Hi, it’s Melissa, and welcome (back) to “your founder next door“, a weekly publication on the strategies and stories behind building a company without an abundance of resources and friends in high places. No BS, just straight-up truth bombs.
What got me thinking this month
A couple weeks ago, my best friend told me she asked the Universe for a gift, and shortly after, she landed a huge real estate deal.
Her executive coach had her read this out loud:
I invite you to send me a positive gift within the next 24 hours. You choose what it is. When it arrives, let it bring me a deep sense of joy, trust, and knowing that it was meant for me.
I have a daily practice where I write two pages of stream of consciousness, along with a few statements of clarity and a thing or two I ask to be done for me. (It’s part of ENCODED, Chris Walker’s program.) Last Friday morning, I decided to do what my friend did. I asked for a gift.
Here’s a bit of backstory…
Earlier this year we decided to put a lot of our focus at eWebinar into real estate, specifically proptech, where I spent 10 years across my first two startups. Those companies are our perfect ICP (ideal customer profile). Brokerages are constantly onboarding and training new agents, agents are always coming in, the products are complex, there’s always new information to teach, and most of these companies already have dedicated trainers and educators on staff because adoption and retention are tied directly to revenue.
We’ve spent six months repositioning the company since March. New website, new language, new everything, internal and external. The last four months of this year, from here on, are essentially a relaunch, most of my time will go into that industry. Last week, I’d been asking myself the question: how do I get to all of these proptech companies? How do I find them?
That Friday night, I was in bed scrolling LinkedIn, which I rarely do, because who wants to do that before sleep?
Out of nowhere, I see a post from someone I don’t remember following, who isn’t active on the platform. He’d spent the last few years compiling every proptech company on earth. There’s now 3,818 of them on his list. He’s shutting the project down and giving the data away to anyone who wants it.
That’s my gift!
I went to message him and saw we already had a thread. He’d written to me three years ago, in the middle of building that list, telling me he’d flagged which companies had a request-demo button and which had pricing on their site, and that they’d probably all make great customers for me. He offered to send it over.
I never replied because I didn’t see it. Or maybe I did, but it didn’t register.
Three years ago, I was actively running away from real estate. I had so much PTSD from spending a decade in that industry that I was doing everything I could to not be in it again. It’s taken me until now to come back around and admit the obvious, which is that I conceptualized eWebinar while I was in that industry. I built it for people exactly like me, delivering the same demos and training over and over to people who don’t show up because they don’t have fixed schedules.
This same gift landed in my inbox three years ago. I didn’t even have to go find it. It found me and I couldn’t see it, because I wasn’t ready to receive it.
The thing about “gifts from the Universe”...or life…or whatever you call it, is that there’s a peace that comes with being given something at the exact moment you desire it. It feels like magic. As an entrepreneur, when everything feels chaotic and nothing seems to be moving, that feeling is worth more than the thing itself. It tells you something is looking out for you.
What got me thinking is this: are the gifts always there, and we’re just not looking out for them?
In order to be given a gift, you have to be open to receiving it.
Till next time,
— Melissa ✌️
Quick tidbits
A friend of mine who I would describe as one of the “chillest people I know” is a fan of Stoicism. I first learned of this philosophy through him. I recently came across this podcast, Is Stoicism the Secret to a Good Life?, where Stoicism expert Ryan Holiday breaks down what it is and how to practice it. A few things that resonated with me: Things are not the problem, it’s our perception of it. Having the emotion is different than acting on the emotion. It’s not about shutting down emotion, it’s pausing after the emotion.
I might be late to the party but I just discovered Wispr Flow for AI-voice dictation on mobile and desktop. Total life changing product. Siri was fine, but it was never great.
I’m at an Airbnb right now with a shelf full of books. One of them, an oldie but goodie, had a huge impact on my life, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This book is a class, and set the stage for how I interact with people in my work-life, and my social life. I just recommended it to my stepson who just graduated from university and is heading into his first job. A solid read for anyone who hasn’t come across it yet.
This month’s articles you may have missed
Are you in the lonely middle?: Peter Hwang, 6x founder, says there are only two moments of clarity in business, and everything in between is the part nobody talks about.
What even is risk?: A friend asked how I endured so much risk. I’ve never really felt like I was taking any.
The most positive person I’ve ever met: Alejandro Perez sold his floral ERP after 18 years, 6 months and 18 days. What I learned from him was what positivity buys you.
The 1.5% that almost killed my exit: The one signature I couldn’t get the day before closing, and what it cost me to trade work for equity early on.
🎙️ Season 3 of my podcast, ProfitLed, is now live. We’re exploring the intersection of Passion, Profit, and Purpose, and how those shifts as founders come into financial success.
Find it on your favorite podcast app: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
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Great article, Melissa. Sometimes the best gifts are just sitting in our inbox, waiting for our future selves to finally be ready to open them.