My article is titled, “Start a business…the Scrappy way!” and it is about a topic that I am very passionate about – helping entrepreneurs and small businesses start. Here’s an excerpt:

Starting a business is overwhelming. It usually starts with a passion and the desire to be your own boss. And once you decide to take on your own challenge, your mind will not rest and you will not be happy until you know how to move forward.

But how do you move forward when you have limited resources?

Do you have a day job? You can do it. What if you only have $100 to start? That’s okay. But to do it...you will have to be scrappy!

Stay focused. Entrepreneurs often make the mistake of thinking too big too early. Never forget that the purpose of having a business is to make money and there is no such thing as an overnight success. Make sure this is your primary focus at all times.

You can read the entire article, which includes the Scrappy Guide to Starting a Business, by downloading the May/June issue of Power Culture magazine for free through this link. My story begins on page 70.

What do you think is the number one thing to work on when building a scrappy business?

What’s interesting about times like these is that whenever you move away from something, you are inherently moving toward something else. And vice versa. But when you are in the process of making a major change you do not always realize this. You just know that things will be different from that day forward.

Times like these usually put us so far out of our comfort zone that emotions run high. You feel excited and scared, lonely yet part of something bigger than yourself. You feel like you are the bold protagonist in your life story. Not that you weren’t before – of course- it is just that you no longer feel like you are watching life happen. You have purpose and a huge sense of self.

This is something that I have experienced a lot in life.

I felt it most intensely when I left the South to come to Seattle. I knew it was a permanent move for me, and leaving my family and personal history to live 3,000 miles a way was an unbelievable feeling. I felt completely uprooted. I felt like I was separating myself from the people I loved most and my culture. And I was – for a new start, a change of scenery, and a change of pace.

When I left North Carolina, my advisor, Joy, who became a dear friend, looked at me and said, “I’m not saying goodbye to you. I’ll just say that I’ll see you soon and I love you.” It was a perfectly wonderful thing to say and a huge gift to me. Joy, who worked side by side with me on Secret Ingredients for a couple years, was teaching me another valuable lesson.

Getting hyped up is not worth it sometimes.

You have to move forward and grow in life. Sometimes this involves life-changing decisions, and the ones who love you will stand by you and support you through your adjustment period. Your job is to focus on getting through it as gracefully as possible.

And that is exactly how I have built my new startup after closing another.

Say Hello to Scrappy Face.

You may have heard of Scrappy Face, and if you follow this blog then you have heard me mention it. But I have not made much noise about it publicly until now. Closing Secret Ingredients was a huge shot of humility, and it inspired me to build Scrappy Face deliberately. I am more timid, but mostly I want to build this startup the “smart” way.

There is not a guaranteed path to success when starting a business. So much of it is diving in and getting dirty, creating and executing strategies, and then making thoughtful decisions on the fly while you watch things fall into place. But in growing slowly with iteration and concentration on numbers, customer feedback, and building a strong brand, I feel like I have stayed on track. And the people who have helped build Scrappy Face have supported my desire to keep it quiet and to do things my way. This has created special relationships for me, and it is time to let the cat out of the bag – for these people, for me, and for the people that we can help.

What is Scrappy Face?

Scrappy Face has been in the works for a while. I started building a startup and small business agency two and a half years ago, and it has slowly evolved into Scrappy Face. The name became official January 1, 2011 and since then we have been refining the business model and brand.

When I was building Secret Ingredients, I was blown away with how difficult it was to find talented experts who communicated well, created strong working relationships, and delivered what they promised on time. And as a new startup, this was frustrating because I relied on contractors to fill the gaps. I hired out everything from development, UX/UI design, and graphic design to PR and customer service.

Rarely was a large project completed without a major issue.

Developers got overly excited and wanted to feature creep, wasting time, and later losing interest and simply not delivering according to our agreement. Developers also struggled to understand business and marketing goals. Web designers loved working on exciting concepts but when it came time to make tedious small changes, it was like pulling teeth to get things fixed in time. PR experts wanted large retainer payments but did not communicate expectations, which in turn affected financial projections. And completing a project often involved coordinating work between two or more contractors, making things more difficult.

