Ep. 37 Why Playing the Long Game Fuels Online Business Growth

We've all felt it... that burning desire for fast results. It's human nature to want progress now and to see the fruits of our labor immediately. And honestly, online business culture really feeds into that impatience. I can't open Instagram without someone selling me a magic pill. Have a six-figure launch in 30 days. Build your passive income stream overnight.

But here's the problem: if you've ever fallen for one of those promises, you probably know they're not exactly what they seem.

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The Hidden Reality Behind "Quick Wins"

What you don't see in those flashy promises are the expenses involved, the countless failures that came before success, or the years of hard work building an audience to make that "quick win" possible. It's like watching someone cross the finish line of a marathon and assuming they just got up yesterday and started running. Completely missing the months or years of training that led to that moment.

The real danger of chasing quick wins is that you end up building your online business for speed, not stability. When one thing breaks, the whole thing breaks. You make reactive decisions instead of strategic ones, always playing catch-up instead of leading your business from the front. You optimize for short-term validation instead of long-term growth. Chasing the small wins tomorrow rather than the big win at the end of the year or in five years.

Why We Keep Falling for It

We know all this, so why do we keep falling for it? Because our brains are literally wired to crave immediate gratification. It's a psychologically proven fact, and understanding the science behind it can help us resist the temptation.

In the late 1960s, psychologist Walter Mischel ran what's now a famous experiment at Stanford called the marshmallow experiment. Preschoolers were given one marshmallow and told they could either eat it immediately or wait 15 minutes and receive two marshmallows. Some kids waited, some didn't.

The fascinating part? Researchers followed up with those kids decades later and found that the ones who delayed gratification (who waited for the second marshmallow) consistently had higher SAT scores, better emotional regulation, healthier relationships, and more career success later in life.

What This Means for Your Business

The ability to delay gratification, to trade short-term pleasure for long-term reward, is one of the strongest predictors of success. And entrepreneurship tests this over and over again.

Do you chase the quick client who maybe isn't a great fit but has money to offer you right now? Or do you hold strong to your boundaries, turn them down, and wait for someone who's a perfect fit?

Do you copy trends and do what everyone else is doing? Or do you trust the brand strategy you've built and stick to it even when progress feels slow?

Do you look for instant visibility and opportunities that'll put you in front of lots of people really fast? Or do you focus on building more lasting and authentic authority as an online service provider?

Each one of these decisions... and so many more... is a marshmallow moment.

Success isn't about how quickly you can grab that first marshmallow. It's about trusting that you'll get your two marshmallows if you stay the course and do the things you know work for you.

Building a Brand is Like Planting Seeds

To tie this back to brand strategy: building a brand is like planting seeds. You don't dig them up after a week to see if they're growing. You water them, nurture them, trust the process, and know that it's going to take weeks, months, or even years. But eventually you'll have a plant giving you fruit.

I'm sure as you were reading this, you instinctively knew: are you a one-marshmallow kid or a two-marshmallow kid? I'm through and through a two-marshmallow kid. I'll always wait for the bigger prize later. But even knowing that about myself, I still sometimes click on the ads promising me how to make $100,000 on my next launch. Because like I said, our brains want those quick wins no matter how much we know those results are unrealistic or that we're missing crucial information.

The Truth About "Overnight Success"

There's a popular saying: most overnight successes were years in the making. And it's true.

People work for years and years without anyone noticing them. Then all of a sudden, something clicks and they find success. That's the moment people pay attention to. Not the 10 years before when you were trying things, working hard, struggling, and pouring all your blood, sweat, and tears into your online business.

Think about a creator or entrepreneur you really look up to. Go to their Instagram and scroll back far enough. I promise you'll see the early, imperfect work that paved the way to where they are now. Even the big brands... Apple, Nike... took decades to become household names. It's not a myth that Apple started in a garage. That's real.

The same goes for actors, musicians, and celebrities. They were nobody once. Brad Pitt didn't just wake up one day as a famous actor. They worked and worked and struggled, and nobody knew who they were for years until suddenly they did.

