The Tailwind Principle: Why Timing Matters More Than Hustle

Author

Stefan Wirth
May 18, 2025

Hi Mate 👋,

I've been reflecting on some unexpected business lessons that have completely changed how I think about success.

The most successful people in history weren't just hustling harder - they were sailing with tailwinds that others missed.

What's new

This week, I've been analyzing our product performance across several initiatives, and the data revealed some surprising patterns.

Our wedding speech generator gets about 60K monthly clicks, but only generates $5K in revenue.

That's just $0.08 per visitor - a conversion canyon that many digital businesses face but few talks about.

Meanwhile, our bachelorette party planner and long-form content are growing slower than expected, reminding me that content marketing follows what I call the "patience curve" - invisible work before visible results.

I've also been reading biographies of Carnegie, da Vinci, and Buffet, and noticed a pattern that's rarely discussed in entrepreneurial circles.

Insight

The most successful people in history weren't just working harder than everyone else.

They positioned themselves at the convergence of their skills and historical opportunity.

Carnegie exploited the railroad buildout. Da Vinci flourished in Florence when artists were celebrated. Buffett invested when markets were inefficient and information was asymmetric.

They weren't fighting uphill battles - they were sailing with tailwinds that others missed.

This doesn't mean hard work isn't necessary. But the work is in finding these opportunities and having the courage to position yourself accordingly.

The question isn't "How do I work harder?" but "Where are the emerging tailwinds I can position for?"

Becoming a Learning Machine

Rating: 4/5 (Reading biographies has completely changed my perspective on strategic positioning)

I've been reading Walter Isaacson's biography of Benjamin Franklin, and it's fascinating how Franklin positioned himself at the intersection of publishing, science, and politics - three areas experiencing massive change in colonial America.

Franklin didn't just work hard (though he certainly did) - he identified emerging opportunities and positioned himself to benefit from larger historical forces.

My Latest Video

This week I released a video about transforming passive content consumption into active implementation using AI tools.

I share my 3-step framework for extracting actionable insights from anything you read, then using AI to create personalized implementation plans. This approach has helped me get 1% better every day by bridging the gap between knowledge and action.

The video includes a real-world demonstration using an article about consulting work, showing exactly how I use AI tools to avoid the "availability blindspot" - where we consume content but fail to apply it to our specific situation.

Check out the full video to discover how to stop passively consuming content and start implementing 👇

Talk Soon,
Stefan

P.S. The images have been generated with the new GPT-image model from my learnings and reflections. How can I improve them?