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Episode #69

He Asked for the World. I Asked for Groceries.

Aiming low feels safe but costs you money and hides your solution from the people who need it most.

12 min
Listen on:SpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube

Key takeaways

  • Set your ambition at the level you actually want, because you will get exactly what you ask for, nothing more.
  • Recognize playing it safe as a safety mechanism, not a value. Aiming low protects you from criticism but costs you customers and cash flow.
  • Treat visibility as an obligation. If you have a real solution and people cannot find you, the problem is not the market, it is your ceiling.
  • Understand that the people who attack ambitious positioning are not your customers. Your customers are looking for you and cannot find you when you stay hidden.
  • Reflect honestly on whether your humility is authentic or whether it is a strategy to avoid being seen and judged.

Timestamps

00:00Hardwell vs. Paul: same stage, different ask
00:56The grocery mindset and why it costs you
01:55Martin Garrix, the prerecorded set, and the comment section
06:14Why aiming low felt safe
07:17Fame as a business tool, not an ego trip
08:45You hit the ceiling because of what you allow yourself
09:44What it would actually take to be known
11:25The songs that could have been bigger
Doe de gratis scorecard

Read the blog article

Why Playing It Safe Is Killing Your Business Growth

Show notes

Core message

Aiming low is not humility. It is a decision that costs you customers and keeps your solution invisible. Paul Veth uses his own DJ career alongside Hardwell to show how self-imposed ceilings, disguised as modesty, directly kill cash flow and potential.

What you hear in this episode

  • Why Paul and Hardwell started in the same place but ended up in completely different positions
  • The prerecorded set debate around Martin Garrix and what it reveals about how people judge success
  • Why "I just want to pay the rent" is a safety mechanism, not a value system
  • How low ambition hides your solution from the people who actually need it
  • What fame means for an entrepreneur and why being known in your niche is an obligation

Key insights

You get what you ask for

Hardwell said at 16 he wanted to be the number one DJ in the world. Paul said he just wanted to pay the rent. Both outcomes arrived exactly as requested. The ceiling you set is the ceiling you hit.

Humility as a hiding strategy

Saying "I don't want to be visible" or "I don't want people to think things about me" feels modest. It functions as protection from criticism. The people who attack you for being ambitious are not your customers. They are noise in an algorithm built on hate-scrolling.

Visibility is an obligation

If you have a solution to a real problem and you stay invisible, the person with that problem cannot find you. That is not humble. That is a failure to deliver what you built.

Identity First framework connection

The Identity First framework from Paul Veth starts with who you are, then builds the system around that. Ambition is part of identity. When you shrink your ambition to stay safe, you are not being authentic, you are editing yourself down to avoid friction.

Topics

entrepreneurial ambitionvisibility as obligationidentity first marketingplaying it safe in businessHardwell DJ careerpersonal brand positioningcash flow mindsetPaul Veth podcastfame for entrepreneursself-imposed ceiling

