How to Stay Sane Running Multiple Businesses
Schedule creates freedom. Many entrepreneurs heard this saying. Establishing a rhythm/cadence is one of the most effective ways to increase productivity. In this episode, we introduce a few examples of rhythm we built in DeepSky, which help us grow insanely in the past year.
[00:36] Quarterly Retreat
From the annual perspective, we have four quarterly retreats. It usually takes two to three days. During our retreat, we stayed at a new place and get every team member physically together. This is the time we review our top one goal and make sure everyone’s priorities are aligned with this single goal. We also have some teambuilding activities, such as skydiving, diving, snorkeling etc. Also, we hold learning events occasionally. People are free to share what they want to teach, what they’ve learned, or what they’re interested in. It’s a rhythm that we learn, we plan for next quarter, and spend time with the team.
[01:11] Monthly Meeting
Next, we have the monthly meeting which is shorter, compared to our quarterly retreat. A monthly meeting usually last for 6 to 8 hours a day. During monthly meeting, we don’t make any new plan on monthly basis. Instead, we review the metrics we’ve been tracking, and how well are we executing. So, we can make adjustment accordingly if we’re not on the right track.
[01:38] Weekly Meeting
Weekly meeting is actually held on every Friday. It’s a lunch meeting. And then we have a meeting agenda that covers last weeks action items, obstacles/roadblock, late tasks, time spent by projects (dashboard). From there, we talk about areas of improvements (what works & and what doesn’t works), and setting new policies that help us move forward.
[02:16] Daily 808 Huddle
Finally, we break this down into our daily. Daily 808 huddle is a stand-up huddle. It takes no more than 15 minutes. At the beginning of the meeting, we encourage each other through giving shout-outs to people who are living with our core value: Be happy, Be a hero, Be Better than Yesterday. Then, each member goes through what they did yesterday, what’s the issue they ran into. Most importantly, we share the one thing that we’re committed to accomplishing to move our company forward with every team member. It’s a time to reach out for help, also keep everyone in the loop.
This is the rhythm we’ve established at DeepSky, and it works well for us. We hope you can build the operating rhythm that helps you manage your company. Let us know if you have any questions. We’re more than happy to help. 🙂
