Arianna O'Dell

Chapter 1 : Make Stupid Decisions.

On September 20th, I am leaving Seattle to go live in Europe for a year. This past few weeks have been CRAZY busy. For some reason, I made the (insane) decision to take a quick trip to San Francisco before heading out. I had completely no time to go on this trip but I’m glad I did.

Wait, what? Why San Francisco?

So it started like this : Random conversion at lunch one day with @NateWhitehill of Highlighter.

Nate : Something about how the place we went for lunch didn’t have a menu online.

Me : A few minutes later *light bulb moment* : “Wait, I don’t know why no one has made About.Me for business.”

Nate : “I don’t know, but that’s a good idea.”

A few days later….

Sitting in bed thinking (This is me talking to myself — Yeah, I know I’m crazy)

This is a super good idea.

Wait, why don’t I make this?

But I’m not a developer.

Maybe I can figure out how to build this.

Oh wait, I hate coding.

Oh I can hire one.

No… Wait, Ludo. He’s the best dev ever.

Let’s see what he thinks about this. *Goes on Facebook and messages Ludo*

Ludo the next morning :

Turns out, with my airline miles I had enough points to get a $5 flight to SF. *Tickets booked* #winning!

……until we then remembered we’d need to stay somewhere in SF. So I did what I always do when I’m in a crunch…. Twitter!

I then tweeted out “Yay. Flight booked! Going to Disrupt Hackaton with @Ludo_Antonov. Any generous SF people wanna let us crash on your couch/floor?” I shortly received

I’ve been tweeting at James for a long time on Twitter but it was so nice of him to let two strangers he didn’t know to come crash at his place. James is a founder of a company called Envolve that enables websites to be able to put real time chats on their own site. Envolve is a really spiffy idea and James is a great person to get to know. Great sense of humor and super awesome! Check him out.

Chapter 2 What’s up SFO?!

Ater reaching our destination, we met up with one of our good friends whom we had previously worked together on a start-up with. After a day of hanging out, sightseeing, and eating, we headed to Jame’s place. We got there, chatted a bit, and immediately crashed.

Chapter 3 And It Begins!

The next day after flying in, we made our way to the TC Disrupt hackathon. We quickly got to work building our project, JustAbout.co During the hackathon, I did things like put up a landing page, made social channels, and craft text for the website. Ludo is a freaking boss and coded away on the project (without sleeping once)! During the event, I wandered around and made some new friends! I met a ton of wonderful people who were hard at work on their own great ideas.

Shoutout to the CloudFlare guys! For a portion of the night I hung out with their team and played around with stickers at their booth.

Chapter 4 Zombies

After the 24 hours of the hackathon, it was time for the presentions. We had one minute to pitch and made our way to the stage. After no sleep my brain was fried.  (Prior to getting on stage I chugged a Red Bull.)

Though not my finest presentation, I was thrilled that we had something working (and beautiful) to present. And so http://justabout.co was seen by the public for the first time.

JustAbout.Co is a dead simple way for businesses to create a fast easy website and social media hub. Though we didn’t win one of the prizes, we won the prize of now having a foundation for our new business. Another bonus is that we got written up in Tech Crunch under staff favorites!

#winning!

Chapter 5 Disrupt

Turns out, if you attend the Hackathon, you get a free ticket to the $3000 Disrupt Confrence. w00t w00t. So here I am, sitting in the hall listening to Paul Graham give start-up advice. How cool is that? Great things happen when you get up, take spontaneous trips, and just do it!  See ya tomorrow, Seattle!

To sign up for our project go to JustAbout.co. We still have some bugs, but would love your initial feedback.

Be my friend on Twitter? @Arianna

Last night, the cool folks at Uber hooked me up with some ride credits to try out their service.  What is Uber?

Uber is a town car service that let’s you ping a ride via iPhone, Android or SMS.  I’ve been hearing about the service in the press for the  past year and was excited to hear they are planning to now take over Seattle.

So let’s see… what do I think of Uber? I’ll tell you about my night!

My friend and I are notorious for walking everywhere in Seattle. Last night, we decided to go for a walk.  We walked from the Udistrict to Capital Hill to Downtown Seattle. (Phew!)

Couple ‘O Pics from our night out –

My first Dick's Burger!

<3 Seattle at Night!

At the end of our gallavanting around Seattle, we decided it was time to test out Uber. Sitting downtown by Pike’s, I whipped out my Andriod, pulled open the Uber app, and hit call driver.

Yes, I Use A Virgin Mobile Andriod (and LOVE it

The parts of the app I thought were cool were that  you received the name and number for your driver right off the bat. Another part of the app I thought was neat was that the driver was visible on the map via GPS so you could see how far away they were from picking you up. About 8 minutes after pinging the driver, our black car rolls up.

