Light, Motion and Magic

Since making the decision to start our coffee service business, I’ve been doing some research (of course!) on coffee consumption. One very interesting site is The National Coffee Association of USA, Inc.

Here are some of the more interesting highlights from their National Coffee Drinking Trends 2008 study:

• 17% of the adult population consumed a gourmet coffee beverage on a daily basis in 2008
compared  with 14% in 2007.

• In 2007, past-day consumption of coffee surpassed that of soft drinks for the first time. While the gap narrowed in 2008, daily consumption of coffee is still directionally higher.

• 18 to 24 year olds are becoming serious coffee drinkers. In 2005, only 26 percent of young adults in that age bracket considered themselves coffee drinkers. By 2007, that figure was up to 37%, making the 18-24 year old coffee market the fastest growing segment of the market. Older adults, in the 40 to 59 year old bracket, are also big coffee drinkers. This age group increased from 59 percent to 61 percent over the previous year, and those age 60 and over report the most coffee consumers - 74 percent of adults in that age bracket reported that they drink coffee every day.

• Consumption of cups per day by consumers age 18-24 continued to trend higher in 2008. Young adults who drank coffee consumed an average of 3.2 cups per day as compared with 3.1 in 2007, a significant increase over 2005’s level of 2.5 cups per day.

So, coffee consumption is going up, but what about the economy? Coffee houses aren’t doing so well these days, are they? The International Coffee Organization released a report in February on the “World Economic Crisis and the Coffee Sector”:

Early reports show that food sales are holding up better than those of non-food
products.  It seems that big chains are competing by cutting prices rather than losing market
share or seeing the volume of sales decrease, even at the expense of profits.  In the developed
country markets of North America, Europe and Japan, which account for approximately
58% of world consumption, coffee is a staple good that represents only a small fraction of
consumer spending.  The information available suggests that coffee consumption in these
markets is holding up well.  Instead of limiting overall intake, consumers are more likely to
shift from out-of-home to in-home consumption and from higher cost products to cheaper
brands.  This trend to less expensive products is corroborated by the strong results reported
by discount food retailers and by reduced earnings in the speciality coffee sector in the last
quarter of 2008.

Increasing coffee consumption, especially among young adults, bodes well for the future of the coffee industry, despite the downturn in the economy. These coffee-drinkers know a good cappuccino when they taste it, and our Miri Market coffee service will allow businesses to offer barista-style coffee drinks to their employees and clients for a fraction of the coffee house price - a great thing in this economy.

Tags:Add new tag, coffee consumption, economy, Miri Market, National Coffee Association of USA, National Coffee Drinking Trends

A French philosopher, said that “to exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly” (Henri Louis Bergeson.) I believe that is an accurate description of my business endeavors. Change, maturity, re-creation.

Clearly this is not an economy to manufacture and try to sell non-essential decorative merchandise, as I started out to do with Miri Market. Although I have not given up on that idea, I have definitely put those dreams on hold.

But Miri Market still exists, my legal business entity, with the ability to go on creating itself endlessly, as in the quote above. “Miri” means to be amazed, to marvel, to wonder at. It is from the language Esperanto, an international language based on words common to the chief European languages. For example, mira in Spanish means sight; intention; just look. Miracolo in Italian means miracles; wonder. And as a girl’s name (Latin, Slavic, Hindi) Miri means ‘wonderful’; ‘peace’; ‘prosperous’. Can you think of better connotations for a business name?

So it is to marvel and wonder at that my husband and I were presented with a business opportunity that - yes, even in these uncertain times - we decided to seize. David and I together will be working on a small service business. Our website, and this blog, is being reworked to reflect our new venture.

Miri Market coffee service - using state-of-the-art gourmet coffee machines, stocked with the finest coffee and backed by a committment to service and responsibility - makes barista-style coffee drinks available any time at your business for your employees and/or clients.

