Turning Down Revenue: The Counterintuitive Path to Sustainable Growth

Most founders would kill for the problem I had: too many clients, revenue flooding in, demand exceeding capacity. I did what every business advisor would call insane—I turned them away.

I recently spoke with Home Business Magazine about the moment that defined my entire approach to building companies. We were getting flooded with client applications for Pabs Tech Solutions. The easy move? Accept everyone, outsource the work, collect commissions. The smart move? Protect what actually matters.

“I wasn’t confident others would deliver the same quality and attention I provide,” I told them. So I hit pause. Slowed down. Focused exclusively on existing clients while competitors were hiring aggressively and chasing every opportunity.

Here’s what nobody tells you about the “move fast and break things” mentality: it creates graveyards. I’ve watched it happen across industries. Companies grow too fast without the internal maturity to support that growth, and they collapse. One bad client experience can damage your reputation permanently. So I made a calculated bet on something Silicon Valley constantly undervalues—sustainable foundations.

The discipline came from an unexpected place. As a Division I golfer, I learned that consistency beats intensity every time. Golf is a long game. Every decision compounds. The smallest mistakes add up. Startups work exactly the same way. It’s not about one great shot or one big win—it’s about showing up, making calculated moves, and adapting when conditions change.

That same discipline saved me during the crypto crash. Everyone around me was panicking, selling at the bottom, “getting out before it goes to zero.” I had a plan made in peace, so I didn’t change it in panic. Two years later, Bitcoin increased fivefold. Those who maintained composure captured the entire upside.

The most counterintuitive part of my journey? Running multiple projects simultaneously. Most business gurus preach obsessive single-project focus. I disagree. When I lost $300,000 on a failed crypto venture in 2018, the development services business I’d been building alongside it survived and became my primary operation. That wouldn’t have happened if I’d focused on only one thing.

If you’ve ever wondered how to scale without sacrificing quality, or how to make decisions under pressure without losing your mind, the full conversation walks through the exact framework I’ve used to build multiple seven-figure ventures.

The paradox: by deliberately slowing down when others accelerate, I ultimately moved faster.

Sometimes the smartest path to lasting success runs through choices that look completely wrong on paper.