Roundup: Read, watch, and listen to this

A list of things that offered me a fresh perspective on business and life recently

Welcome. I’m Katherine Raz. I own a shop in Tacoma, Washington called The Fernseed and this is my newsletter about running an independent retail business in the age of Amazon, Covid, etc. If you’re a shop owner, or you sell products to small retail businesses, or you’re just curious what this whole business is about, you’re in the right place. (And if this email was forwarded to you, you can sign up to receive it yourself right here. It’s free!)

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I love a good roundup, don't you? A thoughtful distillation of what someone else has carefully researched, handily compiled into a simple list? I'll take it!

I was thinking back to 2010-ish when I wrote a daily blog. A daily blog, do you hear me? (The workaholism is strong in me, I can assure you. Working on it.) Coming up with daily content was a beast, as I'm sure you can imagine, and yet I felt compelled by the faceless pressure of my 200 or so daily readers to churn out content as a sign that, yes, I am committed to this project and no, I'm not going to do what the other circa 2010 design bloggers do which is to disappear for three months, then write the ubiquitous, "I'm back!" post, then disappear again. (See: Door Sixteen. But you know what, who am I kidding? I love her. Loyally reading her sporadic posts to this day.)

One of the ways I stuck with my daily blog for three years was by doing twice-weekly roundup posts. This way I didn't have to create content on two of the seven days, I just had to find it and re-post it. And I love finding things. I'm a researcher! I'm a synthesizer. I'm a curator and a spitter-back-outer. This is why I'm half journalist and half shop owner: both professions involve going out into the world, discovering things no one else has, and bringing those fresh little finds back to a captive audience.

So here are some things I've been reading, watching, and listening to recently that relate—some more distantly than others—to owning a business.

The Dropout (Hulu)

I adore a good "what the hell happened" business story. (If you haven't seen the two Fyre Festivals documentaries, watch those, too.) This limited series chronicles the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, the healthcare tech startup that duped investors into thinking it had the technology to perform hundreds of diagnostic tests from a single drop of blood. It's a drama, not a documentary, which made me skeptical at first (I tried watching WeCrashed, it's terrible), but this show was incredibly well done. I like watching other people's tragedies while sitting safely on the sidelines, but watching this, I didn't feel as safe on the sidelines as I thought I would. Allow me to cite the quality of the writing as the reason I felt sympathy for Holmes (I was supposed to, right?), but I also kind of... identified with her. Maybe it's her cranking "I'm in a Hurry" by Alabama while staring adoringly at a poster of Steve Jobs in her teenage bedroom (I was real weird like that, not about Jobs but... I get it), maybe it was her weird Elaine dance moves to songs she listened to on repeat for days, her aggressive single-mindedness that pushed her to outsider status in any potential peer group, I don't know. Just know that there are currently no viable search results for, "Does Elizabeth Holmes have ADHD," yet, because I checked. Most of us who fake-it-til-we-make-it to any extent won't do it the point of endangering people's lives (and I won't either, promise), but this series was an accurate portrayal of what the juggling act feels like from the inside, and it haunted me.

“Girlboss or Bust”
Terrible, Thanks for Asking podcast, May 24, 2022

Speaking of haunting, this podcast episode featured Leigh Stein, founder of BinderCon, the conference that sprang from the Out of the Binders Facebook group, talking about what it was like to run a twice-annual bi-coastal gathering of feminist writers... for basically no money. Stein and host Nora McInerny chat about 2010s girl boss culture (millennial pink, the Being Boss podcast, mindset coaching, gold script lettering), and what ambitious women are supposed to do in the wake of burnout in a post-hustle culture. What really got me here was Stein talking about feeling like she had lost the support of the group she ran to support other women when she suddenly found herself in charge of it. Entrepreneurial isolation is real.

LulaRich (Amazon)

As much as that episode of “Terrible” touched on girl boss culture, it left so much unsaid. I lived through the 2010s as an underpaid marketer, vintage market producer, freelance writer, and mother. Even though I was a prime target, I somehow never fell prey to a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme. (I did, however, have two Squarespace websites where I sold content that truly bordered on "coaching," which was a girl boss cringe moment of its own, so I have no judgement for anyone who sold dildos at bachelorette parties or who really believed the organic skincare product they were selling to their friends was somehow different and NOT one of these MLM businesses. I was one of you, just the digital version.) LulaRich chronicles the rise and fall of the LulaRoe MLM clothing empire, and it is an absolute must watch for anyone who experienced this entrepreneurial moment either as a participant, a friend who was constantly being pitched these products on Facebook, or for skeptics. Women entrepreneurs have to be aware of the radioactive waste of LulaRoe, because it has contaminated the culture of business ownership for all of us, whether we're aware of it or not.

Bad Vegan (Netflix)

I thought this documentary would be just another scandal analysis, but it took a strange turn. I won't give it away, but I will say it's worth watching as a glimpse into what it's like to be a woman at the helm of a rabidly popular New York restaurant. Owner Sarma Melngailis is by no means a good example, but at its core I think this documentary shines light on the idea that no amount of support—from your family, your staff, your investors, the public—can shield you from your inner demons.

Powell's Books Survived Amazon. Can It Reinvent Itself After the Pandemic?
New York Times, November 9, 2021

A short peek at what trying to pivot a legacy business looks like from the inside. The owners of Powell's face enormous constraints, including the skepticism (borderline hatred) of their unionized former employees, as they attempt to keep their bookselling business viable in a rapidly shifting post-pandemic landscape.

The Booksellers (2019 documentary)

A poorly edited but nonetheless important documentary about the history of the rare book industry and the future of bookselling in general. Amazing to see the data on the dwindling number of bookstores in the United States and particularly New York, and to hear the generational conflict between the old guard who feel the industry is dying, and newcomers who understand what the new marketplace opportunities are and how to seize them.

This is What Happens When Globalization Breaks Down
New York Times, March 31, 2022

I read this New York Times article on an airplane a couple months ago and quite literally was on the edge of my seat following the story of an entrepreneur whose toy business was on the brink of collapse unless he could get a shipping container from China to Mississippi. This article puts a real human face on the supply chain issues affecting everyone in business right now.

Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz

I think I saved the best for last here. This book was recommended to me by an accountant and business coach I recently did a session with who floated it as a potential answer to some of the major cash flow issues I'm struggling with at Fernseed. I read the entire book in two days, and I can honestly say I believe I will be able to look back on my life as the owner of this business in two distinct phases: before I read Profit First, and after. No other book—or business professional, for that matter—has ever provided a satisfying answer to the financial questions I have about my business, questions I thought were simple, but were surrounded with so much fear that I didn't even know how to ask them. Questions like, "Are we making any money?" or, "Can I afford to hire someone?" Profit First explains that, while we look to bookkeeping and accounting to answer these questions, the majority of business owners cannot make decisions based on bookkeeping because it is not an accurate reflection of where our money actually is, it's a record of where our money went. Most importantly, you're not alone if you find yourself paralyzed with anxiety each month, each quarter, each year, as you wonder if you’re profitable. The author outlines a simple system for ensuring that you can pay your bills, your staff, and yourself—and make a profit, not just on paper, but in your actual bank account, so that at the end of a profitable year you can tangibly hold (or spend, or reinvest) the dollars you generated in your enterprise. I started implementing these systems in April, and I already feel a tangible sense of relief. Yesterday I saw someone carrying a copy of Profit First into a co-working space where I was writing, and we had a real, "if you know, you know moment." This book changes lives.

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I would love to know what podcasts, books, articles, films, and tv series you’re watching that have inspired you or given you a different perspective recently. Feel free to post your recommendations in the comments or email them to me!