Buy Local Wrap Up – The Virtuous Cycle

The biggest impact thus far of this project has not just been adding to my restaurant portfolio.  As I mentioned in Week 3, I’m invested and, as such, I’m entering the virtuous cycle of becoming even more invested in my community and the success of everyone in it. This may seem like a nice, socially beneficial outcome, and it is.  When I heard that the latest round of budget cuts by the city council included the grant for a buy local program to be sponsored by the local chamber of commerce, I couldn’t believe the lack of forethought.  Cutting a program that puts money back into the local economy because, well, there isn’t enough money is not my idea of a well-considered decision.  

The change in personal behaviour an initiative like this can engender may seem small, but there are people out there counting on the collective behavior to change entire cities and even entire states. Some good examples have come out of Michigan lately. You don’t need live in Michigan to feel their pain. I’ve been there and have some good friends from Flint too. (GM used to employ 100,000 people in Flint. Today, the entire company does not employ that many people.) These are serious times for ALL the people who live there and billions of dollars in bailout money are not coming their way. That is why I was interested to hear about  statewide, regional and city buy local programs.  The statewide campaign, Buy Michigan Now (Note: not an advertisement to Canada), has already demonstrated success keeping business owners optimistic. The second is a regional program promoting farmers in Northwest Michigan, including how to get those harvests in local schools.  The last program, focused on Detroit, is even more interesting to me because, at a time when investment capital is fleeing the state and Detroit in particular, the people behind the project with the working name LoFi are looking to launch a business. Their concept is a loyalty card that will encourage consumers to patronize Detroit businesses. These guys have a hill to climb but I’m sure I’m not the only one crossing my fingers that they get the cash they need to prove you can start a successful business, today, in Detroit.  Consumers are starting to notice these programs too.  Could Michigan be a lab for how to help consumers make more deliberate choices?

Can I get every single thing I need in my neighborhood?  No.  While Capitol Hill is great for variety and uniqueness, there are things we are sorely missing.  For instance, I’ve never seen so many exercisers in one concentrated area, yet there is not a single place to buy a serious pair of running shoes.  If the choice is between seeing a movie at the broke down theater in Union Station and not seeing one at all …. well, lets just say I have some new releases to catch up on.  (Thanks to CHAW and the Capitol Riverfront we still get to appreciate the big screen.)  Our one and only television fizzled out in June so its been a TV-free summer since the options at Radio Shack are rather limited.    More than anything, it would be amazing to have more clothing retailers.  If you’re under 3, your options are improving.  For the rest of us, variety comes with a trip downtown or to a Virginia mall.  I was heartbroken when the adorable shop on E & 10th, SE closed a couple of years ago and there hasn’t been anything else comparable since.  I’d gladly trade a gaggle of dry cleaners and a hair salon or two for some great places to refresh my wardrobe.  The worst part?  It isn’t like we don’t have the right demographics for these things.  With an average household income of $82k, we could stand to have a running store, you know?

So now that my experiment is done, I’ve learned that it isn’t exactly over.  Shopping locally has made a big improvement in my quality of life — less time in the car or on metro, more time getting to know the businesses in my area and the people who make them tick.  Plus, a month is really quite short.  There are so many things I didn’t get to — the theater and a dance class to name two — that I think I’ll be occupied with this for a bit longer.  As I’ve seen and read more about buy local I’ve also come across some interesting ideas I’d like to try out so stay tuned, there could be more blog worthy anecdotes coming your way …  but for now, I’m off my soap box.

Buy Local: Week 2 Wrap-Up

Mary McLeod Bethune statue in Lincoln Park

The most important thing I’ve come to realize the past two weeks? Lincoln Park and Eastern Market make a huge contribution to my quality of life.

I was not totally unaware of this before. I have a dog which, in my neighborhood, means visiting Lincoln Park at least once a day. If one were to name a hub of Capitol Hill it would certainly be Eastern Market. However, by removing all my other non-local options and forcing myself into the mindset of relying exclusively on local outlets, I’ve become acutely aware of two things: first that they not only meet but also satisfy my needs, for which I am increasingly grateful; and second, I am very invested in decisions and actions that impact them.

