Category: Business

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The Importance of Responding in 24 Hours, but Not 1 Hour

In my business, I consider it very important to respond to emails within 24 hours. Sometimes this gets stretched out a little depending on when emails are sent, but I always respond within the next business day.

That’s important, and it is sufficient to make my clients feel like I’m on top of things, I’m responsive, and it’s also fast enough that I don’t miss out on things or have other major problems crop up because I didn’t address something soon enough.

I also do tend to scan email more frequently, and if there’s ever an emergency, I can deal with that right away, but it’s not usually a problem.

But what’s important to note is that it is absolutely not important to me to respond within 1 hour.

I think tons of people make it their goal to respond to things immediately, and it’s just entirely pointless.

Sure, it will impress some people, but it doesn’t typically provide very much additional value, and more importantly: in order to achieve it, you have to be willing to give up a ton.

The only people I know that do this are the ones who get notifications – often audio – every single time an email arrives.

In my opinion, nobody who is doing that could possibly be producing quality work. Just like a distracted partner scrolling through Instagram ever 3 minutes on a dinner date, they simply aren’t present enough to put serious thought into things and do a good job at anything other than responding to emails quickly.

So I think 24 hours, in this case, is the sweet spot.

But this makes me wonder: what else is like this? What are some things that people (or, more relevantly: I) do that that maybe take a lot of extra work and provide little additional value?

Are there any other notable areas where I may be well outside the sweet spot?

The answer has got to be “yes”.

Some categories could be:

  • When I’m working and/or available during the day (or week)
  • The level of detail in my communications
  • Pursuit of marketing opportunities
  • How much time I spend working on the business

And the list goes on.

Of these, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. I think I’m happy with my work hours. I’m available enough but still retain flexibility for other non-work opportunities.

I perhaps do communicate a bit too much, but I do almost everything via email and I can type really fast, so I don’t feel that it takes up that much of my time.

I’ve been slacking in marketing opportunities, for sure. Writing in this blog has essentially been all I’ve done. So that one is nowhere near the sweet spot.

Likewise, working on the business has probably been slacking a bit.

There are many things I’m aware of that I could and should be doing more with. But I think I’m more curious with this blog post to determine if there’s anything else I’m actually being too aggressive in.

Nothing comes to mind, unfortunately (fortunately?). But now I’m thinking about it, and if I figure something out, I’ll write about it.

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Getting the Clients I Want OR: The Law of Attraction?

The thought came to me just now that my business has continued to grow quite well, and almost all of the business that I’ve gained is for new hosting and maintenance clients, which is actually what I want.

While we still regularly have website design projects, they are becoming less and less frequent.

Now, it doesn’t feel like I’ve actively gone out of my way to avoid website design projects. My processes are all pretty much the same for website designs and I always tell people that we do it.

If I didn’t put any more thought into it, I’d simply say that it’s the Law of Attraction. You put what you want out there and it will come to you.

And I think there’s some truth to that, but if you break it down, you can see why it works. It’s not just some mystical thing that works magically.

I put a lot of thought into how to get more hosting clients. I’ve been actively tweaking my website and marketing to better reflect that we do that. I’ve been pushing hosting and maintenance services for years, while probably downplaying design.

Meanwhile, I haven’t updated my website design portfolio in quite some time, and it needs it. That just hasn’t been a priority.

I also put a lot of work into improving our hosting services and making them as good as possible. I don’t put as much thought into design.

Little by little, both the services I provide and the quality of my messaging and marketing improves. Little changes stack up over time, to where I am now getting way more of these clients.

Maybe nothing has slipped really for website design, but all of these little things add up over time in a huge way.

And this got me thinking: just imagine how all the other little things in my life can add up over time?

The power of gradual change cannot possibly be overstated.

As long as I continue progressing and putting work into the things that are important to me, they will work out.

I just need to keep going.

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The “Managed” Part of Our Hosting Really Is the Selling Point

It’s become abundantly clear to me within the last 6 months or so that what people value most about our website hosting is that it is “managed”.

Sure, they are happy to know that it’s fast and has all these features, but at the end of the day, they don’t really care about that. They just want someone to take care of it for them.

