Milestone
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It has come to my attention that some people view my business, Altamira Studio, as a competitor to theirs. I never really thought this day would come. I’m glad it has. Because my team and I are going to benefit from it. My team is in a league of its own. We’re playing a different game—a new & better game that hasn’t even occurred to other media companies. This will become increasingly clear to our non-competing 'competitors' in the coming weeks & months. My sentiment toward anyone who sees themselves as a competitor—bring it on! 🙂 Make my team the best it can become. Make us an even stronger ally to our friends. This is an exciting milestone for us. Thank you, readers, for being here for it! - Ellen |
Ellen Fishbein ~ ALTAMIRA.STUDIO
There are perks to having a philosopher on your team. My co-founder Bill Jaworski is a philosopher. It’s fun to work with him because he’ll say something super insightful, off the cuff, and then I won’t be able to stop thinking about it. Last week, he drew this spellbinding analogy between writing a great book and building the Parthenon: “The Parthenon is supposed to look perfectly symmetrical, the same in all dimensions. But as you approach the Parthenon, the two outer columns are not framed...
An Uber driver with a New York accent who called himself an “Iranian Jew” picked me up from an airport this week. I rarely feel strong emotions when talking to Uber drivers. But this conversation was different. I wrote down what I could remember. “I used to own a deli. I owned it for 17 years and I loved it. Making bagels. Making chicken salad. And it was a great business, because I had a captive audience. My deli was in an office building, so we were the best option for breakfast and lunch...
I've never made a Bucket List before. It seemed too daunting. But this weekend, it occurred to me that I already have a Bucket List in my mind. It doesn't reach every possible corner of existence—but it does cover my big-picture hopes for Altamira Studio. I wanted to share this with you. If you make one for yourself, I'd love to see it. Here's my Bucket List -- goals within the realm of writing & publishing. 1) Achieve a level of product-market fit that's as good as the one in the Simon &...