Startups need communication. They need talented people who are affordable and reliable. They need experts who understand how to get buzz, how to keep it, and how to implement strategies across multiple platforms. They need minds that understand the demands of digital media and how to stand out from the noise in the marketplace.

Most of all, startups and small businesses need to know how to be scrappy. How to build, grow, and create buzz without breaking the bank. How to build the best business possible, while avoiding the pitfalls.

Scrappy Face = Startup Advice/Strategy + Marketing + Everything In Between

It is easier to start a business these days, but building a successful one is difficult. You can get a lot for less, but you need to know where to spend your money and how to get things done. We help startups get off on the right foot and create a brand that will turn heads.

If you have an established small business, you have to keep the buzz going. You need PR, social media, and marketing. You need help keeping content and customers coming, and you need people within your organization doing what they are supposed to.

Scrappy Face helps with all of these things and more. And we give it to you in the way that works best for your business. That’s our specialty. We have the talent –social media experts, PR folks, designers, developers, writers, and more- ready to train your team or to do the work for you.

Scrappy Face may seem like another agency. But it’s not. Join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and you’ll see.

“So who’s behind Scrappy Face? Is it you?”

I am!

This is a difficult step for me. I enjoyed building this under the radar and by word of mouth. It protected me from failure and judgment and gave me more control. But startup life is about risk, controlled failure, and highs and lows. It is what I signed up for when I decided to continue my entrepreneurial path. Scrappy Face  is ready for launch, and I can no longer hold it back.

Thank you to everyone who has had a hand in creating Scrappy Face and who has supported me through it. It has been a great ride so far, and we have a lot more to look forward to.

And thank you to Joy who took me under her wing years ago. You have taught me so much, and you have been there unconditionally. I can never thank you enough.

I asked her to hit the send button and I went home. I turned out the lights and curled up on the couch with the dogs. I was hoping to sleep it off. That it would magically go away, but I knew there would be backlash. When people spend 10+ hours on a website, entering all of their family recipes and uploading photographs, it gets personal. We knew that, and that’s what we loved about this business. My loyal assistant promised to handle it.

The phone rang but I ignored it. She left a voicemail on my home line, knowing I could hear it. “Kate, pick up!” The emails that came back were not the angry emails we expected, instead they were emails begging us not to close. Customers were very sad but kind about the news, and everyone wanted to order before it was too late.

There was no time for a pity party.

Although I felt numb inside. Our inventory was sold off in a fire sale, and our customers rushed to finish their books. I finalized all the accounting records, sold off furniture and equipment, talked to vendors, and quickly moved all my files and product samples into a storage unit.

Secret Ingredients - Version 2.0 (never launched)

In November of 2008, my business had 10,000+ unique visitors, 62% new visits, a database of 42,000 user-entered recipes, and a valuation of a couple million dollars (accurate or not). We were close to releasing a new version of the site that fixed production issues and offered a better user experience. We had printing partners, users in 49 states and 3 international customers, and a successful PR track record. By the end of December, it was over. I lost a huge amount of money and so had my investors. It felt awful. So awful that I decided to not think about it.

So what happened? 

It is a difficult story to summarize, but I learned valuable lessons that are critical to small businesses and startups. Things were not perfect on the production end, and the technology had a way to go. We were close, but there was an unfortunate series of events with several developers that finally did the business in. And the timing could not have been worse – all of this went down two weeks after the financial crisis in October 2008. I could have pulled in $20-30K from investors, but I was not convinced that it would be enough to keep us going until the economy improved. And attracting new developers to a startup at that time without money seemed unlikely.

Version 2.0 - never released

Maybe I made the wrong decision.

To many of you, I had a small number of customers. Successful startups see this number of customers in a day or a week. But these were not normal customers. These were passionate users who spent many hours on our website, manually entering their family recipes, hundreds of them, and uploading their photographs. Because of this, our users demanded a high level of customer support and a high-quality product. And when we made them happy, they bought more. Why wouldn’t they? After the initial labor it took to make a cookbook, reordering more for a special occasion took two seconds. And our customers who were attracted to our heirloom books did not blink at the $195 price tag. Our Keepsake Cookbook customers bought enough for the whole family, often 20-30 books at a time.