Maybe that doesn’t seem like a great insight to others, but right now it’s a big deal.

I have been a bit shocked to hear that, when offered a faster service for a bit more money, almost none of my clients have been interested at all.

They just don’t care.

What they want is for someone to handle all of this for them.

And I do! I do a good job, too, so they tend to stick around.

And while some are price-conscious, most are not. As long as it’s reasonable and we are doing a good job, they are happy to pay it.

Because they see the value.

Most have been in business a while and probably remember what it was like to work with non-managed hosting. That fear of being totally lost and having to sit on the phone with support drives them to work with us.

And I’m only just this moment realizing that I probably should try to control people’s domains, too. I’ve had some clients lately whose sites went down due to things within their hosting account that I could have easily dealt with.

So going forward, I should recommend that they transfer their domains to me.

I could even charge a premium for “managed domain registration”.

I don’t think much more needs to happen right now. I just need to always keep in mind why people work with me.

It’s not the speed. It’s not the features.

It’s our service.

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How I Work Best: Setting Goals and Making them Happen

I just read one of my very first blog posts I ever shared here. It’s private so only I can see it.

In it, I lament that I didn’t feel like a top performer, and then talk at length about my younger days and how I maybe did feel that way.

But the example was how I managed to end up ranked #1 in my high school class. Long story short, I had that goal, and I essentially took advantage of all the loopholes I could while doing the bare minimum to accomplish it.

In short, I got it done.

In that blog post, I think I maybe missed the point entirely.

I discussed how maybe I didn’t even deserve it and how it really wasn’t just brute intelligence or ability that allowed me to succeed.

Which is true… But largely irrelevant.

At the end of the day, I did it. I had a goal, and I did what was necessary to accomplish it.

I think to my more recent life. Sure, there’s nothing that makes me feel like I’m an elite performer at anything. There’s no specific talent or ability that I have that’s world-class.

But it wasn’t too long ago when I set out after a goal. I wanted to be able to travel the world. I wanted such complete freedom that I could totally set my own schedule and live abroad for half of the year while still running a successful business.

Ideally while still putting away for an early retirement and generally keeping my other goals and priorities in mind.

And you know what? I completely accomplished that goal within about a year.

It didn’t take any stroke of genius, unbelievable talent, or any other world-class ability to do.

What it did require was a great deal of self-sufficiency, problem solving, self-awareness, growth, determination, and goal-orientation.

Those are what I have.

Perhaps I even have those things to a quietly world-class extent.

Maybe not, but it’s possible!

At the end of the day, I’m making great progress and achieving my goals. I think the key from here is to really break things down into smaller, achievable goals that all build up to much larger goals.

I could start by saying that I’d like to do something I’ve never done yet: add 100 website hosting clients in 2023. I already know how to do it, I just have to work at that.

If I am constantly focusing on my goals and how I can achieve them, I honestly think I will.

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I Should Start Tracking Business/Tech Ideas

I had a conversation with a friend lately that met up with an old college buddy. He learned that this friend of his had basically started and sold two tech startups and is now functionally retired.

And it made me fairly envious.

I always envied those guys that build new things and are out there with endless possibilities. They grind away at something just for the chance that it pays off and they get a huge payout.

And for him, it worked.

Obviously we tend to romanticize these types of things and clearly it does not work out for everyone.

But I’ve established a company that will keep me employed and making money with plenty of time leftover to work on other projects, if I should choose them.

So I have the time, the income, and the job to work on something else without making any money on it for quite some time.

I also have ideas all the time. I’m constantly looking for ways in which technology has failed us so far, or could help us in seemingly obvious ways that haven’t been done yet.

So why not start tracking those ideas?

I think if I have an idea that’s decent, I should write it down and start putting some thought into it. If it’s a good enough idea, I should absolutely start doing some research into what it would take to bring it to life and whether or not it really has a future and/or market.

My main plan is certainly not to try to hit it big with something like this, but I’d certainly love to have it as a possibility. And since I’m ideally suited to actually act on one of these ideas, why wouldn’t I do it?

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What Am I Missing Out on by Being Self-Taught?

