I had a conversation with a founder who described how his business model works. It involves lots of external parties, government regulation, and execution within specific time frames. These complexities and other factors have kept others from pursuing the opportunity he’s going after. He’s learned to navigate it all and be successful, but it hasn’t been easy. Figuring it all out on his own has been frustrating at times. As I listened to him, I saw it a little differently. Complexity is his moat.

The complexity of what he’s doing is difficult to navigate. It takes time to figure out exactly how all the pieces work together, let alone execute successfully. The barrier to entry is tall and intimidating. That he knows how to surmount it is his secret sauce. He has a serious competitive advantage.

I like businesses like this. They aren’t sexy, and it takes time to grasp their complexity. But when you figure out how to execute scalably, you can unlock massive value. There likely aren’t many competitors. If your solution is really good, you’ll be able to tap into pent-up demand and build a big business.

Complexity turns off a lot of people—and because it does, it can be a huge entrepreneurial opportunity for someone determined to master it!

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I’ve lived in Atlanta for many years, and I’m a proponent of the city. Atlanta has a lot to offer, but I think that for a long time, people haven’t realized how great a city it is or where it’s headed. That’s starting to change, though. People are paying close attention to the city’s upward trajectory, and many are choosing to make it their home.

This weekend, I read an article describing how Atlanta’s attractiveness caused more people to move to the city and drove a higher rate of inflation here than in any other city last year. A few takeaways from the article:

• Housing costs were the single largest driver of inflation in Atlanta. The shelter index rose 7.7% in Atlanta versus 4.1% nationwide.
• Atlanta attracted home buyers from more expensive markets like the Northeast and West Coast.
• The median sale price of homes in Atlanta rose 23% in a year, more than the 15.2% national average.
• Atlanta is still more affordable than coastal cities like San Francisco and New York, even though prices are rising quickly.
• Transportation costs, which include vehicle prices and gasoline, are up 29.3% in Atlanta (and up 21.1% nationally).  

I’m curious to see if this trend continues and will watch housing costs closely this year.

I was recently listening to someone describe an interesting habit he has. He looks at the world through the lens of a person curious about business and entrepreneurship. Whenever he’s out, he tries to understand how a business makes money and may even guess how well the business is performing. He described being out to dinner with his family and analyzing the restaurant. He observed the number of patrons, guesstimated the average check, made some other assumptions, and concluded that the restaurant probably makes most of its profit from alcohol sales, not food, and that it's a low-profit business.

I, too, often look at things through the lens of a curious entrepreneur, albeit not to the degree he does. I’ve annoyed my family and friends many times. They’ll tell me about something new they’re excited about, and I’ll ask, How will that make money? I’m especially curious if the product or service is described as free. The company has to generate revenue to sustain itself, and I enjoy understanding how it does that.

If you’re interested in business or entrepreneurship, consider taking the time to understand how the products and services you use generate revenue. It’s a different way of looking at the world and a great way to learn about business.

Yesterday I began having a problem with a product I’m renting for a few days. Today I discovered another issue with it. I reached out to the rental company yesterday, and they were very responsive. They kept me updated as they worked internally to find a resolution and then implemented the solution today. Problem resolved, in less than a day. The effective communication and quick resolution made a positive impression on me. I’ll definitely be using this company again.

Perfection doesn’t exist—for people or companies. Inevitably, things won’t go as planned, and companies won’t meet a customer’s expectations at some point. How companies handle those situations can set them apart from competitors. In most situations, customers remember the resolution experience, not the problem. Translation: if you treat customers well when there’s a problem, you’ll make a good impression on them despite the problem, and they’ll continue being a customer.

If you’re building or running a company, be mindful of how you resolve customer issues. If you do it consistently well, you’ll gain loyal repeat customers.

I had a chat with an acquaintance who recently switched companies. His last company was a multinational with over a hundred thousand employees. The new one is domestic and has a few thousand employees. I asked him why he left. He said the company had low energy, and he wanted to be in a more energetic environment.

I haven’t heard it described like that before, but I understand. I haven’t worked in a large company in ages. But when I did, it was low energy in comparison to my start-up experience. Don’t get me wrong, people worked hard. But the energy was completely different. No one was excited to be there. I didn’t buy into (or even really understand) the vision and mission. Regardless of the outcome of my team’s work, things would continue as they had before.  

When I became a founder, going to work was the polar opposite. Every day was a new challenge, the stakes were high, and we were excited to be there. There were tons of ups and downs, and it was always electric. I’m not working inside a start-up anymore, but I talk with lots of founders and investors who are helping start-ups. I’m surrounded by passion and energy for what people are trying to build, and I love that. I think start-up energy is hard to replicate. It’s one of the reasons I’ve stayed close to start-ups for years.

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I had a great chat with a friend today. He’s run a multimillion-dollar business for over a decade. I always leave our conversations with a golden nugget. Today, labor came up. He has front-line workers, and he told me what he’s experiencing in today’s labor market. His main challenge has been finding good team members to work consistent hours in his retail shops to greet customers and help them find products.

