Back to the grind today after a hectic end of last week and crappy beginning of this week.
Here’s how it went down:
So last Thursday night I had a meeting with a potential partner, which ended up being a few beers long. It should probably be a written law in business that more beers consumed during a business “meeting” = a better result in the end for both companies.
Anyway, it’s for a very exciting partnership for Visto, and their CEO and I wanted to discuss details in-person after business hours. Good talk, hopefully good outcomes for all of us.
I’ll keep you posted as it evolves.
But it also meant I was out much later than usual and wasn’t able to get my Friday morning email out – my sincerest apologies.
To make matters even worse, I caught a cold over the weekend and while I didn’t take Monday fully off, it knocked me out for all of Sunday which is when I usually write the Monday morning email.
It leads to an interesting question, which is how should solopreneurs treat sick days?
Is there even such thing as a sick day as a solopreneur? Because a day off usually means zero work/output. I have 2 thoughts on this.
The first is that the best way to tackle sick days is to lead a very happy/healthy life and avoid them as much as possible.
Easier said than done, but I’ve found that in the last 3-5 years as I’ve optimized my health (routine exercise, eating healthy, lots of water/sleep, etc.), I rarely get sick. I’m talking 1-2 times per year, maybe.
Again, maybe your situation is different and getting into a good routine is harder, but I think that being healthy and avoiding getting sick should be goal #1 here. Do you agree?
Now secondly, if you do get sick, I think the best thing you can do is maxmimize recovery so you can get back to 100% as quick as possible. Not sure about you, but I find my efficiency and quality of work is much lower when sick, so I’d rather take an extra day/half day off to recover, instead of grinding too hard and extending the period of being sick.
So for example on Monday, I slept in a bit longer than usual, made sure to drink tons of liquid, took a few cold meds, and mostly did admin work from bed.
At this point I know my body pretty well, and with one more good sleep I’ll be back to 100% – so there’s no point trying to force in 1-2-3 more big tasks, over-tire myself and push things back.
Just my thoughts: avoid sick all together, and prioritize getting over it if you do.
I think that more than ever, we as solopreneurs need to be as on-the-ball as ever, so this is all very important.
Keeping a closer eye on trends, world events (to an extent – don’t need to follow every detail), key factors affecting different parts of the world, financial stability, and yes, staying healthy.
And being able to adjust as needed.
Luckily it’s easier than ever to do that thanks to the internet, and also making sure you have a good network of people that can keep you focused.
I had a good mastermind call with a group of solopreneurs I meet with every 2 weeks, and the benefit of simply talking to others – who could be in very different industries from yours – who are in the same kind of solopreneurial journey during these crazy times can have such a grounding and calming effect.
It’s part of why I always recommend networking to solopreneurs, and especially developing some close connections and/or mastermind type groups for deeper discussion when you need it.
One of the key takeaways: now that’s nicer out, I need to go on more walks.
If you’re ever in the position of making a difficult decision, or tough spot, or stressful week – usually a nice walk clears your head and makes harder decisions feel easy.
We’ve also got a big week ahead of us. Largely filled with sales, and by the looks of the weather forecast, rain.
Up here in Toronto it’s been a rainy few days, and forecast for another 3-4 more it seems – a warm welcome to summer.
But as they say, it can’t always be sunshine and rainbows.
On the business side, we’re slowly starting to see some traction with our (pretty cool) immigration platform. These things usually don’t happen overnight – as much as we’d like them to – but after months of launching, selling, listening to users, adding new features, and continuing to sell, the needle is moving.
We’re feeling confident, and just need to keep pushing.
Even though it’s going to be a gloomy week (weather wise), I’m gonna get up each day and pound out a ton of cold calls.
It’s not exactly the thing I’d love to do, day in and day out, but it’s what we (the company) need right now to get to the next level. And we can smell it…
This motivational Monday update is almost as much for me as it is for you, but this is a reminder to just keep pushing. For all we know, we’re all just another day, or another week, or another month away from huge break throughts and progress.
As long as we keep pushing.
So let’s do it together. No matter what difficulty you may (or may not?) be facing this week, let’s take it one day at a time, and keep pushing.
I know I will be.
Have a great day, make sure not to miss out on my daily solopreneur business tips and stories here, and keep grinding.