Case in point: the Hine school redevelopment. I sort of knew that the prime Pennsylvania Ave. parcel of land this now closed middle school sits on would be redeveloped soon, but my opinion didn’t go much further beyond happiness that there would be some new retail options in a couple of years. Now that I’ve spent so much time seeking out the food and fun I need to keep myself sated and occupied (and, as a side benefit, doing it mostly by bicycle), I’ve gained a more nuanced appreciation for the unique personality of all the little pockets of homes and businesses in the area. Wherever I’ve lived, I’ve always been interested in the people — always known the neighbors and such — but now I’m much more interested in the community that comes from the interaction between neighbors and local commerce. So when I saw sketches of one Hine plan that had the name of an urban, trendy clothing store sketched in, my reaction was almost visceral. Where previously I may not have cared so much, now I was moved to action. There is no question Capitol Hill needs more clothing and furniture stores, but from what I see, we are more suited to unique businesses like the U Street model, not the big chains of downtown or Georgetown. This topic is being discussed throughout the neighborhood right now (including City Paper, interesting perspective from this blog, and this one, and loads of others) and can get rather heated so I’m not wading into any specific discussions here. My point is, before I would have probably been happy knowing a big, empty building on a prime spot would be redeveloped. Now, though I’m not so much gearing up for battle like some, I am invested enough to have submitted comments to the city along with a couple of fellow business owners.

Back to the task at hand …. In terms of goings on, during Week 2 I managed to entice a couple of friends to skip the downtown lunch scene and visit some of my favorite local spots. I have always been fascinated by the impact of circles of influence, and these two trips are perfect examples of how it can work. As a customer, I’m really a finite resource. I only have so much disposable income to spend, and only a small portion of that disposable income goes to lunch and an even smaller portion of that is spent at a particular restaurant. BUT, if I introduce people from my circle of influence to my favorite spots, then the impact of my tiny sliver of disposable income at a particular shop can suddenly become limitless because it is added to my friend’s who will then bring in people from her circle.

From taylordeli.wordpress.com

The particular beneficiaries of my circle of influence this week were Taylor Gourmet Deli on H Street NE and A. Litteri’s off of Florida at 517 Morse Street NE. In the case of Taylor, my friend was so

Litteri's Calendar from litteris.com

impressed that she took a delivery menu back so they can use it next time her office orders food for a meeting. So Me + My Friend + My Friend’s Office = more $$ and word of mouth for Taylor. Litteri’s was introduced to me by my neighbors, who order from them for at least one Michigan football tailgate party at their house each season. This also led to us using them for a party we co-hosted. So now the benefit to Litteri’s is My Neighbor’s Tailgate + Our Party + Me + My Friend. Our choices and recommendations make us more influential than we realize.

There were also some great meetings and chats during Week 2 with other business owners who work at home and, like me, need to get out of the house once in a while, so we took advantage of the comfy chairs at SOVA (where I interviewed a local designer for an upcoming post on The Hill is Home) and the centralized convenience of Port City Java, Tunnicliff’s (twice in one day for me!) and Peregrine Espresso. I also had a fantastic time at the Capitol Riverfront 80s Summer Movie Series, at Tingey Plaza behind the new Dept of Transportation and near the baseball stadium. Perhaps the biggest local move I made during Week 2 was switching my internet service. I ditched Verizon and am now with DC Access. After weeks of awful service from Verizon, it was a relief to move my business to a company just a few blocks away. I see the owners in the neighborhood and the same person returns my messages when I call or email. +Sigh+ It is such a nice change.

It was quite a busy week. But if you’re interested in reading more, check out my posts for The Hill is Home on Hill spots that made the Washingtonian Best Of list for the summer and a local small businessman looking for ways to grow his business so he can provide jobs for local youth.

WILFMC #4: Pay Attention to the Small Things

What I Learned From My Contractor: A Series About the Client-Provider Relationship
Fourth in a series of 10. For background see the introduction.