His big insight is that money isn’t the motivating factor for his applicants anymore. They value flexibility over higher compensation. The pay matters, but they’re less willing to take even a higher wage if the schedule is static. If they do take a role with minimal flexibility, they don’t last more than a few weeks.

Recognizing this, he’s reworked how his company does scheduling for this role. Instead of waiting around for customers to show up, he has them schedule appointments ahead of time. That has allowed him to offer a more flexible schedule to his team and match labor to customer demand. And he can attract and retain people for roles focused on helping customers.

The labor market is a big challenge right now. We’re seeing a change in workers’ priorities, and I’m not sure all employers recognize it. How our workforce operates is going through a massive shift, I believe, and employers will have to adjust to survive in this new environment. I won’t be surprised if we see companies significantly change their policies and operations to bring them into alignment with this change in the labor market and with broader sentiment. If this happens, we’ll probably see efficiency gains in many industries and other ripple effects.

Today Apple officially announced its Tap to Pay product, which will allow merchants to accept payment simply by tapping their iPhones. I read this was in the works and shared it a few weeks back. Today’s announcement contains more details, including that Stripe will be the first platform to offer this product to its customers, including Shopify’s app, Point of Sale.

I’ve thought for some time that Apple could become a consumer bank. Apple already has a distribution network deployed to consumers via iPhones and has been adding financial products steadily over the last few years. As I think about this more, I believe it has a broader vision. Apple will become the bank for consumers and small to midsize businesses. It’s a massive market in a less-than-cutting-edge industry. This strategy will create a bigger moat around the iPhone and other hardware products while growing a new line of business. It’s ambitious and ingenious. Can’t way to see what other products Apple releases to support this strategy.

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I’ve been giving advice to John on his start-up (it’s a reboot, actually). We worked on articulating his new vision clearly and making specific asks for help. I caught up with him today, and he told me things are going well. He’s pursuing a few strong opportunities that recently presented themselves. I asked how they came about. The answer was that he started asking for intros to specific people at the companies he’s targeting.

People say early founders should always have their elevator pitch ready to go, and I agree. Quickly helping others understand what your company does, and why, is important. Founders should also have something else ready: a specific ask. People want to support people and things they believe in, but they don’t always know how. By laying it out clearly, you fill that gap and make it easier for them to help. Instead of hearing “Oh, that’s nice; I hope it works out for you,” you may get the intro or land the customer that changes your trajectory. All you had to do was ask!

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I spent time talking with an acquaintance about his career. He’s not in technology or start-ups, so I was interested to learn about an industry I don’t have exposure to. During our conversation, it hit me that he’s accomplished a lot and has the accolades to back it up. He’s super successful, and this got me wondering: what did his path look like before he had success? I learned that he was exposed to his industry as a child. His father worked in it and made him aware of the possible paths he could pursue. He decided on one of them straight out of high school.

He’s had outsize success, for sure. He told me most people think it happened overnight. It annoys him that people don’t realize he spent over a decade learning and fine-tuning his approach before it started to pay off.

His story is similar to that of other successful people I know. None of them had overnight success. To the contrary: they spent years working and learning before things came together for them.

There’s no shortcut to success. You must be committed, and you must put in the work, even when others aren’t paying attention. If you aspire to be successful, settle in—it’s going to be a long ride!

I went to my local grocery store today and had a great chat with one of the employees. I’ve gone to this store for a long time and built a good rapport with this person. Today he told me it was his last day. I was sad to hear it but happy for him because he’s moving on to a better opportunity. The labor market has been on my mind as of late, so I was interested to hear the details of his situation. A few highlights:

• Multiple opportunities – He’s been evaluating three opportunities: offers from his current employer, one of its competitors, and a company in a different industry.
• Evaluation – He’s evaluating compensation, benefits, and the likelihood of the company setting him up for success in retirement. He has a great understanding of the benefits and retirement details of each employer. He wants to work somewhere he can stay for a while and retire from at some point.
• Frustration – He likes his current employer but is frustrated that new hires with less experience are being paid more than existing employees. He is training these employees, yet their compensation is higher than his. That doesn’t feel fair. He believes employers need to adjust compensation for existing employees to market rate or risk losing them to better opportunities elsewhere.
• Fit – He has a good idea of the type of work that’s best for him based on his experience and the stage of his career. He’s comfortable declining opportunities that don’t align. He’s looking for something that’s a good fit for him and the employer.
• Excitement – He’s genuinely excited and feels like he’s in the driver’s seat of his career (maybe for the first time). He has the chance to work for a company that values his contributions and will set him up for success during and after his time with them.

It’s impossible for a company to be successful without a good team. As a founder, I saw firsthand how others contributed to the success of my company. The current labor dynamic is changing how companies go about building good teams. While anecdotal, today’s interaction gives me the feeling that we’re on the cusp of a change in how some companies approach recruiting.