👉 It’s always your fault 👈 Nº60 – Cycling, Startups & Sales ✌🏻️

This week I was inspired by a medium post that David Heinemeier Hansson recently wrote. If you don't know @DHH, he is the creator of Ruby on Rails and Founder & CTO at Basecamp, formerly 37signals). As I used to sell Ruby on Rails consulting, I've been following him for some time.

His idea is that, of course, it is super easy to blame others when things go wrong.  But looking back and analyzing missteps and identifying flaws, though indeed useful, is incomplete. He suggests you do the harder work and absorb as much blame and responsibility as possible.

The intention is that your introspection will rub off on others.

Simply put:  👉 It’s always your fault 👈

In other news, heaps of new signups this week thanks to invites sent via Mila. Welcome! A handful got added with out the double opt-in, yes that is indeed my fault. Please do hit reply with feedback : )

By the way, if you're in Amsterdam: The Bicycle Film Festival is this weekend! Now in its 16th year and already 75 different cities, its awesome to have the festival back in Amsterdam for the 1st time since 2010. There are still some tickets available for the 5-7pm screenings! Hope to see you there!

As always, thanks for reading!

Cycling

what it’s like to race MTBs around a glacier

My friend John Braynard went out to Iceland to find out.

The event is three days and just under 300km long, circling a glacier that sits in the centre of the island country, giving the race it’s name Glacier360.

2nd MTB related link in 2 weeks. Must be cyclocross season ;)

Soigneur - Vienna: Five Bicycle Hotspots

Later this month, Vienna will host the Wiener Fahrradschau (21-23 October), We helped Soigneur put together a list of 5 top recommendations from local influencers to visit when in town.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there later this month!

DCA's Optic Augmented Reality Cyclist Helmet

This year's Red Dot "Best of the Best" mobility concept award winner is pretty radical! : )

Startups

MailChimp and the Un-Silicon Valley Way to Make It as a Start-Up

MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs and following their instincts.

ATL represent!

p.s.

got 40mins to spare? (hint: you do) Watch Ben Chestnut's Creative Morning's talk from 5 years ago. I've linked to it here in the newsletter before. He started Mailchimp. Super funny and brilliant talk.

10 Hottest Saas Startups: Netherlands & Belgium

The Netherlands and Belgium are neighbors, but they share more than a border.  They both produce thousands of startups each year. In fact, the Dutch VC and Startup Ecosystem is now the 6th biggest in Europe. Nice to see Bynder & Smart.pr on the list!

Offering To Work For Free Is A Really Bad Strategy

"When someone says, I’ll do anything, what they’re often unwittingly telling their dream employer is You’ll have to teach me everything. That’s why they don’t get the shot they so desperately want. They’ve made it seem like too big of a gamble." This applies to freelancers, sales teams and life in general. Check it out.

Sales

12 Modern Sales Skills That Can Benefit Your Business

Members of Forbes Coaches Council explain one necessary sales skill new entrepreneurs. I usually ask: "what works best for you?" but this variation works too:

"Co-create solutions with your prospects. State your understanding of their problem and the outcome they are expecting to achieve. Next, ask them, “Where shall we go from here?"

A value creation checklist

"This project you’re working on, the new business or offering, what sort of value does it create?"

Are you a freelancer or an entrepreneur? Doesn't matter. Read this recent entry on Seth's Blog.

Sentenc.es - A Disciplined Way To Deal With Email

Since it’s too hard to count letters, count sentences instead.

This is old news but so good!

Want more tips?

Here Max Altschuler's Practical Writing Lessons From A Fed Up Millennial

Radness

The importance of sucking at a new job for a year or two

The title of Ross McCammon's recent caught my eye as it reminded me of what I wrote for Vulpine back in 2015: The Importance of Getting Dropped. I'd wager sucking at a new job is just as important. Sucking isn't rad but the idea of embracing the process damn sure is.

Put the time in.  You'll get better. But you have to have the right mindset. People with “fixed mind-sets” believe their abilities are unchangeable—a belief that causes them to shy away from situations in which they might fail.

However, "people with “growth mind-sets” embrace challenges because they believe they can become smarter and more capable even if they don’t succeed. They’re willing to get things wrong, but more important, they’re ready to listen to the feedback. Screwing up is not a defining thing. This is such a useful attitude to have."

That attitude is is rad in my opinion. But if you were looking for another kind of radness, here is some amazing footage from the Torino Nice Rally last month. I'm the guy in hot pink climbing in the drops ; )

Here's to stepping up your game & taking the blame this week!