I worked very hard for these customers. I had contractors involved, but I was the only employee. I worked day and night making this business happen. I was in my early twenties when I started building it, alone, in the South – not the most technically inclined area of the country. It took two years to build the product and website. It was an incredible amount of work, and I feature creeped and generally freaked out a bit (cool link - you should click on it).

In 2006 and the first quarter of 2007, we cranked out a series of successful PR campaigns. We realized that local news shows love food, so it was a great fit. I appeared on local news several times in North Carolina, as well as Chicago ABC7, Tucson’s KGUN, and DayTime, a show that airs in the Southeast. Secret Ingredients appeared in Modern Bride, Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping’s Quick & Simple, and newspapers on the east coast. I appeared on radio shows throughout the country, and bloggers heard about us and wrote us up – all without being approached.

Secret Ingredients Heirloom CookbooksCustomers wrote in with their family stories to win free cookbooks. Their stories were so personal; it made us feel very connected to our audience. We sent out customer surveys and received many positive and constructive responses. The phone rang most days, and rang off the hook all day before major holidays.

In June 2007, I moved the business to Seattle. I was amazed by the support in the tech startup community, although there was something about being a young, nontechnical woman with a Southern accent that made it difficult for people to take me seriously. And ultimately I think the lack of support was a large contributing factor that prevented success.

One of my advisers put it best:

“You have these things in your favor:

1.   Website with automation

2.   Partners (printers) that want to work with you

3.   A process on how to take orders and make cookbooks

4.   Proven PR and marketing methods

5.   Customers (this is a big one) that want what you have to offer

To be honest, the biggest negative I see is your lack of experience… Don’t give up, keep networking and look for those individuals or companies that fit what you are doing.”

Unfortunately, I did not find support fast enough. And our technology challenges and mistakes were too expensive.

Revisiting Secret Ingredients 

Last weekend, my husband and I cleaned out our storage area. Scrappy Face, my new startup, is launching soon, and that helped me feel ready. Ready to lay eyes on Secret Ingredients for the first time after three years. I went through every file, wireframe, and note. I saw all the work I had put into this business, and it broke my heart all over again.

I felt numb. I felt like someone I loved had died, and that I was cleaning out her personal belongings. My husband put the things I had set aside to keep in a box, and I sat there completely numb.

All I could think was, “How did I let this go?” How did I put so much time into something only to pull the plug?

And after years of questioning myself, I realized that I did a good job. I failed often, but I got an incredible amount accomplished for an inexperienced, young Southern girl. And I got my money’s worth – every penny of it and it was well spent.

This trip down memory lane reminded me all over again that startups are hard. They become who you are and what you love. They take a lot from you and it gets incredibly personal. But the experience is worth it – or it was for me. Without Secret Ingredients, I would be in a completely different place in life. Probably a less interesting one, doing something I am not so passionate about. And for that I am grateful.

And hopefully this post got you more interested in what I am up to with Scrappy Face :) If you have a startup and need help, check it out.

Thank you to my incredible husband who is supporting me through another startup ride. It is not easy, and your support makes me stronger and you make me a smarter, better person. I love you.

And thank you to Scrappy Face for giving me the opportunity to make things easier for small businesses and to apply all that I learned with my first startup and through my consulting work. I feel so fortunate to have another opportunity to build something new.

Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands

The book did not enter my mind again until ten months ago when I started working on my new “startup” which centers around the principles of my current consulting practice.

I have found out in recent years that building a business is like planning a wedding. You cannot afford to do everything you want (either due to time or budget), and it is easy to get bogged down in minutia. It is best to chose a few priorities to stay on track. For my wedding last year, we chose two major priorities – a big band and a beautiful dress. All other decisions were made from there. And now with this startup, I have decided that the best use of funds are people and branding… and I am sticking with it.

Zag is a wonderful guide when you start out on a branding journey.

I followed the exercises in the book, and by the time I got through them, I knew my brand. I knew what “his” personality was like, and I had a strong idea of what “he” should look like and what “his” purpose was for this business.  (Obviously it’s a masculine brand!) And my team has used this information to carry the brand through everything that we are building.

