Any marketing team knows the pain of constant context-switching. New priorities pop up, interrupting the people doing the actual work, and everything grinds to a halt. The single best thing you can do for your team's productivity is to protect them from these interruptions.
In the thirteen years we’d been building Moz, we only ever got one serious acquisition offer. It all went down over 24 freezing cold hours in Washington, D.C.
It was 2008, and Jen Adrion and Omar Noory were just one year out of design school. They were doing what they were supposed to be doing—Jen was teaching at their alma mater while freelancing, and Omar had landed a job at a local design studio. From their tiny apartment in Columbus, Ohio, they were making ends meet with a side business with job structure. But the reality of commercial design work was setting in, and it felt a lot like burnout. Jen found herself wondering if she’d made a huge mistake, questioning if she should have pursued a completely different career.
So many of us get into the game of starting a side business while employed. The initial goal is usually simple: make a little extra cash, pay down some debt, or save up for a big purchase. But what if the real goal isn't just about earning more money, but about earning money differently? What if the endgame is breaking the link between the hours you work and the money you make?
It was one of those simple ideas that hits you so hard you can't believe you missed it. "So you’re saying all I need to do is become a controller?" I asked, a light bulb switching on in my head.
Looking back, my biggest professional mistake was behaving like an ostrich when I should have been a lion. In business, and especially in a volatile , being an ostrich will get you killed. This is how to avoid that fate.
One of the most straightforward ways to get a business off the ground is to find something people are already doing and simply do it better. Not everyone is sitting on a world-changing idea, but many of us have looked at a product or service and thought, “Why doesn’t it work way?” That single question can be the seed for a profitable venture. Plenty of huge companies, from Amazon Echo to Instagram Stories, have earned millions by offering a fresh take on an existing concept. But this strategy comes with a catch.
Launching your own company is a tough road. It’s paved with frustration, setbacks, and a whole lot of painful moments—and sometimes, it ends in failure. The wins feel incredible, but the lows can make you question everything. I’ve heard countless entrepreneurs talk passionately about their billion-dollar ideas, but when you look at the stats, most startups don’t make it. That got me thinking: is there a better way to go about building a successful company?
When I first got the chance to meet Christian Friedland, I was a bit starstruck. He was a big name at Chico State, one of the wealthiest people around, and I had learned a lot from his entrepreneurship seminars. So, when he called a few days after I won a local contest, I was thrilled. He suggested we grab dinner at Tres Hombres, a restaurant I’d actually built an app for. This was a huge step for what was essentially a dorm room operation, and I had no idea what to expect. My project was just a side hustle back then, but this meeting felt like it could be the start of turning my idea from a .