I’m not sure how this never occurred to me before, but I just considered today the fact that in my business I’m almost completely self-taught and I may be missing out on quite a bit as a result.

I learned a lot from working at another web development company before starting mine. But almost none of it was actually about building websites, and the vast majority of what I’ve learned has come after that.

I want to clarify here that I’m not self-made. I’ve had tons of help along the way. From social support, to general guidance, to referral partners, and much more, I would not be where I am now without the support of others.

But just in terms of learning how to work with others and how to operate a business, almost everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned from just… Doing it. Trying things, making mistakes, and improving.

I think a far more common way to do it is to go work in corporate America, develop a large skillset, and only branch off and start your own business when you already know the majority of what you need to do.

Certainly you hit the ground running that way.

But then again, most people who do that don’t really start their company until their 40’s or 50’s, in my experience. I had an established company in my 20’s.

But it was a lot of hard work and it really didn’t pick up until many years into it.

So now I’m just wondering a few things:

  1. How much faster could I have gotten going if I had been taught?
  2. What am I missing out on now, given that I still don’t have anyone teaching me?
  3. What should I do about it?

For #1, it’s certainly hard to say. I think having some kind of guide definitely would have helped. I remember back in my Carlson days, there were programs where aspiring business owners could find a mentor who would help them.

I’m not sure why I scoffed at that back then, but I’m sure it would have been incredibly helpful. It may have saved me a painful few years of struggling to get going.

For #2: there’s probably quite a bit! I think I’m past the point of wanting to learn more about, for example, coding or website design. I have my team for that.

But for running a business: there is obviously a ton I don’t know. And at this point, experience is going to be a slow teacher.

I don’t make tons of big mistakes anymore. Things are established and going well.

But that’s not much incentive to change, and there isn’t a whole lot of room for improvement there, either.

So I’d say I’m almost certainly being held back quite a bit by not having anyone teaching me.

So then what should I do?

I think maybe I need to find a mentor of some kind. Not a business coach, but a mentor.

Somebody who’s been here and knows the way forward.

I talk to some of my friends who are doing great in the corporate world, but their experiences are generally not that applicable to my situation. I think it would be hugely beneficial to me to find someone who’s been in my shoes that can help guide me.

So… I should do that. Now I just need to look around and see what’s out there for mentoring opportunities. I will check that and report back.

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I Used to Be Excited

It occurred to me the other day that I used to be really excited about my business, and now I’m not.

The thought came during a brief moment of excitement, and I realized it wasn’t something I had felt for a while.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am happy with my business and certainly with the flexibility it gives me in my life.

But there was a time in the past where the possibilities seemed endless and when it felt like I would achieve exponential growth forever.

After a few years of that failing to happen, I no longer feel that way. While I’m just as confident that growth is possible, it just hasn’t been exciting like it was at one point. I no longer have much hope that the growth will be extreme.

So the question is: what can I do about that?

First, I need to start growing again. I need to make a concerted effort to identify ways to grow, and possible more important: identify the obstacles I have to accomplishing it.

For instance, it’s likely that I will need to change how I’m managing many aspects of my business now, because they aren’t scalable. But I also simply need to actually do some of the growth initiatives I’ve been talking about doing for ages.

I like to think that once some of that growth happens, the excitement will come back and I’ll start feeling like anything is possible again. And that, in turn, while encourage me to do even more things to improve.

I just have to get the ball rolling now.

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Feeling Successful and Productive Makes You More So

This last week I was working through my to-do list and I was quite productive and completed many important tasks, including some that had been delayed for quite a long time. I felt good about everything I was doing and the direction I was taking.

And then I felt excited about the future and the prospects for my business and even started to have new, profound ideas about how best to improve things going forward.

I feel like for the last couple years I’ve sort of gotten stuck in a cycle of “keeping up” with everything. I’m barely on top of things and the best I can hope for is generally just to complete the backlog of urgent tasks.

And when you do that, you don’t feel good or accomplished. You feel like you did the bare-minimum poorly.

Which is exactly how I feel quite often when I’m working. Almost all the time, actually.

Now, I’m probably doing a better job than I think and I certainly have high standards. I know I’m not burning my business to the ground and I have countless happy clients.