To help you find your passion and purpose, Zag encourages you to write an obituary for your company 25 years into the future. I found this exercise difficult for a couple of reasons. First, I am a strong believer in iteration. I build with as much feedback as possible and change my plan according to this feedback, market conditions, and the status of my team. Because I build this way, I often do not think long term. I follow a purpose and see where things go. Secondly, I am a nontraditional girl. I do not associate my value based on awards or associations – and when you think of an obituary it usually comes down to traditional achievements.

But I did the exercise anyway. It came out weak. I worked on it some more and then decided to hell with it. And today I am finally coming around to understand my feelings on this.

Last night my grandmother, Lois Walling, passed away. She was 88 years old and “a tough old bird” as she called herself. The woman was my biggest cheerleader and probably the toughest woman I know. And this morning when we sat down to write her obituary, we struggled to find the right words that would tell the world how great this woman was in the traditional obituary format.

Let me tell you a little about Lois.

She was as unique as her name. And yes, even the grandchildren – all seven of us- called her Lois. I realize that everyone thinks that his/her grandmother is unique. And you know what – you should think that. But I am telling you that this woman was an incredible character.

Lois was a people person to an extreme. She talked to people anywhere and everywhere and laughed with strangers all the time. She was proud of being Southern and let everyone know. And like most small town grandmothers, she knew everything going on. She followed ambulances, listened to her CB radio, and she knew what you were going to do before you did it.

Lois loved food. She would call our family at night to see what we were eating for dinner. When you saw her, she wanted to know what you ate last, what you would like to eat now, and what you're going to eat tomorrow. She loved pickled foods and butterscotch pie. She hated salad and chicken (though she ate it anyway) and she would judge your cooking and tell you how to make things more to her taste.

Lois watched the Food Network and Fox News. She read mysteries and knew every lyric to any Broadway musical. She shopped at Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor on her trips to the Big Apple, but at home she ordered from QVC and the Vermont General Store. She was forever bringing us weird gifts like weather sticks, bra glue, and shoe stretchers. And often she would send her grandchildren thoughtful packages for no reason.

She was proud of herself and her family. She claims to never have had any issues while raising three young boys back to back. She had everyone's favorite candy bars in stock, and she hosted weekly family dinners for all fifteen of us. She told us when our hair needed to be cut or if our clothes were not a flattering fit. And she claimed to have never been sick a day in her life.

What to Learn from Lois

Instead of writing an obituary about your company, write about the impression you want to leave with people. How you want your business to make people feel. What problems you want to solve for people and how far you want to take your purpose. After all, this is the most important part of life – and a very important part of your business.

And one more lesson…

You should know your customer as well as I described Lois. And not in a clinical way. Get to know who they are, what they stand for, and what matters to them. Learn their language and preferences and why they are the way they are.

10-4 Good Buddy

Lois always gave me a big “10-4 good buddy” every time we got off the phone. And now it is time for me to say it one more time for her.  

Go hug your loved ones and remember that who you are and how you make people feel is the most important thing in life!

Thank you, Lois, for being my rock.

Kate

Everyone who has signed up for a couple gym memberships knows the golden rule of finding the right gym: Choose the gym that is closest to your house. Period.

I looked at two gyms in my neighborhood. One was only four blocks away, but it seemed a little musty and the equipment was older. The second gym was beautiful- views of the water, the latest and greatest equipment, and exceptionally clean. I signed up at the second gym.

Before last year, I was very committed to my workout routines. You could find me at the gym at least four mornings a week burning it up. But not last year. And while simultaneously starting a new business and planning a wedding can definitely put a hamper on routines such as this one, I look back and realize my gym selection did too.  

See the gym I selected was seven blocks downhill from my house. The dreaded trip home kept me from walking there. Driving was an option, but parking was not convenient. And after parking, it was an obstacle course getting to the front door. I had to cross a busy road with fast traffic, few red lights, and no crosswalk. Just the hassle of getting to the gym and back in the mornings left me feeling put out. And I doubt I was the only member with this issue. The gym is located near the water leaving most of the gym's patrons to deal with crossing that busy street.

