Mar 17, 2022Show. Don’t Tell.Raise your hand if you’ve been to a sh*tty meeting before. Thought so 😂 It’s super tempting to fall into the trap of “weekly status updates”, “check-ins”, “quick syncs”, and the like. Meetings are expensive — they cost time, money, focus, energy, and attention. But that doesn’t mean they’re not…2 min read2 min read
Jan 19, 2022Jargon Must DieLet’s talk about jargon in the workplace. Jargon has been around forever, but net-net, it’s not facilitating synergistic alignment amongst our human capital on a go-forward basis, so we should leverage a…ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? Unfortunately, many people could get all the way through that sentence before they realized it…3 min read3 min read
Jan 18, 2022My 3 Step Framework For Actually Solving Problems: The Failure StackIf you’re in a position of leadership, everything is your fault. Although this concept has been recently popularized (see Extreme Ownership), it’s a timeless truth. The best leaders share the credit for wins, take the blame for losses, and never shy away from the difficult work. Easier said than done…we’re…2 min read2 min read
Jan 10, 2022Imperfect Plans, Violently ExecutedEveryone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. -Iron Mike 🥊 Earlier in my career, I believed that you had to have the “master plan” as a leader. That I had to think of every problem, every possible outcome, and every roadblock before they happen. Now, don’t…3 min read3 min read
Jan 9, 2022Separating Planning & ExecutionIf the first task of your day is to organize your day, you’ve already failed. I’ve spent the past couple months going through the Zero To Dangerous course from Steven Kotler, and this is one of the best things I’ve learned. “Thinking About Work” and “Doing Work” are separate skills. They also require different types of thinking. When we’re…3 min read3 min read
Jan 8, 20224 Days Per…Day?I’ll admit it. I’m an “organizational nerd”. My calendar looks like a perfect game of Tetris, every day. But there’s more to it than that — a specific mindset behind how I set things up. Four Distinct Days-Within-A-Day Every one of my days has four clear parts. But why do I call the…3 min read3 min read
Published inUpLaunch·Jul 2, 2018How Two Companies Became OneThis journey has been an interesting one…filled with twists, turns, pivots, and improvements. This one falls squarely into the “improvements” category. The Origin Before UpLaunch came to be, there was a company called Run Your Gym. Started by Jake Johnson and myself in 2013, we developed a proof-of-concept platform that we called…Fitness4 min readFitness4 min read
Published inUpLaunch·Apr 26, 2018Release Notes — April 20, 2018Customizable appointment notifications, upgrades to the contact listing page, and a better way to experience the new features that we’re shipping! Overview Hope everyone is doing well today! This set of release notes covers some killer improvements to appointment configuration and to the main contact list! …Marketing Automation5 min readMarketing Automation5 min read
Published inUpLaunch·Jan 2, 2018The UpLaunch Methodology (how we help small businesses win)The Product Design Journey When we get together with one of our partners to create a product on the UpLaunch platform, it’s kind of a magical process. It’s typically done in-person, and it usually takes the form of a relatively intense work session filled with messy whiteboards, “Aha!” moments, spirited debates, and inspired creativity. …Marketing4 min readMarketing4 min read
Published inUpLaunch·Sep 21, 2017The Beginner’s MindShoshin is a concept in Zen Buddhism that means the “beginner’s mind” — in other words, shedding all of your preconceived notions about a particular topic and approaching it from a purely open and inquisitive standpoint. This “beginner’s mind” approach is something that I cling to vehemently as one of…Startup4 min readStartup4 min read
