The First Vivavi Blog

Before we launched The Lazy Environmentalist website, I kept a blog on the Vivavi website. It chronicled the birth of our company from the day our ecommerce website first launched through our first year of operations. I tried to be as open and honest about my encounters and feelings while we attempted to build something new in this space. Here are some of the early entries. More will be added shortly.

[Wednesday April 14, 2004]
It's 2 a.m. on the morning of launch. First entry. I am wide awake and totally exhausted. I'm filled with anticipation and, admittedly, some dread. The internet beckons and, with it, it's promise of unrivaled potential and the ability to reach people who want what I want - a fantastic, non-compromising lifestyle that is in tune with a clean environment and a healthy society. And why not?

I don’t know what this account will ultimately look like. But I want to give others an honest glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of working to build a company in the eco-design industry. And perhaps, more importantly, of committing every fiber to a venture that I love, a venture that is about who I am, who I want to become, and what can be accomplished when people dare to pursue their dreams.

And even if we crash and burn, tomorrow is launch day. And that's something.

[Thursday, April 15, 2004]
Today I experienced what the internet can do for business. It's incredible to stand (I was too excited to sit) at my desk and access inventory levels via the warehouse's extranet, to monitor the exact time that a pair of shoes was picked from the shelf, packed and shipped to a customer. It's amazing to log on to our virtual authorization terminal and view purchase transactions to check whether they've been verified yet for approval. And then to log on to the content management system built buy our web team at Seer Interactive and view which pages today got the most hits, to make instant changes to website copy, and to stay on top of customer requests for more information. It's like having an operations, finance and editorial team sitting around the same table, instantly responding to customer activity.

I realize I sound like an advertisement for many a defunct dot.com. But several years after the internet bubble burst, technology has gotten cheaper and better. And I believe it empowers startup
companies like ours to offer great service and compete effectively without the usual overhead expenses that used to make it really difficult to get to market and stay afloat.

[Friday, April 16, 2004]
Orders began trickling in today. We've worked through some glitches in getting the website and the warehouse systems to speak to each other. So far so good. Early to bed tonight. Tomorrow I'll be up at five to drive to New York City. I'm showing our lines at the Young Designer's Market in Soho. Should be a good venue for promoting Vivavi and our brands. It's very rewarding to know that we're helping our partner brands grow their businesses by finding new customers for them. It's all about momentum, building and sustaining it with regard to spreading green products into the marketplace.

[Monday, May 31, 2004]
Active leadership is required by all of us if we are to turn this world into a place that we can be proud of. We honor and respect companies that recycle and incorporate organic materials into their products. We encourage those that do not. We send a message through our purchases that business as usual is no longer acceptable. We demand more of ourselves and we demand more of the producers of our products. We realize that the responsibility for our planet lies with each of us. We all make choices. Everyday. Bringing consciousness to those choices is not “new age”; it’s just common sense. Living in a “throw away” society means throwing away our future. It means ducking our responsibility and leaving it to someone else to clean up our mess. We teach our children not to act this way, yet we condone it everyday in ourselves. And that is not cool.

Intelligence. Conscious choice. Action. This is what’s cool. Walking one’s talk is cool. Acting on one’s own convictions is cool. Perseverance is cool.

-- Josh