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

• Mental wall – I hit a mental wall midweek. I suspect it was from Zoom burnout, insufficient separation between work and home, and good ol’ cabin fever. I acknowledged it, accepted that the day would not be productive, and started over the next day.
• Knowledge sharing – I’ve been more purposeful about sharing non-coronavirus articles and podcasts with people when they’re relevant to their interests. This has sparked some engaging dialogue. It’s a great way to stay connected with people and add value to relationships.
• Focus – My most productive time used to be mornings, but I’m noticing it shifting to afternoons. I’m playing with the idea of changing when I work on specific types of things. I think that will make me more efficient and focused.
• Reflection – Some days I don’t feel as productive working from home. At someone’s suggestion, I reflected on what I’ve accomplished during the pandemic (and the few months before it). It was a good exercise. I quantified what I’d accomplished and celebrated mentally.

This fourth week of working from home was the toughest so far. My big takeaway is to be conscious of wins and celebrate them. I think doing that will keep me steady. During week five, I’ll consider what working from home will look like for another four weeks or more.

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

While I was building CCAW, I always worried that rapid growth would cause us to drift away from the little things that made us successful and separated us from competitors. Ultimately, we built custom applications that facilitated consistent execution at scale using a PaaS provider (Salesforce Platform). This technology became our secret sauce. Without it, we would not have achieved eight-figure revenue (profitably) with happy customers and strong vendor relationships without raising capital from investors.

At a very high level, we identified manual processes that were critical to consistent execution and built them into our system, automating them as much as possible. We built dashboards that provided transparency and made key steps and metrics visible. We essentially built software that managed the various workflows of our very niche business.

As I’ve become more entrenched with SaaS companies, I’ve realized that very large SaaS companies were built around workflow management for specific use cases. SalesLoft for sales. ShipStation for shipping and order management. TSheets for time tracking. Gusto for payroll. JazzHR for recruiting. (I’m oversimplifying what these great companies do—they offer much more than I’ve given them credit for.)

When I speak with aspiring entrepreneurs, I share my realization. I remind them that they don’t have to create the next Facebook or Google. A great business idea could spring from observation (at home, at work, at school). Identify an area where workflow management technology could save time and money and make output more consistent and you may strike entrepreneurial gold.

In the current economic landscape, I think this perspective can give hope to people with dreams of becoming entrepreneurs. Sometimes all you need to do is notice a problem that’s right in front of you.

Do you know of a problem area that could benefit from custom workflow management technology?

Today I caught up with a friend who is a company founder. We discussed the current pandemic-generated business climate and how it will affect work going forward. We agreed that how people work will change in a big way.

Working from home isn’t new; it’s been around for decades. More than a few companies have been 100% distributed (with no central office) for over a decade. I consider these companies and their employees to be early adopters.

So why do I think the current situation will have a big impact on how people work? In a period of a week or two, almost all US companies have been forced to move to working from home. Such a rapid pace of adoption is unheard of. It would never have occurred without an external force preventing employees from safely commuting to and working in an office.

I predict that working from home will become the new norm. Why? Simple—productivity and commonalities.

Let’s look at it first from an employer’s perspective. Productivity has always been a major concern. Will people at home work as hard, communicate as well, and get as much work done? Now there will be data on these points. If the answer is yes, there will be a strong case for offering the option of working from home to most employees. Reducing overhead (such as real estate costs) and not being bound by geography in recruiting are attractive. Imagine needing half the office space and allowing your employees to live wherever is best for their family situations. Who doesn’t want lower costs and happier employees?

What about from an employee’s perspective? Working from home isn’t for everyone. Even if you have the personality to adapt well to working from home, until now there was something that made it less appealing, in my opinion. If all your friends and colleagues commute to work every day but you work from home, you will feel out of place and isolated. They can’t relate to you working in pajamas. Now, though, most people are working from home, a fact that fosters relatability and solidarity. You no longer feel like an outsider. Everyone is working in their PJs. Avoiding commutes, having more time for yourself, or living somewhere cheaper than a pricey urban center have their appeal. Imagine making the same salary and enjoying these benefits. Who doesn’t want to spend less and have more personal time?

At CCAW, half our team came to the office every day and half worked remotely (some in other countries). There were challenges—varying time zones was one—but I believe that allowing employees to work from home can be powerful, in part because it helps with retention by improving employees’ quality of life.

My prediction could be right or wrong. Regardless, I’m excited about seeing the new work norm.

What are your predictions for the future of work?

In previous posts, I shared how making prompt though imperfect decisions and executing them quickly accelerated my learning. Today, I saw this quote:

A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise one learns from the mistakes of others.

- Unknown

This reminded me of something else that helped me learn faster and make better decisions sooner: experience sharing.

I was introduced to structured experience sharing in my Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) forum. EO forum meetings adhere to the Gestalt Language Protocol. The protocol focuses people on sharing experiences rather than telling each other what to do. We avoid saying, “You should do XYZ because that’s what I did, and it worked.” Instead we say, “I did XYZ in a similar situation and these are the things that went well and the things that didn’t.” Sounds simple, but it’s pretty hard to do consistently.

