Yesterday I watched the 2020 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting. It was held virtually and streamed live on Yahoo! Finance. I’ve never attended one of Berkshire’s annual meetings, so I figured this would be a great learning opportunity. Warren Buffett is a famous investor whose opinions about financial markets have a big impact on many people.

Here are a few of my takeaways:

• History – Buffett spent quite a bit of time giving a history lesson on the markets since his birth (which was during the Great Depression). He was extremely knowledgeable about market history, specific actions on specific dates, and key figures involved in those decisions. I’d imagine his knowledge of history has been a key factor in his success.
• America – He was bullish on America and warned his listeners many times that no one should ever bet against America.
• Airlines – Until recently, Berkshire owned roughly 10% of the four largest US airlines, which Buffett said all have excellent management teams. He thinks air travel has been fundamentally changed by the pandemic and sold Berkshire’s airline positions in March for $6 billion.
• Patiently waiting – Berkshire has over $137 billion in cash and cash equivalents, but it didn’t buy much of anything in March or April. Buffett said he hadn’t seen “anything that attractive.”

The meeting was packed with great information. I was impressed with Buffett’s mental and physical stamina. He talked nonstop for almost five hours about complicated topics and answered audience questions. I’m going to watch it again! I picked up a ton of great nuggets, but I’m sure I missed another ton of equally great ones. If this sounds interesting to you, consider watching the replay here.

This week I had the pleasure of attending Techstars Demo Days “in” Boston and Boulder. These events are held in cities all over the world and historically they’re hosted by each city’s local Techstars Accelerator. Accelerators are three-month programs in which entrepreneurs receive “funding, mentorship and access to the Techstars network for life.” Because of the pandemic, all spring 2020 demo days are virtual (I’m not sure if virtual attendance used to be an option). I jumped at the chance to learn about new companies and ideas in various places.

Techstars accelerators give entrepreneurs access to a lot of really smart people—including past and present entrepreneurs in the Techstars network—who can help them fast-track their progress and otherwise support them. Demo days are a great way for entrepreneurs to get introduced to customers and potential investors.

Techstars has seven additional demo days scheduled in May and June. You can register for upcoming events and review past ones (including viewing pitches) here. If you’re interested in hearing about new problems and solutions, consider taking a look.

Today marked the end of my seventh week of workingexclusively from home. Here are my takeaways from week seven:‍

• ‍Groove – I’ve finally settled into a consistently productive routine. Start my workdayat a normal hour after the usual “getting ready.” Do work that doesn’t require prolongedattention in the a.m. Go for a run for a change of scene around lunch. Hold a meetingin the early afternoon.  Work on thingsthat require focused concentration after 3:00.‍
• Wins –This week I celebrated three small wins. Nothing monumental, but things I’ve wanted to get done for some time. I noticed that this helped keep me motivated and moving forward. I’ll make sure to set myself up for a few little wins everyweek.
• ‍Office – I visited the office briefly (with an N95 mask on). It was completely empty. It was nice to go somewhere different, but I was very uncomfortable even with no one else there. I’ll continue working from home for the foreseeable future.
• ‍Sunshine –The more sunshine there is, the better I feel as I’m working from home. There was a good amount of it this week, so I felt great. Can’t control this, but I’ll hope for the best.

Week seven was one of the better weeks I’ve had since I began “sheltering in place.” I feel like I’ve settled into a good groove. My days have rhythm. My big takeaway is that all the small adjustments over thelast few weeks have started to pay off.

I’ll continue to learn from this unique situation, adjust asnecessary, and share my experience.

Today I had an interesting conversation with a buddy. We talked about how certain environments accelerated our success. He believes that proximity to success increases one’s own likelihood of success and I agree with him.

When I started CCAW, I was working out of an apartment and had zero interaction with other entrepreneurs, which was pretty miserable. I felt isolated and had to do everything myself—after first teaching myself how to do it. Eventually, I joined EO Accelerator, headquartered the business in Atlanta Tech Village, and then joined EO’s Atlanta Chapter. Each was a stepping stone. While I was in EO Accelerator, CCAW was doing less than $1M in annual revenue, but I was mentored by EO members whose companies had crossed that threshold. The path to $1M suddenly became clearer. Before the move, we had almost zero technology. At Atlanta Tech Village, I was surrounded by tech companies, so I could bounce from floor to floor getting technical questions answered. Building tech became a lot easier and we surpassed $1M in annual revenue. Once I joined EO, I was surrounded by local peers who had built companies with annual revenue from $1M to $100M+ and who were willing to help in any way they could. The path to $10M spread out before me.

