I know the pressure. We’ve been in business 9 months and haven’t printed business cards yet. Something more important has been on our plates ever day. Today must have been the 50th time I said ‘sorry’ when asked for a card following a business meeting.

On my last startup we didn’t do a good job keeping track of the first $20k in expenses. It took us longer to dig up receipts for that first $20k then the next $2m. Always a balancing act.

I know a Fortune 500 CFO whose strategy was not to reply to emails unless he received multiple from the same person. Thinking was that if it is important, they will email again. The whole concept never felt ‘right’ to me. I let some emails sit for a few days, but I get to them.

Not sure if there is a right strategy. Getting your top 1-2 priorities in a day completed is a MUST. Sometimes it just means sacrificing a bit of unavailable time to do the things you don’t want to do and that’s part of founding a startup IMO.

I like to work on these things either early in the morning before getting started or at the very end when the day’s key goals are accomplished. Even then, I agree some things won’t get done. Business cards continue to remain low on my list.