But I’ve felt like I’m doing the bare minimum and that’s what’s important because it affects all of my actions.

It’s also absolutely true that I haven’t done much beyond maintenance of my business. I’ve probably spent an average of maybe 10 minutes per week in the last two years “on my business”, working on new ideas and on ways to try to grow. That’s… Nothing.

As a result, I haven’t felt as excited as I should be about things and I’ve gotten stuck in somewhat of a vicious cycle where my lack of initiative and time spent on these critical functions has further hurt morale and initiative and results in me doing them even less.

But I feel that coming back.

As I’m finally starting to tackle these backlog items and projects that should help grow the business, I feel more invigorated and excited about the future. I’m exploring new ideas and genuinely putting effort into making things happen.

So I think it absolutely works both ways. Just like with most things, good behavior begets more good behavior. Or you can do a bad job and get more and more stuck over time.

Obviously this post can serve to simply encourage me to stay on top of things and focus on activities that grow the business, but I think it’s important to put a more-actionable suggestion in here as well.

Going forward, I think I need to make it a point to do something every day that feels like it will help grow the business or improve things significantly in some way. It can even be something tiny.

This is important to do even on days when I’m overwhelmed. It needs to feel like, every day, I am making important progress in my business and never that I’m simply keeping up with what I have.

That’s critical.

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I Know How to Grow, I just Haven’t Done It

As I’m reading through old posts and considering my current position, I’m realizing that I probably know exactly how to grow my business and am just not doing it.

Case in point: working with one of my partner companies, they have a variety of websites they’d like us to host. Once they are over to us, we can begin billing for that hosting.

It’s up to me to make sure those sites get migrated. And I just haven’t been doing it.

This is the proverbial “low hanging fruit” and I just haven’t been pursuing it at all, despite the fact that I absolutely have.

Yes: it’s more exciting to talk to a new client and make a new sale. In this case, the sale is already done, and all that remains is the boring logistics of actually migrating the websites and setting up billing.

What this might be reflective of is the fact that I love the conceptual, the novel, and the big-picture. I don’t love details and implementation. But in this case, they are absolutely critical.

Reading through my posts, I also have countless ideas of how to expand my hosting operations. But I’ve barely implemented any of them.

Networking with owners of other website hosting companies would be a great start! So I think it’s time to finally get to that and other ideas.

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My Productivity Has Multiplied Almost Overnight

I’m finally back on track.

I had a bit of a spell there were I was sick a bunch and got into some really bad habits of wasting time on social media and the internet and was generally overwhelmed and it sort of got a vicious cycle going.

And now I’m out of it!

It’s hard to say exactly to what extent I just forced myself to do better and to what extent I may just… Recovered. It’s possible I still had lingering effects from illness. It’s very difficult to say!

But I’ve just been focusing on improving a bit every day! And it’s worked.

The first thing I did was uninstall the Facebook app on my phone, which is something I’d strongly recommend everyone do and I keep up with in the future.

And then I just really focused on my to-do and knocking that out. I allowed small lapses were I lost focus but made sure to always go back to work soon.

Now I’ve completed all my pressing to-do items and am keeping up well with new tasks.

Additionally, I finally got around to joining a gym and have actually been going. I bought a guitar so I can practice here which is something I’ve been meaning to do since I got here.

I’m also reading again and rapidly improving my Spanish through social activity, watching Spanish media, and studying.

These are all things I wasn’t really doing at all two weeks ago (except speaking to people in person).

It could also simply be that I’ve gotten established and comfortable here. I have a routine, I know where everything is, I have a social circle, and just all around I am comfortable. That makes it easier to stay productive.

I’m not totally sure what the lesson here is yet. Maybe it’s that I need to develop a routine and get comfortable where I am. But I think more likely, I really just need to focus on productivity, eliminate pointless distractions, and generally just stick to my routines and habits despite being in a new place.

One last thought is that I tend to feel somewhat lost in a new city before I develop a social circle. Getting that social interaction starts to feel like a desperate need before long. That desperation can be quite motivating and succeeds in helping me actually meet people. But it also totally distracts me from everything else, which I need to be careful about.

That could probably be its own post so maybe I’ll expand on that another time.