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WITH ARI MEISEL

Ep.203

Floyd Marinescu – Ask Yourself “Am I Stuck?”

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**Summary:**

In Episode #203 Ari shares the Less Doing Podcast with [Floyd Marinescu](http://www.floydmarinescu.com/), CEO and Founder of [C4Media](http://c4media.com/about.html), a media company that focuses on delivering unbiased content and information in the enterprise development community, through two main platforms, [InfoQ](http://www.infoq.com/) and QCon Conferences.

Listen as Ari and Floyd discuss the challenges of running a company in the virtual space, and the tricks they use to make it all work.

**Time Stamped Show Notes:**

– 12:55 – Introduction of Floyd Marinescu, CEO and Founder of [C4Media](http://c4media.com/about.html)

– 13:40 – At the age of 37, Floyd has only had eight months of in-office experience—he’s always worked virtually

– 14:19 – Floyd defines what C4Media does

– 14:45 – [www.InfoQ.com](https://www.evernote.com/www.InfoQ.com)

– 15:03 – Floyd is based in Toronto—his company is based EVERYWHERE

– 17:51 – Floyd’s company has yet to find a reason to pivot from Skype and Hangouts instead of Slack

– 18:48 – Slack doesn’t support threading really well which can be a problem

– 19:19 – Running a virtual company is all about understanding rhythm—without rhythm it doesn’t work

– 21:23 – Make your employees actively ask the question “Am I stuck?”

– 22:12 – When people are left alone, their productivity soars

– 22:55 – When you’re not forced to commute, when you’re not force to interact with co-workers merely for the sake of sustaining social norms/etiquette, your energy levels and focus remain high from sunup to sundown

– 24:24 – Floyd breaks down his day in detail

– 26:26 – If it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t exist

– 28:31 – On-boarding and transparency are integral to the success of any business, not just a digital business

– 29:50 – Be bottom-up in every respect, encourage employees to self-report

– 33:10 – The one quality Floyd looks for in employees joining his virtual environment?—transparency and accountability

– 33:55 – [www.InfoQ.com](http://www.infoq.com/)

**5 Key Points:**

1. Once your employees are ramped-up, give them your trust, give them autonomy.

2. Encourage your organization to operate from the bottom-up.

3. Transparency and accountability are the two things your employees MUST have—everything else can be taught.

4. Never be afraid to ask yourself “Am I stuck?” and “Do I need help?”

5. If you need your conversations stacked, don’t use Slack.

**Resources Mentioned:**

– [How to Bootstrap Prison](https://t.co/1FTgCiyopV)

– An article from Entrepreneur magazine about the savviness of the incarcerated – [The Interest in Having Children](https://t.co/68qR5jZlhq)

– A questionable test comparing reactivity to porn in men, and their desire to have children – [Beepi](https://t.co/XPhGRxc1Oe)

– A new service that makes it easier to buy and sell your car – [CodeDesign](https://t.co/MMZvH0Xrvm) – a plug-in for Google Chrome to help web designers – [Mezi](https://t.co/aylo0AqDMB)

– Your personal shopping assistant – [Esper](https://t.co/04BozirKOB)

– How you spend your time each week – [OverLap](https://t.co/ix9BSo4Sjd)

– An AI scheduling assistant – Call 1-844-i-do-less – Toll-Free number, Press “0” to speak with a Less Doing Certified Coach – Text DOLESS – Text DOLESS to 33733

**Special Announcements:**

[Leave Us a Review!](https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ari-meisel-less-doing/id605938952?mt=2&uo=6) Hey Less Doing Podcast Listeners, we want to hear from YOU! Visit us on iTunes and leave a review or subscribe to the podcast if you’re not already a dedicated follower.

**Credits**

– Original Music provided by [Felix Bird](http://2014.felixbird.com/)

– Audio Production by [Chris Mottram](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/christopher-mottram/96/b12/708)

– Show Notes provided by [Mallard Creatives](http://www.mallardcreatives.com/Testimonials) ——- [Get the FREE Optimize, Automate, Outsource Blueprint here.](https://go.lessdoing.com/blueprint?utm_ — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lessdoing/message