The Means of Production: Recent Episodes
Andrew Carroll & Brett Kelly
A podcast by a couple of business owners exploring the agony and the ecstasy of running a small business.
This week, we continue building the Skyscraper of Wealth. Specifically, we're talking about refinements and efficiencies—what we call tenant improvements.
Also, Andrew's kids do not like the mac and cheese.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
After last week's detour, we return to our discussion of the Skyscraper of Wealth. This week, we talk about walls, roofs, and other structural necessities.
Also, Brett switched back to an iPhone.
"Did you just presume my pandemic?" — Andrew
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
We take a break from our Skyscraper of Wealth discussion to unpack the hows and whys of Brett's first contract hire. Andrew then explains in painful detail why he needs another person.
Also, Andrew's love is totally conditional.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
Once you've start building, you'll need to install some protections and tools to make sure you stay on track. This week, we discuss outfitting your Skyscraper of Wealth with scaffolding.
Also, Andrew is going to replace his barbecues and loves 1-800-GOTJUNK because he, like Brett, loves throwing things away.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
We've done a lot of preliminary work. Now you're ready to start doing actual work. More specifically, the foundational work.
Get your shovel—we're breaking ground.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, we continue our discussion of the Skyscraper of Wealth. Now that you have a concept for what you want to build and you've validated your idea, you start designing the business using what we're calling Architectural Drawings.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
Before you build your skyscraper, you need to check with the neighbors and, possibly, the authorities.
Today, we talk about how your artist's rendering encounters a cold, unfeeling world.
Also, Andrew cuts a hole in the side of his house.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
Before we begin doing anything, we need to figure out two things:
- What we're doing, exactly
- Why we're doing it
That's this week's discussion.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, your boys are embarking on a new... thing.
We're going to spend the next several episodes discussing The Skyscraper of Wealth. We've touched on this in the past, but we've decided to dive deep for the next few weeks. And we're calling this Season 3.
Today's episode is a survey of the three types of businesses we'll be covering, how they're different, and how the experience growth. We call these three types of businesses "The Trifecta."
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
[Editor's note: This episode is out late. Uncle Brett regrets the error.]
In this episode, your boys discuss the notion that, if everything is good, you wait for something to come along to ruin it—and how to deal with that fear.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0
This week, Andrew educates Brett about scaling due to discomfort.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, your boys discuss how the problem of mismanaged expectations is both hugely caustic and easily remedied. This gives way to a discussion about the interpretation and effectiveness of communication.
Also, Brett gets a weird pizza and Andrew trots out the word "milieu."
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, Andrew delves into legal agreements, an activity which spawns a discussion of interpretation and the durability of the incorrect.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, Brett and Andrew unpack the difference between costs and investments (and why you should run headlong toward the latter).
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
Brett's digestion becomes a small example of how generally doing the right thing can still result in bad stuff happening. Your will .isn't enough.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, we're talking about experimentation and failure. Successful experimentation is the result of unsuccessful experimentation.
"Nobody wants a bowl of warm gin and vermouth."
"Lots of little failures are the key to avoiding big failures."
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, your bad boys chat about understanding, weighing, and accepting risk.
Andrew splits hairs between confidence and arrogance.
"You can't build business equity without risk."
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, your boys chat about how solos and small business owners can slip into a habit of overwork, the fear of stepping away, and the difficulty of recognizing and breaking that mode.
Also, Brett doesn't want to hire and employee and Andrew disagrees.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
A lively discussion about growth, delegation, and comic books.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
Andrew, entrepreneur par excellence, receives an attractive job offer. He then commences questioning everything.
As with most things, Brett turns this into a discussion about opportunity cost.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, your homies discuss the idea of simply pursuing more money for its own sake, the generational cycles that govern our approach to mindset, and how Brett and Andrew troll their children.
=== Links ===
- The Strauss-Howe Generational Theory
- Art of Manliness: How Millennials Could Be the Next Greatest Generation of Personal Finance
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, your friendly old farts—mostly Andrew—unpack why giving away value is, counter-intuitively, your best bet.
"You create wealth not by protecting your knowledge—you create value by spreading it."
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, los caballeros de trabajo discuss how to add value to your own self, why even W-2 employees should act like businesses, and children.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
Using Chris Guillebeau's book, The Money Tree, as a starting point, Brett and Andrew evaluate how people can apply effort and inventiveness to creating and monetizing value in unusual ways.
- "No matter what's happening, there are always people with money."
- Adding anti-fragility is the ability to go and find money.
- Brett thinks everybody is capable of this. Andrew disagrees, sorta.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, your favvy bois chat about how wealth is relative and how it's possible to see growth when everything else is taking a massive dump.
Andrew informs Brett that you can't drink brown liquor before five o'clock. Brett calls hooey on this "rule."
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
This week, your boys unpack the notion of how a gradually re-opening economy might look and affect businesses. Specifically:
- Brett cynically assumes lots of people will use an abundance of caution as an excuse for laziness.
- How remote work's newfound acceptance will affect things like real estate, employee benefits, etc.
- Potential changes to the fundamental nature of work and how performance is measured.
Also, Brett fumes about the subpar music in the live-action remake of The Lion King. Andrew subsequently complains about crappy remakes of classic movies.
Other highlights include:
- Brett hears "threenager" for the first time, falls in love.
- "This one's called 'Better Will Hunting.'"
- None of us have anything to talk about.
Administrative Note: Brett screwed up the scheduling for the previous episode and it went out almost a week late. Proof of his imperfection abounds and he regrets the error.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
=== Attribution ===
Mile High by tubebackr | https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
In this episode, Brett recounts his unexplained banning from Facebook. The old men then go on to lecture at length about the importance of owning your data and maintaining ultimate control of it.
=== Links and Miscellany ===
- Turns out Jack & Diane is indeed pretty popular.
- The John Grisham book Brett was trying to think of is The Rainmaker.
- Brett's newly minted rebuild of his site.
- @middleclassfancy on Instagram is worth your time.
=== Connect with Us ===
- Andrew is @cfoandrew on Twitter
- Brett is @mrbrettkelly on Twitter
- Brett runs Robot Army Industries
- Everything Andrew does
(Editor's note: Brett announces this is episode "001" at the start, but that's wrong. Computers wouldn't let assign zero to an episode, so this is episode two. You probably didn't even notice this, but we're pointing it out because we CARE.)
This week on the newly minted Means of Production, we discuss the financial relief options available to small businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, Andrew outlines the various bills and financial programs currently in play (and why people should cool it with demanding the government do things).
Also, Andrew describes Tail Risk Hedges. Brett pretends to understand this along with most of what Andrew talks about during this episode.
== Links==
- Request your stimulus payment from the IRS
Welcome to The Means of Production!
Andrew and Brett are back. This time, we're talking about running a business during a pandemic. Like everybody, really.
Visit the new podcast website at https://meansofproduction.co.
This week, your boys discuss some big changes for this show. If you're interested in staying on this crazy train and you want to know what's going to be different, give this one a listen.
High points include:
- How we've both grown and changed since this show launched 3.5 years ago.
- Who, specifically, we're trying to reach with our show.
- What we don't want to change.
Links
Visit https://getorthogonal.com for the latest update on where we're going and how to follow us.
👋 Get in touch
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Your favorite biz bois are back with an in-depth discussion of why planning is important. This one is mostly Brett talking about himself, he realizes as he's doing these show notes.
High points include:
- Brett spends an entire day planning instead of working; he did not use a spreadsheet.
- The goal of taking a day for planning; in our case, the outcome isn't a plan exactly...
- Brett outlines what he's going to offer people
- Brett's attempt to read an hour a day
Quotes
- "I ain't about hand-crankin' nothin'." -- Brett
- "You gotta have a motor built for what you want to do." -- Andrew
- "If you can say 'no,' you can rule the world."
Bonus
- We recorded two episodes that were lost
- Brett's landlord stockpiles grain for the apocalypse
- Brett's plan to turn the grain containers into devices to smoke brisket
👋 Get in touch
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your boys continue their discussion with very special guest, Nalini Indorf Kaplan. This time around, we get practical.
Links
Check out Nalini's System of Trust
- Nalini Indorf Kaplan
- Data Breaches
- GDPR in the EU
- ProtonMail
- Fast Mail
- Center for Humane Technology
- Buyer Beware
👋 Get in touch
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your boys are blessed with a very special guest, Nalini Indorf Kaplan, who educates us about online security.
High points include:
- Andrew has no idea why or how any of this works
- Do we care if people have our information?
- Brett's moving to the mountains
- Access isn't the issue, it's how the access is used
- Ease of use and security are always the trade-off
- Most professional services are about trust, not the service
- Are companies protecting themselves by gathering data?
- Or are they being creepy by stalking you?
- The truth is that everyone needs to be more upfront about it - Choices matter!
Quotes
- "It is VERY difficult to get away from the trifecta: Apple, Google, Microsoft" -- Nalini
Links
Check out Nalini's System of Trust
- Nalini Indorf Kaplan
- Data Breaches
- GDPR in the EU
- ProtonMail
- Fast Mail
- Center for Humane Technology
- Buyer Beware
👋 Get in touch
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your boys have a meandering, low-energy conversation about how to be a professional while still accepting the overwhelm ingredient in being a solo operator or small team. The real bummer is that it's hard and that there's no easy way to overcome this other than plowing through it.
High points include:
- Compartmentalizing different tasks and areas of work to limit their impact on unrelated, adjacent stuff.
- Be objective about how everything is going.
- Brett outlines how he is attempting to create order within work chaos (and how his boundaries are awful)
Quotes
- "My head is always three places." -- Andrew
- "Most of your job is figuring out who you're going to disappoint today." -- Andrew
Bonus
Andrew attempts to activate his new Google Pixel 4© while on his existing phone.
👋 Get in touch
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
We discuss Brett's plans to try to leverage yourself. But sometimes the best way to leverage yourself is "people". But "people" can mean a LOT of different things.
High points include:
- It might be time to hang it up
- Why Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an Apples and Oranges problem
- Brett loves the Genius Distillery and hates Friends.
- It's all about brands and umbrellas
- Brett is wrong about Joint Ventures
- Can you joint venture without having to treat it like a "jobby job"?
- There is a lot of middle ground between "I just work for myself" and "I own 100% of a big company"
- Andrew has two roles: I own 100%, or sub 10%
Links
- 42
- Magrathea
- Genius Distillery
Quotes
- "I got regular hired. I offered an acqui-hire and they said "nah"" -- Brett
👋 Get in touch
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Andrew talked to someone about an idea that he thought was fascinating and your duo talks about it today. Can you take an angel investment in yourself?
High points include:
- Why S-Corps save money on taxes
- Can you have an angel investment in yourself?
- Are you a blue chip stock or a small-cap?
- Maybe college should be an equity investment and not a debt investment
- How do you value a person? It won't be equitable, that's for sure
- What if we actually invested IN people, instead of leveraging them?
- Time value of money is weird
- Does investing in them objectify them? or empower them?
Links
- Present Value
- Bell Graph
- Entropy
- Sunk Cost Fallacy
- Y Combinator
Quotes
- "I'm.... I'm not well" -- Brett
- "Moral issues with monetizing 8th graders aside..." -- Andrew
👋 Get in touch
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your favorite wonks delve into the idea of actively reducing the amount of stuff in your life (physical and otherwise).
High points include:
- Not maintaining your systems will result in cruft, inefficiency, and decline.
- Everything should regularly earn its place in your life.
- Your business is either improving or declining—there's no "stable."
- Brett throws something away live.
- Jordan Peterson comes up and half of our listeners leave.
Links
- Broken Window Theory (a criminology theory which Brett incorrectly attributed to economics; Brett regrets the error.)
- Entropy
- Sunk Cost Fallacy
- 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
Quotes
- "You're right and your wife is wrong." -- Andrew
- "I'm constantly looking for things to get rid of." -- Brett
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Brett and Andrew explore how to be more like "Steve". Getting together with others and how to set yourself up for success.
- The most impressive person here is the one who got all the people to show up
- Andrew reminisces about Chambers and Mixers
- If you can find a group of people who want to get up and make things happen - things will happen
- Dress for the job you want, not the job you have (aka Branding)
- Brett gets a uniform
- Just because I haven't solved your specific problem, doesn't mean I can't help you
- All success in business comes down to GRIT
Quotes
- "There's no downside to inviting people I know and respect to get together and chat." -- Andrew
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today, your boys discuss the difficulty of separating work from non-work for freelancers and entrepreneur types. Specifically, how much our work informs our identity. Specifically:
- The lack of abstraction between work and everything else
- How swings in work and productivity are far more obvious when you work for yourself
- How freelancers can successfully step away from their work
Quotes
- "If today was a bad day, there's a high likelihood that tomorrow will be bad as well." -- Andrew
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your boys dig into the value of money, why it exists, and how to think about it differently.
Also, Brett bought a new refrigerator and Andrew narrowly avoids mansplaining.
