Ten for Ten: Part 3 – You too should have a blog

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

Here are some of my top reasons why you too should write a blog:

Creating and maintaining a blog is fairly straightforward technically – I have said it before, you are smarter than you think.

1. You can make a decent looking blog for free – I use the free version of wordpress and there are many great templates to choose from.  A few years ago, I switched to a different template and easily converted over two hundred pieces to the new format.

2. If you keep it simple, it won’t take very long to set up a blog. It took me a couple of hours at most and much of that time was likely due to setting up a search function and a sign up button which are not crucial.

3. Many of your existing skills are transferrable to creating a blog. Blogs are basically a word-processing tool with a few more bells and whistles.

4. If you want a blog and don’t want to create it, pay someone to do it for you after feeding them inspiration from blogs you like.

Blogging will improve your writing and is helpful for archiving.

4. It is a great way to keep an archive of articles you have read and written that are important to you.  For my most popular blog posts, it is a lot easier to send a link than to try to find that email where you explained that thing a while ago.  

5. Your pieces (or even the entire blog) can be edited or deleted easily if they no longer please or interest you.  

6. Blogs are a chance to tune up your writing skills and deepen your learning.  When I bite off a topic and think I have lots to say, I inevitably get stalled on an element I have to think through or research more fully. 

Blogging is freeing but takes courage

6. If you work in a bureaucracy like I do, it is satisfying and frankly refreshing to be allowed to publish something that goes from your fingers to the page and out.  I know you may also be terrified. Keep reading.

7. Blogging is worth the terror because of the eventual reward of deepening your thinking and perhaps even connecting with other people.  If you are used to having your work reviewed and never being put in front of a public audience, pushing things to a blog can be daunting.  But, if you flub something and take a position that is too strong etc., like much of life, it is a mistake that can be corrected – see #5.  

Blogs are a balm for introverts

10. Discussing having a blog will kill at least a few minutes of the dreaded small talk.

11. The blog has supported me to make some wonderful connections including writing a piece for Merge Gupta-Sunderji in the early days about why your employees won’t give you feedback, and getting the chance to interview Dan Dubeau about volunteer management. 

12. Keeping a blog can be a helpful way to establish your track record and credibility in a particular domain.

Your contribution, even if small, is still a contribution

13. I have had friends tell me (though not shed of all kindness) that my wrap up posts make them feel inadequate. To which I say: Lots of bloggers make me feel in adequate – enter Seth Godin who blogs every.single.day. And anyway, comparison is the thief of joy. If you are trying to reach specific marketing goals, your aspirations may need to be more lofty but if you just want to try this on, do your blog your own way. No need to write original content – curation of the internet is a gift. And no need to blog on a regular schedule – show up when you can.

14. Having lived through covid, I think the joy of hearing from diverse voices is even more potent. And if it doesn’t work out, again see #5.

Seven classic start-up founder mistakes

(c)jakeandlindsey sherbert

 

Seven classic startup founder mistakes and how to avoid them

I thought this talk had fantastic cross learning embedded in it for how to build teams and how to advance ideas.

This is a talk by Kathryn Minshew who founded a company called “The Muse” to help people find their passions and help companies market their businesses more effectively.  I found her incredibly articulate and persuasive about her business failures and subsequent learnings.

Her seven:

1)  Product/market fit:  “Your college roommate’s approval does not mean that you have a market for this product.”  Bottom line, get in front of people who don’t know you or like you to see if your idea will fly.

2) Believing that any founder will do:  Think carefully about who you partner with.  Think about how comfortable everyone is with the best and worst case scenarios of the future of your business and most importantly, do you agree on what to do in these scenarios (you run out of money etc.).

3) Perfect versus done – do you know when to stop polishing in the corner?: Think about simplifying and putting a product out there that shows the essence of what you what to do, to see the feedback.  “An ugly baby is better than no baby at all.”

4) Productive versus impactful: Everyone feels good about clearing their inbox or having meetings but this isn’t necessarily impactful behaviour.  Would be better to ask, is this the problem we should be solving today?

5) How to create velocity:  Forget the mantra, “if you build it they will come” – actually they won’t.  It is hard to start the engine of customer acquisition but here are some suggestions beyond the obvious:  have contests to jumpstart social media, blogging including giving the content away for free (she gave hers to Forbes).  Doesn’t recommend advertising because may mask the problem that there isn’t a huge user base.  Write op eds.  Ask for permission to write a guest post.  Tie what you are doing to macro trends.  Think about speaking about yourself and the process of starting the company – it may be more interesting than the product at the start.

