632: (Solo) Why In-Person Still Wins (Even in a Remote World)

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0:39Just head to omnisend.com forward slash founder without the E to get started. All right, now let's jump back into the show. Hey, Founder fam, Nathan here. Welcome back to another Founder to Founder solo episode today. I want to talk about something that's been on my mind lately and that's the power of in-person connection especially in the world that we live in now post-covid like a lot of you guys will shift to zoom meeting slack threads remote collaboration and that's helped us adapt and i think at times people become more selfish like yes it's easier to work from home yes it could be more efficient but what we are missing sometimes is in-person collaboration to really move things forward, get there faster, build relationships.

1:28And let me tell you what happened and how I had this realization. Hear the stories, learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. Welcome to the Founder Podcast with Nathan Chan.

1:45so we're working on something pretty special with one of our instructors nick shackleford so he is just an absolute master at paid advertising he's one of the best in the world especially for e-com brands and scaling income brands like he's working like eight different companies right now whether he you know is engaged with them consulting all sorts of things or you you know, part owner, whatever. And anyways, you know, he was showing me behind the scenes of an account where he's taking like this brand from like$25 ,000 a day in spend to$250 ,000 a day in spend. And he's done that over like 40 days.

2:22He's like an absolute master in this space, someone I massively respect. And we're building something really cool with him called Founder Operators, where he's going to be our operator in residence. and we're building this incredible community and platform where we can really help you scale up your ads and it's going to be super cost affordable and you can learn how to do it and we've broken it all down we've got this amazing system and he lives in LA in America and I'm based in Melbourne Australia and we're collaborating remotely to bring this thing together and to be honest things are stalling we're bumping into time zone challenges misalignment really hard to get the team across this and we'd met in person before and we knew each other but it was different so we flew nick down the other week and he worked directly with the team and i'm not exaggerating it when i say this we got more done in four days together than we had in three four months remotely there was so much less restriction no time crunches or like a super strict agenda just like solving problems creating content in real time, building alignment instantly, trust getting built way faster.

3:29We just unblocked so many things. And by the end of that week, the amount of output, synchronization, clarity was there. And it made me reflect. And Nick and I talked about this. Like we couldn't have got this membership, this community, and what we're launching to where it needed to go if we didn't meet up in person. And this is why in-person still wins. if you want to do deals it's so hard to do deals you've got to meet the person in a person if you want to build better relationships with your team members or suppliers you've got to meet them in person we've come to glorify remote work and don't get me wrong i love the flexibility i love that you can work from anywhere and we've built found with that same spirit but over the years i think it's been lost in translation because humans are wired for connection we're They're wired to bond in physical spaces for proximity, for reading body language and business.

4:25Like it's about creative work, strategic alignment, problem solving. And here's the cool thing. I've looked into this. The data back is up too. Research shows that professionals expect up to 36 % more revenue and better outcomes from face-to-face interactions compared to virtual ones. And studies have found that groups working physically together generate 15 to 20 % more ideas than teams collaborating only online. Zoom, Slack, Google Docs, these tools are empowering, they're essential, but they're not a replacement. And that is why, however you're building your culture, solving big challenges, moving fast, you have to have an element of in-person.

5:07Because in-person, you don't have to explain the tone, you don't have to repeat yourself. You pick up cues that speed, understanding, and the trust is built. And it's just so much better. So this is what I'm taking with me into 2026. We still operate a remote business. We have a hub in Melbourne. That's not changing. But we are going to move more to frequently meeting in person. We operate remotely, yes. however we have to have just like regular regular movements of people together when we work with partners or collaborators we're going to try and bring them down as much as we can you know i'm aiming to do a lot more in-person interviews as well and soon i will be doing global tours so personally i'm doubling down on real relationships not just online but offline too So prioritizing real-world networking.

6:04So guys, virtual meetings, online collaborations will always be a part of how we work. And I'm not saying go back to the office five days a week. That's not the point. The point is, if you're trying to get a deal done, if you're trying to get more from a team member and help them do their best work, if you're not finding things are working well with your supplier in China, find a way to meet them in person, have dinner, have lunch, have a coffee, build things together. it's so much more fun you'll get way better outcomes thank you for tuning in I hope you enjoyed this I'll see you in the next one