Quotes
- "If money can solve a problem, it's not really a problem." -- Andrew
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
- Andrew wants a new tattoo
- The duo revisits keeping moving AND getting out of the way
- Andrew signs happy birthday to Brett
- The IRS assumes you are an idiot or a criminal
- The Venn Diagram of fax machines and bitcoins has ZERO overlap
- If you want to create value, always have a solution
Links
- Roderick on the Line
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, our humble podcast gets a big shot of classy. We're joined by Andrew's mom, Geneva Carroll.
On a recent episode, we were discussing our difficult it is to manage the tremendous amount of information, appointments, obligations, and general bullcrap we all encounter. Then we wondered what it was like for people back in the pre-Internet and pre-smartphone era.
It's a pleasant, nostalgic walk down memory lane wherein, specifically, we discuss:
- Managing appointments for parents and kids, analog-style
- Distributed household responsibilities before mobile phone ubiquity.
- How Geneva writes letters—actual letters—and mails them to people.
Links
- Geneva Carroll
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your favorite boys are delving into the idea of obsession. Alcohol as the springboard surprises nobody.
Brett begins yet another experiment with community-driven business, this time using Facebook. (You can check it out here if you’re interested). The overarching goal is to find one’s obsession, distill it into something atomic, then sell it.
Links
- Godwin’s Law
- The Genius Distillery
Off-topic Gems
- Andrew installs a bar in his home.
- Brett’s domestication continues in the form of wine club memberships. Plural. Andrew is pleased. Brett goes on to describe the nuts and bolts of wine club memberships.
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
We discuss
High points include:
- Brett has 47 calendars and it's color-coded.
- Andrew wonders how people functioned without this infrastructure
- We might end up having Andrew's mom as a podcast
- Andrew was not aware that GMail paginates your email
- How Andrew and Brett manage email and tasks
- How important is the work you are doing?
- You have to accept the seasons of life
- Closing your sales funnel (because you are busy) is why you are busy
Quotes
- "Would you say you, 'Can't even'?" -- Andrew
Links
Shawn Blanc
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Your duo discuss the school of hard knocks - is it braggy? Is it useful? Is experience better than education? We'll see!
High points include:
- Why Andrew dislikes people who always claim to be "from the school of hard knocks"
- If you are a business owner, we assume you went there
- Adversity is a standard part of being a business owner
- And adversity doesn't mean you will be successful
- You never graduate from the school of hard knocks
Quotes
- "Just because you started a business isn't particularly remarkable" -- Andrew
Links
5th of November
Mean Reversion)
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Why asking groups is the best way to get a pretty OK idea. But not much better. We unpack why sometimes trusting authority (or experience) is more efficient. Which is why trust is so key to all aspects of business.
High points include:
- Why democracy will never give the best answer.
- Assuming someone else is "in charge" is dangerous.
- Just because you don't like it, doesn't make it wrong
- Just because you like it, doesn't make it right
- Trust is key in all business.
- The more money involved, the less trust you need
- Easy for you is not the same as easy
Quotes
- "This is why I say democracy is the worst. This. Right here." -- Andrew
Links
Boaty McBoatFace
Mean Reversion)
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your band of brothers unpacks yet another floor on the Skyscraper of Wealth™.
Specifically, we talk about management through delegation. But the delegation must be trustworthy.
High points include:
- You're not outsourcing tasks, you're freeing up mental bandwidth
- What management isn't
- How to transition from a person who does work to an actual business.
Quotes
- "You can't do a little bit of cocaine." -- Andrew
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
The Orthogonal duo today discusses how you really need to have a basic understanding of the parts of businesses. And also how being "good enough" is often good enough.
- If you want to get good at something, focus on the few key parts of it
- If you want to be a business owner you have to be "good enough" at things like accounting, marketing, finance, and management
- If you treat everything as"that's not my thing" - you make yourself fragile
- Proficiency trumps efficiency - Bruce Lee
- Routine solves more problems than money or time
- Everyone should be doing continuing education of some sort
Bonus: The story of how Brett got free whiskey because of his dog, Whiskey.
Quotes
"The best part of this story is that I learned you have a karate trophy from when you were ten"
Links
- Look it Up
- Expert Enough
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your favorite business bois unpack the idea that we imagine things to be far more complicated than they are. From cars to business concepts, your imagination is causing you more trepidation than is probably appropriate.
However, there's a cutoff where doing things yourself becomes more of a cost and less of a benefit. Listen and learn.
Quotes
- "Assume you are smart enough."
- "DIY is cheaper until it isn't." -- Homie Jeremy
- "I'm paying for the years, not the minutes."
Links
- A really fun XKCD joke about Lisp parentheses.
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Your dynamic duo digs into what us freelancers call "cognitive spelunking". Which, in the tower of business, is the research and development portion of the tower. We talk about that means and how it is different from improving your operations and researching a market.
High points include:
- Most people just accept things. Life might be simpler that way
- Cognitive Spelunking is R&D in the tower of Business
- Brett knows EVERYTHING. Andrew is impressed
- Market research is not R&D
- Andrew thinks R&D is testing the existential purpose of your business
- Brett thinks it more about making new products
- In a small company we're both right
Quote "It has to be T-Shirtable or no one is going to learn it" - Andrew
Links
- Freelancer Lexicon — work in progress
- Dunning Kruger effect
- Everything is Philosphy
- John Mulaney
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your favorite two dorks build a lexicon for freelancers and small business types.
High points include:
- Andrew is a man about town, but only compared to Brett
- Knowing your target makes marketing AND operations more efficient
- More efficient = more money
- Don't be terrified to send someone away that doesn't fit
- Scarcity mindset versus an abundance mindset
- Authentic is profitable
- Avatar is not just a James Cameron movie
Andrew's new dog has the #1 name for Texas and #2 Worldwide
Links
- Freelancer Lexicon — work in progress
- Scarcity Mindset
- Avatar)
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your favorite two dorks build a lexicon for freelancers and small business types.
High points include:
- How to avoid getting "freelanced"
- Andrew encourages Brett to workshop some of the terms discussed. Brett blanches.
- Brett promises something in the episode that he totally didn't do yet.
Also, Andrew didn't like Brett's abbreviation, "'lanced."
Links
- Freelancer Lexicon — work in progress
- l'espirit de l'escalier
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your boys dig into the layers of a business. We call it The Skyscraper of Wealth. High points include:
- There are always more opportunities than you have resources to exploit
- Impatience does more damage to a business than missing out does
- The tighter you squeeze it, the harder it is to make it happen
- People that are buying or selling in hurry are in a bad position
- Never under price liquidity - just because you have money doesn't mean that there are good investments
Bonus
- We start our own language. It began today with 'FU Stack'
Quotes
"I picked up my PHONE and make a PHONE CALL to Andrew's PHONE"
"I was afraid someone died."
Links
Freelancer Lexicon
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your boys dig into the layers of a business. We call it The Skyscraper of Wealth. High points include:
- How non-production work is integral to the success of a business
- Planning to plan
- A percentage-based breakout of how your time should be spent
Bonus
- Brett got a new dog. A serious upgrade.
Quotes
- "That's very t-shirtable."
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today we dig into 90-minute offer and what happened. It didn't go as planned - but isn't that just SO FREELANCER?
High points include:
- It took more than 90 minutes to explain how to make it in 90 minutes
- Video production has lots of logistics, like beer and bathroom breaks
- Our careers are made up of a series of failed ideas
- But most of our success comes from setting unreasonable goals
- Brett is self-conscious. Shocker.
Quotes
"I could attribute a great deal of my personal and business success to setting unreasonable goals and then doing whatever I can to hit them -- Brett
Links
Binging with Babish PIVOT Netflix WSJ Article
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Using pools and sod cutters as analogies, your boys in blue unpack digging in versus outsourcing, improving your processes, and how to move grass around a yard.
High points include:
- Deciding when to work through a complicated problem (vs giving up and hiring help)
- Building in time for internal improvement and refinement
- Why Andrew thinks everybody is a real go-getter when it comes to solving problems
- Thinking outside the box (like, really)
Bonus
Also—and this is Brett—I swore in this episode that 90minuteoffer.com would be up by the time this episode aired. It's not. I got 60% of the way through the work and the recording was 90 minutes long. We'll discuss this in the next episode (assuming Andrew agrees).
Links
- Hello World
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today Andrew and Brett talk about systems and automation. And how both automation and people can fail - hot tip: they fail in different ways.
High points include:
- Brett's cat is bringing "gifts" into the house
- Set it and forget it is not a thing
- Computers systems don't degrade
- People love shortcuts
- When you streamline systems you are almost always removing double checks
- Brett loves checklists
- If clients/bosses only see the failures, it is tough to communicate value
- The pro of computers: They do not deviate. This is also the Con.
- Andrew and Brett are going to get back to their roots. Metaphors.
Quotes: "It's amazing how much work you can just 'not do' and people don't notice" -Andrew
Links
Internal Control
Checklist Manifesto
Test Driven Development
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Today we unpack why Brett is better at business (because patience) and why Andrew is not good at business (because patience).
High points include:
- Brett has the most heartfelt sign of all time
- Brett likes to create lots of small insurance policies
- Andrew gives vague instructions and gets vague questions. Go Figure.
- Andrew reveals the greatest hindrance to his entire business/career
- Andrew needs some to police him. And his business
- Brett and Andrew are going to go halfsies on an admin assistant
- The problem with employees is that they get paid to wait for you
- Why drug dealers are drug dealers
Links
IRS Code
Freakonomics
Freakonomics Drug Dealers
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
This week, your boys unpack success relative to others, how to measure value, and scaling yourself away from the nuts and bolts of operations.
High points include:
- Why comparing yourself to others—especially in earnings—is poison
- Andrew's goal for his businesses
- Building autonomy in team members
Also, Brett and Andrew have more than enough Field Notes™ notebooks.
Links
90minuteoffer.com — Brett totally meant to have this ready, but it's not. Surprise, surprise, right? But it will be soon.
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
This week, your dynamic business duo unpack Brett's experience switching to Android after a dozen years as an iPhone user.
- Andrew and Brett have no sense of direction. None.
- The difference between rich business owner and not is process definition
- The best way to learn something is to teach it
- Brett is going to make a Wiki. Andrew isn't.
- Start in the middle of the spreadsheet
- The ability to figure things out is highly valuable
- Processes make it easier to identify outliers
- 90% of our work is dealing with exceptions
Quote "GIRL. Just chill. Ima get there." -Brett
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
In this episode, your homies chat about the three types of marketers (according to a dude named David on Twitter): the Artist, the Soldier, and the Gambler. We evaluate the idea behind the categorizations and how we feel we fit into the framework.
(Surprise: it's not that simple.)
Links
- The Three Types of Marketers on Twitter
Bonus
- Brett discusses his semi-annual evaluation of the Bullet Journal method
- Andrew's angry about Field Notes' boxes.
Also, Brett incorrectly attributed this quote to Amarillo Slim. It was Canada Bill Jones. Brett regrets the error.
It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money.
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your dynamic business duo unpack Brett's experience switching to Android after a dozen years as an iPhone user.
- What Brett likes about Android
- What Brett doesn't like about Android
Also, Brett really misses Drafts.
Bonus
Brett rants about how useless wearable technology is, as well as how people who use Gmail and Facebook aren't allowed to complain about privacy.
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
This week, your biz homies discuss the idea of being perpetually behind on work, how best to deal with clients who need immediate help, and more.
High points include:
- How to diagnose if you're actually behind in a bad way
- Balancing between completing current work and earning new work
- Planning your time so you're not behind the frickin' 8-ball all the time
- The secret to managing expectations of clients
And, of course, a bunch more.
Bonus
- The totally badass patch that Andrew's saintly mom made for everybody. Check out her site here.
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
This week, we're talking about creating standard offers vs. always doing custom work as a freelancer.
High points include:
- How to price your services
- News flash: people are cheap
- Why it's easier to do business with people you know
Quotes
"We have inertia to thank for a lot of things." -- Andrew
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today we explore the idea of Brett's "90 Minute business Challenge". What is this challenge you ask? Can we take an idea, turn it into a deliverable, create the delivery and payment mechanism, create the sales copy and launch it in 90 minutes?
Brett seems to think so.
High points include:
- The requirements are:
- Website where the offer will live
- The way to buy the thing
- The Marketing campaign
- The Promotional campaign
- How hard is it to actually collect the money for your knowledge?
- Brett sends a lot of email, it's key
- Businesses made of businesses making businesses
Quote "There is nothing more terrifying than my workload being sentient. I just heard the sound of a thousand damned voices screaming at me"
-Andrew
Links
- Brett's Idea
- Accrual
- Empire
- Start Up School Talk
- The Intelligent Investor
- Dispersion risk
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
On another special guest episode with Chris DeCaro, Andrew and Brett argue what a freelancer is. And why no definition of freelancer includes "solo-prenuer".
High points include:
- Freelancer is a very broad term - and it changes with context
- People forget how different how fundamentally different being an employee and contractor are
- A contractor is usually a remote worker. But not all remote workers are freelancers
- Remote work suffers from the Jurassic Park problem
- Andrew doesn't believe anyone working at a coffee shop is making any money
- Being a Solo-Prennuer means you are starting a business no one wants to help you with
- Launching a product isn't the same as launching a business
Quote "I get that you have a business Brett! "
-Andrew
Links
- Jurassic Park Problem
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
On an important episode of Orthogonal Brett and Andrew discuss (with their friend Chris) the mental stresses of being a freelancer. And no one talks about it. And we should.
