I’m out of my element down here in Texas…
It’s not the area, love that.
It’s not the people, they are great.
Just in terms of food here. For a week I ate to survive instead of thrive for the first time in a long time. Waiting for the weekend so I could find a farmers market to buy some groceries.
It’s beyond the scope of this article to talk about the intricacies of what I choose to put in my body, but for those that really know me, you’re laughing at your computer right now.
Before getting out of the car to walk over to the market, I was also having an asynchronous chat with my buddy Mikhail. That’s fancy talk for we exchange audio messages back and forth on our own time.
Sidebar: I’ll do a piece on the benefits of async work…
While I was listening to him talk, I jotted down a few notes to remind myself while I was replying.
As he was speaking about hiring future staff and completely redesigning a currently broken process, I wrote down a few insights.
Then I walked into the farmers market and saw it play out live.
What was my first note?
What part of the job doesn’t feel like work to you, hire that.
Flip that around and you could also say it like this:
Okay, the farmers market tie in…
I walked up to a tent with a guy that was selling his honey out of glass jars… First criteria, check… For context, you might also want to know he had a giant screen-pressed bee on his yellow tee shirt.
My only other box that needs checked before I purchase is “Is this honey unheated or heated to less than 105 degrees?”
If it’s unheated, take my money, and let’s move to the meat, eggs, and dairy tent.
Instead of saying, “Yes sir, this honey is unheated, that will be $10….” He went on a monologue that rivaled a star on Broadway.
He lit up and like the tweet, animatedly word vomited for what felt like 10 minutes.
He told me:
About the local fields it comes from
What happens if it gets heated over 105 degrees
For sure never microwave it if it crystallizes on me
About enzyme structures
Minerals in the honey
I mean this guy ‘went off’. I patiently waited and smiled as he artfully described everything about his product.
The selling of his product is one of the parts of his ‘job’ that feels like ‘play’ to him.
He lives for Saturday morning farmer’s markets.
What part of the job feels like play to you?
Find a role where you can do more of that.
If you’re hiring an assistant, find this information out.
Yes, there’s a gray area, lets talk about that in Part 2.