What Mike Michelini is up to Now – Oct 9 – 15, 2022
Listen as audio here [2.25 minutes long] (or scroll down for text)
Not sure is something is “wrong with me” as a few people this past week have been telling me to “calm down” – but just calling it PASSION, and yes, passion often is also EMOTION. But to make an omelette, you need to break some eggs (have lost a few “friends”, but maybe they were never really friends to begin with) .
Anyway- the “now now now” fo this week is:
* Esatto BRAND launch – hope it can happen this week – but not in “control” (sigh) and dependent on 3pl warehouse + Amazon. Gut feeling thinks even need to wait another week.
* Akitai new products – Andres been working on this, and time to confirm!
* NYBS show workflow – episode 1 was last week, now make a “system” for our host Faith, and ambassadors/bartenders (from Sally and Katrina help) start to develop into episode 2 (build this show without me)
* Handshake twitter spaces – yes, I’m fired up – Brave browser, UD deals, other blockchains,. Crypto can be toxic but I’m not backing down. I’m just a normal user trying to help.
For those who want to hear the full week plan for Shadstone Limited, Mike’s company (removing sensitive info) – here it is:
Week Plan Oct 9 – 15, 2022 Shadstone Limited
Pushing the envelope on quite a few of our projects last week – and expecting to push more next week. That is how we grow – pushing our limits, our boundaries. I often think of it like exercise – when we want to get stronger, we do a pull up until we can’t do it anymore – but I am told those last few “reps” are what really build the muscle. Because we are “breaking” our limits, and the muscle is damaged – and it recovers and comes back STRONGER.
New York Bar Store is one of those projects – its our “first business” (definition pending), and a bit of my “baby”. So we are bringing it back “from the dead” to be a distributor/ agent / media channel for our product brands. And last week we pushed our limits – Thank you Jason! For putting up with the revisions, and improving your skill and the final output of the first episode.
Handshake is a passion project as many of you know. I put it in a similar category as “Startup Weekend” when I was a facilitator in China opening up new cities for Startup Weekend. And it is getting more political as it grows (as Startup Weekend did) – so seeing similar trends. But the beautiful thing – they can’t fire me like they did for Startup Weekend (I was a volunteer but they still kicked me out of being a facilitator – long write up on that one). In Handshake, that is the promise, the difference is decentralization. So I am upset at Brave – and the “promise” web3 is supposed to be owned by the people. Not centralized VC backed startups that pay money to browsers to integration. Anyway, a rant – but at least I can speak my mind.
This is what I love about us at Shadstone. Handshake doesn’t make our money – we do it for passion (though some on twitter think to “pump our bags” lol).
And at Shadstone- we have never had so many projects and business opportunities that are WINNING.
We are WINNING.
Because we made smart investments in our team and our systems. We are now utilizing our amazing investments to bear fruits.
These Amazon product brands will be a sight for the public to see. They are all growing and launching to wrap up 2022 and you know the story. AFTER something does well – people think “wow, that was so easy, how did they do that, why didn’t I think of that” , blah blah blah.
To build success, to build an empire – you need a rock solid foundation. And that foundation cannot be bought. Sure VC money can fill your bank and you can hire people who work for money. But I believe (hope / pray) many of you are here more than just the money.
I hope you are here for the promise that we can achieve greatness. That we can – as a company, and as individuals – reach our goals without needing outside support. We DO NOT want investors – I am sick of investors – we will grow organically, and with our strategic PARTNERS (maybe one could consider them investors in some ways) – we will scale up to new heights never seen before at Shadstone since we started.
It has been this foundation, the “bamboo forest” (https://mikesblog.com/business-like-a-bamboo-forest/ ), and I underestimated how many YEARS it would take.
Thank you team, Sally – you finally are “striking gold” in the ambassador program, Patrick, amazing on the outreach too. Andrea, I have a good feeling finally with you efforts, supported by Christian and Anne – we can finally have some effective social media in the company (so many years of failed attempts in this department). Next is community management – which I feel is brewing with opportunity (growing so many discords – and membership applications and interest from GFA media and GFAVIP). Need to sort out this.
And focus – we have been contemplating still doing crowdfunding or just stick to B2C ecommerce, but thinking more this weekend – my informal mentor Jeff gave me and our team the “3C” as our focus – https://mikesblog.com/3c/ – Content, consulting, and community.
For sure – no one can doubt – we are content. And we do consulting and services.s Community somewhat – but what we need to do there is build out a support network and a team to grow it. That is on the list.
Today is a bit more of a “rant” and hope to inspire.
To the week next week:
* Hope to launch Esatto – stressful with the ocean containers, customs, freight companies, 3pl check in, shipping plan. We need a logistics person on our team – this is my weak point. But feel we are maybe lucky it has been delayed because:
* NYBS show and ambassador launch – last week was a breakthrough week for New York Bar Store – put out the first episode of the show Saturday mornin (Friday night USA time), and getting ambassador program underway with bartenders series.
* New product line for Akitai (2) – confirming the new product lines and hope to squeeze some of products to go live in Q4.
* Handshake Mastermind Twitter space – this Thursday evening USA time, Friday morning in Asia.
* So many deals and projects – new proposals, new JV, the bucket of opportunity is overflowing.
* Scaling, HR, hiring, transitioning – been a lot on HR, thank you Nessa – truly – and we are hiring, we are sourcing freelancers, we are scaling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download