A key goal, second passport and sales

It’s been a very cold and snowy weekend over here in Toronto, perfect weather to hang in and share another solopreneur blog post and update.

It’s probably a net negative overall, but the good thing about Canadian winters – if you can call it that – is that there isn’t much else to do but stay inside and get stuff done.

I guess you could easily let time go by – watch TV, video games, read etc. None of those things are bad in moderation.

But if you’re trying to grind out a new project, build a solopreneur business, etc., winter in Canada makes it easier to do those things because most people stay inside and are more “boring” up here.

It’s probably not as good as getting more fresh air, sun exposure, etc., if we’re really digging into it, but I’m stuck here for now. So gotta make the most of it.

Have you thought about that at all? How your current country, climate, setup, can be a pro or a con?

My thinking is that in a perfect world, I wouldn’t have to spend 3-4 months mostly indoors, cold as hell, likely lacking vitamin D.

One thing I’d love to start doing over the next few years is spend 2-3 months per year working remotely in a warmer climate. Either establishing myself in a second country, or picking a different country every winter. Of course, dependant on a few factors (like the fact that my fiancé can’t work remotely… sigh), but it’s definitely a goal of mine.

It’s also a reason I’m currently preparing to apply for a second passport, which I happen to be eligible for because my grandfather had to flee Europe during the Holocaust. And with the world getting crazier by the day, I don’t think having more passports, more options, more freedom, can hurt.

Just some random weekend food for thought.

On the solopreneur business side of things, the first half of this year is mainly focused on sales and marketing for my immigration tech company, Visto.ai.

Getting our first clients onto our new immigration tech platform. So far, a pretty good start.

One thing I’m learning very quickly, which I kind of already knew is this:

Warm outreach is always SO much better than cold outreach.

Now I’m not saying you should ignore doing cold outreach, like cold calling/emailing/etc. There’s definitely a place for it.

But if you’ve tried doing cold sales for a solopreneur business before, you know it can be rough.

Finding lists, contact info, cold calling, not getting responses, getting hung up on, etc. And after a while it can beat you down.

It highlights even more the fact that there’s no better way to kick off a new relationship – whether it be to try and sell, network, partner, etc. – than if it’s through a warm intro or with someone you’ve known previously.

So for the last few products we’ve launched, I’ve started by doing warm outreach first. Looking through my email rollodex, searching for 1st connections on LinkedIn, mentioning our new launch to our email lists.

Of course, that requires building a network first.

Which is another reason why you should always be building your network as a solopreneur. Because you may not have something to sell to John Smith today, but if you like John Smith, and John Smith seems like a smart/cool person, keep in touch with him.

You never know if he ends up at another company (that is a potential client or partner), or if he knows someone who might like your product, or if he can promote you/your company to a community he joins down the road.

Just don’t forget relationships aren’t a 1-way street (otherwise they won’t last very long).

Have a great day, make sure to sign up for my daily updates here, and keep grinding.

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