Dumpster Fire - 2020 & Things I Know
I know some things, more than some less than others, having lived on the edge for 20 years.
One thing is true, among many, and that is idea that you get more out of people, and more bang for your buck by expecting less, not pushing for more, all the time. Like a car hitting a corner and strategically slowing into the curve only to accelerate as physics allows, deceleration actually produces better results than the pedal to the metal syndrome. Which is a tough trick to stick because to modulate the effort and production without tempering the vision or goals can seem to the uninitiated to be working at cross purposes.
I wrote a published article about it last year -
Another thing I know is our little business niche is a niche that has continued to give through good and bad times, through healthy times, through virus times, for 2 decades now. This New Yorker thing we have, that narrow lane of folks who believe what we offer is cool and has value, has been a tree we have picked fruitfully for nearly 20 years. Rarely is a niche so resilient - typically the story would be, sooner or later, the niche would hiccup and fail to deliver, and then all the commentary on our failure would be 'too many eggs in one basket' type of things. But so far so good.
Another thing I know is how fortunate I feel that our school district successfully held in-person classes for the entire fall school year, which was a gigantic relief since many schools didn't even try, and I think it's safe to say it's becoming abundantly clear how detrimental zoom schooling is to a wide range of kids.
Another thing I know is how grateful we are that my 76 yr old mother got covid and survived without a whole lot of trouble, though it was worrisome nonetheless.
Another thing I know is few things tested my metal more than the assorted trials of 2020, and my ability to steer my corporate ship through the typhoons of turbulence. Day by day planning, see and decide, act and execute, clear-eyed even when sight distance is narrow and limited. The pandemic was tough enough, but as I've written, we had some real black swans like a 2x4 alongside the head at really the worst times. Head down, rise early, solve each problem with a step by step process of inching along, jumping, inching some more, leaping, repeat.
Back in the day, I used to complete these tests not knowing how absurdly difficult they were, and how unprepared and unarmed I was for them. At least now I know when I'm doing something pretty damn hard. And when I notice it's a hard task, you know it's a hard task.
We have an amazing team of 11, all cross talented, eager to help, and committed to the effort. It's not an easy thing to accomplish, but accomplish it I did.
Merry Christmas -
Out of the Wilderness and a few more sold.
We sold 3 homes in the last 4 weeks. The farmhouse below in Olivebridge NY, and now a Ranch in Milan over by Rhinebeck, and a mini-barn in Narrowsburg. We get around fo sure.
Most of these homes were started during the uncertainty of the beginning of the pandemic, and built during the daily changes of rules, regulations and lock downs. We got it done, and now have a pipeline of about 12 homes we need to deliver over the next 6 months.
Lumber prices have more than doubled, products like windows now take 10 weeks when they used to take 3, appliances are mostly unavailable as showrooms are unable to source product. It's been challenging, and I'm thankful we have a full staff and a deep bench of trusted suppliers who are working hard to do their best to get us what we need and our clients want. But it's harder now, a lot harder.
What happens as a small business person is that big problems need big solutions, and typically they aren't able to be delegated, even though I'm a very good delegator, when possible. So what happens is the business owner's life gets hijacked, and all things must fall away and delayed until the problem is solved, and sometimes that takes months or more. There is no other path, and most times it's completely unexpected, except as a small business owner, the unexpected is always expected. Your life is not really yours, it's your business'.
We had the pandemic, truly a disruptor. Then we had an employee with a health emergency take 3+ months off without warning, we had a deleted website and the need to hire a web designer to rebuild the site (without warning), a complete shit show of disappointing vendors in my 3 house project in Phoenixville PA near Valley Forge and a host of other things. Now that I'm on the back side of fixing each of those issues, beginning with the first step and seeing it through to the end, I see the drain and stress and tolls these tasks took on me. It takes a seriously hardy constitution and ability to meet the challenge, or challenges.
And more importantly, to solve these issues without letting your current clients feel/take the brunt of the unexpected disruptions
A 2600 sq ft 3 bedroom and 3 bath Ranch in Milan NY, sold for just under $700,000.
