Think about how many times you’ve told someone you love their haircut, you don’t care where you go to dinner, or you should totally get together soon. Multiply that B.S. by a million and you are in start up life.
As new entrepreneurs we have learned that people love to talk a big game. Sometimes big things come from it, other times, nothing does. They make promises and then things fall through.
NEW ENTREPRENEUR LESSON OF THE DAY: Nothing is final until you have a check that cashes or a completed project in hand.
Example 1: We once hired an all-star intern, partially because of how she pitched herself — “you never have to ask me twice. I am the most reliable person you will ever meet.” Week 1 & 2 she was a dream come true. Week 3 she disappeared (don’t worry, we checked social media, she’s alive). Never heard from her again.
Example 2: We have had one person beg us to invest. “Ladies this rounds” on me.” We said yes, one week later said person suddenly became whelmed by life and said he/she couldn’t handle making any new decisions.
Example 3: We had one consultant miss multiple project deadlines but rather than say “this took longer than expected,” the excuse-factory went into overdrive. Our favorites: “So sorry, but we couldn’t do our work because an ice storm was coming” and a co-worker writing to inform us that said consultant had “gone missing” for the weekend but would make up the work later on.
While these sound like Match.com dates from hell, they are a very real reality of starting a business. Don’t take it personally and develop a good B.S. detector.
The *: We sometimes fall through on things, too. But we come up with really good excuses.
As you start your business, you will find that many people you end up needing to work with operate on something called “billable hours.” Pre-Skimm life we never worked in jobs where this was something we had to deal with. In fact, Skimm A may have freaked out a job interview because she didn’t understand how one bills for “I’m eating lunch and playing on Gilt.”
Billable hours are a necessary evil we’ve learned. Lawyers use them. Accountants. Consultants. Designers. Therapists. The concept seems simple enough—pay as you go for the time you are taking.
Turns out that concept is not so simple, as we have received bills for talking to people about how much we might need to talk. We have received bills for emailing a very quick question and being charged for a very pricey hour. We have received bills for the time it took to take someone to lunch that we paid for.
New Entrepreneur Lesson of the Day: ALWAYS ask if and when you are being charged.
As you know, we publish a newsletter every morning at 6A ET. But we don’t write ALL day and many of our readers, friends, and sometimes parents have asked ‘what do you do all day’? ‘Do you just sleep?’ Short answer: No.
We are building a business. And we are a full-time team of two. We each have about 40 different titles which is fun, exciting, and exhausting.
Here is a sample Skimm day schedule:
5AM ET-Editorial meeting
Attendees: Carly & Danielle
9AM ET-Meeting with potential sponsor
Attendees: Brand rep, Carly & Danielle
10:15 AM ET: Social media strategy
Attendees: Carly & Danielle
10:30 AM ET- Design team meeting
Attendees: Carly & Danielle
11:30 AM ET-Tech meeting
Attendees: Carly & Danielle
12:30 Catered event
Attendees: Carly & Danielle (read: we eat lunch)
1PM: HR meeting
Attendees: Carly & Danielle
1:30PM IT Meeting (the printer broke)
Attendees: Carly & Danielle. *someone cries
2PM: Interview new hire
Attendees: Carly & Danielle, interviewee
2:30PM Accounting meeting
Attendees: Carly & Danielle
3:30PM New Business development meeting
Attendees: Carly & Danielle, hopefully someone from a new business
3:50PM Talk to maintenance
Attendees: Carly & Danielle (read: we do the dishes)
4:00PM Editorial meeting
Attendees: Carly & Danielle
8:00 PM Intern call
Attendees: Carly & Danielle; interns
8:30 PM Investor call
Attendees: Carly & Danielle
REST OF NIGHT—EDITORIAL
Attendees: Carly & Danielle, sometimes Insomnia Cookies
At a start-up, every dollar is important. No, really EVERY dollar. Want those fancy pens? Then find a cheaper printer. Want better office snacks? Go to Costco. Banking fees? HA, we’ll be switching to another bank.
This line of thinking obviously applies to the bigger decisions—working with consultants, accountants, developers, designers etc
Over the last few months we have often times tried to go with the cheaper options because that’s what we could afford but turns out there’s a reason certain services charge a lot of money. They’re better at what they do. We’ve found that trying to cut corners has led in some circumstances to dealing with missed deadlines, lack of expertise, and other times being charged for the smallest of things. Those small things add up and sometimes you end up paying more than you would have at the more expensive option.
New Entrepreneur Lesson of the Day: You get what you pay for. Stop complaining.
Remember when your mom told you to be nice to everyone? She was right. The world is very very small. The startup world? Even smaller.