High points include:
- Remote workers and freelancers - anyone working in isolation need to manage that scenario
- Successful freelancer have a series of tools to manage mental health and you need to be aware of that
- Is your "default setting" - "WORK"?
- Is a predisposition to anxiety correlated to a predisposition to freelancing?
- Is the "working less as a freelancer" really a thing?
- The good side of the drive is you get joy from creating new things
- The bad side of the drive is you are never "content"
- What is enough?
- Chris' #lifehack to managing your business.
Quote 'Are you a crazy person so you decided to become a freelancer? Or are you a crazy person because you decided to become a freelancer?"
-Andrew
Links
- We didn't mention this, but you should definitely watch DHH's Startup School talk because it relates directly to our point.
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
This week, your favorite business duo unpack the entrepreneur life. Specifically, how owning your own business comes with, in largely equal measure, costs as well as benefits.
High points include:
- You have to buy the printer paper
- Why money isn't wealth, really.
- How to think about the problems you solve instead of the job for which you're best suited.
Links
- We didn't mention this, but you should definitely watch DHH's Startup School talk because it relates directly to our point.
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Freelancers are almost always ahead of the tech curve. Sometimes we forget this and forget that MOST people aren't using these systems as much as we do.
High points include:
- Brett got into tech support on accident
- Andrew & his wife's pillow talk mostly involves bookkeeping
- Does being a freelancer have to mean always having broken technology?
- You can get rid of eels by just closing all your accounts and seeing what breaks
- Right click - Combine to PDF is Andrew's secret weapon
- Brett needs more companies - and has a new client!
Links
- https://andrewcarroll.co/taxes
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today, Andrew unpacks several new changes to the United States tax law that entrepreneurs and freelancers will definitely want to know about.
High points include:
- How business deductions and personal deductions are different.
- The most effective way to avoid paying taxes
- Why the new tax regulations benefit everybody other than people like us
- Lots and lots of important information that Brett only sorta understands.
Links
- https://andrewcarroll.co/taxes
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today we welcome each other back from the new year and start a discussion of how a company ends up in legacy systems, how great Brett's new business systems will be, and the difference between viewing your company as a business versus a job.
High points include:
- Brett's Facetime baby monitor hack
- Brett's work with "charlie" - a computer that was a throwback
- Getting rid of legacy systems is almost always a significant investment
- There are places where DOS is still a thing
- Hiring people and software when parts of your business gets painful
- Are freelancers a business? or are they a type of job?
- Double your fees, lose half your clients, go home early
Quotes
"This is the exact OPPOSITE of an Orthogonal relationship" — Brett
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
In our last episode of 2018, Andrew and Brett discuss Christmas, charity, and how spoiled Andrew's kids are. We delve into why doing things for free is usually the best price.
High points include:
- Andrew's super life hack for Christmas present shopping
- Brett wants to outlaw Christmas presents
- Andrew reveals the best investment you'll ever make
- There's only two prices in professional services
Quotes
"Please give a crap, not just money" — Brett
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your dynamic duo talk about professionalism. Specifically, how professionalism translates directly into higher fees (and clients who don't mind paying them).
Bonus: an update on Brett's dog.
High points include:
- Commodity vs. high-end services
- How Brett accidentally wrote a really awesome proposal
- Anatomy of a proposal that sells
- The one thing you need to go from $500 to $5000 engagements
Quotes
- "When you're doing proposals, every time is the first time. They're all different." — Andrew
- "I say 'mm-hmm' as though I know what I'm talking about." — Brett
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Andrew gets angry about flying. And entitlement. Brett attempts to calm him down and it doesn't work. We eventually make it about business.
High points include:
- If you can't make it through a 90-minute flight without a pizza you have lots of things wrong
- Entitlement is far more insidious than you think
- What the world needs now is over apology
- Where do you stop your cart in the grocery store?
- Not being entitled means thinking ahead and beyond yourself
- The best business do this because it creates joy
- Joy is a great way to get great prices
Links
- Keep Moving & Get Out of the Way
- Roderick on the Line: Episode 1
- Andrew's Blog
- Uncle Brett's Book Club
Quote
"You won't always be an adorable 3-year-old. Eventually, you'll be a grown up that no one cares about." -Andrew
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
We talk about time tracking, dogpocalypse, billing and time in business.
High points include:
- Andrew's horror the one time he tried time tracking
- Brett's dog is no longer with him. It's not dead - just somewhere else
- Time tracking is the same as budgeting - step one is to find out where you are now
- Billing by the hour means you make less money the better you get at your job
- Time Tracking = Business Intelligence
- Value is based on opportunity cost, not time
Links
- Screen Time
- Andrew's Blog
- Uncle Brett's Book Club
- TSheets
- Opportunnity Cost
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
In this very special episode, Brett lays out exactly how he would fix Andrew's nascent info product marketing.
High points include:
- Andrew's mistakes when launching his Personal Financial Plan DIY Kit.
- Brett's dead simple plan for Andrew to build a brand with video.
- How to create content that sells stuff.
- Brett's tinfoil hat theory about Buzzfeed's clickbait content.
Also, a brief update on Uncle Brett's Book Club, which you should totally join.
Links
- Andrew's Blog
- Brett on Facebook
- Uncle Brett's Book Club
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Launching an information product is doable by almost anyone - and it doesn't need to have a million customers.
High points include:
- Andrew tells Brett that he told him so. Because he did.
- You can make a business that doesn't need to be a unicorn
- Having an audience makes launching a product easier, but isn't a requisite
- Testing demand before you build is awesome (SEE: Kickstarter)
- You don't have to be a top-level expert - jut helping people who are one step below you is still creating value
- You can start this without too much time investment
Links
- David Heinemeier Hansson
- Uncle Brett's Book Club
- Cult of Copy
- Brett on Facebook
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your favorite discuss what, exactly, makes an entrepreneur.
High points include:
- Brett provides an update on Uncle Brett's Book Club
- Taking control of your time when you have a million ideas
- Getting comfortable with disappointing people
- Brett floats the idea of "active rest." Andrew disagrees.
- Why being an entrepreneur means never being satisfied.
Links
- Uncle Brett's Book Club
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Mismanaging expectations with clients is usually the main reason why service businesses lose money and profitability.
High points include:
- The potty dance
- Did you hose yourself upfront taking on clients?
- Scope creep is a thing. Always a thing
- Have a relief valve - so that you set the expectation you might raise the fee
- And you'll always think it takes less than time than it does
- Flat fee billing is the way to go, always, but there is an inherent risk
- Everything takes longer than you think
- You'll never get 8 hours of work done in 8 hours
- People always try to get the most for their money
Links
- Dog training
- Uncle Brett's Book Club
- Flat Fee Billing
- Value Based Billing
- Incentives
Quotes
- "I've never regretted billing someone too much" -- Andrew
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your boys discuss how to turn things into businesses. The short answer is: just give it a shot and see what happens. And don't make problems on purpose.
High points include:
- Brett's decision to avoid making his book group complex before it needs to be.
- How to use existing tools and infrastructure to create new revenue streams (or even whole businesses)
- Andrew wants to get sued.
- Brett teaches Andrew how to search for trademarks
- An update on Brett's new puppy
Links
- Macgyver
- Uncle Brett's Book Club
- Get Orthogonal
Quotes
- "Planning is important, but don't over-plan." -- Brett
- "I wonder if DeCaro could draw us a logo including a wing, a prayer, and a piece of gum..." -- Andrew
- "You never know where the problems are going to come from." -- Andrew
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week your dynamic duo discuss the dangers of being a freelancer that many people forget about - health benefits, disability, and liability protection.
Specifically, we'll discuss:
- Brett got a dog - we discuss his name
- Brett launched a business! And did math on reading - which is impressive
- Our social safety nets are built around the employer/employee relationship - which means freelancers don't get access to them
- Your salary is more than just the gross pay on your paycheck
- Are you saving something in case you get injured or can't work?
- What happens if someone steals your laptop?
Quote
"113 is like 100 times more lucky than 13!"
-Brett
Links
- GetOrthogonal.com — sign up there to be notified when our new thing is ready!
- Uncle Brett's Book Club
- Aflac Short Term Disability
- Disability Insurance
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your dynamic duo discuss the new business they're starting together. Instead of being all secretive and such like last time, we're going to follow sage advice and "iterate in public."
Specifically, we'll discuss:
- Why the previous business didn't work
- Why this version will have a better chance of working
- The difference between the two offerings (and why the first one wasn't that great)
- The fact that this could definitely fail and why we are going to do it anyway.
- Why you have to consider the requirements on your time and resources when you prepare to build a new business.
Links
- GetOrthogonal.com — sign up there to be notified when our new thing is ready!
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your boys discuss a perennial issue for self-starters: failure.
Andrew has a problem with a colleague. Colleague issues criticism from the sidelines instead of getting into what President Roosevelt calls "The Arena." With this experience as a jumping-off point, we explore the idea of failure within business and dealing with critics.
High points include:
- Brett's dismal success rate
- The key to surviving failure
- Why criticism requires credibility
Other stuff:
- Andrew finished his holster and he already knows exactly where it will break. Here it is.
- Andrew's plan for the 12 square feet of leather he now owns. Brett's suggestion is summarily shot down.
Quotes
- "Business is failure." -- Andrew
- "I would suggest making somebody else a leather hat." -- Brett
Links
- The Man in the Arena
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Andrew asks Brett what he would do different when launching his business. Andrew of course chimes in. And has opinions.
High points include:
- What can you fake and what can you NOT fake
- Brett talks about Mail Chimp. Again.
- Brett also does not PREFER Squarespace
- Don't be afraid to ask - successful people aren't successful because they hold others back
- Don't have regrets - rapidly iterate!
Quote
"Double your fees, lose half your clients, go home early"
-Brett
--Andrew
---Andrew's old boss
Links
- Stadium Tavern - It's not called this anymore, apparently
- The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, your favorite duo explore the ideas discussed in Chris Guillebeau's The $100 Startup.
High points include:
- Brett's terrible business idea
- Unusual paths to success
- The mental lines we draw around what's possible (and how to let go of limiting beliefs)
- The question Brett asks himself when he's afraid of something
Links
- The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Your favorite homies are discussing how time and leisure are more important pursuits than money. High points include:
- You have to choose time to rest (and treat it as important).
- What will actually happen if you take a break.
- In terms of time, you are probably wealthier than you realize.
- Also, Brett tells Andrew how to poach an egg.
Quotes
- ”Five of me couldn’t do all the crap I think of.” — Brett
Links
- The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
- Andrew’s homemade holster
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Andrew wonders how Brett randomly writes a book. Brett explains that being proactive is the key to, well everything. Also, how do you when you are doing "enough" work?
- It's really common to be on your back foot (being reactive)
- Being NOT on your back foot is definitely superior (being proactive)
- But it isn't always that simple...
- It's more simple than you think
- We've said it before, we'll say it again: GETTING THINGS DONE
- Goals versus desire - learn the difference
- We all need to give ourselves a little more grace
- You can always do more, but at some point are you just beating yourself up for no reason?
- Being self-employed means you have no built-in metric for "enough"
Quotes
"Self-motivation is a bit like being chased by a lion" -Brett
Links
- Good Will Hunting
- The Departed
- Getting Things Done
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
The continuation of our conversation with Jeremy. We chat about business scoping and how to control your business.
- Flexibility and responsiveness (should) increase costs
- Client education is important
- Being true to your business model is how you stay profitable
- People hate not knowing the price
- W-2s aren't as secure as you might think
- When a client DOES subscribe to your business, you have responsibilities to them
- A great business builds incentives that align the interests of owners and customers
Quotes
"It's really hard to run a business where your business is doing whatever someone wants you to do" -Andrew
Links
- CFOJeremy
- Enrolled Agents
- National Association of Enrolled Agents
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today we talk about quitting your job, starting a new thing and why being a specialist is the wave of the future, but has some downsides.
- Jeremy tells his story of quitting his job and starting his own company
- Accountant does not equal CPA
- All professional jobs have gradients - you almost never just hire "a doctor" or "a lawyer"
- The new economy is creating more specialists
- The power of specialization - it also creates dangers
- Sometimes internships aren't that good at preparing you for the actual work
- Nothing teaches you better than closing the deal yourself
Quotes
"There's more similarities between a one-year-old person and a full-grown dog than there are differences" -Andrew
Links
- CFOJeremy
- Enrolled Agents
- National Association of Enrolled Agents *
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, enjoy part two of Orthogonal After Dark.
(That just means we recorded this episode at night. Nothing freaky.)
Brett has a garage sale and your dynamic duo discuss the business lessons contained therein. High points include:
- How a local real estate agent demonstrated fantastic marketing.
- Brett's pricing idea that fixed his "engagement problem."
- Brett has a mediocre business idea and still doesn't understand tax deductions.
- Garage sales as analogy for investments.
- We revisit outcome-independent thinking.
Quotes
- "Do have any swords?"
