and so it begins…
Welcome! My name is Stephen, affectionately referred to as Uncle Stephen, by my Uncle. My wife, Vanessa, and I are about to begin a journey that many would refer to as “the American dream”, owning our own business. I am very excited because I am an entrepreneur at heart and enjoy making things succeed. Before I go any further let me give you a little history on who we are and why we are here.
Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, I moved to Southern California at the age of 18 to pursue a degree in Advertising. I met Vanessa in California, where we eventually dated and got married. We went a whole 2 month of being newly weds and found out that Vanessa was pregnant (so much for our 5 year plan). We now have a beautiful, strong-willed, lovely daughter, Trinity. Fast forward to now. Vanessa currently stays at home with Trinity, volunteers in the community and is pursuing a degree online in Psychology. I currently work as a Member Experience Architect (think Web Producer for multiple channels such as phone, web, mobile etc) for a Fortune 200 financial services company. I love my job, family, motorcycle (now sold) the Internet and life in general; I would definitely consider myself blessed. However, there is one thing missing. I am an entrepreneur at heart. I want to dream, create and make things successful.
I’ve always had a dream of opening a restaurant, I’m not sure why but I just want to. It’s a good thing I enjoy cooking. Realistically I am not (can’t afford) going to do it now. However, I do make several sauces that I think (of course I do) are the best in their respective category. I would like to begin selling them as a first step to opening a restaurant. This is why I am here. Vanessa and I are putting all the puzzle pieces together to start this company, once and for all.
So what’s this blog and open source business stuff all about?
We would like to invite the entire world to journey with us. I have a strong respect and enthusiasm for the open source methodology and would like to found my company on those principals. An open source business? What does that mean? Well it means the following:
- Everything to do with our business will be open and available to the public (except for the sauce recipes). This means all our decisions, business strategies, financials, successes and failures.
- We accept and encourage feedback from anyone that chooses to journey with us. We will implement things suggested to us, defend our crazy actions and scream for help at any given moment.
Why am I doing this?
- First and foremost, let me make it clear. I want my business to be profitable (I told you I would be transparent). I want to sell enough products to make a living off of it an have it fund future ideas.
- I want to interact with you. I want to hear ideas, I want to learn from you and implement your solutions. This after all is an open source company, isn’t it?
- I want to document a journey in which young entrepreneurs can read our mistakes and successes in years to come. This is a huge motivation for me. As you get to know us better you will learn that both my wife and I are givers. We enjoy giving to people. This is one way to give back to people who want to start their own business. Whether it becomes a success or a failure this journey can equip someone with knowledge.
What do I plan on giving back?
- Vanessa and I will blog as much as possible and be as transparent as possible as our company grows.
- Whether successful or a failure, I will keep this blog up for as long as humanly possible so people can learn from it.
- If I am successful in the venture, I will put aside $15,000.00 to invest in someone else who has a dream. The only condition I will have on the investment will be for them to invest in someone else if they become successful.
- My company will routinely give money to a non-profit organization. If we ever become a large, multi-person operation I will encourage employees to be active in their communities.
OK, I’m done (for now), finally.
I am pretty sure that you now have an understanding of what my intentions are with this business. I hope to interact and read comments from many of you in the up coming months. Until the next post, see ya!
P.S. – The name of the company is Uncle Stephen.
Category: General Communication, Important | Tags: business, communication, open source 8 comments »
March 10th, 2009 at 4:51 PM
Very good! I’m hooked. And will be reading as you grow along.
Danny
March 11th, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Pretty forward thinking Stephen. Having been drawn to your easygoing and generous nature, I love your business model as it reflects you perfectly. I will support you in any way you need me to.
March 11th, 2009 at 7:03 PM
This is great bro! Melea and I are really excited for you guys…
March 12th, 2009 at 12:02 PM
I am so proud of you and Vanessa for coming up with what I think is such a wonderful, unselfish, unique idea for a company. I admire the fact that you are willing to invest in someone else’s dream once they do the same. You are bound to succeed. Keep it simple, keep it transparent and keep dreaming about owning your own restaurant. Everything starts with a dream… Im proud to call you my son!
Mom.
March 14th, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Sounds like a plan Stephen! You are off to a great start man. I know your ambition will carry (and your family) far.
Sign me up for a purchase of your first sauces!
March 31st, 2009 at 7:21 PM
Cool. Now you really have to bbq. No hot dogs or hamburgers for me.
April 24th, 2009 at 2:06 PM
Brilliant Stephen! I’ll be following you closely because I believe this is the future of business.
April 27th, 2009 at 6:47 PM
Thanks for the support, everyone!