How do you know when to quit?

Small Efforts - with Sean Sun and Andrew Askins

In this episode, Andrew talks about his upcoming trip to Mexico City, which started as a potential plan to live there but has evolved into a working vacation. Sean talks about recent challenges in his agency, including team members getting sick after conferences and some project misfires with smaller clients.

Andrew then gives an update on the lukewarm progress he's seeing with ChartJuice (complete with raw metrics) and again ponders a freemium pivot. He's grappling with the question - how do you know when to give up on a SaaS product?

They wrap up by debating whether shelling out big bucks for 15 minutes with a big shot is worth it or just a fancy way to burn cash.

Links:

• Andrew’s Twitter: @AndrewAskins
• Andrew's website: https://www.andrewaskins.com/
• ChartJuice: https://www.chartjuice.com/
• Sean’s Twitter: @seanqsun
• Miscreants: http://miscreants.com/
• StackWise: Coming soon...
• FigTree: Coming soon...

For more information about the podcast, check out https://www.smalleffortspod.com/.

Transcript:
00:00:01.34

Sean

but what up what up

00:00:02.64

Andrew

Not much, just ah trying to get a full week of work done for the first time in what feels like weeks um in part because I am headed to Mexico City next week.

00:00:09.84

Sean

yeah well

00:00:14.45

Andrew

um And I'll be working from there, but the first week I'm only going to have like two days because um Maddie gets in like midday Thursday.

00:00:14.79

Sean

yeah

00:00:24.72

Andrew

I'm traveling Monday. um We've got plans Friday um and Thursday afternoon. So it's like, yeah, I'm i'm not getting shit done.

00:00:35.69

Sean

are you Are you going, like, is there a reason you're going or are you just going to hang out because you like.

00:00:35.75

Andrew

So.

00:00:41.99

Andrew

um It started with like Maddie and I had kind of talked about like this pipe dream of maybe living in Mexico City one day.

00:00:49.90

Sean

Oh.

00:00:50.25

Andrew

um Part of me really wants to live in a Spanish speaking country at some point um so that I can become properly fluent because I've been taking Spanish lessons um almost every week for the last like year and some change.

00:01:04.58

Sean

OK.

00:01:05.07

Andrew

um and so And I've just always wanted to be fluent in Spanish. So this was kind of supposed to be a test run. It was a goal I set for myself this year. I was like, all right, I'm taking this year off. I'm focusing on startup shit. But I also want to make sure I still get in at least one long backpacking trip, which I did with my dad. And then I want to go to Mexico City for a couple weeks.

00:01:25.52

Sean

Oh yeah.

00:01:25.58

Andrew

um So, um yeah, the plan is to kind of work from there and try to like, try to spend some time.

00:01:37.70

Andrew

We're going to, again, take some days, have some fun, explore, but then also have some days where it's like go to a working space ah and just like live a normal life.

00:01:41.52

Sean

Yeah. Yeah.

00:01:48.19

Andrew

um I think that like the odds of moving to Mexico City are not very high anymore, like it just doesn't feel like it's probably going to fit into like our life plan.

00:02:00.44

Sean

Mm

00:02:00.83

Andrew

um But I think that I um would still strongly consider going for a longer stint at some point.

00:02:03.94

Sean

-hmm.

00:02:10.30

Andrew

So like the school I take lessons from is based in Puebla, which is, like I think, like two hours from Mexico City. So if I like it a lot and you this continues to be a goal, then I might, at some point, go spend a couple months at the school to try to become fluent.

00:02:30.28

Sean

Nice, nice. Have I ever told you that I have a pipe dreamer living in Vegas?

00:02:37.53

Andrew

Yeah, yeah, we've talked about it.

00:02:38.27

Sean

good Okay, okay, cool, cool, cool, cool. Because I want to be fluid in losing all my money at the casino.

00:02:42.93

Andrew

yeah

00:02:45.71

Sean

That's cool.

00:02:45.76

Andrew

You just want DEFCON year round, huh?

00:02:48.13

Sean

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. um

00:02:51.19

Andrew

DEFCON's a lot of fun. That sounds awful. DEFCON year round sounds like the worst thing in the world.

00:02:55.66

Sean

You know, there's a new there's a new conference now that's like going to be the new new big thing, um supposedly.

00:02:59.98

Andrew

Really?

00:03:00.66

Sean

Yeah, it goes. It's the Monday right after DEFCON and Black Hat. It's called A.I. 4. It's like the new hotness because it's all like A.I. stuff. It's a corporate event. um

00:03:10.75

Andrew

Hotness outside of cybersecurity.

00:03:12.58

Sean

No, like in in cybersecurity as well.

00:03:15.31

Andrew

But but like it has broader reach than cybersecurity?

00:03:17.72

Sean

I think so. I think so.

00:03:19.29

Andrew

OK.

00:03:19.74

Sean

I think so. I haven't looked so much into it. I just know that, like, yeah. I just know that. Well, my guess is it's going to be like the black hat, but for AI, basically. um

00:03:28.63

Andrew

What was the old hotness?

00:03:30.68

Sean

Black hat.

00:03:32.12

Andrew

But like outside of cybersecurity, what was the old hotness?

00:03:32.46

Sean

Black hat artist thing. Oh, I have no idea. I don't know.

00:03:35.77

Andrew

Yeah.

00:03:36.17

Sean

ah yeah um Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:03:37.85

Andrew

Not your job.

00:03:41.49

Sean

Not my area of expertise. um That's cool. I didn't know you were taking Spanish lessons lesss that regularly. I had no idea.

00:03:50.11

Andrew

Yeah, although I actually haven't taken a lesson in like the past three weeks be...