I am finally severing the ties between my personal blog and my venture – RunMyErrand.com. it is time. As noted in the November 2008 entry, Remy. Unleashed, I hijacked my personal blog for almost a year, and wrote mostly about RunMyErrand. This completely worked, because this company is all I eat, sleep, drink, and breathe. The very exciting thing about now is …. there are many more people involved with RunMyErrand, and I want to give them a way to share their voice and stories with you as well.
Check out the new RunMyErrand Community Blog, feeding into the main RunMyErrand.com website! You’ll hear from Senders, Runner, Interns, Advisors, Employees, and other contributors. LAB Unleashed will be back to more of a personal perspective on life, business, happenings, and of course, our large yellow lab, Kobe.
We have had a blustery, snowy, winter already and it is barely January. The last big storm we had lasted for 3 days and dumped about 18 inches of light fluffy snow across the city. We’ve got another big one on the way this weekend … so hunker down, Boston! I for one do not mind these transformations into a winter wonderland, but its probably because I am not the one shoveling outside! With RUNmyERRAND’s network, of vetted, local Errand Runners … you too can enjoy the snow without the shoveling! The last storm we had Sender Elon B. was away in sunny San Diego, while the rest of us were getting dumped on here in Boston. There was no way Elon could get his car shoveled out while 3,000 miles away, until now … using RUNmyERRAND.com! Elon posted an errand entitled "Dig Out!!!" and 10 minutes later fellow resident and snow loving Errand Runner, Truc T., grabbed Elon’s posting and went to work! This is a great example of a problem that had no good solution until RUNmyERRAND came along. So even if you are not away in sunny San Diego this weekend, save yourself some time, and outsource that large shoveling job coming your way!! Cars, driveways, sidewalks …. post your errands and get your shoveling done!
Kicking off on December 1st, is our very special Holiday Drive! I had a big idea last weekend, that the way the site works is pretty unique … Senders posting things, Runners doing them. It hit me that to be able to leverage this functionality to facilitate holiday giving would be pretty fantastic! I collaborated with one of our Runners, Rick R, who helped me get a list of items needed a one of our two local area shelters – CASPAR (Cambridge). The other shelter we are supporting is the McLaughlin House at the YMCA in Charlestown. Each shelter is unique in that they each service a wide range of people … men, women, and even children. Its nice to have this variety, because the list of donations needed is not limited to only a couple items. Warm winter clothes are needed at both shelters, but kid’s toys and books are specifically needed at the YMCA. While Men’s winter jackets and sweaters are needed at CASPAR.
We’ve made it really easy to participate in this Holiday Drive! You don’t even have to leave your computer to make a donation … how cool is that?! Simply log on to the site …
- Choose an item you would like to donate
- Have a Runner pick that item up from you, or sponsor a Runner to make the purchase for you
- The Runner will then carry out the donation to one of the two shelters
Its that simple! For instance, if someone would like to donate a new, unwrapped, toy for the kids at the YMCA, they would post an errand to have a Runner purchase the toy, and make the delivery directly to the McLaughlin House. The Sender and Runner would not even need to meet the in person, and the Sender would then just reimburse the Runner online for the toy purchase.
Besides the item donation, a portion of each Runner fee will also be donated as a monetary gift directly to the shelter. You could think of it as a matching gifts campaign. The bigger the Runner Fee offered, the bigger monetary donation will be made by RUNmyERRAND. So each person is actually giving in two ways, once in the items they donate, and once in the Runner Fee they offer!
RUNmyERRAND hopes to make a huge impact this holiday season for these two very special shelters. With your help and just a few clicks of the mouse, we really can make a difference!
If you live in the North End, you may know that your resident parking permit expired today, November 30th. The City of Boston implemented this new parking permit renewal schedule by neighborhood, so each neighborhood’s permits expire at the same time each month, and they stagger the schedule by neighborhood. September 30th it was Charlestown, here we are on November 30th and it is the North End.
If you need a your resident parking renewed, we’ve made it really easy for you to do this on RUNmyERRAND.com! All you need to provide a Runner with is…
- Your car’s registration
- A proof of residency. Your proof of residency can be a water, phone, or gas bill dated within the last 30 days.
It is FREE to renew your permit, simply offer a Runner Fee and have it done for you! City Hall hours are 9am to 4:30pm, so for anyone that works 9 to 5, it is really difficult to get over there. You can coordinate with a Runner to have your documents picked up after work one night, or have them swing by your office during the day. Your parking permit can be delivered back to you at your convenience.
Especially when you can have it delivered via RUNmyERRAND! Announcing the exciting launch of Cold Stone Creamery as a Biz Sender on RUNmyERRAND.com. We are working with the fantastic ice cream shop in Charlestown to provide on-demand delivery services. You can now have all those yummy ice cream cakes (and pies!) sent to your office across town, or perhaps to a friend on their birthday! Currently, you can order via phone at Cold Stone (617.242.0100) and they will use their snazzy biz profile to post the delivery. Coming soon will be delivery of ice cream quarts and other tantalizing treats!
Now that we’ve implemented the concept of Biz Senders on the site, any business can go in and set up their own Biz Sender Profile. Businesses need errands run too! Trips to the Post Office, Staples, restock the office kitchen … just to name a few! Now with on demand delivery services, food, gifts, dry cleaning …. any consumer products can be sent directly from the business out to the consumer. If you are interested in learning more please contact us, and to set up your own Biz Sender Profile, you can follow this link!
