I did a lot of reading last year (a lot for me, anyway). There’s one book in particular that stuck with me. It’s called 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson.

The quote I’ve been dwelling on, and plan to continue dwelling on into 2019, is this:

“Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient.”

Why? Because, as Peterson says, “there is no faith and no courage and no sacrifice in doing what is expedient.”

For so long, I focused on what is most commonly referred to in the business world as “the hustle.” Growth is the goal. Productivity is the strategy.

I’m not saying the hustle is necessarily bad, but it is not inherently good. As an entrepreneur, productivity can become an idol. It can lead also to burnout.

This year, I want to focus on what is meaningful.

What does this mean for me?

Meaningful means giving candid feedback and having uncomfortable conversations with people in my life.

Meaningful means nurturing business relationships with the long game in mind, not just quick wins.

Meaningful means being present with my kids and remembering that the days may seem long but the years are short.

Meaningful means pursuing my wife by giving her the best of me, not the leftovers at the end of the day.

Meaningful means creating more than consuming.

I could go on, but I won’t. I just needed to put this out there so it stays top of mind for me. And if it helps you too, then great, I’ve done something meaningful for today 👊

I’ve been reading a lot about creativity lately. Most authors stress the importance of routine, predictability, solitude, and organization as the key ingredients for generating meaningful creative output. This has really challenged me to get serious about how I structure my time.

i.e. Here is a quote from The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp:

“I wake at 5:30 A.M., head across town for a workout at the gym (for fourteen years with the same trainer). I repeat the wake-up, the workout, the quick shower, the breakfast of three hard-boiled egg whites and a cup of coffee, the hour to make my morning calls and deal with correspondence, the two hours of stretching and working out ideas by myself in the studio, the rehearsals with my dance company, the return home in the late afternoon to handle more business details, the early dinner, and a few quiet hours of reading. That’s my day, every day.”

Now obviously, I’m in a different season of life than Tharp. She does not have young children to care for and I don’t believe she’s married. Nonetheless, her structure and dedication to her craft has inspired me to do better.

I used to write.

There was a five-year period of my life when writing was a consistent and significant “deliverable” of mine.

Writing had also became a form of catharsis for me. I would block out big chunks of time to process what I was learning and then write about whatever was on my mind. I would publish on either my personal blog or the Soderquist blog at least weekly. I did this consistently for several years, starting c. 2006 until about 2013.

I dug up a few of my favorites and most viewed posts:

1. Premature
2. In the Jaws of Constraints
3. LeaderSkilz
4. On finding contentment in your work

Then, in 2014, I stopped writing. Life changed quite a bit for us that year. We adopted our daughter and started a business. Time became scarce, and that became my excuse. I could barely keep up with day-to-day life. There’s no way I could make time for writing. Looking back, I realize that was a time when self-reflection and writing could have been even more cathartic.

Fast forward five years to three days ago. I typed in the url of my blog and discovered that it had disappeared. Gone. The most recent server backup I could find was from 7 years ago.

This jolted me (in a good way). I started thinking about all the new lessons I’ve learned and ideas I have and things I want to share.

So, I think it’s time to start contributing again. About what and in what format, I’m not exactly sure.

What I am sure of is this:

1. My life has become exponentially more intense, colorful, time-strapped, blessed, and exhausting than I could have ever imagined 5 years ago.
2. My view of the world has gone through a seismic shift since then.
3. My role as a leader is very different now. Starting a business is fun. Building and managing a business is harder and more humbling than I ever imagined. So many lessons I need to process and share.

More to come. Thanks for reading.

P.S. I was able to use the Wayback machine to recover some of my old posts.

LeaderSkilz is a series of short funny videos about awkward moments at the office. Companies all over the world use these videos for training and development (true story, I promise).

Producing and filming stories about real people is what I love most about my work. Below is a series of recent projects for Folgers’ “Share A Cup” campaign.

Just realized this spot we produced for Sam’s Club is live! Always fun and rewarding to see our hard work go out in the world.

Last week we wrapped nearly 30 hours of nonstop shooting over two days, for two commercials, across two states, for two national brands. We’re thankful. We’re exhausted. And we’ll be in the edit suite if you need us!