At the one year mark, I canceled my contract. The other musty gym gave me a free seven day pass. And the first day I was there, I realized that this gym saved me fifteen minutes and made life easier. It is closer, they have ample parking next to the building, and there is no need to dodge cars to get inside.

The second day, I noticed that they play great workout music, and most of the time I like it better than listening to my iPod. I also found a room just for stretching, how handy! It is awkward finding a good place to stretch in most gyms. 

Throughout the next couple weeks I noticed even more perks. There are clean, nicely folded white towels waiting for me when I arrive. I get an email every month with healthy recipes and exercise tips from a trainer. And they have cleaning supplies next to every machine, so you never have to walk more than a step out of your way at the end of your workout.

The owner of this gym put everything exactly where I needed it! 

She clearly gets what it is like to workout at a gym often and made this gym incredibly user-friendly. There are no beautiful views nor state of the art equipment at this place, but who cares! The equipment is current enough, and to me, the stretching room and other perks completely outweigh the age of the building. I bet most people on cardio machines will tell you that music, tv screens, and magazines matter more than having a view. And parking and towel service make the days when you really have to push yourself to get there easier.

It is clear that there is a more loyal member base here. And for most of us it began with that seven day free trial. The trial gets you in the door to figure out that this gym has a lot more to offer than you may think at first glance. 

And now to the point.

When it comes to providing your customers with the best experience, you have to jump into their skin and see the experience you are offering through their eyes.

This is not a simple task. It is easy to project what you think their needs are or to fulfill your own personal desires and vision instead. The reward of doing an outstanding job empathizing with your customers and putting things where they need them to be is incredibly valuable. In return, you receive loyal, happy customers saying great things about you and wanting more from you.

What more could you want?

Thank you to Seth Godin for teaching marketers and entrepreneurs the importance of being remarkable. While you think of ways to empathize more with your customers, read more about The Fun Theory too. They can go hand in hand.

Photo by davco9200

But sometimes relationships go south. Deliverables are not delivered on time or at all. Work product is poor quality. Someone misunderstands their role in the big picture, does not value the opportunity, or simply is unethical. And if there is big deal on the table and one of these things happens, you find yourself in a bad place with fewer resources to turn things around.

These situations can leave us bitter and jaded. Walls go up quickly.

And sadly it can take years for these walls to come back down if we are not careful. Trust becomes difficult which, in turn, impedes the growth of your business and your professional development.

But how is this different from a natural disaster or an unexpected event? What if your backup failed? Your office flooded or your office computers were stolen? Would it feel the same if an employee embezzled or stole your ideas?

Probably not.

Of course all situations have their own scale and consequences. And natural disasters and major technical issues can add incredible distress to a business. (Just remember how last year's oil spil affected small businesses in Louisiana.) But while situations like these can leave us angry, in a bad place, and feeling down on our luck, it is somewhat less personal than when we lose trust or feel burned by another human being.

I have been surprised by the number of these stories I have heard from small business owners this year - embezzlement, bad agreements, employee scandal. I get most worried when an entrepreneur has repeated stories of relationships turned negative.

As a young entrepreneur in my first startup, I experienced too many of these situations. I chalked it up to inexperience and immaturity (I started at 23) and was forced to stomach the lost momentum and money. And finally my last bad deal left me promising myself to not let this happen again. Since then, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my experience with bad relationships and creating an environment where these things can not happen.

• Write agreements from the get go - Hand shake deals are rarely successful. Think through the terms of a relationship and commit it to paper before working with someone- even if you are starting with a small project. You can always create a new agreement later.
  
  This is most difficult for tech startups where determining value for business versus technical skills is challenging and boundaries of roles can be unclear. Be smart and get legal help with this from an experienced attorney. Each day you put it off, the more complicated and awkward it will get.
  
  
• Err on the side of overcommunication. Communicate your needs, concerns, and goals very clearly and make sure that you are heard. Let people know if you are uncomfortable with something, and if you feel like the other person is uncomfortable, ask them about it.


• Ask Why often.


• Learn how to call people out if you need to.

Most of all, realize that you can prevent these things from happening and decide not to be damaged by business relationships that have failed. This is a tall order, but it is important.

