Issue #27 Escape the Spin Cycle

Joe and I were at a networking meeting last week.

We went around the “room” in true networking fashion, introducing ourselves, and then is it Mat’s turn.

Hyped up on sales energy, he hit the group with his pitch: work 7 days a week, ditch holidays, take 12-hour days, 8 hours for sleep, and 4 hours for yourself.

“I will drive you hard,” he promised, “you will hate me, but you can do more, you will do more, and after six weeks of this, you will thank me.”

Ugh.

I was next and, in true, can’t help myself, fashion I said: “I do the opposite of what Mat does.”
Look, business isn’t hard.  It doesn’t have to be a 12-hour day, 7 days a week without holidays.  

Sure there are times when you work a bit more, and there are a few long days here and there, but your business should be powering your extraordinary life, not sucking the extraordinary out of your life.  

But why are there so many “solutions” out there, delivered with verve and authenticity, that make work harder?

After the call, Joe and I went to the whiteboard to see if we could figure it out. And what we discovered is the MSP ownership spin cycle.  

Here is the problem with the solutions: most work. Even working 12 hours a day will work. But as they work, they require more effort and more input from you.  

The only way to build a business that scales, works for you, and allows you to achieve your wealth, freedom, and impact goals is to build the machine.

When you have a machine, then you can add solutions and tactics to tune the machine. But without a machine, you spin around implementing the next great thing, increasing work and exerting more effort.  

Start Grow Manage is about building the machine.  Yes, we have tools and tactics, but all of these click into the machine, your compass, strategy, and plan.

Read more about the Spin Cycle and the Machine here, this is a nifty post with pictures and everything.  I’d love to know your thoughts.

And if you are ready to stop working so hard, apply and see if you are the right fit for a thrivers meeting – learn more about thrivers here and email sofia@startgrowmanage.com if you’d like to give it a try.  

Or, if you’d prefer, I know a guy named Mat who can teach you to work long hours over more days.  

Talk Soon,
Jeff

A New Podcast, listen in today at noon!

Thriver Ramona Cedeño is launching a podcast! Her first episode is today at 12:00, where she will be interviewing none other than Joe Rojas. Join them at noon for an interesting conversation on the future of business and what next year will be like.  

Join here on LinkedIn, today, LIVE (and the recording will be there too!)  

From Around the Web

• Email from Quickbooks?  Intuit is acquiring Mailchimp for $12 Billion. That is with a B. That is a lot of money. Look, we can quibble about whether it makes sense to connect email with bookkeeping, but if you ever thought that email was dead… well, think again.  Read more here.
• Is remote work LESS productive? Microsoft conducted a study across 61,000 employees and found that remote work created productivity and communication issues – potentially impacting innovation. Read more here.
• But they have also given up predicting when they will open: Microsoft also announced that they will give up predicting when people will be fully back in the office. Yeah, maybe they get more done in the office, but maybe that won’t be an option for a long time.  So how do we do things differently?  It’s about the machine: build the machine so that your people can work where they need to work.