6) How to find good people (and convince them to take much less money than they would otherwise): beyond mining your own own networks, think about lurking on twitter and other sites to find people whose work you admire reach out to them.  Hiring is no longer what you are offering money-wise.  More and more people are driven by the work you are doing, atmosphere, who you are working with.  Interview carefully:  Specifically, test fit by asking what are you excited about and what do you sees yourself doing a day-to-day basis?

7) Don’t believe the hype: Continue to reality test ideas even after early successes.

 

When is the right moment?

Seth Godin is always worth a read…

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“The right moment

You might be waiting for things to settle down. For the kids to be old enough, for work to calm down, for the economy to recover, for the weather to cooperate, for your bad back to let up just a little…

The thing is, people who make a difference never wait for just the right time. They know that it will never arrive.

Instead, they make their ruckus when they are short of sleep, out of money, hungry, in the middle of a domestic mess and during a blizzard. Whenever.

As long as whenever is now.”

Here is the link to his website – you click on the picture of this head to access his blog.

Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen! | Video on TED.com

Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen! | Video on TED.com.

A great  TED talk – a lovely, funny  and passionate talk on why traditional aid models don’t work and how the art of listening and teamwork are needed to fuel entrepreneurial spirit.

Part II – Interview with Chef Caroline Ishii

This is part two if an interview I did with Caroline Ishii a vegan Chef at Zenkitchen in Ottawa, ON.  Part I is found here.

In this part, Caroline gives her views on what types of people generally succeed in the business, who tends to burn out and talks about the particular challenges for female chefs.

• What types of people generally succeed in the business? 

While many would say that strong basic cooking skills and a good palate are crucial for success in the restaurant business, in fact it is really only 10% of the equation.

Beyond a good product, you need to run a good business because the restaurant is first and foremost a business. Therefore, I think the people that generally succeed are those that are good business people and/or have good business people supporting them to help and guide the restaurant as needed. It can go off course quickly for many reasons!

The restaurant is one of the hardest businesses I have ever run for many reasons. We have high labour and food costs and a young transitional work force.  We combine this with high overhead costs and what you end up learning is that the restaurant business has a low rate of return or profit margin, which means a very limited or low salary, about par with the dishwasher.  Although we worked more than any other staff member, six days a week, we couldn’t afford to pay ourselves the first year and a half!

While having lots of money is a bonus of course, in particular so you can afford to have more people help you, this is not a guarantee that you will succeed and/or not burn out. You need to know how to carefully use these funds to maintain and grow the business. I have learned the hard way that burning out has to do more with my personal attitude than the situation(s) I am faced with.

• Who tends to burn out quickly?

I believe those that burn out quickly are those that try to do everything themselves or take too much on or are perfectionists.  Also, not giving yourself time and space away regularly to rest and rejuvenate is important. I was guilty of all of this and was on the verge of burning out physically and emotionally.

• When has a curse become a blessing in disguise?

We all think we are invincible don’t we, or at least until we get ill. I had a very painful frozen shoulder for 6 to 8 months, where I couldn’t move my shoulder and arm without extreme pain and thus I couldn’t sleep through the night.  My shoulder is still healing after one year, although 80% better. In hindsight, it was a blessing in disguise because as it forced to let go more, focus on my wellbeing and getting myself better, and create more personal balance in my life.

• Are there particular challenges for woman chefs in the industry?

Yes, definitely! It still is for the most part a militaristic (“yes, Chef!”), hierarchical and male-dominated industry with a lot of sexism and related crude joking, rampant. In many kitchens, it is not easy for young women to enter and fit in.

It is still very much a boys’ club, a rough and tough kind, and often the women that fit in best are those that can drink, smoke and hang out with the toughest of the boys. If women do act with more authority and strictness that they do want often this is seen as bitchy or mean.

Though people will agree in theory to wanting a collaborative kitchen, some will see it as a weaker approach, because it isn’t the strict, disciplinarian approach that can verge on abuse, that many male chefs bring to the job.

Therefore, a lot of women are still turning to gentler areas in the kitchen such as pastry and stay longer than they should in junior positions such as garde manager, the cold station, because they get overlooked for promotions and/or lack the confidence to move up.

