We suffer more in imagination than in reality – Seneca

Weekly Thoughts

This week lacks any thoughts worth writing about. Instead of trying to force something out of myself, I am going to leave this quote from Seneca;

"We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”

Work-board week of May 13th, 2022

In making tangible goods, I often have weeks or periods where I feel as if no progress is being made. This happens when ideas have entered a sampling phase, which takes considerable time. I think the part of entrepreneurship that isn't displayed much anywhere on social media or online is the ordinary day-to-day work that is necessary but unexciting. I guess it would be administrative, or for me, the sheer numbers of emails, research, and logistical-related work required to make sure that all machine pieces are operating well.

Taking delivery and releasing the Pink Lemonade Pre Workout

From ideation to final release, this process took around 7 months. I am not sure how standard that is when there is a level of R&D involved, but it seems that in the future, we need to speed up the time that it takes to iterate and get a product to the market. Overall this was an exciting step to add a second product to our offering at Minted Health. We are now beginning the ideation stage around a protein powder. I always appreciate feedback from the community, so if you have any ideas, please leave them in this post's comments! (Below was the first truck to go out with your orders on release day)

Final approval of new performance tee's as well as 1/4th zips

We approved a new design set + colorways for the performance tees and 1/4 zips. I am working on expanding colorway options across all products; however, it seems that getting colors correct is an intensive process and generally adds to the need for multiple samples.

Warehouse update

Last week Shawn and I began to unpack and sort through the run club hoodies for the upcoming release. This is quite the undertaking considering the sheer amount of product. I understand the large number of people who voiced their frustration with not being able to get one the first time around, so I made sure to scale the production on these by just over 5x. This should allow more people to get their hands on the product and allow more time between release and selling out of specific sizes if it does happen. We ended up purchasing 12 pallet racks. This will bring much-needed vertical stacking to the warehouse and increase our ability to store and sort goods faster while maintaining a more intelligent and efficient workflow.

Sunglasses

Unfortunately, I do not have the sample of these frames in hand (they are actually slated to be delivered to me today at the end of the day). I am proud of these, even without seeing them. There was a significant learning curve when learning about how frames are made and all the small details required to make a solid frame. Also, sourcing a manufacturer that I could trust with the vision and craftsmanship was not easy, and I learned early on that handmade will be the best way forward since it allows the most control over the details. These samples were made by hand in Japan. I will update with pictures in next week's post.

Rings

I know that rings have been requested for a while now. We finally have finished samples that are being sent over from Italy. I have included a picture of what they look like right now. They are rough, unpolished, and mainly to approve size and shape. Nonetheless, there is progress being made. I believe we will be using emerald (or synthetic emerald) in one of the rings depending on the price discrepancy (knowing full well that natural vs. synthetic is a drastic difference in costing).

Training

This week's training block was a 4-mile increase over the week prior (53 miles with 5 lifts):

1. Monday: Rest (Lift - Push)

2. Tuesday: 10 Miles Aerobic (Lift - Pull)

3. Wednesday: 5 Miles Aerobic (Lift - Legs)

4. Thursday: 12 Miles Endurance (Lift - Push)

5. Friday: 4 Miles Recovery (Lift - Pull)

6. Saturday: 8 Miles Threshold (No Lift)

7. Sunday: 14 Miles Endurance (No Lift)

14-mile long run to cap off the week. First time running with the weather above 70 and high humidity. I was certainly feeling it the last 3 miles. It will take some getting used to, and I specifically remember thinking to myself (around mile 13.2) that I have a lot of ground to cover before this NYC marathon. While daunting, a part of me welcomes the struggle I have coming my way.

Articles I found interesting this week:

DeepMind: A Generalist Agent

Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy (2008)