I promised I would write every Tuesday, but its not an easy one… :)
And to be very honest, this week, I had no idea what the angle should be.
Too many tabs open in my head. Too many projects. Too many tiny things that all feel important when you are inside them, and completely absurd when you list them on paper.
So I did.
I listed what happened last week.
Finalizing the Land for Land website before the launch. Ordering the last few pieces of furniture for the Autofficina house in Portugal. First contract for our first resident at Cooper’s Office, our hospitality workspace in Brittany. Leaving the office to go paint at Frank’s Market, which is now 100 meters from my desk, because the opening is getting close and sometimes the best strategy is just helping with a brush in your hand.
Then there were sales calls for LOBBY Studio, not enough of them. RFPs for inbound requests, way too long to do. Meetings on our ongoing projects at LOBBY Studio, because we currently have four projects running at the same time inside the studio…Structuring Frank’s Market operations, which means insurance, menu, coffee machine, printed assets, and a lot of tiny shit that never looks strategic until it blocks the opening. A few network calls, also not enough. And somewhere in the middle of all that, I created a Home Scoring App with Claude to help us identify the right future houses for projects like Land for Land or Autofficina, because apparently my brain still thought we needed one more open door.
And on top of that, I was alone with the kids this week, with shorter days so the 5pm to 9pm slot was basically closed. Not less productive. Closed.
So yes, for the first time, I have to admit, I went into too many topics at the same time.
And while writing this intro, trying to understand what the hell this week’s letter should be about, I came back to one thing I know I don’t want to repeat. One thing that didn’t work in some past experiences.
Building stuff for myself: a brand, a concept, a place for myself.
I mean, building for the version of myself I had in my head.
The person you imagine has time. The person you imagine has money. The person you imagine behaves exactly like the moodboard. The person you imagine always chooses the independent place over the convenient one. The person you imagine comes back regularly, brings friends, buys the objects, joins the event, books the room, and emotionally understands the full concept without needing a 34-minute founder monologue.
Cool kid.
Very useful in a deck.
Sometimes slightly hard to find in real life.
And I say that with love, because I was that founder and I’m still sometimes. I want to believe people will cross town for the right energy, that they will choose the place with soul over the place with parking. That they will care about the weird little detail that kept me awake for three hours.
And sometimes they do. But not always enough to build a business.
The failure wasn’t having a point of view. I still believe that places need one. The failure was confusing my own desire with a real need.
I imagined the guest from inside my head, not from inside their life.
And people don’t visit places from inside your dream, no no José. They are the one living their own day, and need to visit from their side.
They have kids, meetings, limited time, fatigue, and sometimes absolutely no interest in understanding the deeper meaning of your lamp.
Very sad for the lamp, but still, very useful for the business.
So this week, I think I’m gonna talk about that gap. The gap between the place you want to build, the person you think you’re building for, and the guest who actually shows up, pays and makes the place real.
