This is Part 12 of a weekly series on my growth and development at a software startup in Austin Texas. Click here to view the full series or start at Level 1.

Predicting the future for my company…and stuff.

Level Twelve Stats

Weapons gained:

  • Connections + 10: While scheduling meetings for an upcoming conference that I’m going to for work, I’ve gotten to really get to know some of our customers better (even connected on LinkedIn with some of them, so I guess you could say it’s getting pretty serious…). With our customers that I’ve now worked with more, I’ve gotten to the point that I think of them much more as a partner or friend than a customer. They feel like they can just call me and ask me a question about our system – and I love that!
  • Ability + 4: I was able to turn several dead conversations into meetings this week. Understanding what kind of people I’m writing to is hugely important when crafting emails and talking on the phone and the ability to understand what kind of person you’re talking to I’ve found is critical.
  • Knowledge + 2: I feel like I learned a lot this week but now can’t think back on what it was…I guess that means I didn’t gain it, but I’m going to give it a two anyway. Being in the same office as my bosses has been super beneficial in this area because I hear their conversations all the time and they are both super smart in figuring out customer needs and wants to help direct the path of our company.
  • Discipline – 2: In general, I was honestly okay this week. I got done what was needed and my morning routine has stayed intact. However, I think I’m still wasting more time at work than I need to. Some of it is hard to pinpoint. I just want to be extra watchful next week in understanding where I could be more disciplined and efficient.
  • Organization + 6: I am getting better and better on this front. Now that I am having my third and fourth meetings with some customers, I’m learning what was helpful in my notetaking and what wasn’t. From there, I’ve been able to add and take away things to make that note-taking most profitable for future me.
  • Strength + 4: I’ve worked my way up to some new bests in my workout routines and finally got back out to Ultimate this week…I thought I was going to die. It’s crazy how fast you can get out of shape. I’m excited to build this back up.

Kills: I’ve scheduled meetings with our top 7 customers who are going to the ECL conference in Colorado. Feels great to get that done but also to know that I’ll be able to meet most of these people in less than a week.

I also have been super proactive in reaching out to practices to make sure we are on the same page on changes, which has resulted in finding out information months before changes go into effect rather than begin notified one day before and absolutely killing our company..

Deaths: I’ve run into a bit of a snag for making support videos. Our demo account for showing stuff doesn’t have a lot of the information needed to show a useful tutorial video. I can’t use customer accounts to do it, so now I’m stuck not being able to do some of the videos that I think are most useful, and maybe because of this discouragement, I didn’t get my goal of completing a support video completed.

Outside the Game

I’ve been having crazier and crazier homeless people stories. Tonight was no exception. Perhaps another blog post to this story soon.

Other than that, I’m just trying to figure out where the heck I’m going to be living one month from now. It’s crazy!

Final Takeaways

I guess since this is week 12, that means that I’m 90 days into my apprenticeship. I’ve talked to my direct boss and others in the company and it is certain that I will be staying on at the end of my official “Praxis Apprenticeship.”

Feels good to feel like you have a team that understands the importance of your role.