I usually add a "thank you" to every blog post. This time I will simply say thank goodness I am mostly past the "getting burned" learning curve in my life. Unexpected challenges continue to pop up on my entrepreneurial path, but I I know where more of the red flags are and how to avoid them.

And be sure to read Kyle Durand's blog post, "What Is Your Plan When It Hits the Fan?"

Photo by Harshit Sekhon

Maturity and major life phases have a way of guiding us into new perspective, of changing our priorities, and intensifying purpose. And unexpected events and tender moments can instantly change the way we view the world.

When these things happen, it is uncomfortable. We are less confident and sure-footed. We need time for our new feelings to manifest at our core and to shine through our being. Smaller steps, tasks, and conversations have greater importance, and you have to work with yourself just as you are.

But there are times when you need to seek new perspective.

The more responsibilities you have in life, the easier it is to get sucked into the daily grind and to feel pressure.  And as entrepreneurs and business owners, there is plenty of pressure. Our to do lists feel endless, and often milestones do not come fast enough. We work hard toward our vision and that keeps us going.

Is it easy to tell when you need a change in attitude, environment, or within a relationship?

Not always. And it is more difficult to realize that it is time to do something differently when you are drinking your own juice. You are focused on putting everything you have into reaching a large milestone, or you have reached a place in life that feels under and overwhelming at the same time.  In other words, you are too busy doing what you do not want to be doing.

Our actions are largely based on rational thinking, and in times of stress, we rationalize things based on what is easiest:

“I do not like working with this person… but I have no other option right now. I can fix this in several months.” 

“In several months I will be less busy and can figure out what I need to do then.”

And sometimes we get so used to this that we fail to realize that we are more stressed than we should be.

Look for doors.

The last year, particularly the last several months, has given me one monster dose of perspective. Marriage and moving gave me a new start and a greater understanding of family and the importance of strong personal relationships. Unexpected events made me realize the significance of each day and confirmed my new appreciation and desire for a strong personal community.  And working determinedly on a new business has taught me to always seek perspective. 

A colleague of mine recently spoke with me about how I oscillate between a 30,000 mile above and a ground level viewpoint. We discussed how important it is as an entrepreneur to keep an eye on all the options and to always find new doors to walk through. And I think that is the best way to visually understand what I am alluding to.

There are many doors of opportunity. You do not have to wait for one door to close for another to open. And while you may not know where a door will take you, it is worth it to find out.

If you are unsatisfied with something in your life or business, find a start.  Look for a door. If you do not know exactly what you need, do some research. Read a book. Ask someone you know. Just do something.

And if you really do not have a clue what to do, do something completely different. Go to an exotic place. Take a dance lesson. Do something you never thought you could or would do. By doing that, you are walking down a hallway where many doors will open.

But, most of all, be open to a change in perspective. Look for it. It will make you feel alive and keep you at your best.

Thank you to Andy and Sarah for sharing conversations with me about perspective and how to find it.

Photo by rianpie

I am fired up, and I am hoping you can help me shed some light on a particular topic in the domain space. This continues my conversations on exploitation and the boundaries of profiting from someone else's ideas. And it is a barrier to entry that is affecting us all, small businesses and tech startups alike, and I think that this challenge is only going to get more powerful.

My first lesson in domain purchasing came in 2003 when I purchased TheSecretIngredients.com for my first tech startup. I would have loved the more attractive SecretIngredients.com, but the domain squatter sitting on the domain wanted many thousands for the name. I did not have the budget for that, and I could understand why he was holding out for that price tag. The name has potential to attract a large corporate buyer.  

Running a customer service email account on a domain consisting of the word "Secret" did not prove to be effective. I learned early on that spam filters were gobbling up emails to my customers. Customer service was key to my business model, and so I established HeirloomCookbook.com and routed mail through the new domain for communication. It worked well.

After closing Secret Ingredients, I let HeirloomCookbook.com expire. And that was stupid. Domain companies jump on expired domains (especially those that have received publicity), throw up some ads, and start making money immediately. And that's exactly what happened minutes after the name expired. 

