Losing my voice and 11pm business calls

Been on calls and meetings for most of the week. And Monday especially was kind of crazy.

One of those days – not that it happens too often – where your throat gets dry by the end of it because you had more calls/conversations than normal.

I’ve also noticed this happens more on Monday than most other days.

Because it’s easy to schedule a call for Monday on a Thursday or Friday, or even with someone over the weekend. Do you notice the same?

If I scroll back through my calendar, I can’t help but notice lots of calls on Mondays and also Fridays. I guess because at the end of the week it’s easy to book calls “for next week” aka Monday, or at the beginning of the week it’s easy to book calls on Friday.

Wednesday appears to be left out for some reason…

Anyway, just something I picked up on.

Also another reason to have batch-style days, where you stick to a theme.

For example, booking most calls on Mon/Fri, clearing Wednesday for deep work, Tuesday for internal meetings, Thursday for research, etc.

Not saying you have to do it that way, but it’s probably most efficient especially for solopreneurs. Instead of having 2-3 calls per day interrupting your work, imagine just focusing on calls for one day, just doing deep work (with no calls/interruptions) the next day, etc.

Probably more efficient, and fewer switching costs – meaning the time and energy it takes to switch tasks (even if you don’t notice it).

Example: you’re doing some work that will take about 2 hours, but you have a call in 30 minutes. After doing ~25 minutes of work, you stop because you need to prep for the call, then you have the call, then you need a few minutes to recoup and remember where you left off in the work you were doing.

Even if the call was 30 minutes, it probably cost you 40-50 minutes due to switching costs.

So where and when you can, batch tasks!

I’m also learning pretty quickly how different it is doing business with people in different parts of the world.

Or I guess another way to put it is that people can be very different – and so by extension, they also do business differently.

Here’s what I mean.

We’re starting to do more business in India so I’m having more calls with folks in India than previously. So far, two things stick out to me.

The first is that many people in India, especially the business owners, are working very hard and long hours. It’s normal for them to respond to emails, whatsapp messages, or even be willing to jump on a call at 10 or 11pm.

I was surprised and impressed to see it, because a) not many people are awake, let alone working, in Canada at 11pm, and b) because India is ~10 hours ahead, so it makes it easier to schedule calls for my morning/their evening and not have to get up too early.

In Canada you’d get laughed at for suggesting a call at 11pm…

Second, calendar events are not taken as “seriously”. And when I say “seriously”, I mean, many people don’t show up on time.

I’d say that in Canada, for the most part, people are good at scheduling calls and showing up on time. Not perfect, but very good, whereas for those in India, these calendar events are not treated strictly – many people don’t show up for them on time, and send messages much later asking if I’m free to talk now.

At first I was offended (not actually), but have come to realize – after spending a few weeks on this and speaking to some good Indian friends – that this is just how business is done there.

And I’m sure there are more nuances than that, and as we expand into other countries, I’ll learn unique things about the people there as well.

And yet another reason why the immigration industry is an interesting one to play in.

Have a great day, make sure to get my daily business updates here, and keep grinding.

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