Reading Time: 2 min A little over a year ago, we switched companies that handle our weekly trash pick-up. The previous company simply wasn’t consistent; we’d often get an email on the afternoon of the pick-up day that essentially said “Sorry, but we’re not going to be able to make it today. See you next week!“. Here is a […]
Business
It intentionally doesn’t scale
Reading Time: 2 min Last year I shared some thoughts on doing things that don’t scale. In that case it was about invoicing, but I’ve seen this idea continue to pop up. Lumpy Mail The first is the idea of sending “lumpy mail”. It’s easy to send 1000 emails, and rather easy to send 100 letters in the mail, […]
Let’s do this again next week
Reading Time: < 1 min I’ve mentioned the fantastic “Founders” podcast on here a few times. Not only do I get a lot out of it, it partially inspired my new podcast as well. Earlier this year, David from Founders did a show with the guys from the “Acquired” podcast and it was an amazing episode. It was nearly three […]
Never quit?
Reading Time: 2 min A popular piece of advice is to “never quit”, but it’s not always a good way to approach things. Certainly you don’t want to give up too early, but choosing to “never quit” can be foolish. As Seth Godin shared in his book “The Dip“, he says: “Never Quit” What a spectacularly bad piece of […]
Intentional imbalance
Reading Time: < 1 min Work-life balance is something that many strive for, but it’s often a fool’s errand. Not that work should consume your life, but that trying to balance them neatly may be impossible. In “The 12 Week Year“, author Brian Morgan suggests this instead: Trying to spend equal time in each area is unproductive and often frustrating. […]
Does it work on paper?
Reading Time: 2 min As I’ve shared before, the “weekly preview” that I do each Friday is one of my favorite things. It helps me to make sure the coming week is well-organized, it gives me a chance to tidy up any tight spaces, and leaves me feeling good about the week before the weekend hits. My weekly previews […]
There is no average person
Reading Time: < 1 min While building audience personas is a vital piece of any marketing campaign, it’s also a bit strange. We build this very specific idea of who the customer is, knowing that this exact person doesn’t exist. In his book, “The Design of Everyday Things“, author Don Norman says: There is no such thing as the average […]
Too much feedback is a problem
Reading Time: 2 min I talk a lot about giving feedback on here, both in terms of how to give good feedback to others, and how to appreciate feedback as a gift when it’s given to you. In both cases, though, too much feedback can be problematic. Too much feedback could mean that your work is simply not good […]
Clear ownership in disagreements with your partner
Reading Time: 2 min When it comes to issues with your partner, whether that it’s marriage or in business, knowing who has the final say on a particular issue is hugely important. In my experience, this can be difficult to sort out in a marriage (you both have equal ownership in home, your children, etc), but can be a […]
You never have all of the facts
Reading Time: 2 min People work hard to try to have “all of the facts” when making a decision, which is a wise thing to do. At some point, though, you need to realize that you can’t literally have all of the facts and you just need to make the best decision that you can. I love this quote […]