Now is probably a good time to mention that I’m NOT getting anything from H3 Renovations for writing this series. That crown moulding in the living room that didn’t make it into the budget? Still not there, and probably won’t be for a while. I was simply perplexed with the dichotomy between my home renovation experience and the usually disastrous experience you hear about. Often overlooked, I think Carlos proves how important operational discipline is to managing a successful project with a happy client.

Now that’s out of the way ….

Part of installing central air conditioning was putting an air handler in our attic. For this to happen, we needed to cut a hole in the ceiling at the front of the house big enough to fit the air handler and convenient enough for maintenance. A side benefit of this was, for the first time, we would have access to our attic for storage because they would be installing a set of fold-down stairs. I cannot stress what a big deal this is. When you live in an urban area you make tradeoffs. I can walk or ride a bike to most anywhere I need to go on a daily basis, my “front yard” is a 2 square block park maintained by the National Park Service and I never have to sit in traffic for an hour just to get to and from work. In return, I find strange objects in my front garden, I collect parking tickets and the idea of storage space is a complete myth. That is to say, if the crew leader, Ricardo, cut a hole in the bedroom ceiling with a pair of dull scissors I would not have even noticed, I’d be so happy just to have the extra space.

Now you can understand why I was surprised to see the attic access and stairs redone not once, but twice. The first time had to do with the trim — I never actually saw what was wrong, I was so blinded by my eagerness I totally missed it. The second time the entire apparatus had to be removed and repositioned. At that point we actually discussed chucking the whole thing and starting over because of an issue with our existing ceiling (again, its an old house so you never know what you’ll find). Ultimately the second time was a charm and now all our suitcases, camping equipment and other assorted items that had once been in the scary basement were relocated to the new penthouse suite.

At the time, my only opinion about this process can be summarized in one word: hurry. We were near the end of the project and beyond the end of my patience with having the house in disarray. Having this task finished meant I would have some space to start putting things away and restoring order to my surroundings. Honest to goodness, I couldn’t see what was wrong and was probably ready to overlook anything in order to mark this task as finished. But Carlos was insistent. They were small things — a seam in the trim, a narrow gap in the access door — but he wanted them fixed. And he was absolutely right. Now that been a couple of months, I know those little things would have driven me crazy. As part of the first phase of the project, I had all the mouldings and door & window casings changed so that they matched because the fact that they didn’t was my #1 pet peeve. Yep, it was on the list above “no central air conditioning”. So though the issues with the attic were small things, getting them right made a big difference.

Up next: Be upfront with your opinions.

Buy Local: Week 1 Wrap Up

My first week of going local was a short one so here’s a brief recap:

- Spent lots of time at the newly opened Eastern Market picking up veggies from the Calomiris family and meat from Union and Canales. Also managed to get everything I needed for my contribution to a long weekend for 7 on the Eastern Shore. We had quite the car load but, if I wasn’t going to be on Capitol Hill for the holiday weekend, I did my best to take the Hill with me.

- I made it to Results Gym for a workout but managed to spend more time at Lincoln Park when the weather was nice (and when the dog got antsy).

- Went to an amazing Nationals game – yes, it really was a good one – where we held the lead over Atlanta through the entire game. We got there early enough to watch the first four innings from a nice rail-side seat on the Red Porch. It was a great way to end the weekend.

Something I didn’t expect? Having my tens of readers know just how often I skip going to the gym in the morning. This will definitely be a motivator. I also have a couple of doctor visits coming up. We’re going to draw the privacy line there, but rest assured, I also stay loyal to my neighborhood whenever possible when it comes to medical care. I’m also already making my list of “things we need”. At the top right now? A movie theater that doesn’t make you cringe.

Regrets thus far are trifling. I didn’t include Langston Golf Course in my boundaries, so I guess it’ll be a while before I get the clubs out. The big one is missing out on the Washington Kastles. Last year was an amazing experience being right in the middle of the city watching some great tennis. The stadium has an intimate set up, so you’re up close to all the players — miles closer than the seats you can get for Labor Day weekend at the US Open. I may have to take a hiatus … or wait for Legg Mason.

