John on a video conference

On my first day of work at HP back in August of 2001 I met my boss over the phone.  My boss, Mike, worked and lived in Atlanta, GA.  We did weekly team meetings on the phone and used web cams that streamed our live pictures to an internal “hollywood squares” webpage so that we could all see each other.   Over the course of my HP career, I worked with teammates in half a dozen states and numerous countries in Europe and Asia.  The cool thing about the organization I came into was that they were sort of the virtual team collaboration pioneers in HP so we experimented with all kinds of tools and techniques, with one of the most memorable being a virtual party we had where there were break out rooms on the conference lines and games like virtual pictionary using the NetMeeting whiteboard.  Fun times. 

Anyways, this trip down memory lane was spurred when I heard that a former HP colleague of mine, Loyal Mealer, recently put together a nice repository of telecommuting information called CommuteZero.  

In Loyal’s own words:

We created it to share the techniques and tools that make telecommuting and other forms of virtual work productive, easier and even fun. We want to encourage the use of virtual work as a way to improve business effectiveness and productivity, save on fuel, reduce pollution, and improve the quality of our lives. What better way to be green than to leave the car in the garage or avoid that next flight? Plus, you’ll lower your stress and have more time for family and friends.

Looking through the site I see many of the great tips and best practices that we used at HP so I recommend checking it out (blog) if you’re already working virtually or just thinking about it.  

Once you can get in your own virtual working groove, you’ll never want to go back. 

Justin

BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — often focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open sourcetechnologies, social protocols, and open data formats.

Basically it’s a place where people get together to talk about technology with each other in a fun and conversational way.  There’s very few rules or no preset schedule of topics.  If you want to talk, just put your name and topic on the schedule board.  Topics range widely from talking about multi-threading in web applications, business plans, to whiskey tasting for beginners.  Barcamp LA 6 was free and hosted by Mahalo with a pretty good turnout of about 150 people.  Here are my quick thoughts: 

• Twitter, twitter, twitter.  It felt like there was more interaction over twitter than in person.  As soon as I walked in, I saw dozens of laptops setup on a huge conference table with people twittering and blogging.  Even during the sessions, people were twittering on their laptops and cell phones.  I guess this is easier than talking to people face to face.  You can follow me on twitter here. 
• The introductions are fun.  Amazing that we went through over 100 people in about 10 min.  Restricting the talking time to name and 3 tags did wonders. 
• My favorite session was by Francisco Dao over at The Killer Pitch.  He was a great speaker and also gave out autographed copies of his book. 
• Mahalo has a pretty nice office space.  It’s fun yet not over the top like Rubicon Project’s.

I didn’t get to stick around for the whiskey session, but I’m sure that would have been fun.  Next time!  Barcamps happen all over the world so I definitely recommend checking it out.  It’s free and geeks are more friendly and down to earth than most other types of convention attendees.

Justin

Benefits

• Better posture: I’ve found that you can’t really slouch when you’re standing.  Sometimes I’ll end up putting my elbows on the table while reading something, but that’s the exception rather than the norm.  With a normal desk (or even a stability ball), it’s to way to easy to get into comfortable positions that aren’t that ergonomically great for you.
• More alertness: It’s pretty hard to fall asleep standing.  I’ve done it before (and also fallen asleep mid-sentence), but it doesn’t happen too often  Since my body’s in a much more active position, I don’t get comfortable enough to get sleepy.  Always a good thing while working.
• Breaks from the computer: While working, there’s never a time when I’m constantly typing or reading, there is, on occasion, some thinking that happens.  What’s great about standing is that it’s easy to just go walk around while thinking since you’re already on your feet.  Or if I’m tired, I’ll just go sit down on the couch and think.  Much nicer than staring at the monitor all the time.
• Burn more calories!:  Standing and walking more just burns more calories.  This computer life is a pretty sedentary and unhealthy one - might as well get some extra calorie burning in while you’re working.  Others have tried walking while working (treadmill under the desk), but that seems like overkill at this point.  However, I will sometimes play some upbeat music and dance in place while working

Getting Started
Before you commit to a standing desk, give it a try first.  Find a counter or a bookshelf where you can place your computer and/or monitor in a way that your arms are bent at 45 degrees and your monitor is roughly at eye height. Try it for a few hours a day for a week and see how it goes.  In the beginning, there was definitely an adjustment period for my legs and feet.  My mother-in-law bought me a soft standing pad from a Korean supermarket (I think it was around $10 bucks) that really helps ease the pressure of standing on the floor - and, yes, the pad is pink with a cartoon dog on it.

I’ve been pretty happy with the Utby desk from Ikea (choose “brown/black” from color, and 47 1/4″ from size).  It’s meant for the kitchen so there’s no drawers, but the crossbars make it very sturdy and also make nice foot rests.  Oh, and I’ve got a barstool behind for those moments of weakness and I just really want to sit while working.  Usually, when I’m reading things online. 