Flash forward to 2009. Secret Ingredients is closed, and I have to figure out what to do with myself. I play with several business concepts and start buying some domains. It was much more difficult to come up with brandable business names that had .com availability, and it pushed my ability to get creative with naming. In my play with the dating scene, I registered GetYourChick.com and GetYourChuck.com. Not perfect names but they were definitely brandable and complimentary for sister sites. 

My system for purchasing domains has always been the same. I go to NetworkSolutions to check availability, think about it for an hour or day, and then go to one of my preferred registrars and get the domains. I have never had a problem with this system until last week.

I have mentioned that I am preparing the launch of the "underground" business that I have been operating for about a year and a half. Brand is hugely important to me, and so domains and naming have been very well thought out. In choosing a business name, I decided to register two domains- one is the business name and the other has a different purpose. I checked Network Solutions for availability and immediately bought the business name as .com. I decided to wait a day or two to purchase the second domain.

BAD IDEA. I went to register the domain two days later, and it was gone. I panicked, talked to my team, and we decided "screw it" the .us and .net are more important to us, and we can deal with the .com later.

REALLY BAD IDEA. I did not know better.

In a meeting with my advisor Michael two days later, I admitted that I felt like I had been watched. That someone saw my domain search and bought it before I could get to it. Michael nodded his head and confirmed that these lists are sold.  I went back to the office and started researching. I learned about domain front running and that domains can be purchased before you hit the Checkout button.

From Wikipedia: "Domain name front running is the practice whereby a domain name registrar uses insider information to register domains for the purpose of re-selling them or earning revenue via ads placed on the domain's landing page. By registering the domains, the registrar locks out other potential registrars from selling the domain to a customer."

And that night I got an email from Will Malone of Better Domains Bureau. I have copy and pasted the email below - removing only the domain and links to information about it:

Hi, I'm Will Malone with Better Domains Bureau.
xxxxx.com will be available for purchase soon. Since you possess xxxxx.us, I think you may be interested in xxxxx.com.
There is only a one time fee for the domain with a year of registration on us. You also can forward xxxxx.com to xxxxx.us at no cost.After purchasing xxxxx.com you will never be charged again by Better Domains Bureau.

If you do have an interest in purchasing xxxxx.com, please visit: [removed]
Once xxxxxx.com is ready for purchase, one of my account representatives will contact you.

Thank you and have a great day.
Better Domains Bureau
1128 Royal Palm Beach Blvd, Suite 243, Royal Palm Beach, Florida 33411
954-518-4349 (Please use code: [removed] when calling our customer support) 
Skype: globaldomainsellers
betterdomainsbureau.com 

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You scumbags!

Please learn from this story and do not check the availability of a domain until you are ready to purchase it. And click the Checkout button as fast as you can.

I understand that this is a free market, and that there are many incentives for registrars and ad vendors (especially Google) and that large profits are to be made from domain squatting. But I do not think that what happened in this scenario is right, and I want everyone to be well-informed. And I am disappointed in the well reputed Network Solutions. I understand that they have tried to institute ways to prevent front running; yet, they have not informed us well enough and therefore it is not working.

I am not an expert on this, so if you are, please leave a comment and explain what is happening. If you have experiences, share them please.

And read Nathan Parcells recent blog post, "How Domain Hoarding is Killing Innovation," on Seattle 2.0. Thank you for a great post, Nathan.

Photo by The Pack

I came here knowing one person and with my three year old startup in tow.  It was a complicated move due to the business and distance, but I knew it was the best decision I could make. And I stand by it today.

photo © 2008 jill, jellidonut... whatever | more info (via: Wylio)

The South and the Pacific Northwest could not be more different socially. We pride ourselves on social grace and hospitality in the South. This means big welcomes, large social circles, and merry occasions filled with traditions that go far back in our history. We are raised to trust others until proven otherwise; so, we welcome new neighbors with pies and new guests to our homes with open arms. 

The business world is similar in the South. Most people are anxious to help out a new business and introductions come easy. If an introduction is made, you make arrangements to meet the new person promptly. There is an understanding that the person making the introduction saw a beneficial purpose for the two new parties to meet. Chances are that you have several mutual connections, and it was only a matter of time before you met anyway. And if nothing else, you have strengthened the relationship with the person making the introduction.