Week 2 preview: delicious sandwiches at Taylor Gourmet, and a trip to SOVA with some fellow business owners from my own street.

Buying Local: 31 Days on Capitol Hill

As promised, from today until the end of July I’m conducting my very own social and financial experiment: doing all of my shopping, eating and playing in my Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Here’s how it will work: I am committed to spending the next month getting everything I need from the local area. When I started thinking about doing this, the first question I had to answer for myself was: What is Capitol Hill? That’s a big question but, seeing as how this is a buy local initiative and not an existential discussion, I had to make some choices. So, here are my boundaries:

West: North/South Capitol Street; East: RFK stadium
North: Florida/Benning Avenue; South: Southeast waterfront

It will be my goal to get anything and everything I need within these parameters. Sound easy? We will see. Looking prospectively at my calendar, I have a couple of lunches, some work meetings and a baseball game lined up already, which should be a breeze. There are a few trips to the beach on the horizon so I’m working out a plan to get all the food, drink and other necessary supplies for a weekend in the sun from my friendly local businesses ahead of time My challenges: avoiding a restaurant rut and finding good hostess gifts for those ubiquitous summertime backyard BBQs that are sure to pop up. So, if you have some suggestions that will help out in those areas, please share!

At this point you may be asking yourself “why bother”? One reason is simply the challenge of finding new ways to get what I need. Another is to get to know this area again — I’ve lived here for 8 years, but the neighborhood has grown and changed dramatically, especially in the last couple of years so its time to take a look with fresh eyes. Last, but not least, is that I’m a big believer in supporting my local community. There’s a statistic that buying locally keeps your money circulating three times longer in the local economy. If I’m investing my resources already, I should see more of a benefit by spending those resources locally.

Follow my experiment via daily updates on Twitter (@SCLinDC) and weekly recaps on the blog. Check in, tell me how I’m doing and share your favorite spots on the Hill!

WILFMC: #3 Be hands on, then establish an equilibrium

What I Learned From My Contractor: A Series About the Client-Provider Relationship
Third in a series of 10 on the provider-client relationship. For background see the introduction.

Our project, while not a total gut and rehab, was still rather extensive. It didn’t start with the centerpiece project (the bathroom), rather it started in one room downstairs and moved methodically from there. Even though the project started with smaller jobs (building a coat closet, finishing off a partial wall and doing some electrical work), Carlos dropped in every day and did a walk through with me. He reviewed what the crew had done, what they were planning for the next day, we discussed any unexpected things that had come up, he answered all my questions and, on occasion, gave me a to do list.

There are very obvious benefits here: I’m included in the process, empowered to ask questions and we’re fine-tuning our communication. Let’s take this one step further in the chain, though. If you’re working with a client, it is immeasurably important to keep that client happy. But also don’t forget that client has a boss and that person is likely not involved in the day-to-day and knows much less about what’s going on, so taking this approach helps your client look good to the boss too. Though I don’t think my husband would consider himself my boss, he was the other principle in this transaction, but was much less involved in the daily decisions. When he’d come home at the end of the day, I’d give him the same walk through Carlos gave me, tell him any conclusions we’d come to regarding questions on the fly and gave him a chance to provide input on any outstanding questions. The result: he felt knowledgeable and included in the process, he understood why we were making certain decisions and didn’t ever feel caught off guard. Surprises are great for birthdays. They aren’t good when you’re spending a not-insignificant portion of your income on your home.

By the time we got to the centerpiece — the bathroom — we had a well-established working relationship. The project was rolling and we had a shared vision. We still had regular conversations, but daily discussions were no longer necessary. Now walkthroughs were every few days and we talked more about what would be happening over the course of the next week instead of the next day.

Alternatively, if you start hands-off, you may find yourself experiencing this process in reverse. Something goes wrong, communication isn’t strong, the working relationship isn’t good … then you’re forced to be more hands on, and now you’re digging out of a hole. Similar to the first post in this series, it is much easier to spend the time up front than to try and backtrack later.

