Face to Face

I've run two companies now as virtual entities, with my fellow partners and founders physically located in another part of the country. It's different than just having us all work at home, we actually have to get on an airplane or make a long drive to get together.

That presents some challenges and it makes for some interesting opportunities (and savings), but it also means that we drift apart at times. Early on we would get together once a year at a trade show, but it would be a hectic time for us since we also had other duties. At one point we started arriving two days early for the show, but with families coming at times, that didn't help a lot. We often ended up with a half a day together to sit and brainstorm.

We do have regular calls to talk business, but it's not the same as face to face contact, and I forget that at times. A few years ago I started to make a bit of an effort to fly to Florida, where my partners are, to talk business and spend time together. It worked out OK, but we sold the first company soon after that and formed a new one, but we each also moved on to other things.

Recently I made a trip to speak at a small conference and actually went a day early and stayed a day later to spend time with one of my partners. The day before wasn't a lot of business since we often want to catch up a little, but we did talk generally about life, and that helps us to get into a groove.

The last day we had some good conversations, brainstorming, looking over our web site, and talking business for hours, getting some productive things out of the trip. I'd forgotten how valuable that is and realize that I probably need to make time for 2 or 3 of those trips a year to help us grow and stay in touch.

As much information as we can pass electronically and over the phone, it somehow still pales when compared to the productivity we get in a face to face environment. I think you have some diminishing returns, especially when you see someone every day, but you need a little time every once in awhile to keep in touch.