Chris Savage

And then, of course, the focus on the other side of this allowed us to get much more profitable than we were expecting, much more rapidly. The team, suddenly we'd done something pretty polarizing, and that meant that everyone who was there really wanted to be there. And we didn't understand that there were people who were there for the wrong reasons.

And then, of course, the focus on the other side of this allowed us to get much more profitable than we were expecting, much more rapidly. The team, suddenly we'd done something pretty polarizing, and that meant that everyone who was there really wanted to be there. And we didn't understand that there were people who were there for the wrong reasons.

And so suddenly the team felt much more unified and excited. Hiring, when we started hiring again, got much easier. It was like all like upside down backwards. And it was just basically having conviction about what we actually want to build. It worked out better than I could have imagined.

And so suddenly the team felt much more unified and excited. Hiring, when we started hiring again, got much easier. It was like all like upside down backwards. And it was just basically having conviction about what we actually want to build. It worked out better than I could have imagined.

I remember my wife was like, so you're not going to sell? I was like, no. She's like, you've told me for a long time you're going to sell this business someday. And like, we're waiting to do stuff until he sells it. So I was like... And you know what I decided was, what if we act like we sold? Instead of selling, let's act like we did sell the business. What would we do?

I remember my wife was like, so you're not going to sell? I was like, no. She's like, you've told me for a long time you're going to sell this business someday. And like, we're waiting to do stuff until he sells it. So I was like... And you know what I decided was, what if we act like we sold? Instead of selling, let's act like we did sell the business. What would we do?

And what we got to was, maybe we should really start taking very real vacations and taking more time off. and really giving more ownership and responsibility to more people on the team. It was interesting timing for me because my first child, she was probably one and a half when this was all happening. And so I was like, yeah, I will take more vacation. I'll spend more time with my family.

And what we got to was, maybe we should really start taking very real vacations and taking more time off. and really giving more ownership and responsibility to more people on the team. It was interesting timing for me because my first child, she was probably one and a half when this was all happening. And so I was like, yeah, I will take more vacation. I'll spend more time with my family.

And of course, again, what ends up happening is you start taking more vacation and it turns out, oh, a lot of people didn't need you for certain things. So I would come back from vacation and people would have made all these decisions that previously I would have been involved in. And guess what? They mostly made great decisions. And so what does that mean?

And of course, again, what ends up happening is you start taking more vacation and it turns out, oh, a lot of people didn't need you for certain things. So I would come back from vacation and people would have made all these decisions that previously I would have been involved in. And guess what? They mostly made great decisions. And so what does that mean?

I get less emails now and I'm in less meetings. The team is growing and people just are taking more responsibility. I didn't understand how vacations kind of cause people to take more responsibility. And also sometimes things didn't go well and then you figured that out. And it was like, oh, I'm holding this thing together and I didn't realize how much I was doing that.

I get less emails now and I'm in less meetings. The team is growing and people just are taking more responsibility. I didn't understand how vacations kind of cause people to take more responsibility. And also sometimes things didn't go well and then you figured that out. And it was like, oh, I'm holding this thing together and I didn't realize how much I was doing that.

And so, yeah, all these, again, just really counterintuitive things. But then when you start living a life while having a business, you start realizing it's actually really easy to keep doing this. The way I would sum it up is building a business is stressful. It's just like trying to get in shape or get really strong or something. Go to the gym, lift a bunch of weights. You stress your body.

And so, yeah, all these, again, just really counterintuitive things. But then when you start living a life while having a business, you start realizing it's actually really easy to keep doing this. The way I would sum it up is building a business is stressful. It's just like trying to get in shape or get really strong or something. Go to the gym, lift a bunch of weights. You stress your body.

If you just keep lifting every day and you never take a rest, you literally don't recover and you don't get any stronger. But if you actually take rests, you do. So what does it look like at work? You get stressed. But if you actually take weekends off and you actually take vacations, you recover. And guess what? It becomes easier to handle more stress. You're training your body.

If you just keep lifting every day and you never take a rest, you literally don't recover and you don't get any stronger. But if you actually take rests, you do. So what does it look like at work? You get stressed. But if you actually take weekends off and you actually take vacations, you recover. And guess what? It becomes easier to handle more stress. You're training your body.

You're training your mind. And so I think that's, again, one of the things that people miss is they go way too hard, especially after the business is up and running, and then they burn out. And so if you take actual breaks, you don't burn out. And this is different than what I was doing at the beginning, to be clear. I was working every weekend. I was working at nights. I was doing all that stuff.

You're training your mind. And so I think that's, again, one of the things that people miss is they go way too hard, especially after the business is up and running, and then they burn out. And so if you take actual breaks, you don't burn out. And this is different than what I was doing at the beginning, to be clear. I was working every weekend. I was working at nights. I was doing all that stuff.

But once we had enough momentum, I was able to add in the time and it had a tremendous impact.

But once we had enough momentum, I was able to add in the time and it had a tremendous impact.