The Only 2 Things Needed To Build Company Culture (They Might Surprise You)

My biggest fear going into my final summer break — the summer before my senior year of college — was that after graduation, I would end up at some meaningless office job doing menial tasks to impress my higher-ups in the hopes of a promotion. One day I’d wake up a 65-year-old man, still at the same job, the last 43 years of my life having been wasted.

Thank God I found a job at a startup.

I met Nicolas Cole, the co-founder and CEO of Digital Press, about 9 months ago at a Starbucks on State St., downtown Chicago. I initially reached out to him for writing advice — at the time, I had just decided to pursue a writing career. He told me that he and Drew Reggie were starting a company soon and invited me onboard.

The opportunity to work remotely doing what I love (writing) was impossible to pass up. Yet with collegiate academics/athletics (I played football) taking up most of my schedule, I knew it’d be tough to balance.

Nonetheless, Cole found a way to keep me involved. He insisted that I focus on school and football, and to fit in work whenever I can — if it wasn’t too overwhelming. He gave me small assignments to handle and always checked to make sure I wasn’t to stressed out.