Full transcript

View full transcript
0:00
0The number one DJ and I started at the same place. The difference wasn't talent. He asked for the world. I asked just to pay the rent. That's it.
0:10
0It's just a mindset game and that's crazy because a lot of entrepreneurs are falling for the same trap and it feels like, yeah, maybe this is a humble opinion, but it's killing your cash flow. It's really like that. I'm talking about Hartwell. Hartwell and I played together. We were together on stages.
0:31
0I played before him, after him, back to back with him and he said on television when he was 16 years old, I want to become the number one DJ in the world. And I always told people, no, no, no. For me, it's enough when I can pay the rent and do some grocery shopping. That's it. We both got what we asked for.
0:56
0He asked for the world, I asked for groceries. And I made this mistake and later I understood why I made this mistake. And for you as an entrepreneur, it's a really important thing to reflect on for yourself because a lot of people will tell you it's arrogant when you tell people, okay, I want to become famous or I want to become rich or I want to become the number one in, it doesn't matter, your branch. Everything can be seen as arrogance. And why I made this video is I was watching, I was scrolling on TikTok to to understand the TikTok algorithm and sometimes it's it's just boring when I'm waiting and I'm falling for the trap to scroll on TikTok, to be honest.
1:55
0And I was scrolling on TikTok and I saw a video of Martin Garrix and it was amazing. It was he he started the intro and he was watching a very nice horizon, very nice view at the festival. I don't know which it was, maybe Coachella. And he was big on screen and then suddenly he turned into the camera and he was walking towards the stage. But suddenly, he understood, okay, I'm too late for the drop.
2:24
0So he had to sprint to the stage and he was just in time sprinting on stage for the first drop to hit and to party with the people. Excuse me. And he told us, okay, so this moment was a very important moment for him because it was such a beautiful moment and suddenly he he was on to everything. He was I I I think he was finally switched on at that moment. First, was relaxed and then suddenly he switched something on.
3:02
0It's like the artist focus and bam, there he was. But in the comments, I saw someone said, okay, you were just in time to jump and shout on a pre recorded set. And I'm like, oh, you you really don't understand. And a lot of people don't understand how DJs work. And, yeah, there are people using prerecorded sets.
3:28
0But still, if you can do it better than that DJ with a prerecorded set, be my guest and just take your place at the stage. Because you can be mad at prerecorded set, but to be honest, if DJs are playing live and they don't do a better job than other DJs using a prerecorded set. Okay. Maybe you don't earn the place on the stage because why are people going to a festival or to the club? They want to be entertained.
4:07
0So if they are entertained, the result is there. And really, I don't care how you get to the result. If people want to be entertained, that's a problem because they are sitting at home and they are like, okay, I want to be entertained. Okay, you can go to Robbie Williams because he's the king of entertainment. He he just told told me he's the king of entertainment, so he is.
4:34
0Or you go to somewhere else to to go karting, to go on a quality date night with your partner or you go to a festival. And if you choose this festival and you go to the festival and there you got entertained, it really doesn't matter how you got entertained. It doesn't matter. And why I got mad is because I know Martin Garrix Garrix is a really good musician. He is an artist.
5:05
0He can play the guitar, he can play piano, he can produce really, really great music. He he does it himself. Of course, he gets help. All artists get help. All people get help.
5:20
0You as well. So sorry, I'm not mad at you because you are probably the entrepreneur who thinks the same way on the other side. You you don't receive the credits you earn because I want to make the switch, but this command like it's a pre pre recorded set, I'm like, okay, yeah, so go do a better job yourself and don't pitch on people who are doing a great job in making music, in entertaining people, in making memories for people, making connections. I was a DJ and producer myself and that was my main goal to give people a nice time. Sometimes they have a lot of problems and they step out of the problems and have a good time or they create new memories, new connections, goosebumps all over the place.
6:14
0It's amazing. But the the prerecorded set thing make me think and I'm like, okay, yeah. That's what made me decide and that was my mistake to say, okay, I just want to pay the rent. Because one thing, and I I want you to reflect on this, it was safe. Because if you say, oh, no, no.
6:38
0I just want to pay rent, is nobody going to attack you. They are like, oh, good for you. You're not arrogant. You you you don't think you're the best. No.
6:52
0You're just a guy playing music and he just wants to pay rent. That's that's fine. You cannot get attacked. But if you are Martin Garrix or Hartwell or a lot of other artists now in Belgium, have Paul Veth: Great, great artist, really amazing. Or Olivia Rodrigo, great artist.
7:17
0They got they get attacked. They are really amazing artists, not for everyone and that that's amazing. That's what you want as an entrepreneur as well. You want to be there for a group and you want to be famous for that group because, to be honest, when you are famous, it's much easier to get customers than when you're not famous. When you just say, oh, I just want to pay the rent and I don't want people to see me.
7:46
0I don't want to be visible online. I don't want to post a lot because then people think something about me. News flash. A lot of people probably don't think something about you. The people you have a solution for as a product or service, they think in a good way about you and the people who don't need to can think in a bad way about you, but probably they have so many things in their own lives they not they are not even thinking about you.
8:20
0Even not when they post something under your post. Because for them it's like, hey, you're you're you're jumping on a prerecorded set. Bam. Next. And they are just replying to every post they see because their algorithm gives them the the things they hate so they can hate upon this algorithm.
8:45
0That's what they do. So it's really funny but I want you to think, okay, you hit the ceiling because of what you allow yourself. Because it's not humble to say, okay, I'm aiming low. It's just costing you money and it's costing your potential customers your solution. Because you have a solution for for a problem your potential customer has.
9:16
0So it's your obligation to let them know you are there. Because if you don't let people know you exist, how can they know your solution exist? They don't. So what is it for you to be maybe maybe it's even a great idea to think, how can you be famous? Like known in your whole country or in the whole world?
9:44
0What does it take and what does that mean for you in the good way and in the bad way? Just think about these things because if you think about it and you see it for what it is, Yeah. It's just like that and then you can focus on the good things it will give you. So don't make my mistake because of safety. You're an entrepreneur.
10:10
0You don't want to play safe. You want to go on an adventure. You want to help people, a lot of people. That's why you are an entrepreneur. That's why you built this skill set you have and created this service or product.
10:27
0That's what you own. That's what you have to give to people and and when you are famous like Hartwell is, it's much more easy to give it to a lot of people. For me, it's really hard to give people my music. There's still music from me on Spotify. If you look for my name, can find it.
10:49
0It's not great music. It's these are not the best songs, but a few of them could be larger. They could do better. A lot of them, especially one, it took me two years to finish it and because of that, I even was too late because at that moment, the music business, the the genre switched a little bit. So that record was good for two years before, not two years when it was released.
11:25
0So there are a few good songs I produced and they could do better when I thought, okay, let's make myself famous. And not not myself as a person, just the artist I was. And at that moment, it comes to marketing and branding. How do you want to position yourself? And that's really an important thing to think about and to look into the mirror and ask yourself, okay, am I trying to be humble?
12:00
0If yes, stop it. Don't be humble.