Our system grinds and brews each coffee drink in 30 seconds flat. At the push of a button a cup of delicious freshly ground and brewed specialty coffee is yours to savor. Miri Market coffee service allows your employees and/or clients to enjoy the flavor, cost and convenience benefits of coffee house drinks at a fraction of coffee house prices.

On the one hand, it seems crazy to jump into a new business when the bad economic news is piling up around us like dead leaves in the fall. Yet we made our decision quite quickly to do this. We’ve always wanted to work together, and this business seems to have the right requirements of each of our strengths and expertise. It is a simple business, a delicious business, that we can run to our standards of taste and responsibility.

Hazel Henderson is a futurist and economist, and the author of several books. In 2007 she started EthicalMarkets.tv for public television to showcase video of people and organizations around the world with socially responsible endeavors. She has said, “If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic.”

So I guess that in these uncertain times, David and I simply don’t know enough to be pessimistic. We’re going to give it a whirl!

Tags:business, change, Coffee Service, Hazel Henderson, Miri Market, start-up

Happy Birthday to me! I began this Light, Motion and Magic blog a year ago - and what a great year it has been! Today I’d like to write a little about what I’ve learned from the blogging experience - and since this blog is all about being a woman entrepreneur starting my business - I’ll outline where my business efforts are right now.

This blogging experience has been terrific. There have been both outward and inward benefits to this blog. I started it because I realized that there is an online community that I would need to understand, reach out to and be a part of if I were ever going to make a success of my online business. That online community is every bit as robust as I thought it would be, and more. The other blogs and bloggers that I’ve followed, those I’ve communicated with in forums, and the additional Twitter community that I engage with has simply become a part of my life now. Yes, it takes up time, but it’s well, well worth it. I have a genuine fondness and respect for the friends I’ve made online, and the times I’ve reached out, I’ve rarely been disappointed.

On an internal level, I can’t overstate how important it has been, as I’ve gone through this business start-up process, to take the time to concentrate my thoughts and experiences as I’ve gone along. Yes, it’s been hard to think of exactly what to write about sometimes, but the effort has always been rewarding, and has often crystallized my thinking, or spurred me to more needed research.

I am very, very glad that I took the leap to try this online format, and I look forward to another year with you!

My latest test of patience in getting Miri Market off the ground is finally drawing to an end. Johannes will be done with the design enhancements soon, which I am very excited to see. After that, I look forward to getting reactions to the concept from people through online surveys and face-to-face research.

The economic conditions in which we find ourselves is going to affect my business decisions, without a doubt. It’s tough enough to get a business off the ground, even without the tremors of a looming economic crisis shaking that very ground. I will continue to move forward very cautiously. Admittedly, getting Miri Market going has been s-l-o-w-w-w-w, but I’ve always believed that the process will unfold as it should, in due time. Perhaps the delays have been a good thing, and I should be grateful that the nervousness of watching the economy this week was not compounded by having a container of new product to launch and sell! These are uncertain times, for sure, highlighting the need to minimize risk and do my research to make sure this is a product that will be well-received.

Thus, I start out on Year Two of this blog. As I proceed with my business plans through the months ahead I will continue to write about my experiences and bring to you my honest observations and insights. I thank all my readers, and I hope you’ll keep stopping by to take this journey with me.

Tags:blog, Blogging, business decisions, economy, Light Motion and Magic, Miri Market, online community

I got a long and thoughtful comment last week from concerned citizen, in response to my post Global Learning and the Never-Ending Learning Curve. It was recommended that I look into books that offer a counterperspective to Thomas Friedman’s books.

I really do want to get a balanced perspective, so I have ordered Redefining Global Strategy by Harvard professor Pankaj Ghemawat, and will pick up from the library Making Globalization Work by Joseph Stiglitz. Thanks for the suggestions, concerned citizen!

My eyes and appetite on this subject may be bigger than my time can handle, but I’ll give it a try! I have several of the books already, so my reading begins this week. I’ll certainly be reporting back on what I find.

