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Be where your business is

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Re: Be where your business is

#11

Post by tacheiordache »

adasdasdas wrote: post #9
arolihas wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am surprised those lines were in there. The point could have easily been made without an anecdote about the author recommending to fire an employee who is taking care of their family. Seems needlessly cruel and detracts from the message.

Being an exec is choice to commit an exorbitant amount of your time/energy on your job. You can always settle for an easier/lower paying job. You don't see the president complaining the job is stressful.

But your payback is enormously larger.

Re: Be where your business is

#12

Post by JumpCrisscross »

arolihas wrote: post #8
bsima wrote: post #2

> Erin’s VP of sales had just bought a condo in Miami to be next to her aging parents […] > > Her VP of Sales might be wonderful, but with the all the travel the company is only getting her half-time. Erin needs a full-time head of sales in New York. Time to have a difficult conversation. Hustle culture nonsense. Family is important https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html IMO there’s always a way to do both.…

I am surprised those lines were in there. The point could have easily been made without an anecdote about the author recommending to fire an employee who is taking care of their family. Seems needlessly cruel and detracts from the message.

> the author recommending to fire an employee who is taking care of their family

Not sure why fired versus put on different comp and maybe asked to vacate the VP of Sales role.

Re: Be where your business is

#13

Post by eloff »

bsima wrote: post #2

> Erin’s VP of sales had just bought a condo in Miami to be next to her aging parents […] > > Her VP of Sales might be wonderful, but with the all the travel the company is only getting her half-time. Erin needs a full-time head of sales in New York. Time to have a difficult conversation. Hustle culture nonsense. Family is important https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html IMO there’s always a way to do both.…

I agree that you should choose family, but I disagree that it’s nonsense. It’s a simple tradeoff of money/success versus what actually matters. Assuming there isn’t some win-win compromise being overlooked.

Usually there’s no free lunch. But focus on the important stuff in life, you’ll be happier and have fewer regrets.

Re: Be where your business is

#14

Post by verisimilidude »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #7
jameshart wrote: post #5

Sounds like a somewhat uniquely New York problem, rather than a generally applicable lesson. An equally valid position is: don’t cap the size of your addressable market to just people who live in the place you work.

> a somewhat uniquely New York problem, rather than a generally applicable lesson An oil & gas start-up in San Francisco is going to have a tougher time than one in Houston. You don’t see those much. But you do see e.g. agtech in the Bay Area flying out weekly salespeople to Iowa. It’s trivial for a competitor to undercut them on credibility alone. That said, I think this is more pertinent to sales than other fields.…

Not to get too pedantic, but California does have a massive agriculture industry. UC Davis is one of the best schools in the field. It’s not much of a stretch at all for agtech businesses to grow and thrive here, locally.

I guess you could argue those businesses should be in Sacramento instead of San Jose.

But example aside, I do agree with your overall point.

Re: Be where your business is

#15

Post by JumpCrisscross »

verisimilidude wrote: post #14
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a somewhat uniquely New York problem, rather than a generally applicable lesson An oil & gas start-up in San Francisco is going to have a tougher time than one in Houston. You don’t see those much. But you do see e.g. agtech in the Bay Area flying out weekly salespeople to Iowa. It’s trivial for a competitor to undercut them on credibility alone. That said, I think this is more pertinent to sales than other fields.…

Not to get too pedantic, but California does have a massive agriculture industry. UC Davis is one of the best schools in the field. It’s not much of a stretch at all for agtech businesses to grow and thrive here, locally. I guess you could argue those businesses should be in Sacramento instead of San Jose. But example aside, I do agree with your overall point.

Totally! Which doubled my Iowan buddy’s confusion. A Central Valley, Davis or Irvine-based company would have credibility a San Francisco-based on doesn’t. That “won’t even open the door” effect is huge, and part of what the author is getting at. (The other being org chart discrepancies.)

Re: Be where your business is

#16

Post by molsongolden »

Steve's example is financial services companies in New York but this applies to the digital realm too, especially if your customers are less geographically-concentrated.

Be where your customers are: forums, slacks, discords, social media bubbles, etc.

Cultivate real relationships and build authentically from within a community. Live alongside your customers instead of selling into a community from the outside. Interact with the community regularly instead of relying on a handful of periodic outreach responses to gather customer feedback.

Re: Be where your business is

#17

Post by klyrs »

arolihas wrote: post #8
bsima wrote: post #2

> Erin’s VP of sales had just bought a condo in Miami to be next to her aging parents […] > > Her VP of Sales might be wonderful, but with the all the travel the company is only getting her half-time. Erin needs a full-time head of sales in New York. Time to have a difficult conversation. Hustle culture nonsense. Family is important https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html IMO there’s always a way to do both.…

I am surprised those lines were in there. The point could have easily been made without an anecdote about the author recommending to fire an employee who is taking care of their family. Seems needlessly cruel and detracts from the message.

> Seems needlessly cruel and detracts from the message.

I'm not so sure. I mean, yes it's needlessly cruel, but that's the message that I get from a lot of people who subscribe to hustle culture. You are worth the value of your output plus nepotism minus your comp. People with families are ghosts, don't talk to them.

Re: Be where your business is

#18

Post by munificent »

tacheiordache wrote: post #11
adasdasdas wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being an exec is choice to commit an exorbitant amount of your time/energy on your job. You can always settle for an easier/lower paying job. You don't see the president complaining the job is stressful.

But your payback is enormously larger.

...sometimes.

Re: Be where your business is

#19

Post by verisimilidude »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #15
verisimilidude wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to get too pedantic, but California does have a massive agriculture industry. UC Davis is one of the best schools in the field. It’s not much of a stretch at all for agtech businesses to grow and thrive here, locally. I guess you could argue those businesses should be in Sacramento instead of San Jose. But example aside, I do agree with your overall point.

Totally! Which doubled my Iowan buddy’s confusion. A Central Valley, Davis or Irvine-based company would have credibility a San Francisco-based on doesn’t. That “won’t even open the door” effect is huge, and part of what the author is getting at. (The other being org chart discrepancies.)

Agreed, that does make a lot of sense.
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