Sittin' in the back seat - partyin' partyin' yeah!

The driver was friendly, the car was clean (and swanky!), and we had a quick ride back to the Udistrict. Immediately, after I stepped out of the car, I got an email on my phone telling me how much the ride had cost with receipt. No hassle with payment, no hassle with tips – awesome!

I feel like the last time I took a cab from downtown it was maybe $5 less? (Roughly about the same) After this experience, I would definitely use Uber again for ease of use and the non-sketchyness of the driver. In the past, whenever I take a cab, I haven’t felt as comfortable as often cab drivers drive like maniacs or hit on you.

Next time I have a night out with friends – I’ll use Uber.

Note from Uber : “The first secret Ubers hit the road yesterday, that is our beta cars we’re excited, it’s been a journey.  This is not full launch and supply is pretty limited during this phase but we are encouraging people to ride to we can start ironing things out. “

I am appalled by the amount of college students I have come across lately that have never held a job before.

You know the type : They have Mommy and Daddies platinum credit card and are constantly complaining about how hard life is for them. They can’t wash their own clothes. They don’t know how to pump gas. They don’t how to pay rent. They call their parents at the slightest sign of distress.

*Sigh*

I wish I was making this up. If there is anything that I’m thankful for in life, it’s my ability to be completely self-sufficent. From age 15, I’ve held numerous jobs and have bought my own things. In the past, I’ve :

Worked at a plant nursery digging holes. (Yes, it was that glamorous)

Worked at McDonald’s asking “Would you like fries with that?”

Worked at Albertson’s as a courtesy clerk (aka Alberton’s bitch)

Worked at Pita Pit mopping bathrooms.

Worked at a Lavender farm chopping down stuff in a field.

Worked in a Thai Restaurant with a crazy boss.

Worked in another Thai Restaurant with an equally crazy boss.

Worked in my college dorms making sandwiches and washing dishes.

And this is only half.

Yes. Most of these jobs sucked. Actually wait, ALL of these jobs sucked. Even though miserable jobs, when I reminse about my work history, I wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything. Why?

1.) You Learn How To Work Fast - Run! Grab fries! Go mop the floors! Go make an ice cream cone! Take out the trash! Go! Go! Go! When I worked at McDonald’s, I was in the best shape of my life (ironically). The entire shift consisted of running back and forth putting orders together as fast as you could. From the outside, working at the Golden Arches seems like a picnic. On the inside, it’s a chaotic mess. Working at McDonald’s taught me how to work fast on my feet, deal with irate customers, and practice my customer service ability.

2.) You Learn The Value of a Dollar – There is nothing more gratifying than your first paycheck. You put in the hours, you pushed those Albertson’s carts, and you mopped bathrooms for hours – FINALLY - the reward. Working a minimum wage paying job is the best way to learn how to appreciate money.

3.) You Appreciate People- Learning to deal with various types of people is an art that can’t be throurougly taught within the walls of a school. You have to practice. During my time spent at all of these jobs, I’ve had to deal with customers that were lovely, to customers straight from hell. During my time spent at McDonald’s I remember one cashier getting so frustrated with a customer that he threw the headset into their car yelling “TAKE YOUR OWN DAMN ORDER!”. Fortunately, I was not this cashier. In life, there are times you must bite your tongue, smile, and say “have a nice day!”. McDonald’s taught me this.

4.) You Learn What Not To Do – Some of the businesses I have worked for have been complete train wrecks. They have no systems in order for doing things, their signage is falling apart, and the owner has no clue how to run a business. Lucky you! When you start your own business or become manager – you’ll be miles ahead of the game. By paying attention to what works and what doesn’t work within a start-up can help so much with your own projects. Learn from mistakes on someone else’s dollar.

5.) Co-Worker Relations – I’m not sure what is worse – dealing with irrational customers or dealing with lazy employees. At every single job I have ever had there is always this one guy. You know him. He sucks up to the manager. Calls in late. Doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do. Over, and over again. Learning how to deal with these types of situations are things you’ll have to deal with throughout life. Why not learn it at 15 instead of 25?

From french fries to working in the fields, holding a crappy job can teach more than any standardized type of education. What kinds of crappy jobs have you held?

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend Startup Weekend : Special Edition, at Madrona Venture group. The event was not marketed, and was promoted solely via word of mouth. Luckily, I heard about it through a friend and was able to get a ticket back in February.

I have attended two start-up weekends in the past. One in Seattle and one in London. The weekends attract cool people, fun projects are built, and lifelong friendships are formed. Each one I have attended, I’ve walked away with new friends, new knowledge, and incredible experiences. If you haven’t been to one you should check it out!

