The Elevator – Art, and Letting the Right People Come to You.

Thanks for stepping onto The Elevator. I’m David Sherry, former founder of Death to Stock turned growth partner to entrepreneurs seeking business growth and inner-wisdom. Every week I work with ~12+ business owners via my strategy and growth practice. In The Elevator I’ll share trends I see emerging in the industry, people you should know about, and my own personal insights.

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The Lobby

I just got back from Italy (pics at the end). One of my biggest takeaways was the way that art and religion dominated the thinking of the time of The Renaissance, and that pursuits of that time were about the pursuit of beauty as an ode to god. It left me inspired to continue to pursue both art and business. I found it interesting that what has lasted the test of time has been the art.

I enjoyed these two quotes on the topic:

“The business thinks in quarterly timetables, the artist thinks in timeless excellence.”

&

“The person of craft defines a goal and works to achieve it. The artist asks a question and then follows it to a next question, and the next question.“

Rick Rubin (Click to share on Twitter)

I.
Letting people come to you (+ Austin Meetup)

I’m probably 60/40 introvert extrovert. This means I want to meet people, and I don’t want to be overwhelmed doing so. 

Lately, I have been playing with just “trusting” that when I enter spaces, conferences, and communities, the right people will find me. The trick is to relax and not need anyone or anything in particular to happen. To fully trust, I embrace that…

• I don’t need to meet everyone, just one or two of the right people.

• I don’t need to be someone I’m not.

• I trust that the right people will find me.

Since I’ve done this I often end up leaving thinking; “I didn’t meet that many people, but that ONE person was amazing.”

Next time you’re at a networking event, see what happens if you don’t “try” at all.

It’s been much more enjoyable. 

Speaking of meetups, if you’re in Austin, I’m hosting a meetup with Paul Millerd. It’s open-invite if you can make it. Just show up as you with the intent to make friends or have an interesting discussion.

Event link (June 6th) if you can join:

https://www.mixily.com/event/3788287536841340662

In case you missed it:

The Benefits of a 5-Person CRM: Why Keeping Track of Your Best Relationships Matters

II.
How good is your vocabulary around feelings? (Feelings App)

Language is a limited form of expression. We can only express what we have words for, and what we become aware of. 

It’s been enlightening to spend more time learning the definitions of particular feelings, teasing apart sadness vs. apathy vs. anxiety. Or joy vs. bliss vs. contentment. 

This app has been a nice addition to checking in on how I’m feeling, and it has a beautiful design.

https://howwefeel.org/

How I use it: Any time I feel a different type of emotion than normal, I go check in via the app and use their color wheel of emotions to pick one out, leaving a note as to why I might be feeling the way I am.

III.
Concierge: Egoscue Therapy for structural pains

I had an annoying pain in my shoulder, my back right scapula, for at least 3 years that would flare up once every week or two. The pain itself would lead to a type of pain in my neck and jaw, leaving me with a headache.

I tried different ways of dealing with this. Medications, diet changes, and obviously stretching. The only thing that made somewhat of a difference was ROLF therapy, which is a form of structural massage. The problem was it would help for a few weeks, then back to the same old pain.

That was until I found Egoscue.

They work with pro athletes in the NFL, pro golfers, and literally presidents.

If you have any nagging injuries, pains, or past injuries I highly recommend you check them out. Once I learned more about their methods I realized how much intuitive sense they made. 

I do about 5 minutes of exercises 1-2x per day (can all be done from home) and it’s made a drastic difference, not just anecdotally, I’m sending in photos every few weeks to a PT there who reviews my postural changes.

Your body is amazing and it wants to fix itself, we just need to help it.

I can intro you to the person I work with or suggest if I think it could help (if you’ve got something going on).

IV.
Not Scientific Advice - NMN

A former client is Superpower.com – a longevity brand here in LA and I signed up as a Beta user.

This meant getting my blood drawn, lots of it, from my couch to test my full panels.

In a conversation with one of their on-staff MD’s we discussed all types of different supplements. One that was interesting is NMN supplementation which is being used by many people in the longevity space.

I’m testing the sublingual powder form of it, and it’s had a really interesting side effect… in being helpful with my ADD.

Having 250mg with some espresso in the morning has shifted my focus to be more calm. I’ve supplemented with creatine before or other amino acids which have an energizing effect but also a type of stress to them. Somehow the NMN seems to be calming for me, so I’m going to continue testing this out.

As someone who’s tested a TON of supplements, this has been uniquely impactful for me. That said EVERYONE is different, consult your physician, do your own research, etc. etc.

V.
Italy Highlights

Photos, across the top across to across the bottom:

• Powerful painting with symbolism on the death of polytheism and the rise of Christianity

• A Perfumery which sold their first bottle in the year 1200 (Great take-home gift)

• View from the Sauna at Lake Como (had to find one)

• My new favorite rustic gym

• Gucci has a bar, it has an incredible cocktail menu. One of the best I’ve ever seen.

• Farm to table (literally) at a villa where everything is grown on property

Rooftop:
See you in Austin? Or next time.

The Austin community seems like an incredible group of people following their own path in life. I’m excited for tacos and to shoot some film while there.

Anyone I should connect with in Austin?

That’s it, much love to all of you,

*As always, lmk how I can help and feel free to reply/DM/reach out.

<3<3 David

Strategic Growth Partner to founders & entrepreneurs |