Today, someone asked for my perspective on the future. I gave it to him, adding the caveat that I can’t make sense of a lot of things happening right now because I lack the experience. He also wanted to share his thoughts about a new venture he’s considering.

As we talked, I learned more about this potential business, his evaluation, and his timetable. He’s sought the perspective of other entrepreneurs, researched the space extensively, and seriously thought through how to make it work with his personal situation. I was impressed.

I described how I started CCAW. My analysis wasn’t sophisticated. I had knowledge about a space and relationships in it. I saw a problem I thought I could solve. I tested to see what would happen and started the company when my hypothesis was confirmed.

To be fair to myself, I was only a few years removed from being a broke college student. I didn’t have any real responsibilities. My evaluation could be simple because the risk of ruin wasn’t a big deal. And I believe I did one critical thing right: I trusted my gut. I didn’t overthink and overanalyze. (I actually didn’t analyze much at all.) My gut said it was a good opportunity, so I ran with it. CCAW eventually reached eight figures in revenue (while turning a profit), so it worked out in the end.

At the tail end of our conversation, I asked, “What does your gut tell you?” His reply? “I should wait. There’s too much uncertainty in the business model and the timing doesn’t feel right.” I didn’t tell him this, but I agreed 100%.

The next time you’re trying to make an important decision, before you analyze, before you seek opinions, be honest with yourself. Listen to your gut first.

Has your gut helped you in your decision-making?  

Sheltering in place for over a month has been . . . weird, let’s say. A lot of people are now working exclusively from home. Travel is limited. Routine activities like grocery runs are potentially hazardous to health. COVID-19 stats in the news are frightening. After reflecting on all of this today, I realized that one thing is helping me cope: bidirectional relationships.

I’m reaching out to more people. Others are reaching out to me. Each of us listens to what the other has to say about our experiences navigating the pandemic. What lessons have we learned—good and bad? What information do I have that they may find helpful? And vice versa? What do we think about the state of the world—and what do we believe about the future? To be supportive and convey that I care about what they’re going through, I always end by asking if there’s anything I can do to help them.

These conversations usually energize me. This is partly because of the social interaction, but beyond that I also enjoy feeling that I helped someone and at the same time invested in the relationship.

A good friend recently shared this analogy: “Relationships are like bank accounts. If you make withdrawals but never make deposits, your account will become overdrawn, and eventually it will be closed.”  

Are you investing in your relationships—or draining them dry?

Not long ago, I had a conversation with an advisor. He has way more experience than I do in life and in business. He’s been extremely helpful, sharing his experiences to help me navigate deep waters. I’m very appreciative of his counsel. As we caught up, we discussed what we have planned for the future.

He was excited about the prospects of a new company he’s about to form. Sounds good, right? Sure—until you know that the market he’s going after doesn’t exist. No one knows anything about the space . . . and I do mean anything at all. I asked a few questions because I couldn’t get my head around what he was talking about. Then it dawned on me. On the basis of his experience and product knowledge, he’s predicting the future. He’s skating to where he thinks the puck is going to be.

Think back to 2007. Most of us didn’t imagine that social media, delivery apps, or many other things we use every day would be as dominant in 2020 as they are. What’s funny is that in hindsight, it seems obvious. As a society, we were increasingly becoming more digital, our networks were becoming more dispersed globally, and we were carrying mini computers in our pockets. Entrepreneurs who can recognize changes as they’re occurring, make gutsy predictions, and work to capitalize on the opportunities they envision are a rare breed.

I’m not sure what even the near future will look like, but I’m very confident that it will look different. New habits and routines are being established. Some norms (January’s!) will no longer be viable.

All this rapid change offers rare opportunities to people with vision and moxie. Skate to where you think the puck will be. You might be the only one out there for a while, but if you’re right you could score a life-changing goal.

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

• Mental wall – I hit a mental wall again at the beginning of the week (as I did in the middle of week four). I shared what was bothering me with other people and accepted that the day wouldn’t be productive. I also reviewed what I’ve accomplished since the pandemic began. Thankfully, there have been wins. My mental celebration allowed me to put my funk behind me and start fresh the next day.
• Peer experiences – I spoke with peers about what we’re feeling and experiencing working from home. They described challenges similar to mine, which gave me comfort. We discussed strategies to combat our predicament, which was energizing.
• Phone calls – I got antsy sitting all day, so in some cases I switched from Zoom meetings to phone calls so I could walk around outside. This worked out great when my conversation was with people I speak to often. It killed two birds with one stone.
• Time blocks – I played with working on things that require uninterrupted concentration in the late afternoon. This was effective because I received fewer calls and requests to meet after 3:00. I plan to continue testing this.

