3 thoughts for the week of October 12, 2009 (Columbus, insane hours & half birthdays)
October 13, 2009//Last Updated January 6, 2013
- In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. In the month of April two thousand and nine, Shea and Matt went into business by design. In this week, when we look back at Christopher’s adventure, we feel a bit of kinship with that great explorer. We both started journey that many would judge insane. We headed into unknown territory and had to have faith in ourselves and our mission. And even though it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, the discoveries we have made are well worth it. Has there ever been a time when you needed to face a challenge? To start a journey where you had to balance the risk with the reward? Share your story with us.
- Because we are building our company from scratch, we often find ourselves working outside what one would call “normal business hours.” We knew this would happen. We accept that. But even so, we realize the insanity of designing layouts at 1 am on a Saturday night. What frightens us though, is that this type of behavior is now being seen as less and less an “above and beyond” thing and is instead “expected” or “normal.” When did American business decide this was okay? What part of the American Dream says thou shall be on call at all times for your employment? For example, last weekend Shea was playing catch up and sent logos to a client at 10:30pm on Sunday. The client wrote back with feedback at 11pm. This seems a little wrong. Are we as a society okay with this total obscuring of the line between business and personal time?
- As we alluded to in thought #1, we began our business in April of this year. So, looking at the calendar, our official half-birthday is this Friday. We are amazing how quickly time has flown. We’d like to take little time to reflect on what we’ve done and what we’ve learned in the last 182 days. We are working on a new post to share our 3 Thoughts for the First 6 Months. Look for it at the end of the week. Fellow Entrepreneurs, what did your first 6 months in business teach you?
Posted in 3 Thoughts, Blog