- "I'm not here to be your friend. How much for the waffle maker?"
Links
- Pacific Heights
- "Money isn't real, George."
- Deuteronomy 8:17-18
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
In this episode, your favorite podcast duo deal with Brett's mild Crisis of Tech. Highlights include:
- Why Brett is wondering what an Android life would be like
- Andrew's recovery plan if somebody threw his phone into a well
- Brett offers some rare, candid criticism of Apple
- We discuss how the mobile hardware vs. software conversation has changed in recent years
- Brett's household changes cell carriers and it goes poorly
Bonus: we recorded this episode (and the next one) in the evening for a change. Alcohol was present.
Quotes
- "If Google is broken, the world is broken. We're foraging for berries at that point."
- "Computers are so awesome and so stupid at the same time."
Links
- We both love G Suite
- Bootlegger's Far Out IPA
- Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
- Google Pixel 2
Today's Episode Was Made Possible By Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30-day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today Brett is joined again by the indomitable Ryan McRae, the ADHD Nerd. They have a great conversation about fitting reading in, finding a great junk book, and conferences.
- You might be surprised how much time you have to read during the day
- But to be a well-read person, you have to make it happen
- "Junk books" can still be productive
- Brett revisits his hate of conferences
- Ryan's patented, never fail system for attending a conference. Especially if you hate them.
- Conferences are for making friends, not deals
- Research is your friend!
Links
- ADHD Nerd
- Ryan on Twitter
- The Dark Tower
- The Magician's
- The Expanse Series
- Patrick Rothfuss
Quote of the Day
"I just want to retreat to my hotel room, drink a beer, and read a book" -Brett
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30 day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?”
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today Brett is joined by the infamous Ryan McRae, the ADHD Nerd. Andrew is someplace. Ryan looked up Orthogonal! A great conversation ensues about how Brett and Ryan got started in online sales, their experiences and the weird feeling of people buying your stuff.
- Just sell the muffin.
- Some people still don't understand that you can make money on the internet
- Building a list is always a slow slog
- Balancing all the parts of an online business often resembles WORK
- "Get up and Hustle" sounds easy, but building routines in the real world is hard
- Buying back time is viable at almost any income level
- Make sure that you use the time you create!
Links
- ADHD Nerd
- Ryan on Twitter
- Fizzle Podcast
Quote of the Day
"Thanks Brett, I'm looking it up!" -Ryan
'Triple the time!" -Ryan
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long-running and want to clean things up.
To see all the ways FreshBooks can bring the joy by changing the way you feel about your paperwork, they’re offering our listeners an unrestricted 30 day free trial. To claim it, just go to FreshBooks.com/ORTHOGONAL and enter ORTHOGONAL in the “How Did You Hear About Us?”
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
💚Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Your dynamic duo discusses Andrew's new project - and how challenging yourself makes all the difference in life.
A BIG THANK YOU TO THE ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL LISTENERS WHO HAVE SPENT 100 EPISODES LISTENING TO US RAMBLE.
WE LOVE YOU.
- We are really glad that we have this podcast to "stay in touch"
- Brett reminds Andrew that sometimes he loves hard
- The math says you should do nothing but your thing - but is that true?
- Brett fixed his own stove - Andrew has no idea what to do with his fence
- Sometimes structure makes all the difference
- DETAILS MATTER
Links
- The Strenuous Life
- The Art of Manliness
- So Good They Can't Ignore You By Cal Newport
- Build a Fire Pit
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Brett is now married. Andrew and his family flew out from Texas to attend the wedding. All good things.
Today, your favorite duo discuss Brett getting excited about barbecues, how he's dealing with an outsized amount of garbage, and Ryan Holiday's fantastic book, Ego is the Enemy.
Links
- Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
This week, Brett is on his honeymoon after successfully marrying his wife. In his stead, friend of the show Kathy Campbell—The Unicorn Sidekick—joins Andrew to discuss small business, life, and sundry other topics.
Topics
- How angry Brett would be if Andrew announced his phone number on the podcast
- The return of the conehead? Are we dunces for being small business owners?
- Product businesses vs. client businesses
- How to treat your clients when starting your business
- Parenting and working from home
- Kathy explains the Unicorn thing
- Tons more
Quotes
"I might like my kids less if they become accountants." -- Andrew
Links
- The Unicorn Sidekick
- Kathy on Twitter
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Last week we talked about putting ideas out of the misery. But what happens if an idea is still good enough to keep around, but isn't good enough to be the main focus? What you need is a bone saw, not an idea pistol.
Highlights include:
- Sometimes things are more nuanced than "alive" or "behind the barn"
- What's the math behind keeping a business at Minimum Viable Momentum (tm) (c)
- Dispassionate analysis is the key
- Focusing on one thing will make it more successful, but can be more dangerous
- Diversifying your businesses means some businesses will be less successful than they could be
- Doing the math is hard, because "the work" is complicated
Bonus:
Quotes
"If you don't want to do a lot of work then working for yourself is not for you"
-Brett
Links
TPS Reports
CFOAndrew
XKCD Networking
I'm Unemployed
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Brett and Andrew explore what it means to keep a project going and why that is important. Also, things get dark. A lot of discussion of putting animals down.
Highlights include:
- The difference between murder, assassinate, excise and euthanize - things get weird
- Retail investors versus institutional investors - the difference is emotional decision making
- When the love of the idea keeps the zombies moving
- Sometimes killing the idea is the best idea you'll never do
- Brett doesn't have his bar. He is feeling underequipped
Bonus:
Quotes
"I don't wish the dog harm, it just needs to be dead"
-Andrew
Links
The Oatmeal
Principles: Life and Work
Super Team Deluxe
Final File Pin
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Brett and Andrew explore what it means to keep a project going and why that is important. Also, things get dark. A lot of discussion of putting animals down.
Highlights include:
- Why killing projects getting more done.
- Your emotional investment in your ideas is likely holding you back
- It is better to cycle quickly through lots of ideas than hold onto mediocre ones
- Just because you can do business with someone doesn't mean you are going to
- The good news is that in the modern world there are more opportnities than you will ever be able to take advantage of
- That's also the bad news.
Bonus:
Quotes
"But the underline is also a shovel"
-Andrew
Links
Up in the Air
Frog Leap Studios
Between the Buried and Me
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Andrew makes Brett watch a youtube video about Will Smith. They extrapolate how to be successful from it. It is smarter than it sounds.
Highlights include:
- "Be where people is doing it!"
- "Take ten minutes, right now, and change your life forever"
- Two stories with the same decision/result 140 years apart - technology has nothing to do with success
- Never underestimate the power of forward momentum
Bonus:
Quotes
"'NO PARALYSIS, DO ANALYSIS'"
-Quincy Jones, allegedly
Links
How I Became the Fresh Prince
How to Rise in the World
The Five Steps of 'Getting Things Done'
Jay Abraham
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Andrew has turned into a hermit like Brett and Brett is now going out to offices. Black is white, up is down, and are you allowed to interrupt your coworkers?
Highlights include:
- Sometimes moving vans don't show up
- How much coworking is actually going on?
- Do knowledge workers need less collaboration than people think?
- There is a benefit to being around other humans, but it might not be getting more work done
- Interruption goes two ways - the person whose workflow was interrupted and the person who needs the data to continue
- How to do internet searches should be it's own high school course
- SECRET REVEALED: The IRS has no idea what they are doing either
- Monopoly pricing is a thing
Bonus: After the ending, you can hear Andrew talk more about his house and wifi. Or skip it. Probably just skip it.
Quotes
"'Did you get my email' is French for 'Punch me in the face'" -Brett
Links
Let Me Google That For You
IRS Direct Pay
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Today's episode is all about workspaces. Specifically...
- What does a workspace say about company culture?
- Does physical space create legitimacy?
- How does your digital presence replicate the physical space?
- What affect does physical space have on your work?
Also, Brett and Andrew are too clever for their own good.
Come chat with us in our Spectrum Channel! Join other listeners and ask us any questions you have about today's episode, finance, freelance, business, marketing, you name it!
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
We talk about the difficulty of defining our jobs and Andrew attempts to explain why we are becoming so much more specialized with economics. We discuss how this drives the move towards Freelance work and the trials and tribulations that come from that.
Does not having a job make you more wealthy?
Come chat with us in our Spectrum Channel! Join other listeners and ask us any questions you have about today's episode, finance, freelance, business, marketing, you name it!
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- Wealth of Nations
- Comparative Advantage
- Orthogonality
- E-Myth Revisited
In the last LIVE epiosde (until Andrew is back in town and they do a live episode again) Andrew and Brett talk about weddings playlists, moving plans and the difference between investments and costs.
Highlights include:
- Brett doesn't know what investment vs. cost means
- Andrew's movin' to Texas!
- Cutting costs can hurt your business
- Fix your business before cutting costs
- Oursourcing your genius
Quotes
"You're stepping over dollars to pick up pennies"
Links
Operation Moneysuck
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long running and want to clean things up. Check it out, and get started at freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners. If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
In their second to last LIVE episode (until Andrew is back in town and they do a live episode again) your dynamic duo discuss how great it is when business systems work - and why that's the goal of every business. Highlights include:
- Brett doesn't know how math works
- Their plan to record Orthogonal and have a YOUTUBE channel as well
- There are lots of ways to relieve stress - but the best kind is knowing you built the systems that fix things
- Businesses are a collection of systems one which leads to another
- Never underestimate the damage of exceptions
Quotes
"I think I am anti-cursed"
"You mean blessed?"
"No"
"......"
Links
The Checklist Manifesto
Workflowy
Asymptote
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long running and want to clean things up. Check it out, and get started at freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Andrew & Brett spend this episode talking about the pros and cons of hiring people. Let's be honest, it's mostly Andrew listing the cons.
- Most people don't care as much as you do - which is easy to forget
- But business owners need to remember that you can't pay employees in "vision"
- Autonomy and responsibility are positively correlated
- (That means they go hand in hand)
- The trouble with staff is it can add extra layers of frustration
Quotes
"The benefit of being an employee is that you get to say "No"
Links
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long running and want to clean things up. Check it out, and get started at freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Brett and Andrew spend a lot of time talking about kids (unsurprising) and how like running a business they can be. There is a lot of time spent doing things that you don't want to do.
- Central time will be a competitive advantage for Andrew
- Changing diapers is a humbling experience - you should try it!
- Being a business owner means doing lots of things you don't want to do
- What you "want" to do is not a relevant factor in many business decisions
- Delegating is key to business - but sometimes you have to shave the yak yourself
- Sometimes you have to check the list that you need to use to check the other list
Quotes
"There's always a certain amount of yak shaving"
Links
- Austin Kleon
- Margin
- The One Thing
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long running and want to clean things up. Check it out, and get started at freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Andrew and Brett are tired all the time. It has a lot to do with stress.
- Having children means you are tired forever
- "Make time for it" is not a helpful answer and creating margin is more complicated than that sounds
- The unique aspects of "margin" and being a business owner
- Not having margin in the short-run might be a necessary evil
- Allowing yourself some slack (or grace) is key
Quotes
"Well, people don't like you. People LIKE me."
Links
- A Conference Call in Real Life on YouTube
- Email in Real Life on YouTube
- Margin
- The One Thing
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Vast Conference
Run demos, presentations and meetings with a reliable web conferencing tool that really works. To get started with a 30 day free trial, visit conferencecalling.com/trialoffer
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long running and want to clean things up. Check it out, and get started at freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
It's a sad day, Orthogonal listeners.
Andrew's moving to frickin' Texas. We discuss this and Brett fights back the tears.
Second, Andrew's data is spread out across a zillion accounts, services, and systems. It's making him a little crazy, so we unpack this problem and explore possible solutions.
Also, Andrew's sick of Evernote's clipping capabilities being... less than capable. You'll never believe how Brett responds...
Quotes
"If you're considering emailing something to yourself, your system is broken."
Links
- A Conference Call in Real Life on YouTube
- Email in Real Life on YouTube
- G Suite
- Pinboard
- Google Keep
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Vast Conference
Whether you work remote or want a faster way to reach far-flung customers, Vast’s meeting software has your back. To get started with a 30 day free trial, visit conferencecalling.com/trialoffer
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long running and want to clean things up. Check it out, and get started at freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Part two of our lively chat with Bethany and Melinda!
This week, we dig further into the nuts and bolts of branding, running and growing a small business.
High points include:
- Andrew’s mic-drop-worthy point about scale vs. scope
- The importance of having a good network of contractors (and why you should fire bad ones)
- Why Andrew has multiple businesses and multiple brands based around one core competency
- The business reason for Andrew’s move to Texas.
- Brett is getting business cards and isn’t happy about it
Links
- Melinda Livsey
- Bethany Michaels
- Andrew’s Website
- Brett’s new business (opt in if you want to be notified when it’s ready)
- Check out Toolsday on Spec.FM!
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Vast Conference.
Host instant conference calls whenever you need without pre-scheduling or operator assistance. To get started with a 30 day free trial, visit conferencecalling.com/trialoffer
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long running and want to clean things up. Check it out, and get started at freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Andrew and Brett are joined by friends of the show Melinda and Bethany - we talk branding and business.
