Gabe's Monthly - July 2024 π
Welcome to Julyβs issue of my monthly what might my friends and family be curious about.
An amalgamation of personal & business updates await.
But if you're in a rush, here's the TL;DR
- personal: SFOβMIAβYVRβSEA from 8/12-08/25, went to Yosemite recently, positive health data, feeling fulfilled socially & professionally.
- business: two new part-time hires, new weekly YouTube series, reflections on my why and the path forward.
Honestly, life is good.
I carry tremendous gratitude for the people and opportunities present right now, and my optimism is but one manifestation.
Link to this headingRecent adventures
- My first bear sighting, on my first Yosemite trip:
Otherwise, we just chilled in the river and hiked Sentinel Dome because our group is geriatric (I write that lovingly). Had a decked out cabin by Bass Lake that was amazing.
Also caught my first baseball game (Oracle Park / SF Giants):
Link to this headingHealth
I'm walking fast, walking a lot, and feeling great:
Also continuing to hit the cold plunge, sauna, and gym. Made it out there 11 times in July, for a total of ~22 hours (1 hr sauna/plunge, 1 hr workout per reservation).
After reading a few promising reviews, I've now been on the full Blueprint stack for over a month now, and I notice a difference in how I feel. I got my blood work done just before starting Blueprint, and I plan to do another round of tests by ~October.
I now love straight shooting raw olive oil throughout the day. Also, the longevity mix is probably my favorite part of the stack. Tastes good and wakes you up.
It was a rocky month for sleep. In hindsight, this is one of the easier things to get right compared to diet and exercise, but I was legitimately too excited to sleep. Only towards the end did I start getting my ~7.5 hrs.
Upcoming trips
I'm going to be in Miami from August 12-18th, and then between Vancouver and Seattle from August 18-25th.
If you're in these places, let's hang! I haven't reached out to many people about these dates yet but am aiming to in the next week.
Link to this headingLet's get (mostly) down to business
Overall I'm pretty dialed in, more than I've ever been for such a prolonged period of time. SF has a way of doing that.
The people here are ambitious, but also much friendlier, welcoming than expected. They readily share their insights and invites. There are a few big egos, but you learn to navigate them.
At the moment, I've been doing 40-50 hour weeks when I should be doing 60-80 at this early stage. The reality is that SkyPorch is still default dead without me, and will likely be that way for a while.
And raw hours do make a difference until we have enough revenue to scale. I don't expect those from anyone else but myself right now.
Honestly, my biggest fears are also that I'm not thinking big enough, focusing enough, and moving fast enough. But no matter what, it would likely just never be enough.
Relatedly, also feels really good to get back to shipping code internally. Previously had to step back since the move to keep up client work while adjusting to all of the life changes in SF, including all of the events I went to.
And there were some real interesting events, eg my first Mandarin-English toastmasters. I felt wildly anxious doing my first impromptu 1-2 minute speech in Mandarin, but it was rewarding to get up there. And the group is quite supportive.
One thing these experiences have taught me is that less is more on the calendar β being open to spontaneity or just knocking down the backlog is better than feeling overwhelmed or cutting sleep as I was doing until recently. So I'm saying no to more events now.
Regardless, I still feel lucky and grateful. I just feel so in control of my destiny.
I'm still making so much less than before, but I'm more fulfilled than ever.
Link to this headingGrowth
Made two very part-time hires this month (design and business dev/marketing). We have internal + external needs for those skillsets.
Technically makes for 4 of us now (two full-time, two part-time). All a smart bunch of generalists.
Next up would likely be another software developer at some point this year, as CY and I inch closer to capacity, which is a good problem to have.
Though I don't want to grow our team too aggressively. There's a relevant idiom in Mandarin: δΈζθθ‘ (think three times then go). Because..
The priority is that this business exists in a decade regardless of market conditions.
Link to this headingYouTube
One fun side quest has been getting back on YouTube recently.
To that end I've been experimenting and after posting >20 YouTube shorts, have built up the courage to post just about anything. For now, I prefer long-form (vlogs, tutorials).
I also launched a new weekly series this past month, called This Bootstrapped Life. I hop on to publish a video every ~Friday discussing mostly business developments.
Four published episodes so far, noticeably improving in quality if I do say so myself. I like them because they feel like journal entries β a joy to record.
Link to this headingMy why
I'm building SkyPorch not because of any particular status or money goal, but simply because it's the closest thing I can jump on that I'd be doing if I were retired.
Creating a product studio where we can launch experiments of all varieties is exactly what I'm into. And we're just getting warmed up in-between the client work we've been balancing.
Relatedly, earlier this year I came across this striking quote at the war memorial in South Korea, which is itself an incredibly moving historical record:
Everything in the world is a product of power.
Therefore, I am in deadly earnest asking you to improve power to gain your purpose.
Business can be a win for all involved, where you're conjuring useful products that didn't exist before, creating opportunities, and propelling yourself and those around you forward.
Now more than ever, I know that I'm in my post-scarcity era.
I want to continue generously connecting dots to attain a higher purpose. I have every reason to believe that I'm on that path because of how fulfilling life has felt.
Link to this headingMiscellaneous
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Shoutout to my sister-in-law, Emily. I just read her book published some months ago, and on top of having wonderfully healthy recipes (the green smoothie bowl really is a banger) it has ~30 pages of reading that are as refreshing as the recipes that expectedly follow.
I love reads like this. The world does not lack opportunities nor interesting paths.
- Rate my desk setup in Hayes Valley:
Link to this headingAu revoir
Whew.. generally pretty good month but certainly not perfect. To be fair, I've had some of the more character building few months that I've known after a couple of massive life changes since May.
So when I do stumble, I remind myself that nothing matters. But not in a nihilistic way, in a have no fear about doing anything way.
Anyway, that's me recently. How're you doing? I'd love to hear!
