Either you're on vacation or you're working
Back from two weeks spent doing both things badly. Then days of real focus: systems that work on their own, the Rome launch, and an obsession with tracking everything.
Simone Tabellini3 min read
Translated from Italian.
Oh my dear founder…
I got back from two weeks in which I tried to work and be on vacation at the same time. Spoiler: it doesn't work. Either you're on vacation or you're working. Period.
For a week now, though, I've been properly back in action, and it's a stretch where I'm working well. I keep Notion updated, open threads, update the team, share what I learn. I do lots of tasks, as it should be, but I never leave a loop open: I always close it. And I train, because training gives me stability, focus and a reason to get up fired up in the morning.
Systems that work while I do something else
The most interesting part of these days was the AI loops: small systems that run on their own and hand me a result on a fixed schedule. A competitor radar every two weeks, looking at social media, websites, prices and positioning. An analysis of their ads every Saturday, with the adaptation for ours. And a Friday evening control room that checks my commitments as CMO, flags tasks without a deadline and proposes the plan for Monday.
Rome and reviews
We're preparing the play2match launch in Rome. Before opening the courts we ask people which sports centres are their favourites in the city: that way we know where the interest is before we move.
With our marketing advisor we talked about reviews, and he convinced me on three things. Reviews work after the click, so they improve all the traffic you already get, without an extra euro of advertising. They're the best raw material for content: a person writing “I was scared to go alone, I had a great time” is worth more than any copy about the anxiety of meeting new people. And you build them when there's no emergency, because the moment you need them, you can't buy them.
Track everything
I confessed to him that I'm becoming obsessed with tracking the progress of my tasks. His only reply: it's super important. I've always done a lot of ghost work, even though I'm an organised person. But if the team has decided to use certain tools to stay aligned, actually using them is part of the job, not bureaucracy.
MEMENTO MORI – Tabba 🔥