will i make it to yelp elite status?

Different topic today. The joys of the online world. Here's my brief history. Was majorly addicted to AOL back in the day with our first home computer, the IBM PS1 (1991-1997). Did lots of ICQing and Friendster in college (speaking of which - they've gotten quite the face lift! http://www.friendster.com/). 2006 signed up for MySpace while traveling a whole bunch when I worked for KPMG. Even went on a date with a cute Cornell guy that found me on it. 2007 quit MySpace. In the meantime, picked up Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/arry.shin). Got really hooked on the whole poking and superpoking bit. Puahahaha. I threw a sheep at you and then bitch-slapped you. Puahahahaha. Now I share hot chocolate and tickle you. *wink* 2009 gave Twitter a try (@ArryinSeattle). Five months later, I'm still on it. 2010.... Yelp (http://arry.yelp.com). Yes, Yelp.

Notice all the links I'm putting into the blog? I have heard that it's a good practice in the world of blogging, so making an effort to do that.

Back to Yelp. I've always (and I mean always) enjoyed food and dining out. I think when I first moved to Seattle and had access to real adult money, spent like $2,000-2,500/month on eating out (with my boyfriend at the time). Yes... we ate REALLY well. Always thought how nice it would be to put together a list of the good and bad of restaurants. Thought about Yelp - but back then, it just seemed like a bunch of nerdy folks on it and way too much effort. Fast forward a buncha years, I'm on Yelp as of January, 2010 (actually, created the account the last week of December 2009).

Now check it out - the whole experience draws you in. Quite fascinating, really. My Yelp mentors or inspirations are Eugene (@euginis) and Henry (@itshenry) - both of whom are Elite members (and more on that shortly). You sign up for your account and Yelp prods you on to be real, share because "sharing is caring", put up pictures, fill out a profile that gives your online persona character... Feng shui your profile and create lists. You add a couple reviews for kicks and all of a sudden you get compliments and votes on your reviews. My first fan, too... Wow... drinking the Kool-Aid; drinking the Kool-Aid.

Now the Yelp Elites. You gotta have personality. They say post at least 30 or so reviews before I'll even have a shot at Elite. I hit 31 reviews today, yay! You gotta use your real name - stand by your words/reviews. You gotta have your picture up. You gotta have friends (which I have zero of). Sad. You gotta have fans and compliments. You gotta compliment others, too. The kicker is that once you get Elite status - it's like some club for the special ones (eh-hem, "elite"). They get special gifts and parties. Eugene got a cool lunch box. Henry got a silver rubber ducky. There are parties exclusively for Elites (significant others excluded). They get access to cool venues and entertainment... I'm not there yet, but the curiosity is killing me.

So. I'm gonna stick with the Yelp project for a bit and see where this goes. It's been an intriguing experience so far. I can see how the Yelp experience is an enjoyable one - and they've got a zillion loyal members to show it. Don't be shy - feel free to give me advice, feedback, friend me in the world of Yelp!

~Arry
http://arry.yelp.com

which one are you: career woman or a woman with a career?

The dictionary defines a career woman as: "woman is a woman with a career who is interested in working and progressing in her job, rather than staying at home looking after the house and children"
http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-cobuild/career%20woman
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861687171/career_woman.html

Then, what's a woman with a career? I can't seem to find the official definition online - I'd contend that the definition would go something like this: "A woman who is primarily focused on the home and family as her priority, regardless of how successful she may be in her job/career. She prioritizes love, relationships, the family unit above her career.

I'd also modify the official versions of the definitions of a career woman to go more like this: "A woman who is primarily focused on the success of her job/career, over that of the home and family". She is driven and motivated by her own success.

There have been dozens of articles and blog posts about career women - and the fact you ought to avoid these kinds of women, such as: http://www.slate.com/id/2148274/. A lot with strong language about how career women are divorce prone or unable to prioritize in their roles as women first (implying a woman's role is centered around the family and home).

Personally, I tend to agree. If you were to ask me which one I am... I'd say I am a woman with a career. I am passionate for the happiness of those around me (myself included, my family, friends, etc...). A woman (in general) is built to thrive on giving and receiving love - on feelings of want and being needed and appreciated. It is what it is. Women and men = we are different.

~Arry

did you know? part II

One thing that seems to be "common wisdom" about start-ups is this(at least among the young budding entrepreneurs I spend a lot of time with) : 90% of companies fail in the first year. I say, "Really? With odds like that, you still want to start a company?" Of course, failure can be defined in many ways, and one person's failure may be another's success, so it's hard to talk about what the accurate failure rates are. With that caveat, here are some survival rates, according to census data as reported by the SBA:

69% of new firms survive at least 2 years
51% survive at least 5 years

Better than common wisdom, but still somewhat bleak.

Scott Shane's book The Illusions of Entrepreneurship has a great table with more detailed survival info.

-Mina

did you know? part I

Since I come across a lot of studies and statistics on various aspects of entrepreneurship, I thought I would start a series of posts highlighting some of the more interesting ones (me being the judge of what is interesting, of course). To start off, let's start with how important start-ups to the economy.

Number of businesses in the U.S.: 6 million + businesses with employees; 29.7 million self-employed

Size of businesses: 60.9% have <4 employees; 89.7% have < 20 employees; 99.7% have <500 employees

Number of businesses started each year: 649,700 new employer firms (another 2 million struck out on their own) (in 2006)

Number of closures each year: 564,900 (in 2006)

VC money received: In 2007, a little less than $30 billion in VC was given to 3800 firms. Of these, 415 were for seed funding (about .06% of new firms)

Angel money: About 50,000 businesses receive $20-25 billion angel money per year

These numbers are from the SBA, the NVCA and the last number is from a magazine article I read (can't remember the source now).

-Mina

skinny jeans, sex or a promotion?

Just read this short blurb (http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/women-think-fitting-into-old-jeans-is-better-than-sex-or-a-promotion-560381) about a study done by Special K in which 29% of the 2200 women surveyed said that fitting into their "trophy" jeans (jeans women have kept hoping to eventually fit into them) would be better than sex, 29% that it would be better than getting a promotion, 20% that it would be better than winning the lottery and 11% that it would be better than a marriage proposal. Interesting... _Mina