2008 brought some great new milestones for us:

• Redesigned Menuism and got it to a nice level of profitability.
• Got The Wedding Lens up and running with a professional design after soft-launching in 2007. Did you know what we’ve stored over 50,000 photos for wedding couples with some couples hitting almost 2,000 photos for their wedding!
• 1st full year of pay from our revenue-generating properties (no consulting necessary – yay!).
• Launched PickFu in less than 2 weeks.
• Launched the Greener Good blog.
• Joined forces with Chuck Templeton to form Delta Beans, LLC, the new holding company for all our properties. 

All in all a great year!  While our properties are now owned by Delta Beans, the two-bit blog will stick around as way to continue to document the experience.  Each day always brings more learnings as we try to grow and juggle an increasing number of projects.  

Personally, here are some goals I have for 2009:

• Document the startup/entrepreneur experience better.  I’m tossing around the idea of doing this in a wiki/e-book format. 
• Be much greener.  Greener Good helps with this.
• Eat less meat and be healthier. 
• Read more.  Books, not blogs.

I’m not even going to try to promise blogging more since I don’t want to make a promise I can’t keep, but you can always connect with me on Twitter and I’ll try to do better about blogging . 

Have a great year!

Justin

Has it really been 6 months since the last blog post?

It starts small with denial

At first it was just a few days and a few weeks.  We were busy working on a new website and with a consulting gig.  Productive and paying work trumps all (not that we don’t appreciate the few bucks a month we make on the text link ads ).  

And then it starts snowballing with rationalization

A month or so went by and then it was the holidays – Thanksgiving, a trip to Hawaii, a ski trip, Christmas.  No one browses the web or reads our blog on vacation anyways, right?  With all those holidays, we have work to catch up on!  

And more rationalization… 

Plus, aren’t there all these articles talking about how there’s too much information on the Internet?  Maybe it’s better if we just took a break – it’s like conserving energy.  There were some business opportunities that required our attention anyways. 

Until you almost forget about it

“We have a blog?” After a number of months, old routines are broken and new ones are created – new ones that have no idea that a blog ever existed.  And so months went on where we followed the new routine working on some new things, but there was always something lurking in the back of my head.  

“Am I forgetting something? I feel like something’s missing.”

“Oh yeah, we have a blog!”

Recognition is only the 1st step to recovery

Even after that realization, a couple more months went by.  There were things I wanted to blog, but for some reason I just couldn’t muster the time or energy to do it.  There’s always something else to do – something to work one, something to read, something to watch, or someone to see.  The more time went by, the harder it got – it was the feeling of embarrassment that we’d let it go so long…you know that feeling when you can’t look someone straight in the eye.

There’s never a good time for anything – so just start

My to do list isn’t lacking – there are definitely things I should probably be working on, but there’s always stuff to work on.  If there’s one thing we learned from entrepreneurship, it’s that there’s never a good time for anything.  There’s always a reason to delay, but you have to just do it or it’ll never get done.  So here I am, blogging away trying to get over the hump.  Hopefully, things can get back to normal after this inaugural post of 2008…in May.

Reaffirming why

As I’m blogging, I’m also remembering why we started blogging in the first place. If you take a look at our about page, here’s what we initially wrote:

• To document what we’ve learned for the benefit of others who may be interested in starting a small business and so that we have records of our experience.
• To internalize what we are learning more effectively. They say that the best way to learn something is to learn it well enough to teach others.
• To update all our fans on our progress.

I think I’ll add one more now:

• To connect with other entrepreneurs.  Blogging is a great way to meet other like-minded people and I feel like not blogging has left me feeling disconnected from the community.

It’s been easy to just work on our stuff and keep our heads down, but in a virtual work environment sometimes you just need an outlet to the rest of the world.  I feel better already (even though I do feel like I’m talking to myself).

Moving on

Now let’s get back to the regularly scheduled programming.  I’ve always had a problem with procrastination since I was young, so maybe all these little lessons will finally teach me a lesson.  I hope the procrastination bug doesn’t bite you too.  If it does, just don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Justin

Back in March, another funded local review site, InsiderPages, was purchased by CitySearch following a massive round of layoffs.

In both cases, it appears that the investors and board saw a less than positive outlook for the company and wanted to recoup their investments.  John and I are certainly glad that we don’t currently have any outside investors that would tell us to pull the plug on Menuism.  If we’re able to maintain our independence and lean operations there’s no reason Menuism can’t stay up forever!

