Cape Town

“When someone’s in their season, you can’t touch them.” – quote from one of the Baltimore Ravens fans in Episode 3 of Tailgate32

Well my week started off pretty lousy when I woke up to hear that the Patriots had lost to the Ravens.

Oddly enough I was thinking of just this quote, and how ironic is it that it comes from a Ravens fan. It’s true though; that notion of being ‘in the zone’ or just ON. Flip the switch.

Then I went to the gym and had something akin to my worst nightmare happen, almost.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. And when it rains, it doesn’t just rain, man …. The skies open up.

This week has been manic for me, with the kickoff of our cross-function al team meetings, a director being in town, trying to spend a good amount of time after CrossFit on mobility in preparation for this weekend’s competition, being literally fully busy with sales, and trying to hire some new staff.

Recruiting is very stressful, and honestly the hardest part isn’t finding good staff, the hardest part is that you can’t hire them all!

I also had the real pleasure of a kickoff company positioning/strategy session with the woman who is doing the content strategy for our new web site, and with a PR firm that we will bring on at some point. I sometimes cannot believe how excited I get over the opportunity that’s out here, but then I get pulled right back to reality by my inbox and the day-to-day.

There is so much work to be done that it would be overwhelming if I thought about it, or if I wasn’t loving it. I love that I can do everything from sales to marketing to reading some Cisco whitepaper full of acronyms like RAN and RAG and EPC and EAP. Well, at least I now at least know MNO, WISPr, and AP by heart. Progress of a sort, I suppose.

It’s like a CrossFit workout where if you think too hard about what’s coming, you’ll screw yourself up in the head. A competition is coming and I am having mixed feelings about it. On the one side I love to compete. On the other side, I absolutely hate it. It’s exhausting, and I don’t mean physically.

But I’m definitely not bored.

Take Tuesday: breakfast with my beautiful friend Sam, customer calls, interview a sales candidate, some business development with a consulting company, more sales, a massive attempt to follow up on things started last week in Joburg, CrossFit, mobility, martial arts, and then partying with rock stars.

Well, if by partying you mean hanging out in the back by the braai to as to avoid the cigarettes & alcohol, then I guess you have it.

As I said, not bored. Quite frankly, after today, a bit giddy with excitement. I think we’re about to add some awesomeness to our team, and I just love our core team. Rudolph says we’re like a family, and this is what Helen said before I joined.

Skyrove’s not a company, it’s a family. I suppose if you’re going to have organisations take on the personality of their leaders I suppose there are worse traits to take on than my excessive dedication and loyalty. It makes me happier than anything to hear that the cross-functional teams, and vision for how we’re moving forward are motivating the technical staff. I can kind of see it, but not ready.

This must be what a coach feels like. I can’t wait to spend more time doing it.

• “It will switch once you are at the starting line” – Chris
• “I just pretended I didn’t hear that. It didn’t make any logical sense so I ignored it.” – Ellie
• “With friends like that, who needs enemies?” – Ellie
• “It’s impossible to be stressed in Cape Town.” – Grant
• “It’s a Ruckus mess.” – Rudolph
• “You have to get over your fear.” – Adam
• “Once people are motivated you can get them to do almost anything.” – Adam
• “Lose work because you’re too expensive.” – Illana
• “You’ve acquired the nickname Chicken Jesus?” – Ellie
• “You realise you’re talking to your complete opposite, right?” – Mike
• “I know what offload means.” – Ellie
• “I’m getting a little emotional.” – Rudolph
• “I’ve seen his house. This will not be a problem.” – Tim
• “I hope it doesn’t involve the Federal Government, although it looks like it could.” – staffer at U.S. Consulate
• “I haven’t met that person yet.” – Grant