Last week my team moved into our new office space and I provided a number of images and even a few videos. I particularly like the original wood floors which are marred and beat up after years of use. It shows character and if it could speak I’m sure we’d hear some very fascinating stories.
This isn’t my first startup and it won’t likely be my last but it is the first time where I’m moving into an office space with my best friends that we can seriously call our own. There’s something categorically different about that than the previous “move in days” and I couldn’t be more happy with who I’ve chosen to spend a significant portion of my life with.
But perhaps the sweetest part of this is the fact that it was my choice.
What I mean by this is that I chose and continue to choose to work with these great men and they aren’t guys that I just got stuck with because I was hired into an existing community (like many of us have experienced or are experiencing now).
Perhaps it’s even better to say that we chose to work together. We all took a hard look at all of our collective and individual options and at the end of the day we thought:
These people are the very best choice to do some of my greatest work.
What a shame that for most of my life I have chosen poorly in this department, either by choice or because I had no other option – what’s sad is that I did have the option but I believed that I didn’t.
The people you work with are the people who will see you do your greatest work or will witness you waste your life away into oblivion or perhaps even worse, mediocrity.
If that makes you feel uneasy then it should. Do these people deserve to be a part of your greatest work? Or is it sad and perhaps slightly embarrassing that they have front-row seats to your daily grind and dissatisfaction?
“Move in day” happens in the heart first.
“move in day happens in the heart first” is a quote I think will stay with me for a VERY long time!!! VERY awesome point you made here!
Yes! I have made 2 hires that had me question my decision. As biz grew, I scaled back. We are more productive, on target & growing steadily as a team if 2! When we bring on a third this year, I will reference this advice. Thank you!
Start-ups are exciting. Moving into the new space is an energizing part of it. Having been through that drill and coming from a time when office space was fundamental to any business, I’m more intrigued these days with the ability to do business from a table outside my local Dunkin Donuts — just me, my iPhone and my MacBook Air. But it’s also true that encountering a team of motivated colleagues every day in real physical proximity is stimulating in a way that I doubt will ever be completely replaced by technology. I’m not sure a business of any size can be completely “virtual” for very long.
Your thoughts on colleagues also interested me. One of the difficulties of start-ups is how they limit your ability to recruit the kinds of people you’ll need to move beyond the start up. Start-up risk is easier to accept if you are not already on a fast track somewhere more stable and fulfilling. You’ll need better talent as you get beyond launch and into break-even. Good luck.
Great introspective John. Those of us who have found our passion and live life by the choices we make are the fortunate few. Congrats on your new digs, and if you should need some antiquities to decorate your new space, please give me a call. Your historical setting is a dream of mine and look forward to seeing it and hearing the known history of the building! Continued success to you and your crew!
awesome! thanks so much bro.
Congrats John! Having an office that helps define who you and your company are is important. That’s awesome that you get to work with your best friends. Have fun, support each other though thick and thin and you will do well.