Writing this by the pool. Not sunbathing, no cocktail in sight…just me and my barber.
Let me explain haha. Not the intro I was expecting to write this morning but it is my reality. Alarm went off at 7am and my barber turned up at 7.30. I have him on speed dial (Instagram DMs). He’s an unreal barber and prefers to cut at my villa. Who am I to disagree to that? £12 for a haircut and shave…and within an hour of waking up I feel fresh, I’m showered, my coffee has been delivered and I’m ready to start the day,.
The right people around you can change your trajectory.
I've realised recently that almost everything I'm looking forward to over the next few weeks has one thing in common.
People.
We raced HYROX a few weeks ago, but one thing I remember most is the support we received before, during and after the race.
The coaches asking how it went. Members stopping me in the gym to ask what time we'd run. People wanting to know what's next. Body Factory gave us training tops, towels and bags before the race. Small gestures that made a big difference. They made us feel like we were representing something bigger than ourselves and that gives you an extra boost on race day.
I've always thought discipline was mostly an individual thing. Get your head down, stay consistent and do the work.
I still believe that. But I've become increasingly convinced that the environment around you matters just as much.
When people expect to see you at training, you show up. When people know your goals, you're less likely to abandon them. When people celebrate your wins, they become everyone's wins.
That's true in gyms. It's true in businesses. It's true in friendships.
I have the motivation and discipline aspect locked down. Surrounding yourself with the right people and communities just unlocks another level.
”The right community doesn’t make hard things easier. It makes them feel worth doing.”
Growth usually starts with letting go.
Next month will be a big one for Twenty One Beauty.
Our first full time employee starts. It's a huge milestone for us.
We will have a Brand & Marketing Lead that brings years of beauty experience that we simply don't have.
Employing someone isn’t just about buying capacity. Sure, someone working 40 hours a week creates more time and output. But the right hire changes what’s possible.
Instead of trying to become an expert in everything yourself, you bring in someone who's already spent years becoming one. That lets the business move faster than you could ever move on your own.
The biggest lesson I ever learned from building Toucan is that hiring experience earlier than the P&L suggests will be the biggest needle mover. It’s a hard thing to do, you’re placing a big bet and hoping for good results. But time and time again I’ve seen this work out.
I'm hoping we'll feel exactly the same at Twenty One.
The hiring process is critical of course. For these sorts of roles (just like our leadership roles at Toucan), you need someone skilled, experienced and…most importantly…insanely driven.
Building something big has never really been about finding people who can do your job. It's about finding people who can do jobs you'll never be as good at.
”The best hires don’t make you less busy. They make the business capable of things it couldn’t do before.”
Some trips are expenses. Others are investments.
Conference season is almost here.
This year Amazon Accelerate and Amazon Ads unBoxed are back to back, which means one trip to California instead of two.
In between both events we'll spend a few days together as Toucan's C-suite. It's only one of a couple of times each year we all get into the same room.
Earlier this year it was Las Vegas. 2 10 hour days sat on a sofa in the Air Bnb and multiple Uber Eats orders.
Dan (our CCO) lives in Australia, Sophie (COO), Luke & I are in the UK most of the year and I'm currently in Bali. Most of the year we build the business across time zones, and rely heavily on video calls.
It works remarkably well.
But there is still something different about sitting around a table together for three days. These meetings change the direction of the business.
Decisions happen faster, conversations go deeper and become more honest. One idea sparks another. We leave with a level of clarity that, I promise, you cannot recreate online.
I'm genuinely grateful that this is part of my job.
Travelling is a huge perk. Renting a car and driving from LA to Pismo Beach is a huge perk…but the real reason I love it is because I get to spend a week learning from Amazon, catching up with real friends I’ve made in the industry and planning the next chapter of Toucan with the team that helped build it.
Ten days is also the longest I will have been away from Cody in one go. I have travelled plenty since he was born, a few days here, a week there, but never this long in a single stretch.
That doesn’t sit particularly well with me. I know my absence will impact him, and I will miss him like crazy.
Grateful and guilty is an odd combination but it is reality.
”Building the life you want sometimes means temporarily leaving the people you’re building it for.”
That's issue fifteen.
Time for another coffee then the gym.