I recently announced my plans for a 12-month Founders Live world tour. This post describes another lesson from my journey and what I have initially learned from taking the biggest risk of my life to date. Follow along here on this blog and here.

Don’t Blink. Just like that and I’m 1/12 into this crazy amazing journey around the world. It’s already been one a heck of a 2019, and it still feels like the first inning. I can tell you this – Founders Live will end 2019 quite different than it entered it.

Here’s a brief overview of the intensity of January 2019, which is depicted well with my focus and game face in the image below.

I left Seattle on Dec 23rd driving with my family down to Boise, Idaho for the holidays and to stay for the month of January. I enjoyed the holidays and the new year but was eager to get started in the new normal of life on the road.

Quickly I joined the coworking space Trailhead where I spent most of the days getting work done and taking calls.  It’s was exactly what I needed and I really enjoying getting to know the Boise startup community.

In fact, it was the venue we used to host the Founders Live Boise event, which took place  on January 23rd and will be the venue going forward this year.  Learning about their growth initiatives and how Founders Live can help accomplish them was music to my ears and we’re honored they want to support our initiatives as well.

The winner of the Boise event was ButterFace – Let’s face it, movie popcorn is better with Real Butter! ButterFace Real Butter comes from a farm, not a factory. Join us in an about-face on all things artificial by elevating your popcorn experience with ButterFace, the Way Better Butter.

I also had the opportunity to give a talk at an Entrepreneurship Class at Boise State University. It was invigorating and fun to address the students and describe Founders Live, our vision, and where we are going. I also encouraged them to think big, understand they are not too young to make a positive impact in the world, and to think as they go through their class what type of entrepreneur they want to become. I am sure some seeds were planted in there!

I wrote about a few initial lessons I was encountering during the stay in Boise, you can read here and here.  The lesson here for anyone on the road is multifaceted.

First, I learned about Routines. “whatever daily routine you thrive on when you are at home can be worked into your life on the road if you pay close enough attention and work at it. It does take work. But if done correctly it ties you back into yourself and you feel whole no matter where you are in the world. Secondly, quickly finding a home base or a place you can depend on each day to help maintain your effectiveness and work ethic is key to not losing a step in your business. Lastly – newness, fresh faces, and different daily challenges are refreshing and fun to tackle. Embrace the hell out of them.”

And then I wrote about being more open. The lesson here is: Be Open To Being More Open. “It’s an offshoot of Open The Door Core Value and maybe the distant cousin of it. It’s the reciprocal side of that core value, where as you are more open to new opportunities, new people, new experiences, the more often you will see others Opening The Door to you. You see, the Core Value Open The Door only works when there are 2 people: one person who is opening the door and the other person who is open to the door being opened for them.”

The last lesson I learned was more around how to navigate life when you are on the road and staying with others. It’s nuanced… and takes tact and strong self-awareness, that of which I am improving each day. Anyone traveling for a long period of time will recognize you will need to dive deep on this one!

On January 27th, I flew back to Seattle for a brief week of meetings, happy hours, speaking engagements, and our Founders Live Seattle Event. It felt like a homecoming – even though I was only gone a month – and it truly impacted my view of myself and Founders Live. I have noticed a big uptick in the volume of messages, emails, people introducing themselves to me, and how the community now views Founders Live. Going out on this journey has (been pretty clear already) the best thing for me and the company, and will ultimately be the inflection point in our history.

The Founders Live Seattle event on Jan 31st at The Collective was at fever pitch. We packed the house with close to if not more than 300 people, had a number of special guest in attendance, and practically busted out of the walls. I am so proud of the Seattle community and what we have created in that city. The clear mission is to achieve this growth and inspiration in ALL Founders Live cities. Yours included!

The winner of Founders Live Seattle was CoffeeBreak – CoffeeBreak is a mobile app where we use your professional goals and give you recommendations of the people who can and want to help you reach them. This was a special winner since I have been advising the CoffeeBreak team since before they launched the concept and have really helped them get aligned on what they are building and the immediate next steps. Very proud of their hard work and it paid off at the event!

Well, I’m now in California and heading into a big stretch of bursts and stops. This week in LA (Feb 2nd – Feb 11th and our Long Beach Event is the 6th), next week in SF (Feb 11th – Feb 17th and our SF event is the 15th) , the next week in San Diego (Feb 17th – Feb 25th, event will be announced in the next few days) , and then back to SEA for last week of Feb and our event. After that, I go to Phoenix for a week, and then Austin for most of March, (little Vegas trip in the middle) and then head to Dallas for April. That’s my next 8 weeks, ha.

If you are in any of those cities, please reach out and we’ll try to connect.

Here we go!