Previous Conversations

  • Soul glow

    January 05, 2010

    With the end of 2009 comes the final installment of my bootstrapping blog series (with a New Year’s resolution to blog more frequently and involve all our team members!). At the end of the day, you can plan, strategize, rationalize, work hard, and dream all you want, but so much of the startup experience comes down to intangibles. Luck is frequently mentioned as being a key ingredient. And you have to be in the right place at the right time. I’ll call all of this the “Soul glow.“

    At the heart of your startup, you need an authentic soul. It’ll carry you through all the difficult times and elevate you to new heights during the good times. What is soul? I’m sure you’ll have a different definition, but to me it’s a crazy combination of passion, surrounding yourself with inspiring people, working in places with things around you to spark new ideas, a desire to collaborate with others to overcome challenges, having fun to stay sane, bringing meaning to your mission, and staying grounded with reality while reaching for goals that truly excite you. Balance is a key theme.

    For me, starting FMYI in Portland was key in terms of livability and the balance between cost and work life benefits. For example, because of the public transportation system, bike paths, and urban growth boundary, commuting times are shorter here than other cities which helps the local economy. This helps reduce stress for employees and maximizes the productive hours people can spend at work. Much has been said about the population of cultural creatives in Portland. It’s important to be surrounded by creative energy and new ideas when starting a business to help you tackle all the challenges that stand in the way.

    Passion is a key element in keeping the energy level high. We truly enjoy helping people collaborate more effectively and are excited that 2009 brings us closer to a tipping point. We’ve also surrounded ourselves by people who are great at getting things done in a collaborative manner, whether they’re employees or vendors. Our commitment to sustainability has been a differentiator for us and brings a greater sense of meaning to what we do. We’re doing the Northwest Earth Institute’s Sustainable Systems at Work course and had a lively discussion this morning about how we can continually improve and help others. Doing the course helps us get into a different frame of mind at work. NWEI definitely has a lot of soul!

    And a key element is having fun since growing a startup is hard enough as it is. Working with great clients is the biggest factor, and is something we’re very thankful for over here at FMYI. Being located in the Leftbank Project building also helps with a brewery in the basement and a cafe featuring local/organic ingredients. Occasional karaoke sessions, although potentially dangerous, can bring some soul (literally) to the workplace.

    So as I bring this series of blog posts on starting up a business to a close, I’ll raise a virtual toast to everyone that 2010 brings all of us a “soul glow.“ May all your hard work be rewarded, and your dreams realized!

    Onward and upward,
    -Justin

    Links to the complete blog series on starting a business:
    • Intro: “Head west, young man”
    • Bootstrapping: These bootstraps are made for walkin’
    • Growing: Grow with the flow
    • Worklife: Does worklife balance exist in startups?
    • Tools: Startup bliss using online tools
    • Sustainability: Sustainable startups: the triple crown
    • Soul: Soul glow

    Continue Reading…

    Post image

  • Startup bliss using online tools

    November 02, 2009

    Two of the main barriers to entry when starting an enterprise are getting internal operations set up, and getting the word out to generate leads. Thank goodness for all the great online tools out there to help you turn a plan into reality! Without some of these services, it would have been harder to get FMYI off the ground:

    Operations
    In the beginning, I enjoyed handling all the minute tasks that came with starting a business. Then I realized that I was better suited tackling other tasks. You should have seen those early spreadsheets I used to track our finances. It was enough to make a finance professional cry. By using online tools, not only will you spend less time dealing with operational issues, but more importantly, it’ll be easier to scale without needing create additional headcount. Some tools to check out:

  • Craigslist (the good ‘ol standby for finding talent)
  • RingCentral (one number for customers to call, which you can then route to land lines, mobile phones, virtual fax, and VOIP extensions)
  • Intuit Online Payroll (formerly “Paycycle” — an easy way to handle payroll)
  • QuickBooks Online or FreshBooks (depending on your bookkeeping needs)
  • MicroMentor (online business mentoring)

  • FMYI (we’re a little biased, but FMYI is the perfect place to track contacts, manage projects, store files, share a calendar, work with clients, build a collaborative social network, and more)

    Marketing
    It’s easier than ever to get the word out about your enterprise using these online tools. The best thing is you rarely need to have any technical knowledge in order to take advantage of these services. You can quickly establish a presence on par with larger organizations. And many of them connect you to a wider community instantly so you don’t have to wait for people to find you.

  • LinkedIn or Biznik (business networking to find leads)
  • Plaxo (keep your address book up to date)
  • MailChimp (easy and fun email marketing service)
  • SurveyMonkey (gain insights from customers while eating your banana)
  • Wordpress (create a blog to share your knowledge with the world)
  • Squarespace (easy to use platform to create a full website for your enterprise)
  • Statcounter (see trends about who’s visiting your website)
  • CafePress (simple way to produce promotional materials)
  • Twitter (a “micro-blog” to tweet your updates and interesting articles to the world)
  • Facebook (create a fan page to communicate news)
  • Flickr (great photo sharing site)
  • YouTube or Screencast (places to share videos depending on your needs)



    • Do you have suggestions for great online services for operations and/or marketing? I’d love to hear about it. Post a comment below!