Up next: Pay attention to the small things.

WILFMC: #2 Have a Higher Standard

What I Learned From My Contractor: A Series About the Client-Provider Relationship
Second in a series of 10 on the provider-client relationship. For background see the introduction.

I like to make lists. Not because I’m organized but because I like the feeling of checking things off and moving on.

We had a partial wall, about waist high, in the entryway and planned to finish it off by building on top of the existing wall and going all the way to the ceiling. One morning I left the house after admiring my newly-finished and freshly painted wall. When I came home later, Carlos had ripped a HUGE hole in the drywall near the bottom. What?! It was finished and we were moving on to other projects! Then he showed me: there was already a crack in the paint at the height of the old wall. He opened up the bottom – the original wall – and found that when it was initially built, the carpenter had put the studs too far apart. Now the old wall was unable to support the weight of the new wall. He fixed the previous, sub-par, work then patched the cracks, repainted and everything is as good as new. Which is nice since it is … brand new.

This scenario repeated itself over and over. When you are pulling down walls in a 100+ year old house, you find all kinds of surprises. We’d caucus as things came up and where a cosmetic fix would work, that’s what we went with. But when Carlos saw something that needed more attention, he made sure I knew. His mantra was that his reputation was on the line and he didn’t want to come back to fix something in two months that should have been done right the first time.

Up next: Be hands on, then establish an equilibrium

WILFMC: #1 Listen Closely and Be Clear

What I Learned From My Contractor: A Series About the Client-Provider Relationship
First in a series of 10 on the provider-client relationship. For background see the introduction.

This cannot be said enough. It is human nature: people don’t notice when things go right but they always notice when things go wrong. When working with clients, spend the time – however painstaking or tedious – to listen, ask the tough questions and clearly define the scope of work. Misunderstandings are so very easy to come by.

Language is a common place where clarity can be a challenge. When I said: “Paint all the baseboards white”, to me, the decision had been made. To my contractor, I’d done nothing to help him because he knows (and I learned) there are about 100 shades of white and 50 of them are virtually indistinguishable. Add a dash of patience to those listening skills, though, and things can improve even more. This was especially important when I was trying to decide between two contractors at the end of the bidding process. It was important that I got as much of an apples to apples comparison between the two options as possible, but everybody has their own way of presenting things. I spent a lot of time thinking about what questions would get to the heart of what I wanted to know and then make sure I was getting it during follow up discussions. An extra bonus? If either of the contractors I interviewed showed frustration or wasn’t responsive, then the decision was made all the more easy. Fortunately neither did, but it was clear as we continued talking that H3 was not only answering my questions but listening to what I was saying. He understood what I was trying to achieve and offered lots of suggestions for how to meet my goals within budget.

I felt good about the outcome (even though, ultimately, I had to increase my budget a bit) and Carlos got major credibility points. It was a great way to start a big project. This skill isn’t wasted on smaller projects either. Getting off on the right foot like this helps build loyalty for repeat business and referrals.

Up next: Have a Higher Standard

What I Learned From My Contractor: In the beginning ….

Know anybody who has renovated their house? If you do, I’m sure you have heard an earful. Over budget, missed deadlines, incomplete work … the list goes on. If you have been the one renovating, you have probably come home from work wondering what possibly unwelcome surprise awaits you and spent sleepless nights wondering when it would finally be finished. Perhaps this is an exaggeration, but I would wager that 99% of the renovation stories I hear are negative.

So, I asked myself, why have I been so pleased with my experience?

I have spent the last 5 months renovating my house (aka, World Headquarters of Black Lab Advisory, LLC ) and started way before that planning and getting bids. We started later than expected, we spent more than planned … yet I would be hard pressed to say anything negative about the experience. Being who I am, this made me terribly curious. For weeks I observed every aspect of what was going on in my house until I figured it out. It was culture. My contractor, whom you will meet momentarily, established a culture via his operational and management philosophy, that made for a great experience. How he did that will be the subject of the next 10 posts. But before we get started, I’ll set the stage with a little background information.

