The Pendulum Has Swung - Remote Work Is Dead

I pay $1,018/month for this drab 8'x12' office that I only use once/week.

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It's 1 of 4 offices I rotate between.

Waste of money? Hah!

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Every month I run into awesome people that are tangibly adding to my net worth.

For example, one day I was running to the bathroom and I ran into @ImSamThompson in the break area. We ending up chatting for over an hour about my eCom biz.

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He told me to check out a new popup app that I've since implemented. That app increased our email opt-in rate from 4.07% to 9.45%. That directly translates to an additional $3,460/month revenue boost, and climbing. The indirect effects I can't even measure!

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It's not his app, and he has nothing to sell me, it's just one he's had success with.

Also, now we are good bros!

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He also suggested that we push Christmas bundles via FB ads, which will add even more monthly revenue. We were already doing Christmas bundles and FB ads, but had never thought to make specific targeted ads for those bundles on FB.

That seemingly simple connection is already proving to be very fruitful.

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I also had a chat with @HeySamPreston that same day about PPC ads and he gave me insights into our tree biz lead gen strategy that is already paying literal dividends.

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That one conversation will pay for my office space indefinitely.

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The creators of my shared office @stephenolmon and @ConnorAbene have each introduced me to more rad people and taught me awesome thing about their companies and strategies.

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Not to mention, my other office mate is none other than @KHendersonCo, who I'll no doubt to work with in some cool capacity at some point.

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So what's my point in writing this? It's not to sell you on the cool people I've tagged or on this particular office space in Richardson, TX, because it's full anyway.

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I'm writing this to declare that remote work needs to die. Long live in person.

Remote work is comfortable, but that's about it.

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Watching Netflix is more comfortable than lifting weights, too, but which is more beneficial?

There's no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone.

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Remember Google Hangouts? Yeah, it got shut down.

These interactions don't happen in the metaverse, Google Hangouts or in Slack. They happen IRL, in real time, belly to belly, face to face.

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Put on some dang pants, hop in your car and go find an office that has rad people coming in and out every day.

The antiwork crowd will meme about pizza Fridays, grey cubicles and boring interstate commutes. Guess what, that culture fueled the greatest wealth creation engine that society has ever seen - capitalism.

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Companies like @zapier brag "We're fully remote!" And great for them, they are a profitable, growing company.

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But who can tell me what that company would, could look like today if they weren't remote? How much bigger could they be? Who knows?

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Would you rather compete against a fully remote startup or a fully in person one?

If you're competing for a promotion, who will win? The in-person guy, or the remote guy?

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One of the greatest entrepreneurs of our generation, @sama, who has helped hundreds of the worlds greatest tech startups even agrees that in person is king.

Is the commute a bummer because its 30 minutes you can't look at your phone? Use that time to meditate, listen to a podcast, call your mom or think.

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It doesn't have to be wasted time.

Good is the enemy of great. Remote can work fine, but in person is optimal.

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You will 1,000% make more money and have a ton more fun. Humans were engineered to interact in person, anyway.

And hey, my kids are in school all day, and my wife has stuff to do, too.

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Thanks for reading my rant. Back to work.