This is part one of two!
High points include:
- How moving from freelance to being a business owner is great
- But moving from a business to a brand is even BETTER
- What does all this mean?
- The challenge of turning a business into a brand
Bonus
Brett would like some whiskey
Links
- Melinda Livsey`
- Bethany Michaels
- Trello
- Check out Toolsday on Spec.FM!
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Vast Conference
Run online meetings instantly or schedule them well in advance. Share anything on your desktop in real-time with Vast’s easy screen sharing capabilities. To get started with a 30 day free trial, visit conferencecalling.com/trialoffer
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long running and want to clean things up. Check it out, and get started at freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
Andrew introduces his new homey and Brett talks about Google. Also, hot dogs.
High points include:
- Why using something like Freshbooks will make Andrew so, so very happy
- Turns out, when you have to interact with people, technology gets trickier
- Sometimes things just have to WORK
- You get what you pay for
- Also, ads are sometimes useful because, you know, you might want the thing
- Andrew's Robe Goldberg machine of email service
- Brett & Andrew launch Irreverant Monk
Bonus
New friend of the show, Jeremy Wells
Links
- Trello
- Check out Toolsday on Spec.FM!
- Check out Brett's new business Robot Army
Today's Episode Was Made Possible Thanks to: Freshbooks
If you have a business, you need to keep your books lookin' good, and Freshbooks makes it so easy no matter if you're just starting your business today or you're long running and want to clean things up. Check it out, and get started at freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Leave Us A Review
Last but not least if you have a moment, check us out on iTunes and leave a review. It's an easy way to say thanks if you're enjoying the show and helps us climb the charts so other folks like you can find the show.
With Andrew out, we have decent, cohesive content for once! Welcome our guest, Ryan Irelan.
High points include:
- Why side gig to full-time is a great way to start
- The secret to starting - don't do it when your expenses are high
- Jobs have a lot more tentacles than you realize
- You might be afraid, but whatever the challenge you'll figure it out
- The less stuff - needs less money - means less stuff snowball to a more simple life
Bonus
We learn that Thundersnow is a real thing.
Links
- Thanks to Freshbooks for sponsoring the show
- Check out Ryan's company Mijingo
- Check out Toolsday on Spec.FM!
- Check out Brett's new business Robot Army
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your dynamic duo discuss pivoting business ideas. In particular, Brett describes how he's shifting a hair-brained affiliate marketing idea into a service business.
Bigger points include:
- When to pivot an idea (or, how to know if your current implementation isn't working)
- How big a market has to be in order to support a profitable business
- Locate the problem before you create the solution.
- The websites you should look
Bonus
Brett got engaged! This is good. More to come on that front as the situation develops.
Links
- Thanks to Freshbooks for sponsoring the show
- Check out Toolsday on Spec.FM!
- Tribute by Tenacious D (NSFW)
- DHH at Startup School (also NSFW)
- Robot Army — Brett's latest business
*NSFW = "not safe for work," or contains bad words. You've been warned.
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
The boys discuss the what a Freelancer "union" might look like and why you might want one. Seems unlikely they will start it though. But we'd love to help!
High points:
- The downfalls of working freelance
- How working as a group might be helpful
- Definitely no meetings
- Knowing more about your industry helps you not get screwed
- We're a union, but one that tells you how to do things
- Standards can be helpful
Bonus:
Disneyland is pretty awesome
Links
- Thanks to Freshbooks for sponsoring the show
- Check out Toolsday on Spec.FM!
- Professional Employment Organizations PEOs
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Turns out there are lots of kinds of businesses. And thinking about it in a business-like manner is a great start to being successful - no matter HOW many bank accounts you have.
High points:
- Chris can't countenance not having profit in a business
- The single most valuable page in the book (it's worth the whole cost of the book)
- Andrew explains how to do Profit First without bank accounts
- Things being hard is not an excuse to not run your business properly
- Maybe everyone shouldn't be a business owner
- Being self-employed is not a slot machine
Bonus:
We find out the REAL reason that Andrew wears boots every day.
Links
- Check out Toolsday on Spec.FM!
- Profit First on Amazon
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
People. The key to all business - Both good and bad! Turns out, people are different and complicated.
High points:
- Andrew's kids are secretly trying to make him go insane
- The different forms of motivation
- Independent folks still want parameters
- Habits versus systems
- Why freelancers REALLY need to understand this - it isn't just employees
- Levels of maturity - dependent, independent, and interdependence
Bonus:
We give our opinions on the Mile High City - Denver. Brett thinks High St is hilarious.
Links
- Check out Toolsday on Spec.FM!
- Forms of Motivation
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
The dynamic duo is back in your ears once again. This time, we discuss the current crop of voice-enabled robots and the ecosystems they represent.
High points:
- Why Brett thinks Siri sucks compared to Alexa
- Andrew uses Amazon for pretty much everything
- How Amazon makes it simple to have lots of Echo devices
- Why Brett and Andrew are both perfectly content with having Amazon hear every word they say while at home
Bonus:
While Brett was writing these show notes, his Echo Dot did not. shut. up.
Links
- Amazon Echo
- Amazon Echo Dot
- Amazon Echo Show
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your boys discuss Brett’s current read: Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. Specifically, Andrew—who actually knows about economics—helps Brett unpack the concepts laid out in the book.
Despite being 70 years old, the book describes some fairly timeless principles. Brett has mixed success in understanding them.
High points:
- Moral vs economic problems
- The problem of assigning businesses the task of solving societies ills
- Creating jobs vs increasing worker productivity
Bonus: Brett says “tariff” about a thousand times.
Links
- Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
- The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
As a public service, Andrew and Brett set out to dispel the business myth that you should succeed simply because you tried.
High points:
- Brett gets a little ranty about how success and wealth are sold as paint-by-numbers processes.
- Andrew enumerates the reason most businesses fail.
- Why our default assumptions about business are skewed.
- Your best chances are success are based on your willingness to take risks and try new things. Related: people are bad at evaluating risk.
Bonus: We take a rather long detour while Brett describes how to make sourdough bread which, rather miraculously, turns into a not-terrible business analogy.
Quotable
"It's not unicorn farts. It's a lot of work that doesn't stop." -- Brett
"There's no crying in business." -- Andrew
"Fairness is an argument for idiots and children." -- Scott Adams
Links
- Win Bigly by Scott Adams
- The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Brett's friend Chris Johnson recommended that he read a book called Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. In a nut, it's a simple guide to taking the revenue of your business and creating an easy way to gauge business health and control how revenue is distributed.
Thing is, Andrew kinda hates this book (he hasn't read it, but still). He doesn't actually hate the book, but he doesn't think it solves a new problem.
High points include:
- Andrew explains the financial principles on which the author is basing is methodology.
- Brett tries really hard to understand what Andrew says with marginal success.
- Andrew's suggestion that growing a business is about growing the top line, not excessive focus on reducing expenses.
- Andrew rants about Dave Ramsey's envelope system (and considers it analogous to Profit First).
Links
- Profit First on Amazon
- Rate of Return
- Hurdle Rate
Quotable
"All other falutin happens beneath us." -- Brett
"Nobody got rich by controlling their expenses." -- Andrew
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week we continue the conversation including topics like:
- How leadership and personal productivity coincide.
- Why mentors, peers, and someone to talk to is an important leadership skill
- Leadership is empowering and motivating yourself just as much as empowering and motivating others
- Creating margin for the space to be creative and thinking about leadership
Quotes
"A leader is best when people barely know he exists when his work is done, his aim fulfilled they will say we did it ourselves. -- Lao Tzu
"I conflated leadership with employee management" -- Brett
Links
Dave Stachowiak
Dave on LinkedIn
The War of Art
Originals
What Got You Here, Won't Get You There
The Leadership Academy
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
What is a leader? Who is a leader? Why is leadership is important?
Also, Brett is TOTALLY a leader.
High points:
- Dave is an amazing sport to put up with and Brett's kids
- Dave is a podcast hipster (he's been listening to them since before it was cool!)
- Great producers are often lousy leaders - they turn into micromanagers
- Leadership skills have nothing to do with your job or your level in the organization
- Great story about a navy ship going from being the worst to the best just by changing language
- It is OK to be mediocre at something
- Plus, a special guest appearance by Brett's kids!
Quotes
"Managers do things right, Leaders do the right things" --Dave
"In the Hizzy, Hizzy" -- Brett
"We're accountants. WHATEVER happens, it will be OK." -- Andrew
Links
Dave Stachowiak
Dave on LinkedIn
What Got You Here, Won't Get You There
The Leadership Academy
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Andrew and Brett talk about hardware and how/where to buy it. Plus a brief interlude of movies.
High points:
- Andrew explains how he buys Surface hardware (hint, it is the cheaper way)
- Andrew's teams continued issues with peripherals. Is this just how people work?
- Sometimes if you force your workflow into the tools, you'll be faster
- Andrew is in love with Asana except for this one weird feature IT DOESN'T HAVE
- An IPad pro mounted in a case with a keyboard is the same as a Surface Pro - Why can't we all just get along?
Quotes
"We hot swap the crap out of these peripherals" -- Andrew
"Ipso facto, Q.E.D." -- Andrew
"Pizza and beer for the developers? DONE." -- Brett
Links
A list of Good movies
Tombstone
The 3 Amingos
One of the all time greatest movies: Back to the Future
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Brett and Andrew discuss why and how to hire an advisor. How to ask good questions of them and how to make sure you have the support you need.
High points:
- Don't hire an advisor, if all you need is basics.
- Why Brett hires advisors more than a lot of people do
- Why relationships are with advisors or anyone else, is critical, even in our virtual world
- Why networking is lame and there is no shortcut to relational capital
- Andrew tries to hire Brett to teach everyone he knows how to ask questions
Quotes
"I need more WORDS." -- Brett
"I'm not trying to put myself completely out of a job" -- Andrew
"The moral of the story is make friends with experts" -- Brett
Links
Check out App Camp 4 Girls and donate now! * App Camp 4 Girls * Release Notes (+ look for Andrew in the photo gallery)
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Brett and Andrew discuss Andrew's talk at the Release Notes conference in Chicago. How to do conferences correctly and why Brett absolutely hates them.
High points:
- Which of Andrew's presentation jokes worked and which didn't
- Brett and Andrew's experience at WWDC.
- How long it takes Brett to forget that he hates conferences and fish and chips.
- Andrew suggests "OrthogonalCon" and Brett imposes several rules that basically make it not a conference at all.
Quotes
"Everybody hates accountants. Accountants hate accountants." -- Andrew
"Money is far more efficient when you're doing something specific with it." -- Andrew
"That sounds like a fate worse than death to me." -- Brett
Links
- App Camp 4 Girls
- Ulysses for Mac/iOS
- Release Notes (+ look for Andrew in the photo gallery)
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Andrew has a new information product and he needs to figure out how to price it. He tries economics and it turns out it doesn't always work as well in practice as it does in theory.
Highlights cover:
- Products (physical, digital) are harder to price than services?
- We circle back to price elasticity
- Brett's super simple plan to test is..... to just test
- Start small and building up is the best
- Andrew reveals just how little he knows about how most things in his world work
- Imposter syndrome is real and happens to everyone
- If you only screw up in one thing a day, it's been a good day!
- Also, don't sue people.
Bonus
"You know that bias toward action? Just ship the damn thaaannngg" - Brett
"I'm struggling with pricing" Andrew said
"Too cheap" interrupted Brett
Links
- Monkey Business Cafe
- Price Elasticity of Demand
- Release Notes
- CFOAndrew
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your favorite business duo are talking about planning and how plans bring happiness.
Specifically, Andrew talks about his presentation at the Release Notes conference in Chicago. We recorded this episode before he gave the talk, but this episode will air after he's done. It's weird.
High points include:
- Andrew talking about how much more reading he gets done with his #multiphonelyfe
- How Kindles make reading an event and the phone not so much
- The benefit to recreating the division between "home phone" and "work phone"
- Brett is NOT buying a new Apple Watch
- Asana is a project management, not task management
- Brett reminds Andrew how he is doing productivity wrong
Bonus
Brett LOVES pen and paper
Also, Brett describes his new favorite book The Revenant and we discuss bear skin rugs.
"Every financial question begets more questions." -- Andrew Carroll
Links
- Release Notes
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your favorite business duo are talking about planning and how plans bring happiness.
Specifically, Andrew talks about his presentation at the Release Notes conference in Chicago. We recorded this episode before he gave the talk, but this episode will air after he's done. It's weird.
High points include:
- Andrew gets disk images from Apple computers and has no clue what to do with them.
- Andrew decides to actually prepare for his talk instead of his usual strategy of not preparing anything.
- How lack of a plan creates uncertainty, regardless of whether you have money or not.
- Andrew's position that hiring advisors (like him) is generally a bad idea.
- The one simple plan that works for 98% of people and doesn't require paying an expensive advisor (and why people don't trust this plan).
Bonus
Brett is recovering from having his wisdom teeth removed. Per his kids request, he saved his teeth and proceeded to disgust everybody in his life.