A 960 sg ft Mini-Barn in Narrowsburg NY sold for under $350,000.
Thankgiving, 2020
No matter how many times you say it, to yourself or outloud, 2020 has been a crazy year. Thanksgiving was spent on Zoom, with my 76 year old mother on the 3rd week after testing positive for covid. She's fine, thank god. But a week later, pre-symptomatic, she would have infected the whole family who was set to arrive for Thanksgiving Dinner -'whole' family much reduced since a bunch of us weren't coming due to virus best practices.
I do a family Shutterfly calendar each year and typically because of the sports and the get-togethers and the travel and the fun times, there are far too many pics for the allotted 12 months of picture slots. Not this year - if there is one true measure of what a 'stay at home' year looks like, it's the lack of pictures I've taken. How many pics can you take of your son gaming, or your dog looking cute lying on her back with her legs pointing skyward.
We remain busy, which sheds off some survivor's guilt, because me and my team are prospering. But that type of over-self analysis is boring and as indulgent as feeling guilty in the first place since my company being busy has such an intense and wide-ranging economic impact on a huge number of families, that to assume the guilt as singularly, is silly and self-absorbed. Catskill Farms dumps $1.5m a month into someone's pocketbooks and wallets, and that impact creates ripples and waves of ancillary impacts in community spending, retirements, consumption, but most of all - it creates economically stable families who can engage in predictable planning near-term and long-term - benefiting communities - be it social, economic, health or spiritual. $1.5m a month rivals most SuCo town's annual budgets.
I'm without a doubt a free-market believer - not in the pure Ayn Rand where all gov't is bad, but I do believe without hesitation that I make good decisions more than bad, that I can navigate the micro-market I work in better than anyone for the benefit of more, that I reinvest my profits back into the community and people I work with, and that a lot of gov't rules that create the box from within I work are good.
I believe in gov't assisted healthcare - mostly because I see how destabilizing lack of healthcare is for families. We just had a guy with a serious member of his family ill, and he was able to take off with pay for 3 months (and his wife under a separate program) to care for this family member, rather than having to make a choice of bankruptcy or caring for the family member. That was a big deal, that none of us had ever even considered before when complaining about NY taxes, or Obamacare. This was life saving for 7 people.
The idea that small business people reject any form of higher taxes when in the public good, especially when you can see the diret impact on persons you work with, underestimates the caring many employers have for their employees, and the intelligence and realism good managers use when deciding what is good and bad for them ('them' always defined as the whole corporate family, not the owner individually.
Near the year end, when tax planning is crystalized before Dec 31, charitable giving becomes front of mind. And sometimes I look at my percentage of income given, and it seems paltry, but then I step back and have to acknowledge I give everyday, every week, to my employees, my vendors, my extended family - just giving everyone off Thursday and Friday costs $7000 not including the opportunity costs of not getting anything done, the illness in a team member's family was truly expensive indirectly - healthcare, 401k, time off, bonuses - all definitely not 'charity', but definitely an allocation of profits to others other than oneself.
So on this Thanksgiving, we feel blessed - as individuals, as an owner of a company, as a family - for the bounty of harvest and health we have here in 2020, even if we have to measure it a bit irregularly.
Teams
I'm a team guy. I create teams, scout teams, mentor teams, respect teams, learn from teams. Value teams. Clearly, anyone who achieves anything of any size has an appreciation of teams.
I work daily with teams that work well, teams that are inefficient, teams that are unselfish, teams that execute well, teams that don't. Just like I'm in this weird place politically where everyday I interact intensely from a broad selection of persons from all over the political spectrum, I also am at the center of literally hundreds of teams, and their individual players.
I mention it because, like all human nature, I tend to dwell on the shitty teams that give me heartburn, and overlook the dozens who kill it each and every day. I don't really overlook them, but if something is going well, and time and attention is scare, you aren't going to go around fluffing all the teams that are performing well - you spend your time coaching, cajoling, convincing the teams that are underperforming, urging them to the goal-line.
Perspective is everything - you keep in the mind the many things that are going well, as you work through the ones that aren't - that really is the healthiest and most fun way to get along in business (and life).