The fifth week was mentally bruising. I suspect that each week the pandemic continues will be much the same. My big takeaway from this week is to discuss my problems with others. Everyone is going through the same thing—we might as well discuss our experiences and support each other. I learned a lot from it.

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

Unemployment benefits claims figures for last week were released today: over five million claims were filed. In the last four weeks, more than 22 million claims have been filed. This is unprecedented.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve had conversations with six entrepreneurs who have furloughed or laid off staff. Each company’s situation was different, but they had one thing in common: the pandemic had put immense pressure on them and a difficult decision had to be made in order to survive.

Each entrepreneur told me how difficult the decision was and how gut-wrenching their conversations with their employees were. They shared some of their thoughts leading up to those meetings, how they were personally affected, and how they broke the news. All of them explained the company’s situation, explained how they came to their decision, and treated their exiting team members as fairly as reasonably possible (depending on the resources available). In short, they treated them like people.

Entrepreneurs are optimistic and see lots of opportunity in the world. But regardless of how optimistic we are, we can’t capitalize on opportunity by ourselves. It’s a team effort and the team is composed of people (not numbers). Nevertheless, to keep their companies afloat in turbulent times, entrepreneurs must sometimes let people go.

Today, almost all entrepreneurs are being forced to deal with uncertainty and immense challenges. I think it’s important to keep in mind that we’re all people—not statistics or numbers. This mindset won’t change what must be done, but it could affect how it’s done. Treating people fairly and with dignity during tough times helps them. Being let go (or having their hours or pay reduced) will still be painful, but they will be able to maintain their dignity and feel like a human being.

Next time you have to make a tough call, imagine yourself in the other person’s seat before you proceed.

What lessons have you learned while carrying out difficult decisions?

Entrepreneurs are naturally optimistic. We see opportunity where others see obstacles. Our glass is half full. This attitude helps us rally a team, make the impossible possible, and turn opportunities into profits. There’s a downside, though: the sheer number of opportunities we see.

At CCAW, I saw a world full of opportunity and shared my enthusiasms with the team. One minute I was excited about a potential new vendor, the next, a new product category, and the next, onboarding everyone to a new piece of technology. My team was also optimistic, and we were bouncing from thing to thing like pinballs and accomplishing only a fraction of what we were capable of.

Finally, I decided to figure out why. I sat down with one of our team members and asked her opinion about why we weren’t making enough progress. The feedback was blunt. “Jermaine, you introduce too many new things too frequently. We can’t do everything at once and don’t know what the priority is.” When I heard that, I realized that I was the problem. I was stretching limited resources across an ever-changing list of ideas that popped into my head. I wasn’t focused, so the team wasn’t focused.

I changed how I operated, beginning to think more medium-term and long-term. Where do I want CCAW to be in a few years? What do I need to get done this year to hit my multiyear goal? I wrote down that single high-level objective. Then I prioritized quarterly initiatives for the team to focus on and made sure alignment with the annual objective was crystal clear. I documented it all on one page and presented it to the team. We discussed it and I made adjustments based on their feedback.

This change made all the difference. It focused everyone on the same things and made our weekly one-on-one and team meetings more productive (and shorter). Did we still drop balls? Absolutely. Were any of those balls mission critical? Nope. We had learned to focus our limited resources on the things that truly moved us forward. Now, to be clear, this was a top-down approach. It fit us because we were a small bootstrapping team. As teams become larger, working from the bottom up can be better.

My big takeaway from this experience was simple: focus. When we focused our energy on a singular objective, amazing things happened. When I speak with new entrepreneurs, they often seem excited about a million opportunities. I share my experience with them and implore them to figure out what’s most important to their business and then focus on that one thing. It’s a game changer!

How has focusing your efforts helped you excel?

When I started CCAW, there was no team. It was just me. The solo years were rough. It was during the housing crisis, so I did what I had to do to keep things going. Having lived the experience of being a bootstrapping solo founder, I don’t recommend it. Venture capitalists and early-stage investors prefer to invest in founding teams—for good reason. I learned why the hard way.

It’s understood and accepted that start-ups won’t be great at everything. They don’t have the resources or experience yet. But if a start-up is terrible at something critical, it can be the kiss of death. You could be great at making a product or offering a service that solves a pressing need. But if you’re no good at making people aware it exists, you won’t be around long.

In my opinion, the key to early success is a complementary team that makes your company good enough at critical things to survive. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. There are areas where we come up short, and that’s OK. A complementary team—one with diverse talents—balances and mitigates individual weaknesses. Your company is less likely to fail if it doesn’t lack essential expertise.

At CCAW, I spent a lot of time trying to get up to speed in areas where I was weak. I became decent in some of them, but it took a ridiculous amount of time and the end product usually wasn’t spectacular. The result was high stress and slower progress than I envisioned. When I added high-level thinkers a few years later who complemented me, our growth accelerated and we eventually achieved eight-figure revenue and were profitable.

