Growing a Business from a Seed

Growing a Business from absolutely nothing but a web address, is a very hard thing to do. I appreciate the efforts of entrepreneurs and their willingness to put themselves at risk and share a dream that in many cases, is not shared or seen by others. The odds of success are astronomical. Even the odds of receiving a steady paycheck are higher than anyone would believe. Being able to dream, conceive, give birth, stay focused, paint pictures with words and sell something that is a promise is an art.

Having said this, I am amazed how fast and how strong FohBoh has become in such a short period of time. I am proud of the website, our level of success, my partners and team. They dare to be great and believe in the dream and share our risk every day.

Entrepreneurs that dream and accept risk are a special breed. It's also what helps make America great. It's here I feel compelled to say "support your local entrepreneur" because s/he might just change the world.

Restaurateur's Roast: Social Networking and Restaurants - Has it Changed How You Do Business?

Restaurateur's Roast: Social Networking and Restaurants - Has it Changed How You Do Business?

Visiting our Nations Capital

Really, this was a fun trip. Dining, walking, dining, walking...did I mention walking!

Tip #1: Do not wear new shoes
Tip #2: Do dine at Citronelle, fab!
Tip #3: If you dine at Citronelle, bring a lot of cash!!
Tip #4: Visit the Mall and as much of the Smithsonian as you can handle.
Tip #5: Bring two outfits per day; and
Tip #6: Visit in the fall

Awesome vacation at any age.

Intuit and Microsoft

So what's with Intuit making it incredibly inconvenient and nearly impossible to use QuickBooks online? It's IE or nothing. I almost want to make it nothing and find another solution. I use Firefox because IE sucks.

Any thoughts here?

So What's Keeping me Busy lately?

Well, my other blog, for sure. I launched FohBoh.com officially January 2, 2008 with my partner, Ted Cohn. In the last 154 days, we have spent an enormous amount of time developing technology, branding, staffing, raising capital and managing a very fast growing community of passionate members from 75 countries that work in, or support the global food service industry. We have over 6,200 members with increasing pageviews.

We are the leading B2B social network for the restaurant industry and look forward to maintaining that lead.

Check out fohboh. better yet, join and get better acquainted with the real restaurant world.

The Flake List

I'm sure no one has the temerity to actually create a list for posting the names and offenses of flakes, but I would applaud loudly if some one would.

Here’s the deal. We all know who they are, what they did and why it irritated us soooo much, that you want to tell everyone you know about that asshole that ….
Here are a list of offenses that we all can relate to:

• Someone sets up a luncheon and doesn’t show
• A conference call is scheduled and you are the only one listening to the music
• Someone says they will help you move your furniture on move day…nope, you’re all alone
• You assemble an advisory board for your start up…and no one advises you
• You ask your attorney to help introduce you to investors. Instead, they send you a $662.00 bill for “Monitoring Trademark Matters”…and you don’t have a trademark
• A simple desire to have coffee with a friend turns into a month long reschedule affair…and you give up
• You score two extra tickets to the hockey game and call five sets of friends and no one returns your call. You go, and try to sell them at the gate…no takers.
• Dinner is prepared and planned for 7 PM, dinner guests show up at 8 Pm

So, I Googled Flake and didn’t come up with much. So, I added Out, as in Flake Out. I found:

1. To fall asleep or collapse from fatigue or exhaustion.
2. To act in an odd or eccentric manner.
3. To lose interest or nerve.

Only the Urban Dictionary got it right:

flaked

• to decide to "bail" or leave at the last minute
• dude he totally flaked
• he flaked out on us

I know a ton of flakes and so do you. I would love to post my list of flakes on www.flake.com. if someone would have the temerity to start that list.

Television Writers are the Change Agents

I recently had a discussion with someone about the television writers strike. His perspective was that "they otta just get back to work and quite whining". I, as you can imagine, have a different perspective based on a little experience with digital rights. The world is changing pretty quickly and intellectual property is a slippery slope. Internet TV didn't exist when a lot of the writers negotiated their agreements. There are new verbs. new technologies and way to disseminate media that was not clearly defined by a writers' contract.

Here's my thought about fairness. Those greedy entertainment executives need to have a reality check and start embracing the backbone of the industry. The days of work for hire (WFH) are gone. If I produce something that is distributed to a wide audience and generates revenue, then I, as a writer should share in that stream regardless of the medium.

If canceling the Golden Globes is any indication who has the power, then the executives better start playing nice. Internet TV is coming and I for one, can't take any more reality TV or game shows.