week 73: be prepared or live in despair

the choice is clear but not easy

thank you to over 11,000 of you who read this weekly and share with your friends and family for behind the scenes on building a million dollar business from scratch and beyond.

i also include a personal note in the end so i am grateful that you let me do that without judgement.

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my calendar couldn’t look much worse for last two quarters.

as we pivoted on a new direction internally, I had no choice but to jump in with both feet and lead by example.

as a leader, you have to lead… in good times and more importantly, in crisis.

well that led to heroics on my part and led us out of a financial hole that I am so grateful to God and my teammates, that we would never want to be back in.

but that level of commitment also meant that most days I would do 12-15 meetings (sales + internal) and i needed to simply work hard to get us on the other side.

every day and week, felt like a month or year as the most important thing was to make sure we have the money in the bank.

i always say to my fellow founders, companies don’t run out of ideas, they run out of money.

so looking back that was the right thing to do and it led to now have almost a year worth of runway in the bank and building a profitable business from the get go.

but it also took a toll on my health and family time.

would i have done it another way - the answer is no.

tough time create tough teams and as long as i could set expectations at home and boundaries, the hard work is the reward.

what I learned all along is time and energy management in it, this is how I did it:

1. prepare or despair - Always had my day / week planned a day ahead so I know which calls and what my goals are

2. zero ghosting - I had almost zero ghosting on my calls because I would also send a note a day before on my preparation for the call and any questions. The other person will either respond with thank you or ask to reschedule but either way, there is no ghosting.

3. money is in the follow up so my follow ups for sales were never “here you go deck” but specific and time bound that required a yes or no.

4. quick to disqualify deals or endless conversations - this way i am not doing “let’s keep talking” calls as vanity metrics

5. focus on family and home - Friday evening through Sunday after Church complete i typically do a hard shut down so i am present and know what my top priority

6. idea capturing - since my mind still keeps running when i am on a break or off, i kept a notepad to write my ideas or thoughts instead of opening my inbox and get dragged in “work mode” when I should be present with family and friends

7. prep time - Sunday afternoon is a dedicated 1 - 2 hr prep when kids and wife is resting so i could prepare my week and have less anxiety. i used to simply scan my emails on Sunday and start working on it Monday morning but that created insane amount of anxiety and i felt like i am behind even before i started my day on Monday. now i get to zero inbox almost every weekend, so i am more in control of my day instead of the day in control of me

8. working out - this is really hard for me but i trying to go 2-3 times to Orange Theory in the am before the the day demands more of me - i am getting closer to touch my toes (by sometime in 2050 :))

9. gratitude and action items - every morning for over 5 years now, i write 3 things I am grateful for and 3 things I am doing that day. now i have started to share it with the team and the team is starting to do the same in Slack which creates a culture of transparency and requires everyone to come prepared every day

the more prepared i am for the day, the better my energy and outcomes.

on days when i simply rolled and got to “work”, and believe me, there are days like that with no agenda or goal, it is a slog!

ultimately the goal is to run my race effectively and do the best work of my life.

i have found that preparation is key to doing that and it’s a discipline.

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on a personal note, my daughter has been really asking good questions.

like why she is learning the world is a billion years old compared to the what she reads in the Bible and that’s not what it says.

well… we sat down and went thru the chronological study of time from creation (big bang of God) to Jesus to now and I asked her what you think?

she ran the numbers with me and said - “seems not too old”.

i shared with her that ultimately you have to think for yourself even when it says something in the Bible and not take it for face value.

when i test it, i have found Bible more trustworthy than my own mind and thoughts so listen to what’s going on and be prepared to ask questions and test it for yourself.

if you don’t prepare and study then you will simply accept what everyone around you is saying and think for yourself.

she made a note and wrote it on her notepad the entire timeline and also started to do reverse math and realized this - that’s why we have BC, because 2000 years ago Jesus was there that that is why BC stands for Before Christ.

we both smiled and that was pretty awesome moment for her to connect the dots.

now she knows why we all (the entire world) is in the 2023, not just because, but rather it’s history - 2000 years after life, death and resurrection of Jesus as an historical event.

next time she is learns something new, i pray that she would have the courage to ask - why?

or when someone asks her, she will be prepared to answer, why she believes what she believes in her own words.

leader point: prepare for each day and you will have a life that has an echo. for the unprepared, life is simply a despair.