After experience sharing via the Gestalt Language Protocol improved my entrepreneurial decision-making, I began using it in my personal life. Asking friends and family, “Have you ever experienced X?” drew them out. They described their own experiences instead of telling me what they thought I should do. I learned some amazing things about people close to me that I probably never would have known without that question. Sometimes all you have to do is ask.

The reason experience sharing is powerful is simple: time. We all get the same 24 hours, but how we use them begins to separate us. When credible people share their experiences with you, it saves you time and energy. You don’t have to go through the process of making a decision, executing it, and learning from the outcome. You get the CliffNotes version and learn right away from the outcomes of others. Take this approach consistently and you’ll avoid pitfalls, save a ton of time, and accomplish your goals faster.

I encourage anyone who’s navigating a difficult or important situation to talk with credible people and ask about their experiences. Many people have walked this Earth before us. Chances are, your situation isn’t unique and you can learn from them.

What experience-sharing best practices are you aware of?

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This past Friday marked the end of my third week of working exclusively from home. Here are my takeaways from week three:

• Social interaction – This week was tough. I missed seeing people, so I put extra energy into phone calls and had a few great catch-up conversations. The Fabriq app helped by reminding me who I needed to follow up with.
• Physical activity – I ran three days, four miles each day. Running is grueling, but the time outside excites me. Two days, I did 250 sit-ups and 250 push-ups. The goal is 500 of each.
• Unpack experiences – I thought about and documented a few of my major experiences. It’s hard to remember everything, and I wanted to capture details and timelines. I also figured it would be useful to have it ready to share when people ask about specifics of something I’ve been through. Surprisingly, I noticed patterns and causation. All in all a great learning exercise.
• Meals – I prepared meals (getting pointers from Mom) regularly. Cooking is becoming a great way for us to connect more. An unexpected silver lining!

The third week of working from home was interesting. It dawned on me that it’s been almost a month and there’s no clear end in sight. Using the time to unpack and document experiences was really helpful. During week four, I’m sure I’ll do more of that, and I’ll also think about what big things I’d like to accomplish while working from home in April.

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

Today I’m following up on my post about avoiding the perfect-decision trap. I shared how I used to make decisions slowly because I was trying to make perfect ones. I’ve learned better, and I now aim to make the best decision I can at any given time.

Of equal if not greater importance is executing decisions promptly. It seems to me that people often don’t implement their decisions at all, or they do so slowly. To be fair, there are a variety of valid reasons for this. People have ever-growing to-do lists and they’re constrained by limited time and resources. But fast execution seems to be the exception rather than the norm. In my experience, if you take action on your decisions quickly, you’ll have a distinct advantage over others.

Life is continual learning. You learn from outcomes and make better decisions moving forward. If you make good (not perfect) decisions and put them into play promptly, you’ll quickly amass a library of results that you can consult anytime. The situations you find yourself in won’t be uncharted territory; they’ll be variations of things you’ve dealt with before. You’ll become more confident and make better decisions because of your experience. Take this approach consistently over time and you’ll be light years ahead of others.

To be clear, I’m not advocating rash decision-making or poor execution. You do have to find the right balance between speed and quality; otherwise your outcomes could be disastrous. But in my opinion, implementing decisions quickly is beneficial because doing so accelerates your learning.

What have you learned that has helped you execute your decisions speedily?

I want to share more of what I’ve learned about self-awareness, which I recently posted about. A few months back, I took the StrengthsFinder assessment. Of the 34 qualities measured, my top two strengths are that I’m analytical and deliberative. StrengthsFinder defines these as follows:

• Analytical – You search for reasons and causes. You have the ability to think about all of the factors that might affect a situation.
• Deliberative – You are best described by the serious care you take in making decisions or choices. You anticipate obstacles.

This assessment was spot on. I’m a natural thinker and enjoy spending time considering possibilities and contemplating different scenarios.

When I read my results, though, something dawned on me. When I was younger, I was hindered by not realizing that I’m wired with these two traits. In the early days of CCAW, I tried to gather every scrap of information and understand every possible outcome before making a decision. It took me longer to decide about anything than it should have because I was aiming for perfection.

Speedy decision-making and execution are important to entrepreneurial success. Ideally, you should make the best decision you can with imperfect or incomplete information, execute on it quickly, learn from what happens, and apply your newfound insight next time. Doing so repeatedly is foundational to building a company. And you get pretty good at making decisions.

Venture capitalists often look at speed of execution when they’re considering investing in an entrepreneur. And for good reason. It’s an indicator—one of many, true—of the entrepreneur’s chances of success.

I’ve become mindful of how long I take to make a decision and execute on it. I’ve embraced reality: I’ll never have all the information, and there’s no such thing as a perfect decision. I make the best decision I can in the circumstances, carry it out, and analyze how things turn out so I can do better next time. Things don’t always turn out the way I’d hoped, but I’m always learning.

