How to Start a Two-Bit Operation: Small Business Tips

So we’ve been at this thing for awhile and as we near opening it up we’ve been increasing the outside exposure and feedback.  Here are the steps we’ve taken.

Alpha: Very very small group of people.  Focus: Basic concept and initial usability feedback.
Closed Beta:  Friends and family.  Focus: Usability and design.
Beta with Invitations: Extended friends [...]

I saw this article about taking a caffeine nap and decided to try it this morning.  Basically:

Drink coffee
Take 15 min nap right away
Be productive!

This combination is supposed to provide a longer period of alertness than the coffee alone.  The caffeine supposedly clears the body of the "sleepy chemicals" and then the combination of waking up [...]

As many of you know, we’ve been doing a lot of traveling back and forth between Chicago and Seattle, with occasional trips to SF and Irvine.  Even with the annoying travel restrictions, travel is still fun and incredibly useful for a virtual organization like ours.  After my last trip, here are some random thoughts:
Pros:

Traveling can [...]

In a previous life, one where I was actually being paid to write software, I was a hermit.  I spent most of my time in my office, door closed, heads-down on whatever the must-fix technical problem of the moment was.  In my naiveté I figured that the rewards and recognition should come based mainly on [...]