Without proximity to these groups, would we have exceeded $10M in revenue? Maybe. Did it help us get there faster? Without a doubt.

My experience tells me that being around people who are where you aim to be makes it more likely you’ll get there. Success seems more real when it has names and faces. You learn little secrets through osmosis. You can find out the details of their journeys, get game-changing intros, and ask for help strategizing. Proximity isn’t the deciding factor in your success, but it can be very influential.

How has proximity accelerated your success?

There’s a project I’ve been wanting to do for a few years, but I always told myself I didn’t have the time. Then a few weeks ago, I decided that during the pandemic would be the perfect time to knock it out. It’s about a subject that I have no experience with or knowledge about, so I’ve spent most of my time doing research. After a while, with a self-imposed deadline (which I had told other people about) approaching, something occurred to me: I hadn’t made enough progress, and I was going to miss the deadline if I didn’t make a change.

A few months back, I took the StrengthsFinder assessment. I shared my top two strengths in a previous post. My number three strength was that I’m a learner. StrengthsFinder defines “learner” as follows:

You have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. The process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites you.

Today, I realized that this strength was hindering me from completing my project. I was stuck in my comfort zone, learning more about it than actually doing it. In truth, I was unsure about how to move forward. My lack of experience and knowledge affected my confidence and I overcompensated with my “learner” strength.

So, the change I made was to reconnect with an acquaintance who has eight years of experience in this area. In an hour on Zoom, we caught up on life and he filled my knowledge gap. He gave me a high-level overview of the topic and specific recommendations geared to what I’m aiming to accomplish. After our call, I felt encouraged and super confident about how to proceed. I put my head down for three hours and finished the first version of the project. Unbelievably, in four hours today I accomplished more on this project than I’ve been able to do in years.

I have a few important takeaways from this:

• Self-awareness – My natural strength took over without my realizing it and handicapped me. Once I was aware of it, I had to offset the handicap.
• Experience sharing – In an hour, I was able to learn exactly what I needed from someone else’s years of experience. This saved me a ton of time and gave me the confidence to move forward.
• Roadblocks – For years, I thought my roadblock was lack of time. In reality, it was lack of confidence rooted in lack of knowledge and experience. The next time I put something off, I need to ask myself what the true root cause is.
• Public accountability – Setting a deadline and sharing it with other people made me accountable. Without the looming prospect of explaining my failure to those folks, I probably would have just pushed the deadline out. I’m glad I put myself under the gun.

How have you overcome self-doubt to reach a goal?

I had a recent conversation with some folks from a company that’s trying to survive the pandemic. They’ve furloughed many employees and seen revenue drop by half. They’re automotive B2B, so this isn’t surprising. (You may have noticed that cars aren’t being driven as much these days.) The company has a good reputation, quality products, and a good team. They’ve just been bludgeoned by our invisible enemy.

I asked about their plans. They intend to get business back to normal by communicating more often with current customers and convincing former customers to consider doing business with them again. This isn’t much different than what they’ve always done. The strategy isn’t bad, and I’m sure their customers appreciate the extra attention.

However, as I thought about it more, I saw neglected opportunity. Instead of strategically positioning themselves for post-pandemic success, they’re banking on the future looking like the recent past. But consumer habits have changed drastically since February. To be fair, people will revert to some of their old habits when they can, but even so, a host of new habits are being formed. Businesses like this one can choose: adapt, or risk being forced to give way to new companies created for new times.  

I view today’s mass transformation of consumer and business habits as a land-grab opportunity for forward-thinking, open-minded entrepreneurs. Those who acknowledge that habits are shifting and create products and services to meet consumers’ new needs will be successful.

What new consumer habits do you predict will stay with us post-pandemic?

Today I spoke with an entrepreneur who asked for my perspective on a distressed asset opportunity. He’s seeking opinions on whether he should pursue the deal and on ways to maximize the value of the asset.