    My next blog post: sustainability and startups.

    -Justin

    Continue Reading…

Post image

  • “Head west, young man”

    August 14, 2009

    Twelve years ago, I embarked on my own Lewis and Clark Expedition, going from the East Coast to Oregon. My journey featured a plush ride in a 1991 Ford Taurus emblazoned with neo-hippie band stickers. Portland drew me in, with its promise of rugged adventure, and the potential to do things differently. The other big reason for the move was getting a job at Nike, a culture that to me epitomized an innovative, entrepreneurial, and irreverent spirit. And free shoes of course!

    Combine the two together, and I had a perfect platform to incubate my business ideas spanning the intersection of design, organizational change, and technology. From the early days of exploring BBSes to putting my university newspaper on the web, to working on intranet projects at Nike, I was fascinated by how to connect people online, help them communicate, and catalyze action.

    But ideas aren’t worth much unless you can bring them to life. Once I had refined the concept enough through meetings with friends, basic drafts of the (now useless) business plan, and developed some connections, the vision came together. Bootstrap a company through client revenue, have an authentic brand, build a great team, and integrate sustainability. In short, our “common sense” plan born out of not knowing any other way of doing it.

    Over the next few weeks, I’ll be blogging on the top ten things I’ve learned through the startup experience. I don’t think any entrepreneur feels like the startup feeling ever ends. You’re always looking for new plateaus and solving new challenges. So why am I writing about it now? With the worst economy in generations and so much continued attention on VC/Angel funded startups, I figured this was the time to focus on a topic that’s all about finding opportunities and going after them the old fashioned way when resources are tight — bootstrapping. You may not need to head west to do it, but I can guarantee it’ll be an adventure!

    -Justin

    Continue Reading…

    Post image

  • Economy 2.0 and you

    May 27, 2009

    So we’ve introduced Economy 2.0 and covered the blueprint for Economy 2.0. And we’ve talked about the definition of innovation (collaboration, sustainability, and technology). Now, let’s talk about how you can create opportunities for yourself in Economy 2.0.

    The concept of the “Brand called you“ has become even more relevant. Whether you’re working within an organization, looking for a job, or starting your own company, it’s all the same — besides branding yourself to stand out from the crowd, you need to make the business case for why you add value. It’s all about bringing compelling entrepreneurial ideas to your employer, future employer, or customers, with a clear plan on how to make it all happen. The urgency is here unfortunately thanks to the state of the global economy whether your organization is downsizing, or you’re looking to be employed.

    And the bottom line in Economy 2.0 is how you can help your current employer/prospective employer/client innovate through collaboration, sustainability, and technology. How can you leverage collaborative networks to help speed up innovation? How can you apply a sustainability lens to help create long term innovation? How can you make use of technology to help scale innovation?

    We can continue to talk about high level reasons why it’s important for you to be a part of the solution. But when it comes down to it, being a part of Economy 2.0 is all about your personal passion. I’m a firm believer that if you’re doing something innovative you’re passionate about, it’ll help you perform at a higher level. And unlike the old days when everyone wanted to get rich quick, or create the next global phenomenon, these days it’s all about quality over quantity.

    Witness innovative efforts like B-Line and Brunch Bunch here in Portland, Oregon. And check out this recent article about “The case for working with your hands.“ There’s a movement going on where people are taking things back to the basics, doing something they’re passionate about, while often putting an innovative twist to it.

    I’ll explore this topic in more detail in the coming weeks, using the story of FMYI. In the meantime, I leave you with this video to ponder, which illustrates the urgency of needing to think differently in this day and age:

    Onward and upward,
    -Justin

    Continue Reading…

    Post image

    • FMYI news

    • A New Day Dawns at FMYI

      FMYI [for my innovation], Inc., a leader in collaboration sites that empower teams to make a difference, today unveiled its first-ever brand video titled “A New Day” as well as 2009 performance achievements and recognition as a sustainability leader in Portland.

    • Giving Back to the Community

      This week FMYI celebrates our 6th year as a company.  During that time we have grown to love and appreciate becoming part of so many different communities. Like the Leftbank Project, home to our Portland office, we are connected to each of them in a special way.  As 2009 came to an end, we reflected on ways we could give back to these communities as a company. Empowering teams to make a difference is our mission here at FMYI so ultimately, we decided…

    • FMYI’s Haiti relief efforts

      Like all of you, we’ve been saddened by the tragedy going on in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. As part of our triple bottom line commitment, we’ve been talking over here at FMYI about how we can best help. Here’s what we’ve committed to:

    More news

    FMYI elsewhere

    Archives

    Categories