Meanwhile, Thomas Friedman appeared on Letterman on Monday night, talking about his new book on the energy crisis,  Hot, Flat and Crowded. I thought it was a great segment, and you can see it here.

Having gone to all three sessions of 2008 Summer Venture Camp put on by The Collaborative, I want to summarize the most important lessons that I took away from among all the information, expertise and advice given.

My business niche as a woman entrepreneur with Miri Market was not the primary target of most of the panel discussions, which seemed focused on med/tech start-up companies needing millions in venture capital. The Minneapolis/St. Paul area is especially strong in this industry, being home to Medtronic, St. Jude and Guidant, plus we have a world-class University that makes strong contributions in med/tech research. But the same things that make a strong candidate for getting venture capital makes a strong start-up company of any size, in any industry.

In the last venture camp session it was mentioned that you have to give people a message 9 times for it to stick. Much of what I focus on here are universal elements that were mentioned again and again - maybe not 9 times, but said by enough different people, enough times over the three sessions, that they “stuck” with me. The rest seems like just helpful good sense, to keep in mind as I build my company. So here they are:

1. Successful entrepreneurs need to be really FLEXIBLE. They also need to be completely dedicated; open to input; enthusiastic, but willing to learn; open to criticism; easy to work with; prepared.

2. Be sure to communicate to everyone - your employees, your board, your investors - IT’S ALL GOING TO CHANGE. You need to continually re-evaluate ideas, employee performance, compensation, priorities for spending - with the constant goal of making money and liquidity. Continually set up the expectation that things will be changing.

3. The saying, “Find a need, and fill it” is true. If you start with one idea in mind, and find that your customers are taking it in another direction or asking for some changes, go with it! Due diligence, market research, patent searches and understanding the competitive landscape can also help point you to the void that needs filling.

4. The main things to have down, which you must be able to communicate in a few, concise sentences, are:
-What’s your unique thing, your proprietary property/technology?
-How big is your market opportunity, your universe of buyers?
-What is the benefit customers receive from using your product? Will people pay for it?
-Management team. Management team. Management team.

5. When writing your business plan, make sure you have your above “story” together. Often a power point with supporting schedules will suffice, along with an excellent executive summary.

6. Hire people that are smarter than you. If you don’t have the knowledge and experience to get your company where it needs to be, find someone who does.

7. If you want to attract talent and have them work above and beyond for your success, give ownership as incentive - the earlier, the better. It’s difficult to lose key employees when you’re growing.

8. Don’t give up too much, too soon to your management team. Make sure they earn it, that no one is “dead weight,” then reward generously.

9. Be clear about the different components of your benefits package, and what long-term components reward as opposed to base pay.

10. If incentives are dependent on profit, put out the numbers so the employees know how they’re doing.

11. Consider that benefits have different value to different employees. Also think about the intangibles of your company that might help keep your employees. Create the right benefits and atmosphere for the employees you want to hire and keep.

12. Communicate, communicate, communicate - to employees, investors, public.

13. The right management team means having the right people at each stage. For example, having a bookkeeper –> having a comptroller –> having a CFO. Each time you add the right person, you’re adding value, even though the cash hit can be difficult at the time.

14. Constantly stay on top of cash flow. Check every day so you don’t have surprises.

15. Qualify your new customers. Set payment terms and credit limits. Follow up on slow payers. Offer discounts to get customers to pay more quickly. Offer credit card payment. Impose finance charges for late payments (and also use as leverage.) You can sometimes renegotiate terms with your manufacturers, suppliers. Convert sales as quickly as possible into cash in the bank.

16. Take the time to organize your board. Over time try to increase its sophistication to one that’s informed, and will take action when necessary.

Tags:2008 Summer Venture Camp, Business lessons, start-up, The Collaborative, Woman entrepreneur

The third and final Summer Venture Camp took place on Thursday morning at the University of Minnesota. You can read my blog posts about Session 1 and Session 2.

