The Raw Potato: Recent Episodes
Two Smol Potatoes
Follow two hapless serial "entrepreneurs" as they try to figure out how to start a neighbour-help-neighbour business called Smolpotato – right in the midst of a pandemic.
One of us wasn't taking it too well this week. And it wasn't Tasha.
Not only were we far too busy for far too long, but all that effort and non-stop work had resulted in shrinking user numbers on Smolpotato. In this episode we ponder what happened.
Then before the week ended, we finally found a way to bring in large numbers of users to the platform with very little cost, our usage numbers shot up and we ended the week in a high.
One of our listeners asked us what's our business model, so this podcast is a reply to that. We also talk about how buying hyper-local from neighbours can help us cut down on our use of single use plastics.
Our first volunteer! Woohoo! We were a little shocked and very grateful.
We stopped Facebook ads in protest to Facebook's policies on violent speech.
And we spent some time wondering if we've lost our neighbourliness.
Luckily we're not VC funded, and we're not pressured to grow 10X every month. And because we're not, we can spend personal time to build personal relationships with the smol potatoes around us. In this episode, we walk through what we've been doing when it comes to marketing, and how, with sustained effort, we've managed to cross the road slowly, like a snail, but happy, and in 1 piece.
It's stressful to be an entrepreneur, especially when you're starting up. You'll first lose a million hairs before you ever become a millionaire.
The uncertainty, the never-ending question of, "When's my next pay check?" The feeling that there's so much to do, but so little time. And the problems! Gosh the problems. Employee problems, customer problems, payment problems. They're never-ending. How do entrepreneurs take these problems in stride? How do they enjoy the journey in spite of the problems?
In this podcast I'll give you a few mental tricks to keep yourself, and the people around you sane. And allow you to have some fun along the way.
It's been more than a month of non-stop work. The 90-hour work weeks were starting to take its toll on us. Short fuses coupled with a dramatic reduction of users over the weekend meant one thing – we started to bite off each other's heads. In the end we stopped short of killing each other, and learned a thing or two about becoming better partners.
Right after stumbling on the idea for a neighbour-help-neighbour platform. Tasha could barely sleep, while I slept like a baby.
In the weeks after getting the idea for Smolpotato, we were filled with a roller coaster of self-doubt, disappointment and ultimately surprise and determination. And with burnout looming on the horizon, another couples/business partner fight was bound to happen...
Must getting business ideas be an eternal struggle? No not really. Not when you leverage the most powerful of human emotions – empathy. But neither of us had empathy, not when the world was crumbling around us and when everyone was panic buying toilet paper.
This is the first ever episode of the Raw Potato podcast, an "Oh my God what just happened?" version of how you can start a business and change the world. In this podcast, we follow two hapless serial "entrepreneurs" who's trying to figure their way around starting a business in the midst of a pandemic.