Getting Down to the Ground off the ground

Forgive the pun.

It is a struggle to found a business. To quote a recent New Yorker article "failed entrepreneurs tend to start from scratch." I charge to you, however, that this will indeed prove to be a successful enterprise. The market exists (300 million cups a day in the United States alone!), the will exists, and the low upfront costs of a web based hobby business certainly exist.

it looks like d2tg will miss the March 1st self imposed deadline for becoming a fully fledged website, but we have something up with the blogs and footwork being done. 'tis only a matter of time, my friends, until d2tg launches, complete with blogs, podcasts, short story contests, and all sorts of fabulous things.

We are working on finishing the template for the website, all the while adding blog posts and researching coffee. It is a work in progress, but it is indeed "in progress."

On a personal note, I totally just won 12 dollars playing texas hold em, which means we are 12 dollars closer to paying for the hosting of an online store.

The Way Your Not Supposed to DIY an Online Business

So much of learning is making a mistake and learning not to repeat the error. Case in point, one should not DIY (do-it-yourself) an entire online business with an in progress bachelors in political science and no business experience.

To lay out the business strategy for downtotheground.com, we buy an Idiot's Guide to starting an online business, purchase Adobe Creative Suite 4, think of a cool domain name, and desperately hope that creativity and perseverance take us the rest of the way.

I mean, there is some talent and good opportunity available to us as we start this venture- we have writers in New York City, New Orleans, Italy and France. We have a knowledge of global coffee culture that extends from Ghana and Brazil to Finland and Australia. We have several witty, talented writers who make for a good read, and we have a vision of a digital coffee shop which currently does not exist and for which there is a market. So its not shooting in the dark...at least not completely.

Probably the best thing we have going for us is the simple and sheer love of coffee. We have our reasons, some love the taste, others love the effects of caffeine, and still others love the social atmosphere of a coffee break, like a less cancerous cigarette attraction, if you will.

So maybe the adventure of getting to an up and running a digital coffee shop will be as entertaining and engaging as the finished product, who knows, but I hope you stick around for the ride.

Thanks,

-Nicholas

First Post

Welcome to the world of common coffee critic blogging! Join me as I taste different coffee shops, coffee cultures, and cups of joe from around the world.