From Inside the Walls

This year is all about expansion for Simplero. At the end of last year, I was back to being just me, after both Swanand and Kristine left to pursue their paths. It was a good change for all, but it was never intended to stay that way. And it hasn't.

In July, Kareem joined as Chief Operating Officer, and his primary responsibilities are to create a system for customer acquisition, and to build out a team around Simplero. We're hard at work at both of those tasks. 

The first person we brought …

Kareem started last week last week as the COO of Simplero, and I couldn't be more excited.

I went through a very specific process to make the hire, very much inspired by Danny Iny at Firepole Marketing, and I'd like to share that process with you here.

Preparation

Before you begin, you need to know who you're looking for. Create an avatar. Really envision what it's going to be like working with this person, what will it look like day-to-day, what will it feel like. This helps you identify wha…

I'm so close to having my new COO start. We're right now finalizing the last details before he can start. It's very exciting. I think you're going to love him.

Meanwhile, I wanted to share something with you that I thought might be useful to you too.

When I started out as a coach, I had this belief that I should be able to help everyone who showed up at my doorstep. I think it was really at the time about a desire for someone to see and help me, and my own frustration often when I was trying t…

You know these periods that you go through, where you're not sure where you're going or why. The thing you were working so hard on or for just yesterday now leaves you drained. The thing you used to be excited about now leaves you cold.

I think it's normal to go through these periodically. They say that you usually have one big in your lifetime (for me that would be my divorce and move from Denmark to the US a couple of years ago), and then smaller ones much more frequently.

Last week I was in…

Hi Reader,

I'm completely obsessed with Lady Gaga these days. I started reading a short bio about her, not sure why, but I did, and I mentioned something that stuck with me to my voice teacher, Lorraine, and then Lorraine started telling me her story of meeting Lady Gaga (of Stefani), and how Lorraine had just known, right away, that she was going to be a superstar, mostly because Gaga had seemed like she just knew. There was neither self-aggrandizement nor fake humility. It was just matter-of-…

Back in the fall while eating at the bar at Acme, I "randomly" met Allan, who owns a theater right here on Bleecker street. We really hit it off and ended up talking for hours. Ever since it really landed in me to do this show, I've known that I wanted to do it at his theater and with him. I haven't seen him since, but then Sunday night, as Phoebe and I were walking home from dinner with friends, we walked right past the theater. I always look through the windows to see what's going on, and this…

I've been cleaning my house this past week after my wife learned about Marie Kondo's book from Christine Eilvig. Phoebe bought the physical book, I browsed through it on the elevator ride up to the 20th floor, and it really caught me, so I went ahead and bought it on iBooks as well and read it over the weekend. It's so absolutely. cool.

It's 90% throwing stuff out, and 10% organizing the stuff that's left. I thought that give that I've moved between continents four times and been through divorc…

I rarely talk about Simplero and why you'd want it in my newsletters or otherwise, and it would probably be a good idea to do so. It's also one of the things I'm not that well equipped to talk about because I'm too close to my own product. But let me give it a shot:

If you're selling services, like coaching, or acupuncture, or ... anything, really ... and you're currently NOT selling any information products, then you have a challenge: To make more money, you have to either work longer or raise…

I started reading the book Freeing the Natural Voice last night, and a sentence in it stuck with me:

There is a vital difference to be observed between what is "natural" and what is "familiar".

I like to talk about "Natural Entrepreneurship". That's the distinction right there. There is this place that's ultimately natural, easy, flowing, in alignment with the forces of nature. But given our habits, our histories, our survival tactics, the things we've done to get to where we are, we may b…

Taking breaks. We all know it's good for us. Sometimes it can be so hard to do.

Last week, I took most of the week "off". Not completely off, but just as in allowing myself not to do anything other than the absolute necessary to keep things humming along, which mainly means answering the questions from y'all. And, interestingly enough, last week also broke the record for the most new paying customers signing up in a week. Coincidence? Maybe :)

My Friday was exceptionally great. Had a really ha…