However, the times are changing in some restaurants, in particular, smaller chef-owned and in particular woman chef-owned restaurants. Though, it has taken a while to build a respectful, collaborative and “Zen” kitchen in my restaurant, we are certainly a good team now.

The last part of this interview will include Caroline’s discussions of her mentors, what she suggests for those trying to get into the business and a peek into what’s next. 

Interview with Chef Caroline Ishii – Part I

(c) April Anne Hewens

Here is part one of a three part interview with two time Gold Plates Silver award-winning Chef Caroline Ishii who is the Chef and co-owner of ZenKitchen, a vegan restaurant, in Ottawa, Ontario.  

Chef Ishii has been running her own restaurant for three years and generously took the time to answer some questions on how she got started, what obstacles she has faced, as well as what’s next.

In the interests of full disclosure, I have been friends with Caroline and her partner Dave Loan for many years. 

Part I – How did Caroline land in the restaurant business?, What does a great day look like? and What does a not so great day look like?

What path took you to being a chef owning your own successful restaurant?

The path was a not a direct one. I had been struggling for a long time to find another career path, one with passion, but didn’t know how to do this and what I would do. I took several classes, in particular one with Julia Cameron, author of “The Artist’s Way”.  From this course, I learned about overcoming obstacles, mostly within us and our beliefs, taking baby steps, started writing every morning and taking weekly one hour artist retreats.

Through this reflection, I remembered a dream I had long ago in my twenties to open my own restaurant but never had the money to do it so I put it on the back burner.  When I thought about this dream again, I wanted to integrate the work I had done on myself with health and wellness and I wanted to serve food that was healthy and good for people and the environment.

I remembered a school in New York City I had heard about called the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts that teaches food from the perspective of its connection with health and environment.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do with this training and how to start, so I thought I would start doing a number of things to see what I liked doing and worked for me. One of these things was a monthly pop up dinner concept where there were communal tables and a tasting menu.

The first one started in a coffee shop and eventually I had a semi-permanent space in the former Chelsea club (in Ottawa). The dinners grew in numbers and popularity as the word spread, mostly from people that were not vegan or vegetarian but who loved the concept and food. I started a web site and blog.

After the Chelsea Club was forced to close its doors, I had nowhere to go so I decided it was time to go big or go home.  I looked for a restaurant space and some of the funding came from a community supported restaurant concept, where people would pay for gift certificates in advance to help with the help with desperately needed start up capital.  We had a gathering of diners from our monthly dinners to show them the space and our plans, and we raised $20,000 in one day! At the gathering, I also asked diners for their favourites from the monthly dinners and based my starting menu on this.

What does a fantastic day look like?

When I have the chance in the morning to have time to balance myself before I get in to the restaurant. This includes a healthy breakfast, meditation, writing, and time to be outside in nature for exercise like swimming, running or skiing. I love the outdoors and nature. Then I do some administrative work in my home office before I get in. I go in to the restaurant and everything is under control with the help of my Chef de Cuisine. I may test out some new items and/or tweak existing items, and sample some food. Everything is well prepared, we are in good shape going into service and everyone is in good spirits. It is a busy night and I help when and where necessary. I am able to go out often to the dining room to check on customers and speak with them. I love connecting with customers to find out how they liked the food, how they found out about us, and their backgrounds.

What’s a “Why I am doing this?” day look like? 

We are awoken too early in the morning by a phone call, after working late. It is an urgent issue that the morning prep cook has found out about when arriving at work. It could be the furnace not working, causing a pipe to burst on the second floor and water flooding the second floor and pouring into the dining room. True story. Or, it could be a fridge that has stopped working on the day that we were closed and everything in the fridge has to be thrown out. True story.

It can also be a day when I get a text late in the afternoon to say that the dishwasher cannot make it in and it’s too late to get someone else so we will all have to pitch in to do the dishes, including me.

I may also arrive at the restaurant to find out there are some urgent things missing for prep so have to go out to the stores and find these items. We are rushing to get ready for service and are still prepping when the first tables get in. It is a stressful and exhausting service. I have no time to go out to see customers and I end the day physically and emotionally drained.

Stay tuned for Part II of this interview where Caroline talks about her suggestions on how to be someone who succeeds in this business versus someone who burns out and talks about the particular challenges for women chefs.