Guest Post: How I almost lost our first customer

Conrad DeMasi is the co-founder of Provecho, a company changing the way the world cooks by empowering food creators to create shop-able recipes.

Your first customer is something you never forget as an entrepreneur. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have that check hidden away in a special box under my bed. 

While I’ve done my fair share of cold calling / emailing…my first customer had nothing to do with that – which is why it’s something I think about all the time. 

Just over a year ago, my sister Willa and I were driving through Vermont visiting old friends. While Willa drove, I was frantically designing my latest deck. Hot spot on, 10 tabs deep, I was in the zone (so I thought.) As we made our way up the 89 north we realized we would be passing right by our mom’s old friend Megan’s house in Shelburne. Willa brought up that we should drop by, it was right on the way and we hadn’t seen her for years. 

I begrudgingly agreed. I wanted to see her, but I also had to get this deck done. If we stopped I knew I’d lose at least another hour of precious working time. Ughh!

When we stopped by, Megan marveled at how tall we were, offered us food, and told us old stories of our mom and her work together. It was awesome. Then we got into life updates where Provecho came up. 

“Conrad, I have the perfect person for you to talk with at Cabot cheese,” Megan told me. A month later, we signed our first brand deal, right in time for our soft launch. They’ve been repeat customers ever since. 

Had I had my way (ty Willa), one hour of menial work, would have cost me our first repeat customer. 

It’s easy to play the “hours mind game” (I worked X hours, so it shows I’m trying my hardest). But truthfully, if you’re glued to your computer 25/8, chances are you're not moving the needle as fast as you could be. Sometimes giving yourself time to be a normal human isn't just the best life/balance choice, it can be the best business choice too.