Example 1: Skimm A and Skimm B met while studying abroad in college. They said goodbye assuming they’d never see each other again. Thank goodness they were nice to one another or else sharing an apartment and a Skimm couch would be awkward.
Example 2: Skimm A once worked for someone (no, not at NBC) that wasn’t always so nice. Skimm A may have cried about this a lot. Flash forward a few years and a Skimm launch later and theSkimms received an email from said company asking to work together. Skimm A’s answer? NO (and a little HAHA)
Example 3: Skimm B once had a close friend. Then they stopped being such close friends. The former friend’s boss asked to write a lovely story about theSkimm. Awkward for former friend. Not awkward for Skimm B.
New Entrepreneur Lesson of the Day: BE NICE.
A few years ago, each Skimm separately applied to an internship at Vanity Fair. Neither got it. In high school, one Skimm even tried to make her own version of Vanity Fair. It did not take off.
Flash forward a few years…and here we are, one Skimm HQ later.
Last month, we teased you with this pic.
The secret is out. Vanity Fair decided to feature us in this April’s issue. They showed up at HQ with a trailer made for a movie star, a team that was bigger than any TV crew we’ve worked with, and the tools and magic to make our office/home/life look pretty darn good.
Now we are happily and proudly able to reveal that we are in this month’s issue. pg. 84, right before Taylor Swift insults Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
We are so thankful and pinching ourselves that this actually exists. And we would also like them to make our home look pretty every day of the year.
Per a previous new entrepreneur lesson of the day…do not over celebrate good news, or things like this will happen.
Today, Skimm HQ cleared our schedule to do things we hate doing—accounting, legal things, post office trips, tech changes. Yawn.
Unfortunately, our day did not cooperate.
1. Our Internet went out. This is a problem when you a run an online business from home. Dear Time Warner, you are very unhelpful and we are not sorry for yelling at you. In fact, we feel better doing it again, just now. AHHHH
2. Our cell phones stopped working. This is a problem for anyone. This is a weirder problem when it happens to both co-founders.
3. We went to the post office. As many of you may know, it is sometimes hard to have a peaceful experience there. We felt a bit like Jack Nicholson in “As Good As it Gets.” But we are proud we held it together. 1 hour later.
4. Excel. We had to use it. We hate it. It’s not fun and if you or your friends think it’s fun and cool, they need a new hobby.
5. Starbucks. We love you, usually, but today there were no outlets available and given problem #1, we are sad.
6. A homeless man yelled at one Skimm for no reason. This was uncomfortable.
New Entrepreneur Lesson of the Day: Sh*t happens. Try to laugh at it. Or invest in kickboxing classes. Or do both.
Yesterday we were thrilled to have a wonderful guest Skimm by @alice_olivia’s Stacey Bendet.
Stacey has been a wonderful supporter of theSkimm and many have asked how she got Skimm‘ing.
When we first launched theSkimm, we were working on our computers in a local restaurant when Stacey walked in with her adorable young children. Recognizing her and that when an opportunity presents itself, you gotta take it, Skimm A and Skimm B played Rock-Paper-Scissors over who had to work up the courage to go say hi. Skimm A was chosen to walk the plank and interrupt Stacey’s meal with her kids. It went something like this : “sosorrytobotheryoustartedthiscompanyyouwouldlikepleasetalktome” [breaks out in sweat]
Stacey couldn’t have been nicer and gave us her email and we let her go back to her family.
We did email her and followed up and were so grateful to hear back and that she loved theSkimm. The rest is history.
NEW ENTREPRENEUR LESSON OF THE DAY: If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
NEW ENTREPRENEUR LESSON OF THE DAY: Don’t forget that sometimes it’s ok to be lost.
A friend recently stopped by Skimm HQ and noticed one of our bookshelves. Through the mix of some Twilight and political books (the perfect match), our friend noticed a few other gems. Study books for the LSAT, the GRE, the GMAT. And we remembered—just a year ago, these were all on our radar. Why? Because we were so lost.
We knew we wanted more for our careers and that we needed to branch out into something new, we just really had no idea how to get there and what would look like. Insert many a school informational session, study session for multiple tests, and your run of the mill meltdowns.
Now that we are Skimm’ing we really can’t imagine doing anything else but that doesn’t mean the ‘lost’ feeling goes away. There are business decisions to make, hires to choose from, strategies to think out, and sometimes we have those moments of ‘WTF AM I DOING???”
Our bookshelf is a good reminder that it’s ok to be a little confused, because if you do your homework (literally in this case), ask a lot of questions, and close your eyes and take a jump, you’ll find some semblance of direction. Or just read Twilight.