For all things Boston, I’ve been enjoying reading The Beantown Bloggery. What a great name, right? Today they posted a story about Remy, and the write up was just fantastic! This quote is reminiscent of some tag lines we’ve been batting around lately:
My roommate is a doctor, works ungodly hours, and is clearly way too busy saving lives to pick up dry cleaning. He’d be a perfect candidate for RUNmyERRAND.
He is right! His roommate would be a perfect candidate! In fact, we’ve had a lot of hospital based employees all over town express their interest in the concept. One specific nurse comes to mind, Jen R. She works long crazy hours at the hospital, and it is difficult to just leave the floor, let alone get out to do any errands. She has organized a floor of nurses multiple times now, to do a food delivery. Lunch on the weekends, or Dinner during the week, which on their schedules is around 11pm! They are sick of the same old places that deliver to the hospital, and with RUNmyERRAND, the possibilities are endless. Its also nice to avoid the upcharge to menu items that is offered with the Dingingin.com model. Here they can order from anywhere, pay the normal menu prices, and simply offer a Runner fee to have the food picked up and brought to the hospital. They’ve offered $10 each time, divided by 14 nurses who ordered food … that’s 0.70 cents a person! You just can’t beat that!
For MGH employees, look for a special RUNmyERRAND offering in your MGH PERKS mailing very soon! If there are other Boston Hospital employees out there (BMC, Childrens, BI, etc), and you would like information on getting RUNmyERRAND into your hospital’s perks program, drop me a note at: Leah@RUNmyERRAND.com.
The more they stay the same! It was a slow start today with the new project. I’ll still be working from home for the majority of my time, so I still rolled out of bed to the same home office across the hall. It didn’t feel very different right away, so I decided to get really crazy, and change things up a bit. First, I moved my monitor from one side of the desk over to the other. Next, I erased my white board, and cleaned out my bookshelf. These actions did actually help to differentiate things a bit. One obvious difference, is no more T42 Thinkpad glaring at me, and no more interactions with PCs in general!! Hooray for that! I am running an exclusive MAC shop, with my Mini and Mac Book vying for my attention. So far I’m a slave to the Mini, while I get SVN and Amazon EC2 set up for use with Rails. Once that is done, I’ll be able to work mobile on the Mac Book.
Kobe is still king of the kingdom … nothing has changed there … although he is *not happy* his name is Kobe, with the NBA finals season in full swing!
Well, I made it through my last day at big blue and I have to say I feel many things. Mostly I feel that I can finally breathe!! The gigantic blue pillow that has been suffocating me is finally gone. I don’t feel so tied down anymore, having to watch what I do and say… so watch out people … I am finally and truly UNLEASHED!!!
I have been a work at home employee for over a year now, so I wasn’t actually planning on spending my last day in the office. I had been out there on Thursday to tie up my loose ends, turn in my lappy, and share a drink with some good friends. Friday morning, the inexplicable "they" asked me to come back in at noon that day for an exit interview, and because I like to follow the standard protocol with such things, I obliged. The fifteen dollars it cost me in gas money, round trip, was reciprocated with a literally 3 minute meeting, in which not even the slightest likes of an exit interview took place. I was told we have no HR present in the building, and that "they" know why I am leaving, so "they" can relay these reasons to the appropriate channels. Usually, "they" ask you to sign a form that we are "all squared away", but because the Intranet was down, the form was unavailable. RESULT: There was absolutely no reason for me to be there. I am shocked that this large corporation does not have a standard exit interview procedure. Now I am wondering, if "they" just did not want to do an exit interview with me at all for some reason. Oh wait …. I did get an "Exit Survey" in my email. That’s right … I did the survey online, and I guess the questions that were asked resembled what I would think a typical exit interview would be like. Perhaps, they’ve streamline the exit process so much, to the point that it is completely automated, and requires ZERO human interaction. Would have been nice to have some closure, and feel like my concerns and frustrations were being heard by someone who might actually care. Or could at least nod their head and pretend they did. Back to reality … this is IBM. This exit interview LAMENESS pretty much sums up what brought me to this point. I guess I should feel like I have my closure with that realization.
Anyway … enough with the negativity!!! Can you believe my attitude?! I am unleashed for one weekend, and just look what happens!!! First day on the new job tomorrow. I am moving on and will be channeling positive energy from here on out!
Yes, it is true! I am moving on and away from big blue. It was a tough decision, and even though everyone "says that", it really is true. I have spent 7 years there, and possibly more significantly, my first 7 years out of college. This was my first job right out of school, and I have never known a work environment any different. That being said, I am looking forward to trying something new, different, challenging, and exciting! "They" made it really difficult to leave, but in the end I used my super analytical skills to assess the situation – a "Pros and Cons List". My cons out-weighed my pros, and that was that. I really enjoyed working with the people there and will definitely miss them!
So what am I onto next? Not 100% sure, but a small start-up type environment. There will most definitely be more to come on that front. Hey … maybe my blog *just* got a bit more interesting??
Last day at IBM is next Friday, the 13th. Wow … "Friday the 13th" … hopefully that’s not a bad omen!!! Since my wonderful IT guy was born on Friday the 13th, it can’t be THAT bad!