When I speak with solo founders, I always share my experience so they don’t have to learn the hard way like I did. Teamwork is dream work!

How has embracing teams helped you succeed?

Today I met with an entrepreneur who’s preparing to solicit investors. As we walked through his pitch deck, he detailed his advantages over competitors. One of them jumped out at me: lower price.

To be fair, there’s nothing wrong with providing a service or product that adds substantially more value than a competitor’s at a lower price. Companies that can do that are usually employing superior technology. But if your product or service is similar to your competitors’ and you’re differentiating yourself on price, you’re on a slippery slope.

Why? Customer loyalty. If the deciding factor for a customer is low cost, that probably won’t change. If a competitor undercuts your price, you will lose that customer. Bargain hunters don’t tend to be loyal to a brand. OK, you might ask, why not just find a new customer? Well, the number of customers is finite, so you want to keep the ones you have. Then there are customer acquisition costs. Marketing to snag a customer is expensive. The cost is justified when the customer will keep coming back over the long term (Amazon and Walmart are extreme examples) or when a one-time transaction has an extremely high profit margin. But when you spend a lot to acquire a customer who buys only once and your margins are low, you lost money on that relationship.

At CCAW, I learned early the importance of charging a fair price. We redid our pricing strategy in 2011. I was betting that consumers were moving away from a recession mindset and were open to paying full value. As predicted, we lost some customers. However, a foundation of healthier margins allowed us to bootstrap our growth from then on.

Venture capitalists can be reluctant to invest in a company where price is the competitive advantage. I encourage new entrepreneurs to be mindful of what kinds of customers are likely to be loyal.

What lessons have you learned about low prices?

This past week I hit a mental wall. Working from home and being under a stay-at-home order for four weeks definitely were the root causes this time. But even before the pandemic, every so often I—like everyone, I imagine—have had days when it’s noticeably more challenging to operate at peak productivity.

Over the years, I’ve become more self-aware and have noticed patterns in my work style. For example, I’ve usually been more productive and better able to concentrate for extended periods early in the morning. And I’ve identified the types of tasks at which I excel—and at which I don’t. I’m very good at identifying opportunities for improvement, finding the root causes of problems, and crafting creative ways to reach a goal when it seems impossible. I’m not as great at generating a ton of new ideas rapidly or moving from thing to thing in rapid-fire succession.

Even with all this self-awareness, there are still days when I’m just not as productive as usual. Over time, I’ve learned to embrace those days rather than fight them. No matter how much I want to operate at my peak, I’m only human. Earlier in my career, I would keep pushing myself and beating myself up all day. That didn’t work. Now, I acknowledge that I’m having an off day and adjust my expectations for the day. This usually means doing more check-the-box things, ending my workday earlier, and starting over the next day. I also take a moment to consider why I’m off. Sometimes it’s because of physical or mental exhaustion. Other times nonwork things are all I can think about.

Sometimes entrepreneurs are portrayed as machines who can accomplish impossible things. While it’s true that entrepreneurs make the impossible possible, we are far from being machines. The next time you’re struggling, consider embracing your off day. Think a bit about why it’s occurring. It could be nothing to worry about, or (especially if it’s not a one-off) it could be an indicator that something important is amiss that you need to pay attention to. (You’re steering your business down the wrong path? Your marriage is foundering?) Regardless, know that you’re not alone—everyone has off days.

What’s your approach to handling off days?

In a previous post, I shared my prediction about the future of work. After continuing to discuss new norms with others, I’m convinced that the pandemic, tragic though it is, can also be viewed as a rare opportunity. StrengthsFinder defines people who see the world through a futuristic lens as:

inspired by the future and what could be. They energize others with their visions of the future.

The pandemic changed things swiftly and drastically. Many historical norms were upended. In my opinion, new practices will develop in many industries. I believe it will be a while before consumers will gather for sporting events, restaurant dining, concerts, movies, air travel, festivals, and the like. Business models that necessitate congregating won’t be viable in the near term because they won’t be profitable. This creates opportunities for entrepreneurs with a futuristic perspective.

Let’s take restaurants, for example. They offer social connection over meals. Normal dining won’t be feasible for some time, but people still want to maintain relationships by breaking bread together. Hence the opportunity. The restaurant of the future could have many small private dining spaces. Or maybe it will be a subscription business that ships ingredients in advance of a chef giving a cooking lesson via internet to small groups in someone’s home. I haven’t thought these ideas through; the point is that with the status quo having been swept away, customers will be open to—indeed, seeking—alternatives.

My prediction could be right or wrong. Regardless, I’m excited about finding out what new norms will be created by futuristic entrepreneurs.

What futuristic opportunities do you foresee?