It occurred to me how different the conversation was from others I’ve had recently. In the midst of a pandemic, this entrepreneur is thinking of jumping on an opportunity to acquire more assets when others are minimizing costs and stockpiling cash. As I thought more about this, I realized a few things:‍

• ‍Perspective – Where others see uncertainty, this entrepreneur sees opportunity. He’s your quintessential glass-half-full kind of guy. ‍
• Positioning – He has positioned himself to be presented with and to capitalize on opportunities. Over the years, he’s developed a strong network that he reaches out to regularly. This keeps him top of mind—people think of him when opportunities arise. And his network is full of subject matter experts who can provide valuable insights when he needs them. Lastly, he isn’t leveraged, so he can pull the trigger quickly when he sees an opportunity that he wants to seize. It’s classic “quick close” positioning.
• ‍Just the beginning – This could be the beginning of a period of exceptional opportunity for people with an appetite for risk and the vision to see post-pandemic potential.‍
• Relationships matter – The sellers could get more for their asset, but they’d rather deal with someone they know who has a track record of honoring his commitments.

The future is very uncertain, but some people will thrive. I see entrepreneurs turning ideas into great companies and creating value in distressed situations.  

What opportunities have you taken advantage of in uncertain times?

I recently caught up with an acquaintance who happens to bean entrepreneur. We discussed what’s happened since the last time we spoke and what’s on the horizon. He mentioned that a recent change of scene allowed him to focus better and feel more at peace. He’d been feeling distracted by how well some of his peers are doing and under self-imposed pressure to reach headline-grabbing heights. I was reminded of a quote I like:

Comparison is the thief of joy.

~ President Theodore Roosevelt

This entrepreneur has a thriving company. Revenues are growing and his team is expanding. By most measures, he’s achieved a remarkable level of success. Now, is he the most successful entrepreneur of all time? No. Has he made the cover of Forbes? Nope. Has he built a great company he can be proud of with happy customers? Absolutely!  

My big takeaway was that even accomplished people feel insecure. Successful people, like everyone else, have their moments—or days, weeks, or months—of self-doubt. They just may not be as open to admitting it. Fortunately for this entrepreneur, he is self-aware enough to recognize what was distracting him and make changes to mitigate the problem.  

How do you avoid comparing yourself to others?

I recently spoke with an entrepreneur whose business is falling off due to the pandemic. He’s starting to see about a 25% drop in customers and revenue. We talked about rightsizing to avoid unprofitability.

We categorized each of his expenses as fixed or variable. Most of the latter should decrease effortlessly because he’ll be using products and services less. I encouraged him to try to reduce fixed expenses by proactively contacting the people he’s paying and letting them know his situation. He told me he’s begun doing this and has been able to negotiate some savings—most notably, a 40% reduction in rent for the next few months. It turned out that his landlord appreciated the proactive communication and wants to keep him as a tenant. No doubt it helped that the entrepreneur has paid on time for five years and rent payments aren’t the landlord’s primary income.

My big takeaway from this conversation is that proactive communication is powerful. He didn’t procrastinate until things became dire. He acknowledged what’s happening, came up with helpful ideas, and openly discussed the problem with other people it affects. The upshot was an amicable win–win resolution that will help his business survive the downturn and avoid disasters like bankruptcy and lawsuits.

I encourage anyone navigating rough waters to look reality in the face and communicate honestly with other stakeholders sooner rather than later. What you don’t ask for, you won’t get.

How has proactive communication kept you from running aground?

Today marked the end of my sixth week of working exclusively from home. Here are my takeaways from week six:

• Focus – I wasn’t as focused this week. I think having to stay in the same environment while I did a bunch of different things caught up with me. I’m more productive when I work on different tasks in different environments (for instance, by walking to another part of my office building). Since I can’t do that, I’m planning to focus on just one or two things a day next week.
• Zoom fatigue – Last week, I wrote about how I started talking with folks on the phone so I could walk around. Since then, I’ve read an article about Zoom fatigue, which struck a chord. That’s me—a victim of Zoom fatigue. I’ll start having even more walking phone conversations.
• Time blocks – I’m now working on things requiring serious uninterrupted concentration after 3:30 p.m.

The sixth week wasn’t as tough as week five or six, but even so it was no walk in the park. My big takeaway from this week is that I should try harder to be self-aware. What’s working? What isn’t? And why? I suspect I’ll be making small adjustments every week for the foreseeable future.

I continue to learn from this unique situation, adjust as necessary, and share my experience.