My cute, cozy little Paris apartment had a nasty surprise

I rented a cute, cozy little Paris apartment. 

When I got there, I was horrified.

It looked just like the photos. That wasn't the problem.

The problem was, my cute, cozy little Paris apartment smelled like an ashtray.

The previous tenant must have smoked like a chimney. The minute I walked up the door, cigarette fumes shot up my nose at the speed of smell. They instantly conquered the olfactory centers in my brain. I've walked through seedy off-strip casino-gas stations in Vegas that smelled nicer.

Priority 1 was to get rid of this nasty odor. So I opened all the windows and the front door and left them open for the entire day on Sunday. That helped... a little bit.

But then I had trouble sleeping, because my nose was complaining about all the cigarette smoke. So I woke up groggy and grumpy the next morning.

So I spent 4 hours scrubbing all the floors, walls, windows, and mirrors with vinegar. (Vinegar is really good for getting out cigarette smell, at least according to the internet.) 

That helped. It reduced the cigarette smell by about 70%. (Although it also made my apartment smell like vinegar.)

Then yesterday I took the final step. I sprinkled baking soda all over my couch, my mattress, all the rugs, all the pillows, and everything else that might have absorbed some cigarette smoke.

I woke up this morning and now, the cigarette smell is mostly gone. I can't smell it anymore, even if I actively think about it. (My apartment now actually smells better than the hallway outside!)

I'm still in kind of a hectic period with client work. I have a few big deadlines this week. So I could easily have put this off until later. (My hands smelled like vinegar after 4 hours of scrubbing on Monday, and then I worked until midnight.)

But the problem is, if my apartment smells like an ashtray, that's gonna mess up my sleep, which is gonna mess up my work quality. Plus, it's no fun being groggy and grumpy. So I decided, better to get it done now.

My general philosophy is to solve problems ASAP. I've learned that when you don't solve a problem right away, it just becomes a bigger problem.

Anytime you can put in a bunch of time, money, and effort today to avoid having big problems down the road, you should usually do it.

I do this in my business, too. I'd rather spend a couple extra hours doing customer research today to avoid weeks of split-testing down the road, for example. 

This time management philosophy has probably saved me 1,000+ hours over the past 5 years.

Ask yourself: what problems can you solve right now that will save you tons of time and headache down the road?

My worst-case nightmare scenario happened

Last week my digital nomad “worst nightmare scenario” happened.

Basically my whole lifestyle working online is dependent on me having one thing. You can probably guess what it is, but just to create a little suspense in this email, I'll save it for later. 

If I lose that thing or it breaks, I’m in trouble. 

Well, last week it broke. 

At the worst possible time, because I had calls scheduled that day, and I had a couple massive mega client deadlines coming up.

Basically, I opened up my computer last Wednesday… and it wouldn’t turn on.

I jam the power button like 10 times. And I just get a black screen with a little icon saying the battery is dead.

But my computer is plugged in. And it’s been plugged in all night. It shouldn’t be dead.

It shouldn’t be dead. The only way it’s dead is if it’s DEAD dead.

I start freaking out. My whole life is on that machine. If it stops working, I can’t work.

Meanwhile in 3 hours I have an important work call. Followed by another important work call an hour later.

So I put my broken computer in my backpack and go see the Geek Squad at Best Buy. They give me the bad news: my charging port is fried. It’s not gonna work anymore.

I went to Best Buy and they told me the charging port was fried. 

Then I went to the Apple Store to get a second opinion. While I’m waiting, I see another charger plugged in. I plug it into my computer and it works… just barely.

I was able to get enough charge on the computer to go in, email myself all my important files, and then get out of there.

Then I do my calls from my phone. I had never done a work call from my phone before. I wasn’t even sure exactly how to do a Google Meet call on my phone.

Luckily the calls go well!

Then I go to a bunch of used computer stores until I find one that has a good Mac in stock.

This whole week I’ve been rushing to get all my work done, while also hanging out with my New York friends in the one week I’m here and re-entering passwords on every single website I use.

It’s still weird using a new computer, but this story has a happy ending. I didn’t miss a single client deadline and I’ve still turned in work that I’m proud of.

(Although I am a couple hours late with this email. I guess you can’t win ‘em all.)

The big lesson I took away from this: in life, you’re going to have crisis moments from time to time. Especially if you run your own business.

Ideally you want to avoid those crisis moments entirely by being smart and planning things properly. Like, for example, I should have gotten a new computer much sooner, at a more convenient time when my life wasn’t hectic.

But no matter what you do, some crisis moments WILL come up. Life is all about how you respond to those crisis moments. 

There’s usually a solution to your problem, even if you can't see it at first.

If you can keep your head and focus, you will eventually see your solution. You’ll probably also learn something useful from the crisis and get stronger.

People mess it up for themselves when they lose their head and start doing dumb stuff. That’s when the problems start happening.

Keep your head, stay focused, and you’ll realize things aren’t nearly as bad as you think!

Ready, Fire, Aim

A couple weeks ago I read Ready, Fire, Aim, which might be the best business book I’ve ever read.

The author has grown like 6 different businesses in different industries and niches to 8 and 9 figures, most notably the Agora companies.

There’s a ton of great lessons in Ready, Fire, Aim. The best one is probably the difference between front-end marketing and back-end marketing.

The front-end is where you get new customers. Front end marketing is about having a really awesome product to get people in the door.

Front-end marketing usually breaks even, or loses a little bit of money. You do it because front-end marketing builds you a customer list.

Once you have a customer list, you can do back-end marketing, which is a fancy way of saying “selling more stuff to people who have already bought from you.”

Back-end marketing is where you make all your profits. People will spend more money with you once they’ve already bought something from you. You’ve already done the hard part.

If you want to make more money, get better at either front-end marketing or back-end marketing.

If you’re not getting enough leads, build front-end products. Make a better lead magnet or low-ticket offer that gets more people in the door.

If you’re getting people in the door but you’re not profitable, build back-end products. Ask yourself what else your audience wants to buy. Ask yourself if there’s anything they’ll buy for a crazy amount of money. Et cetera.

-Theo