The House: 1904 Victorian row in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC. Two levels, 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, English basement, street parking, no central A/C, sidewalk garden and small backyard with a deck (and lovely landscaping courtesy of Mr. Black Lab). Bought in 2001, completely renovated the kitchen in 2004 but, aside from smaller projects like the deck, new carpet, paint and refinishing the floors, the house hadn’t undergone a major overhaul since 1988.

The Project: Completely renovate the full bath – new walls and heated floor, tub/shower, add double sink vanity. Upgrade the electrical, install central A/C, upgrade the circa 1950′s Sears oil furnace to natural gas. Move washer and dryer from basement to top floor by building a new closet in the hallway upstairs. Replace drywall in wall and ceiling in two rooms because of a leaky roof; add a coat closet downstairs; replace front, back and interior doors. Plus a million other little things – you never know what you’ll find when you start taking down the plaster walls in a house that is more than 100 years old. Oh, and top it all off with a fresh coat of paint.

The Contractor: H3 Renovations, LLC is owned and operated by Carlos Herrera. Since 2000, H3 has been a residential and commercial general contractor of choice for everything from minor renovations to new construction in DC, Virginia and Maryland. Carlos is a genial entrepreneur who has lead more than one small business. He employs several professionals split into different crews for H3′s various client locations, but he always has the last say on any project.

The Client: Me, a business owner with a home office and someone used to HAVING clients, not being one. I started getting estimates in October 2008; I compared estimates ruthlessly and narrowed my options down to two by December. I then proceeded to pour over the estimates, ask a million questions and negotiate the final project so that we got most of what we wanted and were mostly within our budget. Once I settled on H3 it was early January 2009, so we waited for the Obama inauguration hubbub to subside and then turned our home over to Carlos.

Each of the next 10 posts will highlight what I learned from Carlos and his team at H3 about successfully managing a client relationship. There are no huge revelations here but, though these are simple ideas, I find they are still challenging to execute and, particularly, to execute consistently and in combination with each other. So, I hope this series is enlightening or at minimum entertaining. Even if it isn’t, take solace in the fact that it will be much, much shorter than the renovation itself.

Choose Your Competitors

It may sound strange, but you can, in fact, choose your competitors. Actually, you SHOULD be choosing your competitors. Competition is fierce so it is up to you to shape your own competitive landscape so that the choice is clear for your customer. Sound a bit shady? It shouldn’t — there are many successful models. Two of the most clear and well-known examples? Coke vs. Pepsi and Mac vs. PC.

Coke and Pepsi have been battling it out for decades now, and I guarantee you they wouldn’t have it any other way. There are hundreds of sodas out there — the market is flooded, yet two companies command a vast majority of the market. Forget store brands or small companies like Jones that are just a blip on the soda radar. By choosing to go head-to-head, Coke and Pepsi have relegated everyone else to 2nd tier status. The benefits? Because each company only has to focus resources on one serious competitor, they know EVERYTHING about each other. The battle is fairly cut and dried because the opposing force is right in front of you. No guerrilla attacks or multi-front wars to worry about. Sure, there may be a sneak attack on occasion, but when you’re fighting an enemy that is well understood and evenly matched, the wounds won’t be too serious.

Apple has taken a different approach to defining and choosing its competitors. When you walk into a computer store you may find 6 or 7 major brands to choose from. In differentiating itself from competitors, Apple could try to demonstrate how they’re better than Sony or Dell and be making essentially the same argument they’re making today. Instead, they’ve chosen an Us vs. Them approach. Their television ad campaign for computers is based on this strategy. They’ve portrayed the consumer’s options as choosing between a Mac or everyone else. In this way they’ve collapsed their entire universe of competitors down to one: PC. So now, rather than trying to battle it out with the different brands, one by one, they’ve told the consumer that the choice is really between the fun, dynamic and unique Mac or one of those other guys who are really all the same. In this way they’ve accomplished 2 objectives: dismissing a multi-front hardware war in favor of a single front operating system war and, at the same time, reinforcing their image as a creative lifestyle choice.