Also, Andrew is surprised to learn that deep dish pizza can be legally produced outside of Chicago.
Brett learns what a "robo-advisor" is.
"Every financial question begets more questions." -- Andrew Carroll
Links
- MacSparky
- Release Notes
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your boys in bidniss are talking about a subject near and dear to Brett's heart: goals vs. systems.
Specifically, how system-based thinking can unintuitively do more to help you achieve your goals than goal-based thinking can.
Highlights include:
- How to make time each day for just about anything
- The main reason why you're not able to move forward with what's important to you
Links
- How to Fail at Almost Everything (And Still Win Big) by Scott Adams
- The First 20 Hours by Josh Kaufman
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- Life Support System (Brett's new course)
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
What qualifies as multiple income streams, why you should have them, and how to create them:
Thoughts include:
- Does everyone hate consultants?
- What qualifies as multiple incomes streams?
- Just splitting entities doesn't count
- Vertical integration as a method of diversifying
- Andrew gets all his best business ideas from television shows
- Donut shops are good business
- Divesfying your labor is a bad idea - diversifying your investments is a great idea
Bonus
Chris's foolproof diet strategy is unfrosted pop tarts.
Links
Chris DeCaro
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Brett and Andrew dive into what exactly faking it until you make it actually means. Hint: it isn't "commit fraud".
Thoughts include:
- You need to have a domain level understanding to actually fake things
- Literally no one has any idea what they are doing
- The actual trick is to only fake it until you get into the level, then you have to master it
- Don't fake a level above what you have mastered the one you're on
- Brett explains that leveling up doesn't necessarily mean losing clients
- Don't be the JV guy who sticks his head in the Varsity huddle.
Bonus
Brett does accents
Links
Carry over from last week: Andrew checks his math and tells you how much to save for retirement
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Your dynamic duo get back to their roots and talk some real business talk. How we make a business run, how we know if we are making enough and understanding how a real business is run.
Thoughts include:
- The big difference between profit, savings, and living expenses
- How you should actually run the math of your business - is it profitable enough?
- Why cutting expenses (fixed expenses, at least) is a dumb way to make money
- The secret to infinite returns in your business
- How to maximize revenue in your business (hint, it's economics)
- Why your emotions most likely cause you money
Bonus
We discuss horses.
Links
Profit First
The actual knowledge on Price Elasticity of Demand
How to use Excel to figure out the math of your retirement
Andrew checks his math and tells you how much to save for retirement
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Brett finally makes Andrew understand this is bad radio, but Andrew learns a LOT about programming. Turns out (tm) it isn't easy! But the bigger point is that gathering data is MUCH harder than doing work - which is an important thing to remember in business.
High points include:
- Brett may actually be an evil hacker
- Filtering data is so much harder to code than you think
- And you do so much filtering automatically in your life than you think
- Computers are simultaneously smarter and dumber than humans
- Maybe giant decision trees are the answer?
Bonus
Andrew is still pretty sure that AI could do his job.
Links
Little Bobby Tables - XKCD
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Andrew got a second phone and immediately broke his other phone.
High points include:
- How a new phone turned Andrew into an annoying informed person
- Breaking the habit of constant feedback
- Andrew is a prima donna about his cables and phones
Bonus
Brett's birthday is NOW! Say happy birthday!
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Brett went on vacation recently and did zero work. This caused him some anxiety and made vacation more difficult. This week, your boys talk about the challenges of unplugging while on vacation.
High points include:
- The inescapable truth of vacation when you work for yourself
- The reality of leaving your business unattended for short periods
- Working with a "skeletal" set of tools that you can use from anywhere
- Thinking realistically about the problems that may occur when you're away
- Oodles more goodies
Bonus
Andrew brainstorms what is possibly the worst daycare ever.
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Your dynamic duo discusses planning, creativity, and approaching problems:
- Plans are an iterative process that always need to be updated
- Making fully informed decisions are usually a rabbit hole you'll never escape from
- Constantly trying to fine tune is just scaling a problem
- Give a minute of thought to all the things that might happen
- Andrew talks about his giant baby
Having a shelf of Plan Bs is the key to success. Also, Field Notes discussions.
"Plans are useless, planning is indispensable" - Dwight Eisenhower
Get in touch!
Check us out on iTunes
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
A fun episode where Andrew tries to code and Brett tries to stop him. Highlights include:
- Andrew's new Surface Book's key travel (Brett criticizes manual keyboards)
- Andrew learns a surprising amount of information about programming (Brett overestimates Andrew's knowledge)
- Brett switches topics to him giving up coffee (Andrew designs a science experiment using Brett's health)
- We narrowly escape a pranks arms-race to the bottom
- Andrew figures out that you can automate programming with a powerful enough processor (Brett says he is cheating)
But yes, knowing the context of a question is critical to being successful.
"The first thing you do after you wake, having not drunk water for eight hours, is throw a diuretic in your face"
Get in touch!
From last week you should still check out Melinda's course on getting started as a freelance designer Pre-Lance
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your dynamic duo finally settle the freelancer versus business owner definition. And we, obviously, needed help.
- How industry looks at freelancers versus a "studio"
- Brick layers versus problem solvers
- How mindset drives more money
- Brett soaks in being right
Additional tidbits:
- The biggest change to being a business owner is more MONEY
- Self-employed does not mean a freelancer
- The difference between a million dollar contract and grunt work is branding
- Freelancers are hired on a commodity basis
- Business owners are hired based on value
- Value based billing can be a double edged sword
- Building an out for value based billing
- Scope creep is the DEVIL
- Fake it until you make it (or retire)
"The difference in pay is night and day"
Featuring VERY special guest - Melinda Livsey
Get in touch!
Check out Melinda and her company Marks and Maker
Also, if you want to quit your job, check out her course on getting started Pre-Lance
Article on Andrew Carnegie
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your boys chat about:
- Separating work from the rest of life (and how difficult it can be)
- Andrew mentally explores living a two-phone lifestyle
- The details of Andrew's web application that will automate part of his job (and generate leads for him)
Additional tidbits:
- Remembering that we chose this work and that we're responsible for the knock on effects as well as the freedoms.
- Developing the habit of stepping away from work, regardless of what "must" be done—and trusting that you've done enough.
- "Nothing gets done without a deadline."
- Parkinson's Law: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."
- Separating your identity from your work.
- We think our systems and businesses are less resilient than they really are.
- For many of us, work is always available, no matter where you are.
"Two is one, one is none, and three is a guarantee."
Thanks to our sponsor: Jumpchart!
Jumpchart is a planning and visualization tool for website owners, project managers, developers, and designers. Give it a try for free. Visit jumpchart.com/orthogonal.
Get in touch!
Check out Producer Bethany
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Andrew has returned from paternity leave! He was missed.
Today, your dynamic duo are discussing abundance mindset vs. scarcity mindset. Or, as Andrew calls it, thinking like a rich person (abundance) versus thinking like a poor person (scarcity). In other words, "playing to win instead of playing to not lose."
This has many applications to business as well as life. High points in this episode include:
- How many rich people Andrew knows who are trapped in a scarcity mindset
- How knowledge informs our attitude toward wealth and its absence
- Developing courage by exploring your fears to their logical conclusion
"If you're always playing to limit your downside, you limit your upside. If you want upside, you need to take risks."
Thanks to our sponsor: Jumpchart!
Jumpchart is a planning and visualization tool for website owners, project managers, developers, and designers. Give it a try for free. Visit jumpchart.com/orthogonal.
Links
- Tim Ferriss on Fear-Setting
- Sean McCabe on defeating the scarcity mindset
Get in touch!
Check out Producer Bethany
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, Andrew's paternity leave continues and Brett is joined by his brother Jon—proprietor of Olde Tyme Tattoo in Fullerton, California.
Brett and Jon discuss what it's like to run unorthodox businesses, how to grow your business by focusing on product excellence, and how cultural changes have made certain types of businesses easier to start and run.
Other tidbits include:
- How Jon got creative (and slightly illegal) with his early marketing efforts
- Building anticipation in your future customers
- Brett riffs on how to advertise Jon's tattoo shop on Facebook
- How most businesses are at the mercy of Yelp
Yelp is the yellow pages, but with reviews.
Thanks to our sponsor: Jumpchart!
Jumpchart is a planning and visualization tool for website owners, project managers, developers, and designers. Give it a try for free. Visit jumpchart.com/orthogonal.
Links
Olde Tyme Tattoo
Fullerton Roasters
Get in touch!
Check out Producer Bethany
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Andrew is on a break this week, and Brett talks to his brother Jonathan Kelly of Olde Tyme Tattoo fame.
They talk about running a tattoo shop and why culture and strategy matter. We hear about Jon's journey of opening his own shop.
In particular:
- The pride of paying the bills
- The slow/busy cycles both by season and during the month
- Tattoos CAN have a practical purpose
- Doing good work is the best business model, even in tattoos
Bonus
"People and their millions of reasons" - Jon Kelly
Thanks to our sponsor: Jumpchart!
Jumpchart is a planning and visualization tool for website owners, project managers, developers, and designers. Give it a try for free. Visit jumpchart.com/orthogonal.
Links
Olde Tyme Tattoo
Fullerton Roasters
Get in touch!
Check out Producer Bethany
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your dynamic duo are back with our special guest and fellow entrepreneur, Natassia.
Much of the episode involves dealing with the problems associated with business growth. And, honestly, more than a little discussion of Tony Robbins.
In particular:
- The dangers of sub-optimal revenue
- Deciding to stay small as a business
- Figuring out what your goals are in business and what the trade-offs are
- Natassia's current business challenges regarding growth
- Investing in yourself as a means of business growth
- Natassia decides whether to attend a Tony Robbins event
Additionally, we further discuss Natassia's new app company and how she finds the space to develop that product while running her own business.
Also, Andrew and Brett bicker a bit. No surprise there.
Bonus
Learn how much coffee Gary Vaynerchuk drinks on a flight.
Thanks to our sponsor: Jumpchart!
Jumpchart is a planning and visualization tool for website owners, project managers, developers, and designers. Give it a try for free. Visit jumpchart.com/orthogonal.
Links
Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru on Netflix
Get in touch!
Find Natassia on LinkedIn
Her new app TrisQ which will be live soon!
Check out Producer Bethany
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
It is a veritable party o' freelancers this week. Even though our guest isn't a freelancer, she is a small business owner. We talk with Natasha about how her former bosses tried to screw her over. And how she decided to put the work in on her own and has KILLED it.
- Real businesses start with a calling - even boring construction ones.
- Why someone telling you that you won't succeed because you have no experience (or are a woman!) is horse crap - also, F#%$ that guy
- Andrew creates another hashtag #scorpses
- We also find out that one successful business is not enough for Natasha
Bonus
Brett has the best hashtag ever:
"They don't fit in boxes, they fit in clouds. Clouds lack shape and the embody dreams. And they hold the providence that feeds the plants and the earth. "
cloudshaped
Get in touch!
Find Natassia on LinkedIn
Her new app TrisQ which will be live soon!
Check out Producer Bethany
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Your favorite business boos are talking sales this week. Specifically, selling services vs. products. High points include:
- Andrew's sales strategy for landing clients contrasted with Brett's for landing new customers
- Identifying the pain your prospect is experiencing
- Brett's pricing strategy (and how he screwed it up in the past)
- Andrew's "anti-sale" technique for closing new clients
Bonus
Yet another Glengarry Glen Ross reference! Also, Jim Camp's book, Start with No.
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your dynamic duo welcome Bethany Michaels, a freelance social media manager from their home town. During our lively chat, we discuss challenges of running your own business including:
- Knowing when to say "yes" vs. "no."
- Making time to manage the backend processes that run your business
- The most surprising thing Bethany experienced when she started her business (which you'll probably recognize, if you're a business owner)
- How to kill a business (and a business entity, if you have one)
Additionally, we discuss how Bethany got her start and how she dealt with the unknowns in running your own business.
Get More of Bethany
- Bethany's Website
Bonus!
- Some details about Brett's now-multiple businesses (including how he came up with his new LLC name)
- Our brainstorm on how to insert margin into a busy business life
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Brett begins to change his mind regarding taking on investment for his new business venture while Andrew continues attempting to convince him to do so.
Andrew outlines the regulations and practices surrounding getting investment for your small business, and the steps involved in doing so, including:
- How to approach potential investors (and what you need when you do)
- How investors can get paid when your business makes money
- What the heck a "preferred share" is and why it sweetens the deal for the investor
Andrew says it's all simple and Brett helps him realize that it's not. It's fun.
Bonus: you can listen live as Andrew has yet another idea for a massive thing he doesn't have time to build!
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, Andrew continues on his rant about the Profit. He really wants to know how the back end of that business works:
The dichotomy of
- Hiring stellar people is how you build a business but
- Stellar people don't want to stick around because they are, well, stellar
- Brett and Andrew have very different ways of approaching hiring and growing businesses.
Andrew tells the same exact story again.
We dig into each of these aspects of Brett's new business and figure out what the potential problems are. Also, Brett repeatedly gets ahead of what Andrew wants to talk about and Andrew becomes audibly annoyed.