What have you learned that’s helped your decision-making?

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This week I had a conversation with my first entrepreneurial mentor. We reflected on my journey and how much I’ve developed and matured. I started CCAW partly because I was supremely self-confidence. I thought I was superhuman, able to accomplish the impossible without help. Falsely, I believed I couldn’t fail. I knew the things that could go wrong, but I didn’t think they applied to me. When people reminded me of the risk I was taking, I was unfazed.

I had this attitude because of where I was in life. I was extremely young, only a few years out of college. I thought I knew everything. In truth, though, my knowledge gap was enormous and I didn’t know much at all. It was so early in my career that I hadn’t experienced any setbacks or run up against obstacles. In short, I was young, dumb, and stubborn.

Once I was full-time at CCAW, I learned the limitations of my superhuman powers. It was 2008 and the financial crisis was upending the world. I was drowning in an ever-deepening ocean of things that needed to be done, I had no help or resources to lean on, and I was fighting an uphill battle against a global recession to acquire customers. I began to question myself and I didn’t have the right support system, so I started to feel like the lone man on the island. That was my reality for a few years.

Talking with my mentor this week, I realized that my journey as an entrepreneur took a turn for the better when I became more self-aware. Once I experienced painful failures with no one to blame but myself, I was forced to take a hard look in the mirror. What I saw was an ordinary imperfect human who couldn’t do it all by himself. The failures were the result of my weaknesses in areas critical to CCAW’s success.

I began to be candid with others about my weaknesses and I sought out a mentor to help me improve. I connected with my first mentor, and things quickly changed. She gave me blunt feedback and told me what I needed to do to be a better entrepreneur. I took her critiques in stride (sometimes this was painful) and didn’t push back. After all, I had sought her out and asked for help.

Most venture capitalists invest only in entrepreneurs who are coachable. Now I understand why. The entrepreneurial journey is a hard one, and you need all the help you can get to be successful. If you aren’t self-aware and open to feedback, you’re more likely to fail. I encourage people to be honest with themselves about the things they don’t do well and get help with them. This simple mindset adjustment can change your life.

How has being self-aware helped you?

In CCAW’s early days, I avoided making tough decisions until I absolutely had to. I was inexperienced and afraid of doing the wrong thing, and I always hoped that something material would change so I wouldn’t have to do anything. In hindsight, I can see that procrastinating just delayed the inevitable and piled stress on my team and on me.

With more experience, I learned a better way. I began announcing decisions I needed to make and the date by which I needed to make them. Usually, my confidants were professional people whom I held in high regard (for instance, my EO Forum and mentors). Sometimes, they included team members, family, and close friends.

Why did I put myself on the spot? Simple—to give others permission to hold me accountable. For me personally, public accountability is powerful because I’m wired to be competitive and I have a strong sense of responsibility. I hate losing and tend to take psychological ownership of what I say I will do. If I commit to doing something and then don’t, I feel like I lost and also like I let other people down. I want to avoid both of those horrible feelings.

The pandemic has created an unprecedented macroeconomic environment. Navigating to the other side of it will require tough, timely decisions. Consider whether public accountability could help you make them.

What are your methods for getting yourself to make difficult decisions?

Today I was reflecting on all my conversations with entrepreneurs over the last three weeks. What entrepreneurs are talking about has changed drastically. And this makes perfect sense given the pandemic. But beyond the obvious, I believe the change reflects a shift in entrepreneurs’ mindsets.

The economy has been mostly expanding for the last decade or so. Until March, there didn’t appear to be anything that would prevent 2020 from being another growth year. Most entrepreneurs were focused solely on growth. They planned to raise capital, hire people, and execute on growth-focused initiatives. The metrics they measured and discussed were usually growth-oriented.

The pandemic is a clear and present danger and has brought some businesses to a standstill. It’s now clear that 2020 will not be a year of growth for most, and for many it will be a year of deep contraction. Most entrepreneurs I’ve spoken with are trying to gauge how much business they’ll lose and figure out how to reduce the size of their team and their expenses while maintaining positive cash flow. The metrics that are now being measured and discussed focus on efficiency.

In my opinion, during economic expansions most entrepreneurs accept a certain level of inefficiency in the name of growth. They’re trying to move as much water as possible from point A to point B. They know water is slopping out of the buckets because they’re moving fast, but as long as more water is pouring into the tanks at point A, it doesn’t matter. But during economic contractions, the same entrepreneurs embrace efficiency. The water source dries up, so they put lids on the buckets and carry them slowly to make the most of the water they have.

Having experienced growth mode at CCAW, I recognize that it’s very difficult to get a team to focus on growth and efficiency simultaneously. When you’re growing, you live by the done-is-better-than-perfect mindset. There are more things to do than there are people to do them. Your people will become frustrated if they’re told, “Move fast! Get it done! Oh, and do everything perfectly. No waste or mistakes!”

Without a doubt, there will be pain in the short term for many entrepreneurs. However, I strongly believe that the lessons we learn during this period will help our companies endure.