Put on by The Collaborative, the intent of the Summer Venture Camp panel discussions was to, “… help fuel and inform the ‘next generation’ of innovators while also following The Collaborative trademark of providing information and networking to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.”

Here is a list of the final four topics and the main points emphasized:

Equity Structure, Termsheets, NDA’s, Capitalization Tables, Employee Agreements and more

• When seeking financing, you have to have a plan on how much you need, how you’re going to spend it and when you think you’ll need to go back for another round. But flexibility is key: your investors will be dictating the terms.
• Once you get to the point of getting a term sheet, it’s a signal that your investors are very serious and there’s a doable deal. The term sheet will be a road map.
• Using equity to incentivize key employees is perhaps THE most important issue in high-growth companies. It’s really difficult to lose a key employee when you’re growing.
• Cash is scarce for these companies, but if you want to attract talent and have them work above and beyond for your success, you usually give ownership as incentive - the earlier the better.
• Keep incentive plans simple. Investor doesn’t want it too complicated but does want to see something in place. Requires regular review to make sure they’re effective as things change.
• Don’t give up too much, too soon to your management team. Make sure they earn it, that you don’t have “dead weight”, and then reward generously.
• Stock options, restricted stock or stock appreciation rates are most common; a pool of 7% - 15% of equity for employees.
• Worst thing is to get your valuation wrong - overstating or overvaluing. You will pay a real price later on if you don’t get it right.

The Role of Intellectual Property Issues in Financing

• Having a strong Intellectual Property (IP) strategy is critical for getting funding.
• Your first questions should be: Can I patent my idea? What is your strategy compared to the landscape of your industry? Then you should ask: How can I stay on top of it? What is my competition doing? What steps can I take to handle the changing environment?
• Pay attention to what Universities have published in your area. Do your own due diligence, because professors often forget what they’ve done! And don’t forget to take a look at basic public patents.
• Your CEO should be actively engaged in seeing what the competitive patent landscape is so he/she understands the context of what you’re doing. Will build a better business model because of it.
• You want to spend your scarce funds in an area where you have the most leeway and freedom. Patent research can help you find that niche.
• Make your patent application RIGHT AWAY. Make your patent AS BROAD AS YOU CAN. KEEP UPDATING your patent.
• The patent office is getting further and futher behind; patents are taking longer and longer to get.
• Engineering log books are critical. A good, old-fashioned paper trail is vital: a bound log book, dated and numbered and counter-signed by a non-scientist/inventor.

Trends in Talent, Compensation and Benefit

• Some basic security around health is vital. Pre-tax plans can be foundation for small business. As you grow larger you may have to compete with plans of larger companies.
• Benefits often begin with long-term planning, like 401K. There’s a trade-off between cash bonuses and long-term leverage. Maybe you can take the short term bonus and use it in a plan that will provide longer-term benefit.
• Be clear about the different components of your benefits package, and what outcomes are connected to them. You don’t want your employees to be confused about what the long-term components reward as opposed to their base pay. Communicate that BENEFITS ARE PAY.
• Some private companies don’t want to dilute ownership/equity, so are turning to 401K-like plans that are performance based.
• If an incentive is dependent on profit, put out the numbers so the employees know how they’re doing.
• Be sure your communication works with your employees. Studies show you have to give people a message 9 times for it to stick: give it 9 different ways.
• Companies are moving to defined CONTRIBUTION plans, rather than defined COMPENSATION plans - keeps the company from becoming buried by obligations.
• New study showing that younger employees now give companies about 6 months to prove they are what they say, and that there’s opportunity for them. If not, they move on.
• Benefits have different value to different generations: flexibility, telecommuting, compressed work week might be more attractive to younger workers.
• Think about what intangibles of your company keep your employees. Think about non-equity compensation.

