- Worked for the food distribution company, Basis, till June 2010.
- Left Basis to go back to the housing non-profit I had worked at before
- Worked there for the last year and a half running a Weatherization Assistance Program funded by the stimulus bill, which ended in the middle of January.
- Now I'm working as a part-time consultant at the non-profit and plotting my next moves.
- There's also been personal stuff like I've been dating a great lady for over a year (new record!), but this is called Odd Job not Odd Personal Life so I won't get into all of that.
And bam, that's where I'm at. For a while my plan was to work as much as possible from now until June then have a summer of traveling in Europe by bicycle. However it seems that I've decided to take a new path: I'm planning on starting my own business providing logistic services for companies connecting area farmers and buyers in NYC. Basically, I think that there are a lot of farmers in this area producing a really great product, and there are a lot of restaurants, cafes, markets, etc. that seem to really want to be able to source locally. There are also a lot of really smart, dedicated, and creative people working to make the connections between the the farmers and the buyers. But what I discovered while working at Basis, and what I think a lot of people who are trying to make this type of thing happen are learning, is that making that connection isn't enough. You still need to get the product from Point A to Point B, and that's a lot harder than it sounds.
My goal is to provide all the people who really want to see local products become commonplace in our markets and restaurants a way of physically moving that product between the farms and the city. I'm going to be starting small, but I'm excited and think that this really may have some legs. I've never really considered myself the entrepreneurial type, and I don't know if I'm the most business savvy person in the world, but I'm ready to put my all into making this happen (and now that I've declared it on the internet, I really have to do it!) Over the next few months I'll be figuring out how to raise money for start-up costs and short-term general operating, trying to construct a more long-range business plan and figure out some long-term funding options, and hopefully I'll get my act together enough to continue to document it all here. Oh, and if anyone who reads this knows someone who has a lot of money and is super-excited about investing in new businesses that will be supporting local food networks, hook it up.xo,
mj