This weekend, I had the chance to work with a phenomenal team on a new product called City Match. City Match is a service that matches its users up with their ideal city. Our team had some awesome developers and designers who were able to build a fantastic product!

“But, Arianna you’re a marketer…. what did you even do all weekend?”

Start-up weekends are a mix of technical and business oriented entrepreneurs and wannaprenuers. Whether you are a business person or a developer, start-up weekend has something for you.

This weekend I did things such as:
-Set up social media channels
-Write press releases
-Set up a landing page
-Engagement on social channels
-Made a cool video

This is an excellent post from Jennifer Cabala on what business people can do during the weekend.

Something I learned this weekend:

Your team is everything – Fortunately, I found myself on great team with an awesome group leader – Grant Goodale. If you haven’t had a chance to work with Grant on a project, I recommend finding a way. His leadership style was extremely motivating and helped keep our team on track. Grant is definitely one of the best leaders that I know!

My team also included :

Elliot Cohen - Elliot is a master developer. He was constantly hard at work all weekend cranking out our product. I had known Elliot for a while on Twitter, but this was the first chance I had to meet him in person. So glad I finally got to!

Cameron Newland - Cameron is awesome and if you don’t already know him, you should. Cameron is one of those smart, witty, hard to find, business/developer types. Working with him is always a blast. Additionally, Cameron has a British accent that can’t be beat.

Justin Ricaurte - I knew of Justin vaguely before this weekend but glad I got to work with him on this project. Is there anything this guy doesn’t know? Don’t think so! The whole weekend I learned so many bits of knowledge from Justin about an array of subjects. Justin is an extremely smart biz/dev person who I highly recommend working with.

Kevin Korpi- Did you see our website design? This is the awesome work of Kevin Korpi who I just met this weekend. Kevin made so many fantastic designs for our team in literally minutes. If you’re looking for a designer, Kevin is a highly skilled, overall cool guy you should be working with!

The entire team was fantastic and I am grateful to have gotten to know these guys all a little better.

Thanks for a great weekend!

I’m a sucker for reality TV. Okay, not reality shows like Jersey Shore or Real Housewives of Miami, but business reality shows! When produced correctly, television can be very educational as it highlights real world scenarios and circumstances. Over the past few years, I have found three business reality shows that teach useful business and marketing principles.

1.) Shark Tank This is my newest obsession and favorite show. The show brings entrepreneurs into a room to pitch a group of venture capitalists – the sharks. Okay, you’re probably thinking…. “ahh Arianna, that’s so boring!”

But it’s not!

Watching this show, you’ll hear cool business ideas, innovative marketing strategies, and learn what investors are looking for in a business. Not only will you hear great ideas, but you’ll hear some of the absolute worst. Both great and mediocre business ideas all have something valuable to teach!  This show is a must watch.

2.) Mary Queen of Shops – This show, airing on BBC, takes failing businesses and turns them profitable (or atleast tries). I was hooked on this show while in England, though with BBC, you can watch it stateside. This show takes real world examples of entrepreneurial struggle and solves the problem through Mary’s innovation. Mary, a saavy firecracker gives entrepreneurs straightforward advice to take their businesses to the next level. Through watching this show, you’ll learn the struggles brick-and-motar shops are facing as well as possible resolutions. Not to mention there is always a good deal of crazy business owners.

3.) The Apprentice - I don’t care what anyone says – I love Donald Trump. I think he is a smart, respectable, business man, who has built a remarkable empire. On The Apprentice, teams battle for the opportunity to become Donald’s newest apprentice through a series of group tasks.  On this show, you’ll watch different personalities handle ambiguous situations and race against the clock to complete their tasks. I’ve watched this show for a number of years; some seasons being better than others. Right now, the show is running “Celebrity Apprentice”. This season, you’ll see how the same business principles apply to both celebrities and the average Joe.

So c’mon entrepreneurs - turn off the American Idol and turn on these!

Do you blog?

Yes? :
Great. Disregard this post.

No? :
Get one up. Right now.

Why should you be blogging? There are a variety of reasons.

Make friends - I started my blog in 2009. Since then, I’ve established both professional and personal connections. From people stumbling across my blog in Google, to building relationships with those I interact with on Twitter, my blog has been a great platform for discussion. As often times bloggers write about the things they enjoy, you can easily find others with similar interests. Like to cook? Great! There are thousand of cooking blogs. Like to fish? Great – There are hundreds of fishing blogs. New friends are awaiting!