Entrepreneur and Investor Panel

• The more “disruptive” the idea for a company, the more likely it is to be a startup.
• Especially in tech/medical industry, a successful start-up needs 1) world-class technology 2) very experienced management 3) capital.
• Investors are looking to see that there’s a large and growing market, that there’s a very experienced management team (cross-function ability, execution focused, committed to change), that there’s patent protection, and a culture that embraces success - can meet milestones and communicate it.
• A new company should always focus on basics. Make your business profitable: don’t just wait for financing, move the ball forward!
• What comes with financing? Often expertise, strategic strengths, core expertise.
• Replacing management teams is #1 issue - it’s all about management. Experienced management knows how to get to making money and liquidity. The “idea” can’t be the goal; the idea doesn’t matter. Goals will change but experienced management will focus on making money, will meet milestones, put money in proper priorities.
• Get valuation right at the beginning. If you get it wrong, as painful as it is, make the correction.
• Venture capitalists are driven by greed. If there are problems in a promising venture, they’ll look to see if it can be cleaned up, but will probably give youa take-it-or-leave-it proposition.
• The right management team means having the right people at each stage. Ex: having a bookkeeper –> having a comptroller –> having a CFO. Each time you add the right person you’re adding value, even tho the cash hit can be difficult at the time.
• Bad boards can cost a company money, are too often less informed than they should be, are unwilling to take the action that they’re supposed to take: replacing the CEO.
• At what point is a company ready for financing? When you can see that with even just the 1st round of financing, it will make money.

The quality of the panels in this last session was more consistent than in the other sessions, and very good. Obviously there was an enormous amount of information, expertise and advice given during Summer Venture Camp, and in my next post I will summarize what I learned from attending.

Tags:Summer Venture Camp, The Collaborative

There certainly has been a lot of talk about oil and energy prices lately. It has been the topic of a lot of political debate. But it directly concerns me as a woman entrepreneur, and my business Miri Market, when the time comes to choose a manufacturer for my product: Where will I go to have my product made? What will be the most cost-effective manufacturing choice for my business? What will be the most environmentally responsible manufacturing choice?

As we all know, much consumer product manufacturing is now done in Asia. But there was an excellent article by Larry Rohter in the New York Times on Sunday, Shipping Costs Start To Crimp Globalization.

Cheap oil, the lubricant of quick, inexpensive transportation links across the world, may not return anytime soon, upsetting the logic of diffuse global supply chains that treat geography as a footnote in the pursuit of lower wages. Rising concern about global warming, the reaction against lost jobs in rich countries, worries about food safety and security, and the collapse of world trade talks in Geneva last week also signal that political and environmental concerns may make the calculus of globalization far more complex.

Three issues - higher shipping costs, sensitivity to the “green” concerns of energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions, and a world political landscape shunning tariff reductions - may all be combining to push us towards “what some economists call a neighborhood effect — putting factories closer to components suppliers and to consumers.” But the article goes on to suggest:

As economists and business executives well know, shipping costs are only one factor in determining the flow of international trade. When companies decide where to invest in a new factory or from whom to buy a product, they also take into account exchange rates, consumer confidence, labor costs, government regulations and the availability of skilled managers.

A year ago when I was starting this venture, there was an automatic assumption in several conversations that my manufacturing would probably be done in China. The economic and energy landscape is changing fast as I edge nearer to those manufacturing decisions. I will have to decide where to manufacture my product based on many factors, but I will have no choice but to stay flexible and well-informed on energy and globalization trends. It remains true, as Jack Welch, 20-year Chairman and CEO of General Electric said, “An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate advantage.”

Tags:globalization, Larry Rohter, manufacturing, neighborhood effect, New York Times, Shipping Costs Start To Crimp Globalization

Monday was an exciting day. I went to see Johannes Gaston for the presentation of initial design concepts for my product. I am delighted with the possibilities!

Keep in mind that this is only the beginning of the second phase in a 6-phase process:

1. Research
2. Concept
3. Design
4. Documentation
5. Sourcing
6. Follow-Through

Out of 8 concept drawings, I will decide which designs to enhance and refine. By August I will be ready to put them through a user feedback process. One-on-one feedback sessions and focus groups will help me get a better feel for general reaction to the designs. Additionally, because these concepts are drawings instead of 3-d models, Johannes said we will also be able to put them in a format where people can go online to give me feedback. That means that many of you who have been following my journey through this blog may be able to participate!

