Are You Building a Business… or Just F#cking Spiders?
Why Many Founders Never Gain Traction
This article is part of a 15-part series unpacking the hard truths most founders discover the long way when building a business.
If you’re building something of your own, you might recognise yourself in a few of these.
You can subscribe here if you’d like the next pieces in the series as they’re released.
In Australia, we have the saying, “I’m not here to fuck spiders”.
I know, I know - it’s crude and can be a little shocking for someone hearing it for the first time, but that’s just how we roll in this neck of the woods.
Even the Australian actress Margot Robbie joked about it on the Graham Norton Show.
Now, one of the things I’ve noticed over the years when working with early-stage founders is that there’s a big difference between someone who is actually building a business and someone who is just ‘dabbling’ in it.
They’re excited about the idea of building a business, but they never fully commit to it. In fact, they’re just ‘mucking around’ in business.
Fucking spiders, in other words. Get it!
You see, dabbling is not just a set of actions but also a mindset.
It shows up as someone dancing around the edges of the business without ever truly throwing themselves into it. They spend months refining their website, tweaking the brand, adjusting their offer, and planning the launch.
Everything looks like progress on the surface, but underneath it’s often a stall tactic.
Because the moment the business actually launches, shit gets real.
Oh crap! Now you have to get up from hiding behind your computer and actually talk to people. You have to sell and put your idea in front of the world and risk hearing “no”.
So instead, the founder stays in the pre-launch phase, going around and around in circles. And if you listen closely when they talk about their business, you can often hear it in their voice. There’s excitement, but no conviction.
There’s the energy of someone who is curious to see what happens, but it’s not the energy of someone who has decided this HAS to work!
I usually see this type of scenario when someone doesn’t actually need the money because they either have a large nest egg to fall back on or a spouse who’s bringing in the bucks.
The pressure to make the business work is simply not there… and that’s why they dabble - the business is essentially a fun hobby.
Now, don’t get me wrong, OK, this isn’t always the case for those in the start-up phase.
But here’s the thing, right, dabbling has a quiet but devastating impact in that it stunts business growth before it ever has the chance to gain traction.
Founders in this pattern often have multiple false starts and are constantly pivoting and adjusting their business idea.
Just one more little tweak… and… then they start again, never staying the course long enough for momentum to build.
Clients can sense it too. Even if they can’t articulate what feels wrong, they can feel the lack of commitment.
I see this pattern a lot at networking events. Someone appears for a few months with a new whizz-bang business idea, but the messaging is as clear as mud, the marketing is running in every direction like a blind dog trying to catch a frisbee, and conversations about the business feel scattered and uncertain.
Then they disappear, and lo and behold, the next time you see them, they’ve pivoted to something else. Even the weather in Melbourne is more consistent.
I’ve literally seen people do this for two or three years, and instead of attracting clients, the business drifts.
Eventually, the founder looks back and says something like, “You know what, Johnathan, I tried starting a business, but it didn’t work”.
When in reality, the business never truly got its chance because it was never given full commitment.
So, What’s the Solution?
In my experience, the shift out of dabbling doesn’t start with tactics but with clarity.
Whenever I sit down with a founder who’s stuck in this pattern, the first thing I want to explore and get clear on is what their North Star is - their ‘why’, in other words.
Why are they in business? Is it freedom over time? Financial independence? Autonomy over their life?
Is it that they want to build something meaningful, a legacy, or just prove to themselves that they can do this?
Until that motivation becomes clear and emotionally real, commitment is almost impossible.
Without a solid understanding of your reason for being in business, you’ll drift in motivation and have inconsistent results because your business has no anchor point.
The Big Shift
Now, at some stage you need to pick a side, draw a line in the sand.
Are you in or out?
Either this is something you are committed to building… or it’s simply a hobby.
The moment someone truly commits to their business, everything begins to shift.
You see, commitment isn’t just about working harder, mind you - it’s a fundamental change in mindset.
The founder begins to actually buy into their own vision. They stop ‘waiting to see what happens’, their behaviour becomes more focused, and even if they don’t know exactly what they’re doing yet, they’re committed to figuring it out.
And that’s often when they seek guidance from someone like me.
They start asking better questions, they take action more consistently, and they become more disciplined with their time and energy.
In fact, you can hear the difference when they talk about their business. The conviction in their voice changes, the confidence is different, and by crikey, people feel it!
But wait, there’s more!
Internally, something shifts too. Instead of feeling scattered and uncertain, the founder begins to feel grounded, more confident, and focused.
They move from fog to clarity, and from dabbling to building something really special.
What’s In The Mirror?
If you’re reading this and recognising parts of yourself, you’re not alone.
Many founders spend time in the dabbling phase before they realise what’s really required to build something meaningful.
The real question is not whether you’ve been dabbling but whether you’re ready to stop.
If your motivation fluctuates…
If you find yourself constantly pivoting…
If your business has been ‘almost launching’ for months or even years…
Then it might be time to step back and ask a deeper question - why are you really doing this?
Are you just here to fuck spiders?
Because once that answer becomes clear, the path forward becomes much easier to see.
And if you need help finding that clarity, that’s exactly the work I do with start-up founders.
My role is to help you uncover your true motivators, build the foundations of the business properly, and move forward with focus instead of confusion.
One brick at a time.
Each week I unpack the mistakes, illusions, and mindset traps early-stage founders discover the hard way. These are hard-earned lessons from the trenches of building a business.
Next in the series:
Coming soon - The Product Before Problem Trap - why many founders build offers before understanding what customers actually need.