Improve your writing - To be able to convey your thoughts concisely and eloquently is a great skill for any professional field. Communication happens within any chosen career path – blogging can help you achieve your optimal writing. Since I’ve been blogging, I’ve felt my writing drastically improve. Additionally, the speed of my writing has dramatically increased. Looking back to my first real post – it was absolute garbage. After blogging for a few years, I feel more confident in my writing abilities.

Find Work With Your Blog - With content management systems like WordPress, you can inexpensively create a beautiful website. Not only does blogging allow your resume to shine in an interview, but it adds credibility to your own personal brand. In the past, I have been hired because employers liked my blog. Sure, my blog incorporates the occasional bit of profanity and craziness – but that’s okay, that’s me! I’ve specifically been hired because others have said things along the lines of : “We could use some of your crazy in our business!”

It’s YOURS - With a blog, you can write about whatever you choose. To be able to freely express your thoughts is liberating. Writing allows you to think critically and develop more in-depth opinions about any given subject.

Teach Others – One of the most gratifying parts of blogging is when someone chooses to comment and discuss your post. Discussion spurs great ideas and allows you to learn from opposing viewpoints. With a blog, you’re initiating the conversation. As analytic information is readily available, it’s neat to see the things people type into Google only to land upon your page. You’re providing the Internet with answers – what could be cooler than that?

Improve SEO for Your Website - Having new and relevant content on a website is important to effectively boost your search engine optimization results. For increasing traffic to a business website or building a personal presence, blogging can help bump you up in Google.

So did you take my advice and get one up? No?

C’mon go sign up now! If you need any help along the way, let me know!

Over the past two quarters, I’ve been enrolled in a class at the University of Washington called Creating a Company. The premise of the class is running a start-up. During this experience, I’ve learned a lot – both professionally and personally with my group’s start-up Continuing Minds.

Typically, I sit through my college classes bored and disengaged. Reiterating useless facts and being talked to from a pedestal during lecture has failed to offer me the learning experience I had been craving since enrolling in post-secondary education. I can wholeheartedly say that I’ve learned more about myself in the Creating a Company class than in any other university class I have experienced. As the Creating a Company class is based upon real world application and interaction, I was able to learn business skills that aren’t taught within the typical class room setting.

From learning how to cold call, to learning about how create financial reports, I now feel more confident in any entrepreneurial endeavor I may choose to undertake in the future.
Professionally and personally, I feel this class has aided in my development to a much larger extent than I had anticipated. My three big take always from the class are as follows:

• Having a big ego is unflattering
• Other people can’t read your mind
• Planning is key

Having a Big Ego is Unflattering:
I’ll come right out and say it. I’m bull headed. Completely bull headed and at times can be pretty arrogant. I always think I’m right, I know best, and that I know what I’m doing. This class basically helped me fall flat on my ass, which is something I was in desperate need of. Through a few failed marketing campaigns and team arguments, I learned that I don’t know everything, I don’t always know best, and often times I have no idea what I’m doing. Even though the class concludes, I’ll carry this lesson with me for the rest of my life.

Other People Can’t Read Your Mind:
I generally keep my emotions pretty closed off. I refrain from telling people I’m upset and often times let raw emotions bottle up for months. In terms of talking about how I’m feeling, I just don’t do it. Feelings are a sign of weakness! – Or so I thought.

Something I learned from my group was that talking about feelings CAN be acceptable in business. After a few tense arguments at group meetings, one of my teammates suggested a great idea: a check in and check out. Before and after each meeting, we go around and say how we are feeling. To stop for a second and actually think about how I was feeling has helped me more than I could have imagined. Other people can’t read your mind to know when you’re upset about what is happening within the business. You have to speak up and tell them. I’m glad to finally learn this.

Planning is Key:
Going into the business, I would tell my team things like “Pfff, I don’t need a plan!” “Let’s just stop talking and do it!” Usually, I do things on a whim, make snap decisions, and I do most things without planning. The CAC class called for planning and strategic thinking. I thought I didn’t need any of this. Guess who was wrong? What did I learn about plans?

I learned that marketing takes time, research, and patience. As a person who wants instant gratification, this concept was hard for me to grasp. Fully understanding your customers will allow you to serve them better ultimately leading to a better business overall. I now understand this.

The Future:
In the future, I plan to continue down a path of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is in my blood and I can’t wait to see what endeavors the future may hold. This class presented me with a tool kit and many lessons that I can draw upon with anything I may choose to partake in over future years. Thanks CAC and John Castle! Best class at the University of Washington.

Continuing Minds will be continuing! — Stay Tuned

I often times find myself explaining the different ways a person can engage with others on Twitter. Professional networking, making friends, learning about different topics and so forth. A common question that always comes up during Arianna’s little Introduction to Twitter explanation is always :

“Hey, so should I follow back everyone that follows me?”

Read the rest of this entry →