Bonus:
Andrew tells the story of where is his Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books came from. Brett lets him know he is missing the point.
Links:
- The Profit
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your boys on the ground discuss Brett's newest—nascent—venture and Andrew douses said idea in wisdom from NBC's reality hit, The Profit. Specifically, there are three components that dictate the success or failure of a business:
- People
- Product
- Process
We dig into each of these aspects of Brett's new business and figure out what the potential problems are. Also, Brett repeatedly gets ahead of what Andrew wants to talk about and Andrew becomes audibly annoyed.
Bonus:
Brett's daughter calls him via FaceTime and scares the living hell out of both he and Andrew.
Links:
- The Profit
- Idea Sex
- A Google Map showing the distance between Fullerton (where we record) and San Pedro (where Andrew's fired client is based).
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Today we talk about how people conflate the idea of family and business. How emotions get tied up in business and how that causes problems. And how people attempting to bring emotion or causes into business tend to do more harm than good.
Points include:
- If it was fun they wouldn't pay you to do it
- We talk about how to bifurcate the art/social/charity and business
- Single-purpose tools are more efficient than multi-purpose
- Someone get Andrew a billion dollars and he will give you free tax services for life
- True to form, Andrew rants and then derails Brett as soon as he is making a point
- Doing things (or avoiding things) because we are afraid to disappoint people is a pervasive problem
Bonus Features
Andrew explains why Art and Business are diametrically opposed.
"Make money ruthlessly so you can support generously " -- Andrew
Links
- Ontraport
- Rock Superstar
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Some people should just not be a business owner.
Points include:
- The opportunity to be a business owner is not the same as the right to being a business owner.
- More businesses are successful because of luck than any other reason
- Brett helps Andrew crush dreams gently and with feeling
- Financials are the lifeblood of a business
Bonus Features
We plug Olde Tyme Tattoo, where we got our awesome tattoos!
"Any business owner who doesn't occasionally feel like a fraud is lying or an idiot" -- Andrew
Links
- Ontraport
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, the dynamic duo discuss how the approach reading books and implementing the knowledge in them. Andrew is pretty sure that everyone is fooling themselves into thinking that reading lots of books makes them smarter.
Interesting tidbits include:
- Andrew has never been cranked to eleven. Ever. Not even once ever. Also, he is VERY humble.
- Brett explains his strategy ever for being a voracious reader and crushes Andrew's dreams
- Why you should spread out the topics you read about
- Andrew explains what is wrong with History as a discipline
Bonus Features
Andrew and Brett discuss Mesopotamia
"Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of the wise" -- Brett --Michael Scott
Links
- Ontraport
- Stoicism
- Ego is the Enemy
- Bonus, the books is now CHEAP: The History of the World
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, the dynamic duo are talking about the guts of getting paid. Specifically, the anatomy of the get-money-from-customers-to-your-bank-account robot.
Interesting tidbits include:
- The difference between a payment processor and a point of sale system
- Why you would choose a given option over others, depending on your needs
- How things like Square and PayPal stack up vs. traditional merchant tools
- Challenges and details you'll likely face when selling things, especially online
- Brett's horror story about writing credit card software
Bonus Features
Andrew and Brett discuss children's television.
"Disney movies aimed at young girls are like buses: another one's coming soon." -- Brett
Links
- Stripe
- Square
- PayPal
- Ontraport
- Let's Encrypt
- Syntactic Sugar
- CoffeeScript (also, Brett was wrong in saying Sam Stephenson originated CoffeeScript. Turns out it was designed by a guy named Jeremy Ashkenas, though Sam has contributed to the project. Brett regrets the error.)
- Automated Clearing House
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest, coolest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your brothers in arms unpack how to stay productive under a “hail of bullets:” somebody or some organization rips the rug out from under you and you’re suddenly scrambling.
Finer points include:
- Why unexpected emergencies can be good for you and provide you with unique opportunities
- Why times of so-called “peace” can be a great deal harder (a situation Andrew eloquently called a “morass of maybes”)
- Andrew’s story of how his business was torn to pieces by Quickbooks Online
- How Brett had to—in a very big hurry—rework entire chunks of his product the night before launch.
Additional fun:
- Andrew’s rules for living (read: drinking, mostly)
- Why, in Andrew’s opinion, a Gin & Tonic goes with just about anything
Links
- Task Management when the Bullets are Flying by David Sparks
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest, coolest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
First time in the new studio! We discuss noise and distractions and the decisions that lead to productivity increases or decreases. Also, Andrew harasses Brett.
- We apologize to Sarah. And we send her flowers.
- Brett is not very noisy. Andrew is very noisy.
- Andrew's very simple and replicable process for guaranteed productivity. Or not.
- Does reducing noise lower the of the output because of a lack of new ideas?
- Brett gives Andrew a super life hack
- Andrew wants to wake up early on an intergalactic space vessel
"An android and a bartrender walk into a bar"
Links
Get in touch!
Come get connected with us on Spectrum the newest, coolest place to connect with your favorite Spec hosts and listeners.
You can also chat with us in our Slack team! To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
First things first. We apologize for the audio quality.
Normally, it's just the two of us talking into our fancy, Spec-provided microphones. This time, we had a (remote) guest that required an astonishing about of technological duct tape to get working. As a result, both Brett and our guest Shawn sound like they're both drunk and doing their best Barry White impressions. Andrew sounds great, though, so that's good. Our bad. All will be well next week!
Anyway...
This week, your boys are honored to welcome friend of the show and all-around nice guy, Shawn Blanc.
Shawn is the creator of The Focus Course, an amazing resource for creatives and entrepreneurs who are looking to do their most important work. In this episode, we discuss:
- Selling a transformation, not a product
- Optimizing for your customer's satisfaction
- How Shawn deals with risk and fear
- Leaving pidgeonholes (and how far to fly)
- Risk vs. reward when changing topics and/or markets
"Don't talk to me about your weed killer, talk to me about my crab grass."
Links
- The Focus Course
- The Basecamp Way to Work: Workshop Retrospective
- A New Type of Work Schedule We're Experimenting with in 2017
- February's Reading: The Dip by Seth Godin
- November's Reading: The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
The differences between skill acquisition and knowledge acquisition.
- A too long discussion about drones and the mall
- Andrew learns to be a programmer, but not really
- Brett discusses his journey into learning self-discipline
- How you can make money with skills and no knowledge
- Andrew's gives out a free business model
Bonus quote:
" When you shrink your market you increase your margins" -- Andrew
The First 20 Hours
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Andrew launches into a metaphor using churches, ritual and the power of habit.
- Andrew explains the difference between procurement and buying and Brett (briefly) explains why/how the stand/sit/kneel church operates
- Why rituals force you into proactive versus reactive mode
- How to best manage the cycles of launching and maintaining projects
- How to make sure that "someday" isn't never
- You can't do everything you want - and you'll be more successful when you realize that
Bonus quote:
"Someday is less prickly substitute for 'never'" -- Brett Kelly
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, the dynamic duo talk more about how to locate the information needed to alleviate the uncertainty we touched on last week. Also,
- How Brett's running of his business frustrates Andrew
- Andrew's secret weapon (a high risk tolerance)
- Playing to win vs. playing to not lose
- How more data is available to us today than in the past
- Brett tortures a car analogy
Bonus quote:
"Any portmanteau that ends in 'preneur' is French for 'slap me in the mouth'." -- Brett Kelly
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your homeboys are talking about anxiety.
Where does anxiety come from? What causes it and what can we do to alleviate it?
Reducing anxiety means reducing uncertainty. Uncertainty comes from a lack of information.
Salient points include:
- Anxiety isn't a necessary evil
- However, it tends to compound when left unchecked
- Brett's current anxious situation
- Andrew's way of alleviating Brett's anxiety without actually solving the problem
- How differing attitudes toward money can create anxiety (or not)
- Andrew's rather unorthodox take on spending and budgeting
- The famous Dave Ramsey practice that Andrew thinks is crap
Links
- Sometimes you're flush, sometimes you're bust; scene from Blow.
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This action-packed episode begins with several minutes of Andrew recounting his visit to the Field Notes Brand store in Chicago. Brett and Andrew are both fans. Skip to the 5:30 mark if you don't care about that.
After that, your boys dig deep into the current landscape of productivity tools. Andrew drools on his Surface Pro and Brett sneers condescendingly from behind his iPad Pro.
Also:
- How different platform providers are trying to lock you in
- Brett squawks about the quality of third-party Windows software
- Andrew persists in calling Microsoft Word a text editor instead of a word processor
- A short lesson from Andrew in "what-if runners" in MS Excel. Brett is incredulous.
- Brett describes what CDNs and CMSs are.
- Andrew butchers a famous Henry Ford quote.
Links
- Ulysses for iOS and macOS
- Field Notes Brand
- Ryan Holiday
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Sending out an RFP everytime you need help isn't efficient. How do you build a go-to list of people that can help you:
- Brett impresses everyone with his SAT words
- Why billing your network is the best idea, but billing your friends is lame
- Why building a network focused on your business helps you be more efficient to your friends
- Knowing where to hit the pipe is the most valuable part of being a plumber and you shouldn't let anyone buy you a beer
- Andrew invents another business, if anyone wants to help - please contact us!
We also talk about how Andrew cheated on Brett - see link below, we didn't forget!
Links:
https://www.relay.fm/freeagents/14
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthogonality
And, at long last, here's the picture of the woman made of CDs and paint that hangs in Andrew's home.
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
As a quasi follow-up to last week we dig down into stress a little more. We chat about:
- Where and how stress manifests and monopolizes your attention
- Andrew's super great, never fails, best way to deal with stress (or whatever)
- Working through stress can actually create more work
- Andrew isn't any good at actually doing work
- But what happens when the solution to stress causes more stress?
Always do sober what you say you're going to do drunk. That'll teach you to keep your mouth shut.
Links:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4146/118963/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthogonality
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your boys talk about two of the more problematic aspects of running your own business: uncertainty and stress. Specifically:
- Understanding the causes of uncertainty in new businesses, products, or initiatives
- How Andrew designs businesses to reduce the risk of failure (and virtually eliminate uncertainty)
- Separating imposter syndrome from uncertainty
- Why Brett loves doing the dishes
- The real lesson you learn when you fail at something
Also, Brett comes up with a pretty great bar-related product off the cuff.
Links:
- Cooked on Netflix
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Ahhh, Just In Time Inventory. Pretty sure that's an official term of some kind, so I'm capitalizing it.
We don't have to wait for really anything these days. Listen to Andrew and I talk about the agony and the ecstasy of living a life facilitated largely by Amazon and Google.
This one is longer than normal, but it's worth it.
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
We launch this week the Orthogonal book club, discussing with Chris DeCaro the book Deep Work:
- Why dust jackets are the devil
- We all pretty much agree being that being sensitive a daffodil is not cool
- Why not everyone gets to do deep work
- Why professionals have inspiration strike every day at 9am
- Andrew examines the economics of sword making
Links
Kneadle
Christopher DeCaro on Twitter
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your boys conduct a hard-hitting interview with designer, developer, and business owner Christopher "Fire Beard" DeCaro of Kneadle. Topics discussed include:
- The value of education in pursuing a design career
- A list of things Brett and Andrew do that annoy Christopher
- Why Christopher hates our podcast name and logo, even though he designed the latter
- A whole lot more!
Links
Kneadle
Christopher DeCaro on Twitter
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This episode is basically all the best ideas Brett and Andrew have ever had. All in one. Also, cupcakes.
- How to not crawl across the finish line and use year end to catch up
- Why sitting on the couch might be the most productive thing you do this week.
- Andrew realizes the whole world doesn't revolve around budgets. Or him.
- Brett expresses feelings. It does NOT end in tears. Instead, useful information
- What causes the changes is what we need to understand.
- Keep moving AND get out of the way.
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
We love David Sparks and he is a super awesome lawyer. SO MUCH good information here
- What lawyers are good for (hint, it isn't war!)
- The basics of legal issues
- LLCs versus Corporations
- Why lawsuits are like lighting money on fire
- And so much more!
Thanks to our sponsor!
Check out Pluot, incredibly simple, very slick online meeting software. Click here to try Pluot for free! And don't forget FREE hardware through the end of January 2017 - just use the coupon code "Orthogonal" at checkout!
You can find David Online at: https://www.macsparky.com/ http://www.sparksesq.com/ https://twitter.com/MacSparky https://www.relay.fm/freeagents
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, the dynamic duo discuss the limits of tech and tools, and how our attitudes influence our effectiveness with them.
- Entitlement culture
- Criteria for evaluating tools
- How Brett decides between web apps and native apps
- Brett kindly explains to Andrew why Gmail doesn't crash as often as Outlook
- Brett's one-minute hack for finding out an app's flaws
- Andrew says things, too.
Thanks to our sponsor!
Check out Pluot, incredibly simple, very slick online meeting software. Click here to try Pluot for free!
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your two Santas bring you some good old fashioned, business-flavored holiday cheer! Topics include:
- Shopping on Black Friday
- Business lessons from upsell-crazy online and offline retailers
- Why Andrew's password manager sucks
- Why discounting something makes it more attractive to buyers
- The psychological tricks companies use to sell
- And a whole lot more fun and games! Well, no games. Fun, though.
