We remember looking at this quote when we were younger in our late teens thinking “what does that mean?? How do you become successful then?? That’s stupid…”, it took longer than it should’ve for us to realise how relevant it has been to our lives.
We came across it again a few weeks ago and realised that we have been doing exactly this for the last six years. Many people ask why and how ARNE has managed to scale and grow and the never-reveal-everything-you-know attitude that we like to call ‘less is more’ can’t be undervalued. It has played an enormous part.
I remember insecurely thinking once when I was really young “I’m going to start a brand with my brother and people will know us for having a successful business”. I am SO glad we didn’t start a brand when I was in that frame of mind, it could have been a disaster in the attempt of trying to impress other people. Now and since the beginning of ARNE back in 2018, our attitude couldn’t be more of the opposite.
Never reveal everything you know.
In other words keep your head down and crack on. A massively underrated strategy in today’s day and age when it’s so easy to show and tell everybody everything. Focus on the things that really matter and definitely don’t just do things for approval or recognition - get comfortable with who you are and what you’re doing. Recognition might drive some people on but usually it will lead to short term successes.
By the way there will be people out there with a much better business than us, who are even quieter and more understated than us too. They won’t even write stories like this to make a point and they will continue to be beyond successful - that is inspiring, keep going.
This last point might sound slightly contradicting but all those people who authentically create valuable content around self development and entrepreneurship, thank you too. There are times to keep your head down and crack on (especially in the early stages) and that’s the impact we want to have on the world, but we also appreciate the impact the sharing of information can have too. #LessIsMore