If you are interested in looking at these initial concepts and giving YOUR feedback, please leave a comment and I will contact you with details.

Please know that I may have to do some screening of on-line participants, but I hope to get a cross-section of opinion from males and females of all ages, so pass the word!

Tags:design concepts, Johannes Gaston, Miri Market, user feedback

I bought something online a few weeks ago. After using it, it turns out that it’s wonderful! It is everything I wanted, and more. It’s so good at what it is/does that I want to tell you about it. I think you should get one, too.

What is it?

It’s a compost pail, for my kitchen scraps.

I’ve been thinking about getting one for a year, ever since composting my yard waste. I’ve been hesitant to try it because of problems about what container I’d use, where it would fit in my kitchen, how messy it would be and the ODOR it would make - wouldn’t plastic absorb the odors? And what container would have the right kind of lid?

Then I saw this advertised from King Arthur Flour:

Odor-free compost? Yes!

Compost Pail How much time do YOU spend in front of the kitchen sink, cleaning salad greens? Lots, right? Turn greens, eggshells, and other kitchen waste into nutrient-rich compost for your garden. Place natural waste in this handy, odor-free bucket before making the trip outdoors to your composter. 8 1/2″ x 11″ tall lidded compost pail stores kitchen scraps odor-free. Stainless steel throughout. Includes replaceable filter. 1-gallon capacity.

It’s not cheap at $44.95, but it’s the first I’ve seen to provide solutions to all of my concerns. I took a chance and ordered it.

It’s perfect. The filters in the lid keep all the odors contained and it’s easy to use. The stainless steel washes quickly and easily. It’s the perfect size for a few days’ waste, and the little handle makes it easy to carry down to the compost pile. It makes my effort to compost my cooking scraps EASY. It is superb at fulfilling its purpose, and well-worth the cost. If you are thinking about composting, I urge you to get the King Arthur Flour Compost Pail; I’m sure you’ll love it too.

This is as good of an example as there is of how I can make Miri Market successful. I must provide just the right solutions to my customers’ problems. I must make my product so excellent that people say about it what I said about a lowly compost pail:

I bought something online a few weeks ago. After using it, it turns out that it’s wonderful! It is everything I wanted, and more. It’s so good at what it is/does that I want to tell you about it. I think you should get one, too.

Tags:business lesson, compost pail, King Arthur Flour

I hope you’re enjoying the new look of “Light, Motion and Magic!” I’d like to point out a few features.

For those of you who do not want to subscribe to a “feed,” you can now sign up to get my blog posts by email. In other words, every time I publish a post to this blog, it will automatically be sent to you in the form of an email. You simply sign up by typing in your email address in the space provided above and center, and click on the subscribe button. You will then go to a short form that requires you to type in the letters shown in a box - to verify that you are a human and not an automated spam program! Finally you will have to reply to a confirmation email sent to your email address, to make sure that the blog will go to the right address.

It’s an easy way for you to stay up on my adventures as a woman entrepreneur, and of course you can still come to this actual site any time!

As you can see, I now have a space on the right to feature my company, Miri Market. Click on the Miri Market logo and it will take you to my temporary Miri Market webiste. Don’t forget that you can sign up there to get my future “company” emails as well.

And finally, since my photo is above in the “About the author” section, I will no longer be putting my picture in every post. I will still use my photos and other images from time to time. I still have some work to do to fill out my blogroll and clean up the formatting with some old posts, but what you see is basically what you’ll be getting!

I hope you find this new design pleasing and easy to use. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.

MANY, MANY thanks to Eric Florenzano for handling the migration to this new Wordpress design, and for all his unflagging technical advice and help. (I couldn’t do it without you, sweetie pie.)

Tags:Add new tag, blog, Miri Market, Woman entrepreneur