kind of feel like things are not moving as fast and exciting as before. That's normal. You got to break through that plateau. And often in order to break through that plateau, you need to improve yourself. You need to change. You need to reinvent yourself as a leader, as an entrepreneur, so that you can be able to break through and do the things that you'd like to do or find the success you'd like to find. I'm telling you, focus is a multiplier. People that know how to focus are people that succeed a lot faster than other people because the growth is compounding, just like compound interest. So the challenge I want to give you if you're thinking about starting something new, is to run your new idea through those five filters, those five steps I gave you. Now, it doesn't have to pass all five, but it has to pass at least four out of the five filters for you to move forward. If it doesn't, you need to finish what you started. You need to just wrap up what you're doing right now or hand it over to somebody else to do it for you. Protecting your focus will make you richer, will make you more successful than any other new idea could ever do. And this is just out of my own experience. I'm somebody who's been doing this podcast for over 11 years. I can tell you that if it wasn't for my consistency and me just sticking to it and trying to get better at it every day, I would not have the show I have today. I'm not saying this to beat on my chest. I'm saying this because I'm trying to share with you what I learned through those years, is that that's really the key to me being able to have a successful podcast. It's not that I'm some sort of, you know, whiz kid on the mic or I have some marketing genius. No, it's when you do something long enough, you just get better and better at it. The product becomes better and better at it. You find new, innovative ways to improve. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. I'm telling you right now, most of my wins came from ideas that came right before I quit. Every breakthrough idea hides behind some sort of boredom, some sort of friction, some sort of feeling of like, I need something different, I need something change. And that's when I realized, oh, the change is actually going to happen within my own business and this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to take things to another level. What does that level look like? Let's dig a little deeper. And then you eventually get out of that uncomfortable feeling and have clarity. Okay, let's move forward. And you have to remember you'll never run out of ideas. Ideas come to us constantly as entrepreneurs, but freedom comes from finishing. Start new only when you've built something that can run without you. If this episode brought you clarity, share with another person that is in need of clarity. Thanks so much for tuning into this podcast. I really enjoy doing the show because I get to do something with everything I've learned through the years. I get to share with other people. I get to hopefully carve an easier path for you. Who's listening right now? And if in any way this has helped you, please, please, please implement. I'm telling you, the number one thing that has helped me in my journey is when I learn something, I try to find a way to implement even just a little bit of it so that I can get better day after day. If you found today's episode helpful and you want more practical business lessons to help you start, grow and scale your business, the best thing you could do is subscribe to this podcast, Hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app, the one that you're using right now. Whether it's Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. By hitting subscribe, you get our next episode automatically. And it's the best way to support the show. It's absolutely free and it's a way for you to commit to growing your business. And now that you've subscribed, I'll check you in the next episode.

[D]

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