Since the beginning of Pedal time (2021), Abby and I have held firm to the belief that we should stay in our lane when it comes to advising clients. We felt the need to articulate this commitment on account of two things: (1) we already have a wide lane, and (b) everyone and their mother seemed comfortable dispensing lease advice, and that really annoyed us because the advice was usually wrong.  

So it’s in that vein that we’re sharing a series of newsletters where we get simple advice on high-stakes issues from actual subject matter experts in the many retail real estate-adjacent issues that we bump into regularly. And so without further ado…

How not to let your small business de...

 Last week we shared Part 1 of what we might call “lessons gleaned from reading a bunch of books on ancient Greece.” For a quick refresher, Jason with the Golden Fleece reminded us that a popular brand loses value without execution, and Odysseus showed us that success depends on strategy and planning over brute force. 

Today’s dispatch takes us from Crete to Mt. Olympus, which is a real place on the map and in the hearts of all us who’ve loved D’Aulaires Book of Greek Mythology since elementary school.

💔🗡️⛰️ 

Part 2: What I learned from Ariadne, Agamemnon and Mt. Olympus

🤝 Your business partner is a life partner.

For all the attention our culture gives to choosing romanti...

Partnerships of all kinds are tricky, and we learn this fact of life young.

My daughter, Alice, went from an S+ to an S on “cooperates well with others” on her third grade report card this past trimester, and when I asked her about it, she said, “that’s because SARAH was my partner!”

Reality Show Candy GIF by Children's Miracle Network Hospitals

By the time we’re starting our own businesses, we’ve experienced challenging partnerships (both professional and romantic) many times over, and we know what qualities to look for in a potential business partner. But opening and running a business throws real challenges at even the most simpatico partnerships, and you know what can REALLY ...