In online business, it's the same story.

The Problem with Fast Growth

In my experience working with lots of online service providers over the years, fast growth often masks instability. People get too wrapped up in scaling quickly without systems, and then things start to break when they get overloaded. They sell more than they can deliver and burn out trying to sustain an unsustainable pace. Which turns into a disaster.

You end up not delivering on your promises. Clients start talking about it in the online space. You really erode your credibility... all because you couldn't be patient and build the right way.

Here's what I want you to hear: you don't need to keep up with somebody else's timeline.

However fast or slow you want to do things is fine, but make sure you're building smartly and sustainably. Your day one doesn't need to match somebody else's day 100, but you need to keep showing up on day two, day three, and day four so you can get to your own day 100.

The ROI of Playing the Long Game

I know this is sometimes easier said than done, but let's talk about the actual return on investment you get when you commit to playing the long game.

Long-term thinkers build assets, not just income. When you play the long game, you're focused on systems, relationships, your reputation, and building your skills. These things compound like interest in an investment. It's not sexy, but it is sustainable.

Here are some facts to back that up: According to the Harvard Business Review, companies that prioritize long-term strategies outperform short-term focused peers by 47% in revenue and 36% in profit growth over time. That means companies making $150,000 while their short-term focused competitors are making $100,000. That's a significant difference.

Similar logic applies to small businesses. Those that reinvest, refine, and focus on consistency almost always outperform the ones chasing viral trends, trying to keep up with competitors, and stuck on the hamster wheel of more, more, more.

Yes, quick wins give you a dopamine hit, and that's nice. I'm the first to admit it. But going slow and sticking to a long-term brand strategy is what builds the freedom I know is why you started your business in the first place.

How to Shift Your Mindset Toward Long-Game Thinking

So how do we shift our mindset toward being more of a long-game thinker? Here are five ways to start:

1. Audit Your Expectations

Every time you're about to make a big decision in your online business, ask yourself: Am I chasing validation or am I building something that's going to last?

2. Think in Longer Time Frames

Stop with the 30-day goals and start thinking in six or 12-month milestones. Think more in seasons and less in sprints.

3. Focus on Habits

Success is built on... unfortunately for a lot of us... boring consistency. Sending the emails every week, showing up on social media, refining your systems. All the things that feel like a drag are the things that help us succeed.

4. Celebrate Progress Over Pace

Celebrate what you're accomplishing, not how fast you're accomplishing it. Growth that's sustainable does feel slower, but it's not going to burn you out and it's actually going to stick.

5. Protect Your Inputs

This has been the biggest thing for me in business: Stop listening to people who aren't serving you. Unfollow accounts that trigger comparison, push you to rush, or make you feel like you need to buy this, do that, or be like that person. Instead, surround yourself with voices and peers who value integrity and longevity. I cannot overstate how important this is.

You're Not Behind

I want to remind you: you are not behind.

You're building something real that's going to last, that's going to support your family, that's going to take you into whatever that next-level version of your life is. And that's going to take time.

Playing the long game means optimizing your online business for sustainability and for a business that lasts. Not one that just blows up one day and dies just as quickly the next.

It's true that people who build slowly and with intention take longer to reach success. But they also stay at the top longer.

If you're in a slower season, don't mistake that for failure. Remind yourself: you're laying the foundation for results you're going to thank yourself for years from now. Whether you're working on your brand design, refining your brand strategy, or simply showing up consistently as an online service provider, every step matters.

Keep playing the long game. Keep showing up. Because the people who really win aren't the ones who move the fastest. They're the ones who never stop moving forward.

🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned In The Episode:

➡️ Follow me on Instagram @spechtand.co
➡️ Grab The Stand Out Brand Foundations Workbook
➡️ Book Your Stand Out Brand Strategy Session (use code SFBPOD for $100 off)

🎧 Listen to episode 37 of The Six Figure Brand Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube