Just Like Some Dude In A Cave
Aside from having some fun, there was an underlying purpose for the Super Epic - Super Pacific road trip.
A test of sorts.
Could I effectively manage my businesses from the road for an extended period without being in my office and on the job sites?
Though some of my mentors cautioned against it, I was confident I could pull it off.
Most of my friends thought I was insane.
In both cases, I believe the concern stemmed from a subconscious adherence to the old ways.
To the M-F, 9-5 mindset.
To be sure, the older the person, the louder the concern.
But things aren't the way they were 20 years ago. Hell, they're not even the same as they were three years ago.
If you've never seen Ed Mylett talk about stacking days, check this out right quick - it's only 24 seconds long:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eoH9_wQnQ_A
A little absurd?
Maybe, it certainly comes off that way.
But if you read up on Mylett, you'll quickly discover he's not the least bit absurd.
Far from it, and he practices what he preaches.
I am not interested in trying to cram three days into one 24-hour period, but I am interested in doing several days of work remotely.
As we've discussed, my goal between now and retirement (whatever "retirement" means) is to travel ten days each month.
Twenty-one days on the road was certainly a trial by fire!
So, how'd I do?
Well, here are the numbers:
-->At Remington Homes, we sold two new houses and put two more on the market.
-->At House Partners, we completed a renovation, listed it, and sold it.
--> At R.W. Price Realty, we prepared a luxury home in Weddington for the market that we listed the day after I got home and sold within 36 hours.
--> At F-Er, we sold a few battery trays. (And I had a customer send me a picture of his rig using our product all the way up at the Artic Circle, which was pretty damn cool!)
--> At Optivīv, we ran several people through the clinic and made good progress on the new office buildout.
--> At Lily Samson, we got a new sewer line run into a building, so we're now ready to install the ground plumbing and pour a new slab in preparation for the tenant moving in November.
Volume-wise, all that is on the high side of ordinary, meaning there's nothing particularly remarkable about getting it done.
But that we were able to get that done while Julia and I slept in the back of the truck and Airbnbs from one side of the country to the other is an accomplishment that I'm excited about.
It wasn't perfect by any means.
Some shit went a little sideways along the way.
For example, on that Weddington listing, the owners wanted to move the schedule up by two weeks. We're supposed to be out there today finalizing the staging and shooting the videos, which I would oversee personally. But the team back here did an excellent job, as evidenced by the house being under contract so quickly with multiple offers.
The House Partners renovation should have been on the market before we left California, but some issues delayed it, and that cost us a pretty good penny in terms of carrying costs. If I'd been here, we would have been closer to on schedule.
At one of our commercial buildings, a small detail of a job wasn't taken care of, resulting in a flood yesterday from all the rain. Thankfully, there was no damage.
And because of the cell phone reception issues, I had to reschedule many meetings and push off a lot of work until I got back, so I've been buried with work since Thursday morning.
Saturday was an 18-hour day, and today will be about the same.
But as to the test, what's my grade?
I'm giving myself a B+.
That's lower than I'd like, of course.
But it does prove the concept.
With a few tweaks, including reliable internet, I can be 100% as effective working remotely ten days per month as I am in the office.
In other words, I can leave the cave.