While Southerners are not exempt from uncomfortable relationship issues, the element of social grace is so deep in our blood that we generally know how to avoid awkward situations by always being friendly, trusting one another, and delicately changing directions if we need to later.  

I did not expect the same from Seattle, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a friendly culture. In less than six months of networking, I was further surprised to figure out how connected the city is- especially the tech community. There seems to be only two degrees of separation between yourself and any other person. Clearly, Seattle has a people culture too.

But wait. Is it? 

Seattle is remarkably and intoxicatingly ambitious and smart. In a way that I have not found in my time in any other city. While there is plenty of creativity here, it is more technical and applied smarts. And with that is the coming together of personality types that are a very small percentage of the population in other geographic regions.  

What I am getting at is that things work differently here socially. People are friendly, yet will a stranger meet you for coffee if you ask them? Maybe – it depends.  If someone writes an introduction email for you, what are the chances you will meet the other person? I would say 70/30 – depending on several factors.

See, people in Seattle have high expectations of you. The proof is in your actions- not in your words. And I think there is something valuable to this. It keeps us at our best; it pushes us to take risk and to be genuine; and, in a round about way, it creates relationships that are equal in effort. 

What does this mean for companies marketing in Seattle? You better be at the top of your game in terms of understanding how this city works.

Thoughts? Share them with me in the comments section. And get ready. I am preparing for a Seattle launch soon.   

Thank you to my Southern family for understanding my call to live in Seattle and for supporting it. And thank you to my Seattle family for making the city feel more like home.  

photo © 2007 Laura Askelin | more info (via: Wylio)

It started over an innocent game of Scrabble with my smarty pants husband, the MBA venture capitalist.  I include the information about his profession only to illustrate how different we are.  He comes from a world of very calculated risk, case studies, and traditional business practices. His wife (me), the entrepreneur and consultant, has learned things through creativity, courage, and iteration.  

In a Scrabble game, each player has 7 letters that you use to make words.  Each letter is worth a certain number of points, and you build on each other's words.  The goal is to score the most points.  

When I play the game, I work the board similarly to how I do business.  I quickly come up with creative words using as many letters I can to score as many points as possible.  My husband takes his sweet time.  He evaluates every opportunity, the cost/benefit, and where he sees the game going.  And while I typically create new real estate on the board, he often capitalizes on what is already there.

I throw down the word "QUOTA" on a triple word score space.  42 points - not bad.  My husband adds BLE.  57 points.  UGH.  

This happens 6 times in one game.  He wins, and I refuse to play another round - citing infringement.

Later on, I realized that the Scrabble game was an example of favorable exploitation.  My husband produced new work, on top of mine, that scored him more points yet took the same amount of effort- if not more.  And the result was a new product that was HIGHER value than mine. 

NEW SPACE.  In the example above, my husband created something new by being different.  There was an untapped opportunity in the space that I originally created.  I left it open, and he was smart enough to take advantage.  

Girl Talk is another great example of this.  Girl Talk is a musician from Pittsburgh who is well-known for mashups and sampling.  He takes segments of one hit wonders and top 40 music and smashes it up to make a new song.  For example, in his new album All Day, you'll hear a quick sample of Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia" mashed with Lil' John & the Eastside Boyz's "Get Low", INXS "Need You Tonight" with a few notes of Grateful Dead's "Casey Jones."

Girl Talk took advantage of several trends.  First, the rise of digital music players and technology in general has decreased music listeners attention span.  Second, there is a trend for high energy music in all venues - clubs, gyms, and on the radio.  And generally, people do not get tired of one hit wonders.  As a result, Girl Talk has created a new market and satisfied a hungry niche market using other's work.

IT WORKS, YOU MAKE SOME MONEY.  Sometimes you will come across someone who is super talented at a specific trade or art OR a business that is truly unique.  The industry around the person/business may be untapped, and the person/business currently in that space is not exploiting the opportunity.  In this case, you can copy the exact business model, and if you market and brand correctly, you will make money.  Your work may be of lesser quality than the work of the original creator, but no one will notice. 

This is how Mr. Brainwash took over the world of street art.