How Choosing Inefficiency Could Be More Effective—Why We’re Prioritizing In-Person in 2025
How Choosing Inefficiency Could Be More Effective—Why We’re Prioritizing In-Person in 2025
This week, something big happened: our team got together in real life for the first time in two years.
We’re fully remote, which most of you probably don’t realize. We each live in different cities, we work from home, and we make it all happen through Google Meet, text, and email. But this week, everyone drove in to meet for dinner at Wooden City, a new restaurant right next to my office space, The Elizabeth—and wow, it did not disappoint. (If you’re local, go try it. Seriously.)
Beyond the delicious food and fun atmosphere, the best part was just being together. At one point, we ended up sharing stories about how we all met our spouses and boyfriends, which led to a full-on roundtable of first-kiss stories. We were dying laughing. It was the kind of conversation that would never happen over Google Meet—because let’s be real, virtual calls are not built for storytelling and belly laughs.
And this only confirmed the inner nudge I’ve had to start meeting with clients in person whenever possible.
Last week, we also had an in-person proposal review meeting with a potential client—something we haven’t done before. Normally, we’d send the proposal over email, maybe hop on a quick Google Meet to discuss, and call it a day. But this time, we sat down together, walked through everything face to face, and actually talked through their needs in real-time. And guess what? They decided to move forward. Coincidence? I think not.
For the longest time, it fit my personality (and my schedule) to keep everything online. Google Meet was efficient. Email was quick. Fitting in as many meetings as possible felt like the best way to move things forward. But lately, I’m realizing that slowing down—actually making time to meet in person—might not be as efficient, but is possibly more effective.
Because when you’re face-to-face, you’re not just checking a task off a list. You’re fully hearing what the client wants and needs. You’re catching the little details that might have been rushed over in a call. You’re building trust in a way that’s hard to replicate through a screen.
Obviously, this isn’t realistic for every business, but if you do have the opportunity to meet with your team or clients in person—even just occasionally—it’s worth it. The impact is bigger than you think.
That said, there’s one downside to in-person meetings: no automatic record of what was said. Which is why I just started using Otter (per a recommendation from my husband!)—an AI-powered app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings for you. No more frantic note-taking or forgetting action items. Just real conversations with a built-in assistant to catch everything for you.
If you’re juggling meetings and want an easy way to stay present while still keeping track of important details, check it out. (Not sponsored, just genuinely impressed.)