If you want to know more, read about them on wikipedia and on the 37signals blog.  Lots of the ones advertised as “standing” or “standup” desks are pretty expensive, so I’d recommend just looking around for simpler desk/tables/bars that happen to be tall.  If you’re handy, you can also try building your own.

Happy standing!
Justin

Justin

Justin

• Twiistup 4: $50 ticket.  Some free appetizers.  No free alcohol (in fact, pricey Viceroy Santa Monica prices).  Sponsors that paid alot for bungalows, but still no free admission or drinks.  We ended up going across the street to Cha Cha Chicken to eat dinner since the appetizers were sorta slow.  For the amount of money we spent on the ticket, food and drinks, I think it would have been cheaper to fly to Chicago for the next Tech Cocktail (which I might do).  The coolest thing was the free iPhone etching from Etchstar.
• Digital Drinks LA: This was at Sky Bar in Hollywood, which is apparently a pretty exclusive bar on the hill overlooking LA.  $10 ticket.  Nothing included.  Hotel only has valet parking.  Drinks were priced at $18 a shot!!  Loud club music.  Very little lighting.  

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

1. Walking
   I miss using my legs. Sure I get to use them when I go to the gym or play basketball, but to get from point A to point B there’s nothing as relaxing as walking - especially when you compare it to Southern California traffic!
2. Seasons
   Sure the winters are cold, but they can also be beautiful (especially since I worked from home ). It’s true what they say about appreciating the good seasons once you’ve been through some bad weather. As a native Californian, the only seasons I knew were from television and when we went up to the mountains to go skiing.
3. Independent Restaurants
   In the land of suburbia, it seems like there’s only a handful of restaurants: Buca di beppo, Chilis, Red Robin, etc etc. It’s tiring and unoriginal. In Chicago it’s practically effortless to try someplace new with some character. I had my best memories in Chicago when I was eating.
4. Public Transportation & Cabs
   California public transportation sucks. In the SF bay area, the BART ends around midnight. How is that useful? I love being able to hop on the el or grab a cab from almost anywhere in the city. Great for those nights when you want to have that extra beer or bottle of wine.
5. Diversity
   In California, theres a lot of a few ethnic groups whereas in Chicago it feels like theres a few of a lot of ethnic groups (if that makes any sense). And while they’re pretty segregated by the neighborhoods, it at least makes them easy to find. It’s easy to go from a greek festival to swedish diner and grab some pearl milk to in Chinatown in a matter of minutes whereas I can probably go for days and only see two different colors in California.
6. Architecture
   The city of Chicago is beautiful. The attention to detail and city planning effort really shows and it really makes it a joy to live in and look at from a distance. It’s especially nice when it’s a holiday or special event and all the downtown buildings light up different colors and messages.
7. Happy Hours
   Chicago sure love to drink and often. That’s all.
8. Summer Festivals
   Did I mention they like to drink? If you like to eat unhealthy food while stumbling around outside with a beer, then summer in Chicago is for you since you can do this every single weekend. There are some classier events like the orchestra, jazz and movies in the park too.
9. City Works (landscaping, cleanliness)
   Walking through Grant Park or down the Magnificent Mile is always amazing. How much do they spend on flowers every year?
10. People Interaction
    When you drive around everywhere like in CA you almost forget how to interact with strangers. You get sucked into your own world and don’t think you need to talk to anyone you don’t know. People say Californians are snobby and I believe it. I feel like you can just walk down the street in Chicago and talk to almost anyone. That gives me a warm feeling inside.

Enough rambling. I’m heading to Chicago on Sunday for a few weeks. Email me or leave a comment if you want to meet up!

- Justin

1. Tell them what you’re going to give them. Don’t be bashful. You’ve got something good to offer them so just tell them outright what wonderful things they’ll be getting. I recently had to call Bank of America a few times regarding my credit card and the first thing the service agent said was “How can I provide you with world class service today?” How nice does that sound? It sounds like I’m going to get me some world class service - exciting!
2. Give it. This only really works if you are going to deliver on the promise. However, with the customer all buttered up, you really only to have to deliver within the ballpark. What does “world class service” even mean? The service was very good, pleasant, and punctual on my BofA phone call and since they said it’s world class, I guess it was!
3. Remind them. If you’ve already made them this feel good, make them feel even better afterwards. Reinforcement of their positive gains will help them remember the experience for next time or even share the experience with others. Car commercials typically serve dual roles of making people want to buy the car and making existing owners feel good about owning the car…when then leads them to tell others to buy the car.

It’s far too easy to hope that customers recognize the value you’re providing them. We make that mistake all the time. If you’re constantly saying to yourself “Why aren’t customers biting? Don’t they know what they’re missing?” , then the chances are they actually don’t know what they’re missing since you didn’t tell them.

Give my advice a try and you’ll have more customers, happier customers, and hopefully more money.

- Justin