- Justin

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

It’s ok if your answer is ‘no’, or ‘not as much as before’. There’s no way you can keep that kind of excitement and energy going for a long period of time. The lower your energy and excitement drop, the less efficient you get. If your mind is engrossed with the same thing for every waking hour of every day, there’s no way around it. Your senses can get dulled.

So what can you do about it?

Mix it up

You’re an entrepreneur. You started your company because you had an idea and it probably isn’t the only idea you’ve had.

1. Pick a small idea that you’ve been excited about but haven’t had the time to think about. It doesn’t matter if it’s related to your current business. In fact, it might be better if it’s not.
2. Take a day or two off and just run with it full steam. I bet it’ll be an extremely productive couple days.
3. After a few days of exploration, you’ll have a better sense of whether the new idea has any legs. If it does, that’s awesome! Or if the idea was really simple, you might even be done and launched after a few days, which is even more awesome!
4. Now you can ratchet back your effort to maybe an hour or two a day.

Finish your dinner before you can go play

There’s lots of reasons why diversions are helpful.

• Sometimes you need a little excitement and reward at the end of the day. Make that your other little pet project and only work on it after you’ve finished all your “real” work. A little pot of gold at the end of every day can make your day’s go by more quickly and efficiently. You’ll wake up early in the morning excited about working on your new idea and power through “work”.
• Dividing up your time puts more constraints on you and that’s a good thing. Try to do what used to take you 12 hours in 10 so you have 2 hours to work on your new idea. Knowing that your time is more boxed can make you use your time more efficiently. When you know you have all day to work on something, your mind can have a tendency to be a little lazy (at least mine does ).
• When you have a mental block or a difficult issue with your business, sometimes it helps to just think about something else. Business is business and by taking time each day to think about a different business that’s at a different stage, you’re keeping your mind fresh and flexible.

Google has a well documented 20% free time policy where people get to work on their own ideas a day a week. New ideas spawn new business and improve current ones while making life a little more exciting. What’s your new idea?

- Justin

These tips are from a recent NWEN breakfast talk by Ben Elowitz. Ben’s currently the founder & CEO of Wetpaint, a wiki company based here in Seattle, and was responsible for much of the success of Blue Nile and Fatbrain (I used to love that site). If you can’t learn something from what he’s got to share, you’re probably in the wrong business.

Here’s the list, adapted from memory:

• What gets you hot and bothered? Consumer or enterprise? Products or services? Profit-driven or world-changing? Everyone’s got their own preferences – just know what gets you going before jumping into a new idea, or you may run out of passion before you get to the finish line.
• Find a good sherpa. You wouldn’t climb Everest without finding the best sherpa possible, why start a business without doing the same? Pick someone who’s got a ton of experience, loves mentoring new entrepreneurs, and has the connections to help you move your business forward. This person doesn’t have to actually be an entrepreneur.
• Think leverage. Selling and shipping heavy books (Fatbrain) for tens of dollars per order was tough, and took lots of people. Selling and shipping tiny diamonds (Blue Nile) for thousands per order, with a smaller team? Brilliant. Think about how to build your business to apply maximum leverage with your limited resources (money, people, time). This is something Justin and I think about all the time with Menuism.
• Relationships and references matter. There are countless options for service providers for your business. When picking someone you may have to lean on, remember your relationships, and get lots of references. You don’t want your support network to fail you at the worst possible time.
• Bigger isn’t better. Big teams are great for powering through the initial “build it fast” phase, but then what are they gonna do (besides burn through your cash)? Stay lean and mean, and hire only when it’s painful not to.
• Be deliberate. Like it or not, your company will take on your personality, so think carefully about what image you want to project. Cost-conscious? Workaholic? Alcoholic? Your pick – just be ready for the consequences.
• Nothing’s bold when everything’s bold. You’re not trying to be everything to everyone, so figure out your differentiator. It doesn’t have to be some crazy new technology – just pick the one thing that you’re gonna do better than anyone else in your market.

Thoughts? Got your own list of tips/advice? Let us know in the comments.