Don't forget to get our free business tips every week, right in your inbox. Sign up at getorthogonal.com
Thanks to our sponsor!
Check out Pluot, incredibly simple, very slick online meeting software. Click here to try Pluot for free!
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Co-working spaces - WHO NEEDS 'EM?
Turns out a lot of people, for various reasons. We dive into the whys and how of what makes them work and why we need to stay off Brett's lawn.
Don't forget to get our free business tips every week, right in your inbox. Sign up at getorthogonal.com
Thanks to our sponsor!
Check out Pluot, incredibly simple, very slick online meeting software. Click here to try Pluot for free!
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Look, your boys aren't afraid to have the hard conversations. As recent election results came in, things began happening in financial markets.
If you want a quick, dirty, and surprisingly approachable explanation of why there are swings in stock prices, for example, this is your horse.
Don't forget to get our free business tips every week, right in your inbox. Sign up at getorthogonal.com
Thanks to our sponsor!
Check out Pluot, incredibly simple, very slick online meeting software. Click here to try Pluot for free!
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your boys dive into the boring-yet-necessary core components of a successful financial life
- The document that you absolutely need (and probably don't have)
- Why you should take care of the boring stuff (because it's important)
- The Personal Finance Trifecta
- The one newbie move Andrew's clients pull all the time, and how to avoid this costly mistake
- And a whole heck of a lot more
Don't forget to get our free business tips every week, right in your inbox. Sign up at getorthogonal.com
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week your favorite freelancing team discuss value and lists and why maintaining your relationships is quite possibly the most valuable work you can do. Also, where pencils come from. High points include:
- We steal other people's jokes before getting back to work.
- How to segment your audience by giving them the wrong bucket and supercharge your profitability.
- How the modern standard of value might be a well-defined audience, not a well-defined product.
- Why hanging out on Slack is actually work.
- Bonus: Brett & Andrew discuss the crossover between fashion and hardware stores.
Don't forget to get our free business tips every week, right in your inbox. Sign up at getorthogonal.com
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week,snookums and CFO discuss authenticity, tribes, and why Brett doesn't like being a leader. Even though he is. High points include:
- The problems with the inherent superiority built into the term "leader"
- Why someone clicking unsubscribe isn't an insult.
- How not being afraid to look stupid is the key to authenticity.
- And why providing value is the only true way to demonstrate competency.
- Bonus: Andrew attempts to get Brett onboard the Pumpkin Spice train.
Another bonus: Andrew's show notes are the best and we cook up another business term.
Don't forget to get our free business tips every week, right in your inbox. Sign up at getorthogonal.com
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your boys in pajamas discuss how they grow their respective businesses. It's a little longer than normal, but it's a good one. Nuggets include:
- Why Andrew doesn't ask for referrals (and gets them anyway)
- Brett explains the inner workings of email marketing (and describes, in detail, how he's going to grow a brand new business).
- Andrew's really glad to not be talking about S-Corps.
- Bonus: our biggest fan makes an in-person cameo appearance.
Another bonus: Brett retakes control of the show notes to help hasten the end of this "snookums" nonsense.
Don't forget to get our free business tips every week, right in your inbox. Sign up at getorthogonal.com
Sponsor
Huge thanks to Zendesk for sponsoring this week's episode! Developers can easily integrate Zendesk's top-shelf customer support functionality into their apps using their new SDKs. Learn more at spec.fm/zendesk
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Don't forget to get our free business tips twice per week, right in your inbox. Sign up at getorthogonal.com
This week, freelancers Snookums & Andrew review the ultimate checklist for an awesomely professional freelance business. (We are not making this up as we go along) We chat about:
- Entities (The S-Corp Flag)
- Books & budgets
- Payroll & W-2s
- Tax-themed knuckle tattoos
- How to avoid the guys in suits
Bonus: Andrew literally cries. Other Bonus: Did you know people still use manual ledgers?
Get a free transcript of today's show by visiting getorthogonal.com/podcast
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Sponsors:
- Thanks to our sponsor: FreshBooks -Get a free month here: http://spec.fm/freshbooks
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- Get Orthogonal on Twitter
This week, your small business homeboys go deep on how to grow your business by what Andrew calls "niche-ing down." This technique will allow you to
- Increase your value relative to the competition
- Borrow from your current success so you can invest it back into your business
- Pull ahead of the pack by going deeper instead of wider in your offerings
- Take calculated risks that may work out to big increases in profit without working 60 hours per week like an animal
- And a whole gaggle more!
Bonus: Andrew challenges the robustness of Brett's points
Other Bonus: Brett cooks up yet another goofy business term: "Nut 20"
Get a free transcript of today's show by visiting getorthogonal.com/podcast
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Sponsors:
- Thanks to our sponsor: FreshBooks -Get a free month here: http://spec.fm/freshbooks
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- Get Orthogonal on Twitter
This week, your boys are back with another hard-hitting chat about launching a new product or business. Getting past the initial overwhelm of figuring out which of the million tasks need your attention is terribly important. Today, we'll show you how to do that.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- The benefits of starting with a "minimum viable product" (and what that means)
- Your biggest enemy in getting your business off the ground
- Andrew's "minimum risk of loss" metric
- How Brett and Andrew built and launched a new business in under 60 days
- How to look at your product or business in a way that encourages progress
- Why you should feel free to not know what you're doing (because nobody does, honestly)
Don't forget to get our free business tips twice per week, right in your inbox! Sign up at getorthogonal.com
Also, if your punctuation needs a bit of a brush up, check out Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (In a deliciously ironic twist, Brett misspelled the part of the title of this book in the audio and regrets the error).
Sponsor
Huge thanks to Zendesk for sponsoring this week's episode! Developers can easily integrate Zendesk's top-shelf customer support functionality into their apps using their new SDKs. Learn more at spec.fm/zendesk
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, the dynamic duo talk about time, work, and budgeting for both.
- How Andrew budgets his time to accomplish everything he needs to do (which is a ton)
- Opportunity cost; don't be afraid to say no when the cost is too high
- Why you need to be ruthless with one person: yourself
- Your two different modes: planning and working
Bonus: Andrew's excellent tip for handling overwhelm.
Second bonus: Andrew makes up a Mark Twain quote.
Don't forget to get our free business tips twice per week, right in your inbox. Sign up at getorthogonal.com
Sponsor
Huge thanks to Zendesk for sponsoring this week's episode! Developers can easily integrate Zendesk's top-shelf customer support functionality into their apps using their new SDKs. Learn more at spec.fm/zendesk
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Don't forget to get our free business tips twice per week, right in your inbox. Sign up at getorthogonal.com
The most recent bee in Andrew's bonnet is The Three H's of Business Success...
The Hacker, the Hustler, and the Hipster.
(Brett is Andrew's hacker.)
These three ingredients are the key to making delicious business pie. Stew? Anyway. Your boys will unpack why this is a sensible way to approach your business and how, in many cases, three heads are better than one.
If you're looking for a succinct explanation of what "orthogonality" means, this is a great place to start. Learn more at getorthogonal.com.
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
This week, your boys are talking about education. In particular, Andrew discusses books that Brett mostly hasn't read and why Brett really prefers learning from online products and courses.
(Scroll down for the reading list from both of your favorite Internet dudes...)
Sponsors:
- Thanks to our sponsor: FreshBooks — Get a free month here: http://spec.fm/freshbooks
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Show Notes; these are valuable this time, we swear!
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- Get Orthogonal is on Twitter, too!
Books
- The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman
- So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport
- The One Thing by Gary Keller
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
Courses
- The Focus Course
Today, your favorite gruesome twosome gets down and dirty with the idea of community. In particular, how freelancers and solo entrepreneurs can seek out the kind of community often found in 9-5 office jobs.
Other nuggets:
- How Andrew splits his time between physical and digital networks and communities
- Brett makes fun of Andrew for talking like an old man (even though Brett is several years older)
- The one thing that used to be a requirement for community (...but not anymore)
- Why hyper-specialized communities are a key to maintaining sanity for solo workers
- How to create a community, no matter where you live
- Brett and Andrew tease their new thing
Sponsors:
- Thanks to our sponsor: FreshBooks — Get a free month here: http://spec.fm/freshbooks
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- Get Orthogonal is on Twitter, too!
This week, your humble hosts dive into the sexiest of topics: taxes.
In this action-packed episode, we discuss:
- The three types of tax deductions you can take as a freelancer (and how they work)
- More about Brett's Inverted Traffic Cone business money flow concept
- The best way to prepare yourself for tax season all year long
- Why the amount of tax you'll pay is not random and how you can actually know it beforehand.
- The hilarious tax return joke Andrew has yet to play on anybody
For a very deep dive on tax deductions, Andrew and I are cooking up something special. You'll want to check out getorthogonal.com to learn more.
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- Get Orthogonal is on Twitter, too!
The dynamic duo are back for another fun-filled chat. This week, it's all about finding new clients and customers for your freelance or independent business.
Topics include:
- Why (and when) automation can be bad
- How Andrew grew his service business quickly
- The one place you're most likely to find new clients and customers
- The best thing you can do before you start your business to help ensure success (and how Brett did this for years before he launched).
- How to approach total strangers and, hopefully, turn them into clients.
Also, Brett decides his kids are "pre-revenue adults" and theorizes about vegan cinnamon roll food trucks.
Finally, to get a look at the super secret thing we're working on, head over to getorthogonal.com.
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- Get Orthogonal is on Twitter, too!
The boys are back for another fun-filled visit.
This time around, we're talking about what it takes to leave your 9–5 job—Andrew calls them "jobby jobs"—and pursue a career as a freelancer or independent business owner. Specifically, we're discussing money. Specifics include:
- The three ways your company pays you that aren't your salary
- Why getting health insurance as a freelancer isn't nearly the massive obstacle most assume it is
- A handy formula for figuring out how much you need to bring in as a freelancer to roughly approximate your current salary
Bonus: Brett cooks up a brilliant—yes, Andrew said it was "brilliant"—analogy for how money works when you work or yourself.
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Sponsors:
- Thanks to our sponsor: FreshBooks -Get a free month here: http://spec.fm/freshbooks
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- Get Orthogonal is on Twitter, too!
In this very special episode, the dynamic duo continue the discussion of automation in very small business, including:
- How "partial automation" can help businesses that require a lot of one-on-one interaction
- The value of defined processes — planning a system beforehand so you can be dumb and just follow the instructions
- An overview of how Brett uses an elaborate email system to promote and sell his products
- Is outsourcing a form of automation?
- How to decide what should be automated (and what should not)
Bonus: Brett learns why some people call Andrew's wife "brother."
Also, you may notice a dramatic increase in audio quality. That's because your boys are now using legitimate podcasting equipment (thanks to our awesome friends at spec.fm).
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Sponsors:
- Thanks to our sponsor: FreshBooks -Get a free month here: http://spec.fm/freshbooks
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- Get Orthogonal on Twitter
- TextExpander
- Calendly
- Ontraport
This week, the boys of summer tackle some important business questions:
- How valuable is automation in very small business?
- How do we humanize the parts of our businesses we automate?
- Why does Brett email his list so much?
- Can one be a cat lady and a chihuahua enthusiast?
Huge takeaway from this episode:
- The super obvious 3-step formula for creating a profitable business (and that most Silicon Valley companies ignore)
- The genius of hyper-specialization in starting your business
They also discuss specificity in choosing a market to serve (and how best to communicate with them).
Get in touch!
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Sponsors:
- Thanks to our sponsor: FreshBooks -Get a free month here: http://spec.fm/freshbooks
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- DHH on Startup School
This week, the boys unpack what it means to be a freelancer independent lifestyle business owner entrepreneur... thing; the good, the bad, and the ugly. In addition to the day-to-day experience, they also dig into some of the psychological challenges involved in independent work.
And Brett tries some of Andrew's favorite coffee.
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Sponsors:
- Thanks to our sponsor: FreshBooks -Get a free month here: http://spec.fm/freshbooks
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
Today's episode is all about workspaces. Specifically...
- What does a workspace say about company culture?
- Does physical space create legitimacy?
- How does your digital presence replicate the physical space?
- What affect does physical space have on your work?
Also, Brett and Andrew are too clever for their own good.
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Sponsors:
- Thanks to our sponsor: FreshBooks -Get a free month here: http://freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
We talk about the difficulty of defining our jobs and Andrew attempts to explain why we are becoming so much more specialized with economics. We discuss how this drives the move towards Freelance work and the trials and tribulations that come from that.
Does not having a job make you more wealthy?
Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!
If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @getorthogonal!
Sponsors:
- Thanks to our sponsor: FreshBooks -Get a free month here: http://freshbooks.com/orthogonal
Show Notes:
- Brett on Twitter
- Andrew on Twitter
- Wealth of Nations
- Comparative Advantage
- Orthogonality
- E-Myth Revisited
Test, test.
This is the intro. We'll talk a little bit about us, what we do, and why we started this podcast in the first place.
If you have any comments for us or want to ask questions check us out at the Spec Network Slack: spec.fm/slack in the #orthogonal channel.