What a week!
Last Monday around 6pm our internet went out. There was a bit of a snow storm here so that was probably the cause, but I was susprised such a “minor” storm would cause an outtage considering that weather is pretty normal up here in Canada.
Anyway, what I wanted to write about – but was delayed until now – was a pretty fun guest lecture I gave on Monday morning.
No, I’m not turning to academia.
But I was asked to give a guest lecture by a friend of mine who teaches at the TMU Law School here in Toronto, a class on access to justice and tech in law.
It was a lot of fun – partly because it makes you realize how far you’ve come reflecting on your solopreneur business journey, and partly because the students asked some good questions and seemed genuinely interested.
Also made me wish we had a class like that back in my day, so kudos to TMU Law for putting it together.
I spent about 35 minutes talking about my journey going from lawyer to tech founder, and also the different products we’ve designed and built along the way (the topic of the class was building product roadmaps and MVPs). Then about 20 minutes of Q&A.
Anyway, it was a good time.
I don’t know if there’s a business takeaway there, but my thinking was that giving this guest lecture would:
- provide some value to students/the next generation
- help build the Visto brand
- be a lot of fun
I think I checked all three. Also, polishing of your public speaking skills never hurts.
Two days later, went on the road for a pitch/meeting with a potential business partner.
Fun because of the potential partnership, and also to get out of the house for the day.
It was a short drive from Toronto, so Alex (our CTO at Visto) and I met up and drove together.
Not sure if you’ve noticed this in your business and/or line of work, but since Covid, so many people/clients/etc. are comfortable doing business online, that I find myself doing fewer in-person meetings.
Heck, I’ve barely seen Alex in-person in the last year or two because we all work remotely.
That’s fine, in my opinion, because it saves a lot of time and at the end of the day, I’m a homebody at heart. But it can also get stale after weeks/months sitting at the computer.
It also feels like a big breath of fresh air when you go meet someone in the flesh and have a great conversation – because it’s usually better for building meaningful solopreneur relationships than doing it online.
Of course, online is fine too, but there’s something about shaking a real hand and sitting down in-person that adds an extra element.
I also enjoy presenting much more in-person.
Standing in front of a group, using your body to express your points, looking people in the eye and getting a feeling for whether they’re buying what you’re selling (literally and/or figuratively).
Anyhow, we went over, gave a pretty good pitch, had a good conversation and now we wait for some feedback and next steps.
The bonus was we also stopped by to visit our other employee, who we sponsored to come to Canada from Mexico, and he/his wife made us a traditional Mexican lunch before we headed home.
And the food was delicious. The cherry on top.
Have a great day, make sure to sign up to get my daily updates here, and keep grinding.
