My bootstrap business experiment

One week ago I had lunch with my marketing and technology infrastructure advisor, and he asked me to describe the name “bootstrap | economist” in my own words. While in my mind I knew exactly why I chose the name bootstrap | economist, I found it challenging to accurately portray my thoughts in words and syllables. I rediscovered a post I made in March discussing my reasons for starting bootstrap | economist, but found that it lacked explanation of how I chose the name:

I started bootstrap | economist because I had a lot of ideas and I wanted to set them free on the web. I have been sharing parts of my life online for years, but this was my first time not hiding behind corporate firewalls and forum moderators. I had been keeping an offline journal for several months prior to starting bootstrap | economist, and realized that if I published my thoughts I would have an opportunity to help others and not just myself.
a (re)introduction

I chose bootstrap for the philosophy utilized by many web technology startups, where aspiring chief executive officers rely on wit and intuition to build viable businesses instead of substantial investments by venture capitalists. This philosophy is particularly important to me because my wastrel spending in college has limited my access to credit. Without the safety of a credit card behind me to fund temporary shortfalls in my personal working capital, I have had to carefully juggle my cash to ensure that it lasts throughout each pay period. I chose economist; a term typically reserved for those who specialize in the science of economics, in memorandum of my grandfather. He himself was an economist, humbly serving the United States government in his earlier years, and sharing his knowledge to students in South Florida and Kingston, Jamaica until his unexpected death in December 2003.

When combined, bootstrap | economist is a business mentality challenging entrepreneurs to understand the internal and external drivers of their industry and develop fiscally responsible business processes. While reflecting on my earlier post, I neglected to mention that bootstrap | economist foregoes intensive audio and visual multimedia in favor of a low-bandwidth design. This provides my writers and I with a global printing press, easily accessed by developing internet communities who do not benefit from the high bandwidth internet services many of us take for granted. And at less than fifteen dollars per month to operate, modest advertising income of twenty dollars per month provides bootstrap | economist with an operating profit of 25%.

Posted on May 23rd, 2008 | By: bootstrap economist | Filed under Banking

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