Great work by the Verge Videos team on another successful project for Clairol! Here’s a little sizzle reel from the series.

The first series we produced generated over 500,000 views, so they came back to us for more. Check out the full spots on Clairol’s YouTube channel.

“Man, it must be great to be your own boss.”

I hear this statement a lot.

There is something sacred in our American, capitalistic, independent, damn-the-man culture about the idea of starting your own company. It’s in our blood. It will always be considered a sacred occupation.

Yet, like a lot of things we hold sacred, being your own boss isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Let’s start with that phrase. When you own a company, you ARE NOT the boss. Your customers are. Add up your customers and that’s how many bosses you have. You thought having one boss was tough? Try having 20 or 50 or 100.

If your primary motivation for becoming an entrepreneur is to “be your own boss,” don’t do it. Please.

I’m not writing this to scare you away from starting a business. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find a stronger advocate for entrepreneurialism than me. I’m writing this to share some of the things I’ve learned.

Last year I wrote a post just 90 days after starting Verge Videos. Here are some things I’ve learned since then:

1. Nothing is more important than the work. And nothing is easier to get distracted from.

We moved into our office in January. In September, we put a sign on the front. We jokingly ascribed a “minimalist aesthetic” to the interior because we didn’t have time to decorate. We were too busy working.

I see a lot of businesses spend an incredible amount of time trying to create or fix things that don’t directly relate to the work. I’m not just talking about decor and t-shirts either. Processes, policies, font choice, strategies, brainstorming…there are a thousand things we could have done. And honestly, a lot of them would have been more fun and easier than cranking out work every day.

2. Done is better than perfect. 

Perfectionism is a horrible strategy for growing a business. I’m still trying to accept this one. Every video we push out the door has at least one thing I want to tweak. And just let me say, this has absolutely nothing to do with the competency of our team. They do amazing work, better work than I could ever do. No project will ever be perfect. The anxiety I have about releasing imperfect work into the world is a problem with me, not the work.

3. Don’t spend time doing something you should be paying someone else to do.

My accountant was shocked when I said I wanted him to handle all of the “back office” financial stuff for our company. He said most entrepreneurs he deals with want to do it all themselves. They tell him, “I took an accounting class in college, I can figure this out.” I took a lot of those classes getting my MBA, but my time is better spent growing the business than banging my head against the wall trying to figure out what counts as a Section 179 deduction.

4. One hour of taking care of yourself is worth at least double that in productivity.

It feels so counter-intuitive to spend an entire hour of your day exercising or reading or journaling or blogging or cooking or whatever it is you do to stay sane. But that hour pays dividends far beyond an equal hour of sending emails or surfing Facebook or sitting in meetings or pretending to be doing something important. I have to constantly remind the workaholic in me not to feel guilty about spending this hour taking care of myself. Then I remember all the late nights and early mornings I invested in starting this business. And I don’t feel guilty anymore.

5. Fit work into your life, not the other way around. 

This truly is one of the main perks of being an entrepreneur.

Not everyone has this option and I feel very blessed to have the flexibility of fitting work into my life instead of arranging my life around work.

Yet, despite the benefits, I find it even harder to turn work off because so much responsibility rests on my shoulders. The pressure you feel as an entrepreneur can be overwhelming. I did freelance work for three years prior to going out on my own. Freelance is different. When you’re freelancing, you have your full-time job to fall back on. Unless you get fired, that paycheck is coming every two weeks. As an entrepreneur, it’s your responsibility to make sure you and your people get paid. This keeps me up at night more than anything else.

6. Iteration is key to moving quickly.

Iteration is the act of repeating a process with the aim of approaching a desired goal. “I’ll send you this now, it’s not perfect, but you get the idea, send us your feedback. Trust me that it will be better on the next version, in the interest of making progress.”

This relates to the point about perfection. It’s scary to send a half-baked project or idea to a client. Sometimes they don’t get it. But that first knee-jerk reaction can provide real insight into what needs to change.

7. There’s no way I could this without the support of my wife, best friend, and top advisor

To say I’m a lucky man would be the understatement of the year. The support, advice, and encouragement Mandy gives me is invaluable. She is a badass business woman, and if she were running this thing, we’d probably be a Fortune 500 company by now.