“Who here hates tomato juice?” I said to a group of founders.

A hand goes up.

“But what if I told you that this tomato juice is what’s working right now?”

“What if I said tomato juice is what pushes past your revenue wall?”

“Did you know Steven Bartlett said tomato juice is the reason he hit 10M subs on YT?”

Everyone laughs.

Because it’s easy to hold a boundary when you know your taste.

You don’t like tomato juice.

Anything suggesting you should drink it feels absurd.

Real life is no different.

I did this with my first offer.

I had no desire to make some big revenue promise, but I thought I needed it to make it happen.

For a month, I tried direct response ads on Instagram.

Hustle bro energy to get you to a phone call in under 90 seconds.

I despised the idea of it, but I saw people be successful with it.

I drank tomato juice, knowing full well I didn’t like it.

I killed them soon after starting.

Not because I’m a quitter. But because I had zero desire to do it in the first place.

I’d known my boundary, stepped right over it, and did it out of fear.

Then I stood up for myself.

You’ll make anything work.

This game isn’t about brilliance.

Or funding.

Or status.

It’s about stomach.

It takes stomach to look at something working for everyone else and say:

“Not for me.”

Especially when you’re still finding your taste.

Especially when you’re unsure.

Especially when you’re scared it won’t work your way.

But if you want a meaningful existence, you have to hold your boundary.

Just because it works…

Just because the algorithm likes it…

Just because AI makes it easy…

Doesn’t mean it’s yours.

Ask

What’s for you?

Because if it includes tomato juice, you’re welcome to say it’s absurd and do it your way instead.

And if you don’t know, the real work must begin before you look back and wonder why you did it their way.

-C

P.S. If you know what’s absurd but don’t know what to do next, give this a read.