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.

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.

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 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.

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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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?

Today marked the end of my second week of working exclusively from home. Here are my takeaways from week 2:

• Physical activity – I embraced running outside during week 1, but it’s been raining too much to do it consistently this week. I adjusted by incorporating bodyweight exercises into my routine. I even began a daily challenge (with friends, for accountability): 200 push-ups and 200 sit-ups. Fitbod is a cool app with algorithmic daily workout suggestions customized for you and your situation. Happily, it works when you want to lose body fat and you’re stuck at home with no equipment.
• Time – My days began to creep a little. I found myself working at 8 p.m. one day. Going forward, I intend to stick closely to defined working hours.
• Social interaction – I attended a Zoom video happy hour, which was a lot of fun. And I’ve been using Zoom videos often to catch up with people. It helps to see someone’s face during a conversation.
• Meals – I’m cooking more (after calling Mom for her favorite recipes). Researching and discussing recipes (“What are you cooking?” is a great conversation starter these days) highlighted some of the unhealthy things in those tasty restaurant meals I’m accustomed to. I really miss not doing lunches with people, but I’m replacing them with—you guessed it—Zoom video calls.
• Relationships – This has been a great time to reach out with and catch up with people. More folks answer or return calls quickly.
• Goals – Having this much downtime may never happen again in my life. I want to make the most of it. This week, I’m going to consider what I want to accomplish during this lull.
• Reflection – I’m a thinker by nature, and now I have more time to think deeply about things, which I’m enjoying.

This second week of working from home wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t bad, either. I’ll continue to reflect on my goals and look for creative ways to interact socially. I plan to learn from this unique situation, adjust as necessary, and share my experience.

Tomorrow, I’m speaking with a group of rising entrepreneurs about my experience founding CCAW. They’re all very early-stage, don’t have established customer bases, and may not have a product–market fit yet. I’ve been pondering what will be most helpful considering the allotted time (it’s hard to condense more than ten years of insights into twenty minutes) and the reality of the pandemic. I decided to prepare by mapping my CCAW journey in a lifeline (a diagram of the major highs and lows of something, such as a life or a career).

Doing this exercise recalled to my mind lots of great (and not so great) times. I decided to focus on sharing the lows of my journey. My goal isn’t to be negative or pessimistic—quite the opposite. I’m assuming things have gotten very difficult, very fast for this group. By sharing my low points, I hope to communicate these points:

• Take advantage – Negative experiences mark us the most, and they shape entrepreneurs. Appreciate this time as a learning opportunity.
• Change – People are forced to embrace change when times are tough. Make wise changes.
• Cycles – They’re inevitable. Those who survive downturns ride the wave up and do well. Focus on keeping your business alive.
• You’re not alone – Every entrepreneur (and every business, for that matter) is dealing with the same pandemic. Find a peer group. Their experiences—if you pay attention to them and apply them—will help you navigate this difficult time.
• No comfort zone – When you’re uncomfortable, you’re usually growing. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
  

Today marked the end of my first week working exclusively from home. My normal routine has always included working at home part of the time, but until now I’ve worked mostly in an office.

Here are my takeaways from week 1:

• Physical activity – I like being active and usually work out in a gym. Since I couldn’t do that (thanks, coronavirus), I adjusted by taking up running outside (I hate running). Surprisingly, I enjoyed the fresh air and constantly changing scenery.
• Time – Not having to take time to “get ready” and then commute was refreshing. I had more productive time.
• Social interaction – Not being around people affected me initially, but video calls and meetings provided enough social interaction for me to feel normal.
• Meals – I typically have lunch with friends or colleagues a few times every week. I didn’t care for not being able to. A friend mentioned they had done a virtual lunch via FaceTime. I haven’t tried it, but I may if this becomes the new norm.
• Focus – There are distractions at home, so I have to make more of an effort to focus on work.
• Separation – Traveling from my office to my home has always helped me shift my mindset from work to my personal life. Now, I must create that separation within my home. Having a dedicated home office has been helpful.

During this first week, anyway, working from home all the time hasn’t been as bad as I imagined. I’ve learned what I need in order to feel normal, and I look for alternatives that work in the current environment. I pay attention when people mention what they’re doing to help their teams adjust to working from home (for example, video happy hours and breakroom channels in Slack). I can't control this situation, but I can make the best of it. I plan to learn from this, adjust as necessary and share my experience with others.

As I write this, the coronavirus pandemic is forcing companies to rethink how their employees work. They must embrace the work-from-home option like never before. I managed a mixed team of remote and in-office workers at CCAW, so I thought it might be helpful to share what I learned:

• Right person in the right seat – This is important wherever the seat is located, but it carries extra weight for team members who work from home. Make sure the person you hire is a good fit for the job.
• Experience – Seasoned team members tend to do better in remote roles. They often (but not always) need less hand-holding to work productively.
• Video communication – You can never replace face-to-face conversation, but video tools like Zoom are the next best thing.
• Cadence – Weekly or even daily team stand-ups keep information flowing and help resolve issues quickly.
• One-on-one meetings – Regular meetings with each remote worker are critical. They give the team member a chance to say what they’re thinking (good or bad) and connect personally with their manager. We did our meetings weekly.
• Alignment – Communicating what’s going on with the company is difficult. We published dashboards displaying key performance indicators (KPIs). We then discussed the KPIs during our regular meetings.
• Chat – Tools like Slack that allow you to create rooms or channels are great for communication. People like sending quick messages instead of emails.
• Visibility – Knowing who’s working will help you set expectations for responsiveness by remote team members. Tools like TSheets can help.  

It’s hard to replace the in-office experience, but there are things you can do to make everyone feel welcome and be productive. When done well, remote work raises team morale in a big way.