Hard Work Doesn't Matter
We've heard a lot in election post-mortems about the value of hard work, especially in the Rust Belt. In an industrial model, efficiency is key. Up to a point, working harder yields more or better results. I hear this every time I visit by hometown in Western Pennsylvania.
Busyness as a Proxy for Productivity
"In the absence of clear indicators of what it means to be productive and valuable in their jobs, many knowledge workers turn back toward an industrial indicator of productivity: doing lots of stuff in a visible manner." This is how Cal Newport defines busyness as a proxy for
Mobility is Currency
I've already written about why the manufacturing jobs aren't coming back and the opportunity for remote work to provide a way forward [https://www.fredperrotta.com/remote-work-small-towns]. Today, let's take it one step further. Mobility is currency. If you can't move to
No Jobs are Coming: How Remote Work Can Save Small Towns
For the last year, I’ve been describing my hometown as “the place reporters go to profile Trump supporters.” Unfortunately, regardless of what Trump says, no jobs are coming [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trumps-proposals-wont-help-the-white-working-class-or-the-urban-poor/] to towns like my hometown, New Castle, Pennsylvania. Why would they? I would never start a
Manufacturing in China: Further Reading
Whenever I write about China, people eat it up. Most are curious and appreciate the transparency into Tortuga’s manufacturing process [http://blog.tortugabackpacks.com/made-in-china/]. A few have negative, knee-jerk reactions. Invariably, the post generates more questions about China from potential customers and aspiring entrepreneurs. I will continue to
A Non-Designer’s Quick and Dirty Guide to Working with Designers
> Now make it look good. If you say this to a designer, you’ve failed. You’ve failed to maximize her strengths and probably failed to engage her in the project. Design is not making things look good. Design is a repeatable process for solving problems. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At Tortuga,
Please Slack Responsibly
Like 2.3 million other users, the Tortuga [http://www.tortugabackpacks.com] team loves Slack because it provides a place for our remote team to connect. Slack is our water cooler. Chat gives us a high-frequency place to connect while allowing us to express ourselves. Skype is good but calls
Why We Work Remotely
I would love to tell you that we had a grand scheme to build a distributed company back in 2009. Before remote work was trendy. Before anyone other than Basecamp was talking about it. The truth is that our remote company was an accident. Jeremy and I had the idea
The Shopping List Test
In The Target is Not the Market [https://www.fredperrotta.com/target-not-market/], I highlighted a lesson from The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing [https://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing-Violate/dp/0887306667/?tag=fredperrott01-20] . In this post, we look at the companion book, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind [https://www.amazon.
The Target is Not the Market
While re-reading The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, the following paragraph from Chapter 13 struck me. The target is not the market. That is, the apparent target of your marketing is not the same as the people who will actually buy your product. Even though Pepsi-Cola’s target was the