We’re not-so-fresh off another 4 hour train ride. It’s dark. It’s still hot. 

And Madrid is wiiiiiiide awake. 

Lemme tell you… 

Nhu and I have seen our fair share of cities.  

Singapore. New York. Taipei. Paris. Bangkok. Los Angeles. 

But we’ve never seen anything quite like this. 

“What time is it!?” Nhu gasps, stopping dead as we pass through the threshold to Plaza Mayor, Madrid’s main square. 

Both of our eyes bulge out of their sockets. 

Everywhere you look, the Plaza is sardine-can-packed full of people. 

Not mindless, shambling drunks, either. 

Just normal families. 

Enjoying the evening. 

At… 

“Let me check my watch,” I murmur. 

It’s 1:30 am. 

Street after street, young couples line up for salsa bars and shisha lounges. 

Corner after corner, people munch on olive and cheese skewers or enjoy a cool glass of wine in the balmy air. 

Even the shady stolen bag salesmen are out, peddling their illicit Birkens and Diors on tattered picnic blankets. 

I mean… 

We’re out, too. 

But we’re jet-lagged. We don’t count. 

Everyone says New York is the city that never sleeps. But I disagree. 

New York stumbles drunkenly into the night. If you aren’t sleeping in New York, you’re probably up to no good. 

Madrid, on the other hand? 

Madrid feels truly ALIVE well past the witching hour. 

Nobody even tried to assault me with a broken malt liquor bottle! 

What a town. 

Truth be told, Nhu and I rarely stay up this late. Even before we had Nora, my wife and I usually called it quits before midnight. 

Does anything good happen after 10? I think not. 

The last time I can remember regularly staying up “past my bedtime” like this was back in 2014 and early 2015. 

Back then, I was living in Vietnam but freelancing for mostly US-based clients at least 12 hours behind me. 

Their business day started at MY 9 pm, and ended at MY 5 am. 

And because I was OBSESSED with maintaining open comms with my clients, that meant pulling a lot of late nights. 

I felt like a single missed message would spell the end of my relationships. 

Late was never late enough. 

At one point, I became fully nocturnal—like Batman, but without the mansion, car, or cool gadgets—just so I’d never EVER break my ‘one hour response time’ rule. 

You can see how ridiculous and unsustainable my attitude was. 

Yes, communication is super-important for maintaining your client relationships. 

(ANY relationships, for that matter.) 

But I toed the line between ‘responsive’ and ‘subservient,’ and that’s no bueno for your business. 

Nowadays, I respond to clients…when I can. 

And they’re totally fine with that, because… 

I give clients the impression that I’m a busy guy. 

I’m constantly reminding them of my other commitments—including this very newsletter. 

This, paradoxically, has made businesses respect me MORE than they did when I tried desperately to respond within a certain timeframe. 

People respect what they have to wait for.

When you answer every message within minutes, you train clients to see you as always available…and to treat you like an on-demand employee.

But when you set healthy communication boundaries, two things happen:

• You signal that you’re busy, which makes you appear more valuable.
• You stop getting “urgent” pings at 10 pm, because you’ve trained clients to respect your time.

Respond promptly, but on your terms. We aren’t trying to be SLOW. We’re trying to be intentional.

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I am one with the night,
Nick