Frequently asked questions

What does Hardwell have to do with entrepreneurship?

Hardwell and Paul Veth played on the same stages early in their careers. The difference was ambition: Hardwell said publicly at 16 he wanted to be number one in the world. Paul said he just wanted to pay the rent. Both outcomes arrived exactly as requested. The lesson applies directly to how entrepreneurs set their own ceilings.

Is it arrogant to want to be famous or well-known in your industry?

Paul argues it is the opposite of arrogance, it is an obligation. If you have a real solution to a real problem and you stay invisible, the person with that problem cannot find you. Calling that modesty does not make it modest. It makes it a failure to deliver what you built.

What is wrong with wanting to just pay the rent?

Nothing is wrong with it as a lifestyle choice. As a business strategy it is a ceiling. Paul explains that low ambition functions as a protection mechanism against criticism and visibility. It feels safe. But it directly limits cash flow and keeps your solution away from the customers who need it.

How does the Identity First framework connect to ambition?

Identity First from Paul Veth starts with who you actually are, values, drives, personality, then builds every system around that. Ambition is part of identity. Shrinking it to avoid judgment means editing yourself down, which breaks the foundation the entire framework is built on.

What should an entrepreneur do after listening to this episode?

Paul's concrete ask is to sit with one question: what would it actually take to be known, in your country or in the world, and what does that mean for you in both the good and the bad direction? See it clearly, then stop letting the bad side run the whole decision.

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Discussion

The content makes the case that aiming low actually costs you more than it saves. Where have you caught yourself shrinking a price, an offer, or a goal to feel safer, and what did that decision actually cost you in the end?

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