-john

Press Release

One of the first things we did was come up with a publicity plan for the contest. Who and what avenues would we hit? When? With what message? Since we’re PR newbies, we grabbed a copy of the Seattle Times Media Access Guide (pdf) and started learning the basics about press releases. We constructed our very first press release by modeling the structure after the examples in the guide and others we’ve seen from startups. After some helpful editing from friends, here’s the version we ended up with: Menuism Pancake Food Fight Press Release (pdf)/(html).

With the PR statement in hand, we started contacting media outlets. This was about as difficult as we thought would be. We had an inkling it would be hard to get their attention, but we thought we would get more bites than we did. We determined that we need to get better at tracking down the right contacts, following up with them over the phone and finding ways to reach them in person. I have a feeling it’s a lot easier when you have more “PR credibility” like some of the experienced firms.

Some Success – a Video and Dinner Interview!

Well, PR has been hard, but it was definitely fun thanks to the fine folks at Windy Bits and Technology Evangelist. We had an awesome time doing a dinner interview at Harmony Grill which resulted in this fine article Windy Bits: Dinner with Menuism. And in the virtual world, we had the opportunity to do a video interview with Technology Evangelist through their new webcam technique. That was definitely an interesting experience since it was a bit awkward talking to the screen/webcam, but it was quite fun once we got a little warmed up. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Anyone have any publicity tips or stories? Let us know!

Justin

One thing we’ve definitely learned is to keep moving forward, and in that vein, we’re super excited to announce the first monthly Menuism Food Fight! You might have heard about it on the Menuism Blog, but a good thing bears repeating: Eat PANCAKES and win prizes! In honor of National Pancake Week (Feb 18-24), we’re looking for the BEST pancake in Seattle, Chicago, New York and San Francisco, and you can win by just eating pancakes and reviewing them on Menuism. You can win even if you’re not a pancake fan – just refer a winner and you’ll win as well. So get out there and spread the word, or check the press release or contest page for more details!

Publicity in all forms is great, and we’re really excited to be getting Food Fight coverage from the awesome guys at Tech Cocktail and WindyBits. However, you know you’ve really made it when your name shows up on a banana, courtesy of the fine folks at BananaName:

This is proof positive that Menuism’s Food Fight is something to go “bananas” over… sorry, couldn’t resist.

- John & Justin

Some key points:

• Differentiate and focus
• Always keep the entrepreneurial mindset and culture
• Maintain integrity
• Client centricity because if you don’t, you’re competitors will
• Focus on frugality
• Hire the passionate and inexperienced over the experieced and unpassionate

Enjoy,
Justin

On November, Keith Schacht’s monthly Chicago Beta networking event took place at Goose Island Brewery. The event is geared towards anyone involved in or interested in early stage web startups (like ourselves). While most of the agenda is networking while drinking beer, there’s also a segment where companies can give a 60 second pitch to introduce their companies to the crowd. Unfortunately, this pitch time came about an hour after the start of the session and after I’d had 2 of their strong Organic Wheat ales…

Well enough excuses, I’m just self-concious since I seem a little spacey in the video Check it out at the Business POV website and stay tuned to find out how you can get your own cool Menuism shirt!

-Justin

The event was held at The Gramercy, a narrow, modern lounge in downtown Chicago that was far too small to accomodate such a massive turnout. Who knew that it was so easy to assemble 400+ motivated and enthusiastic entrepreneurs around the Chicago area? I’m sure some of the enthusiasm (ours included) was due to the open bar, which ended up being extended on the spot by the founder of Vonage.

The evening started off slow for us but picked up quickly as the lounge filled up with people and we filled up with beer. Midway through the night we took off our standard-issue collared shirts to expose our nifty Menuism t-shirts as we recorded a video podcast with LiquidTalk Networks. Having matching black tshirts with an attractive design (available for purchase soon…!) and being two of a handful of asians in attendance got us a lot of attention, and we had a fantastic time meeting with notables from operations like Feedburner, AOL, TechnologyEvangelist, NBC 5 and many more. We even got to meet and greet with the organizers of Techcocktail, who are absolutely awesome for providing the midwest tech community with a much-needed forum to mingle (and cool guys to boot). All in all, Tech Cocktail 2 went far better than we could have hoped – you can read the official writeup here.

So what’s next? On top of the work we’ve already planned, we’ve got a bunch of great leads to follow up with, and we need to start thinking about the next big networking event on our horizon: Seattle Mindcamp.

-John