Jen here! If you follow me personally, you might wonder what I’ve been doing lately.
I have been writing fewer articles, for sure. I had a baby in November right in the middle of the holiday retail season, and right after we launched The Bullish Society. Jenny P. came on board full-time in February and we opened a new office/warehouse in Industry City, Brooklyn in March.
And I’d been asking myself: Our store is great, but what can we sell that people need?
Food. People need food. Without an hour’s worth of chopping.
And thus…
For some months we’ve been crafting a slow cooker meal kit plan for busy #bossladies who don’t have time to spend 45 minutes chopping carrots every day.
Here is a long tweetstorm I sent about it!
Okay, I want to talk about how I founded a meal kit club startup! https://t.co/xgLraxbfjJ
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Might be a long story. My parents were pretty strict. I wasn’t allowed to cook AT ALL as a young person, often lived on cereal, milk, toast
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Went to college in the middle of the woods, but felt like freedom. Once, bought a whole pumpkin pie, ate half for dinner, half for breakfast
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Anyway. Moved into a “coed fraternity” that was basically nerds (me too!) who did medieval fight re-enactments
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Became a vegan. Was “lesbian until graduation” (sorry I guess for leaving the team?) Was fully LIVING MY DAMN LIFE
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
While a vegan in the nerd (I say this lovingly) house, I learned to cook! We had a big kitchen.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I was a 19 year old from Virginia, I tried making foods I had never eaten, including some kinda vegan matzo ball soup
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
At that time, Hanover (NH) Co-op (the grocery store I could hike to) was voted best grocery store IN THE COUNTRY by some org that does that
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
They had free recipe handouts at the ends of the aisles, potlucks in their upstairs cooking classrooms … a special place
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
During this time, I made a 23 COURSE VEGAN THANKSGIVING. I will now tell you about it.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Among the main courses were individual squash and currant tarts, and a mushroom burgundy stew SERVED IN A WHOLE PUMPKIN
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I think this is a version of the cookbook where I learned to cook https://t.co/hm6X3U7EJP
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I made way too much food. I spent way more $ than the “co-ed fraternity” (what a bizarre phrase) had approved
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Someone had in fact donated a frozen turkey to us, but as a vegan, I wasn’t going to make it. I emailed EVERYONE suggesting they do it
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
But this was a college org and everyone still on campus for Thanksgiving was either international or didn’t give a flying fuck
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
So no one cooked the damn turkey, and I made 23 COURSES so no one would be disappointed. There were stuffed mushrooms and pies and IDK
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Eventually I stopped being vegan but I sometimes forget that not everyone had formative experience of making a 23 course vegan Thanksgiving
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Now it’s like a million years later. I started Bullish in … 2010? As an advice column for ambitious bossbabes or grown-ass women bosses…
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
After the advice-columning took off (notably, a series on negotiating that resulted in emails from dozens of women who got raises)
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Like I started adding up the amount in the emails and it was like $300,000 collectively
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I launched the website https://t.co/bvezUd7n89 and the 2013 Bullish Conference, which had ~25 people in Miami talking career AGGRESSION
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
And I showed up to our first annual conference PREGNANT AF. I didn’t tell anyone, just kept under the radar
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Later found myself on a Pinterest board called “Pregboss.” OK.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
So I had two kids and anyone who tells you “Having kids increased my productivity!” is selling something or an alien or … IDK
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I mean, I don’t want to disbelieve other women about their lived experience, but I’m also not into polite fictions
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Being a parent is horrible if your most precious value in life is FUCKING CONCENTRATING for more than 25 seconds
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
(And also not having an unpaid 75 hour a week part-time job unrelated to your goals)
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Somewhere in this, my online retail store – https://t.co/syO6bcUrUA – really took off, especially during the holidays.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Perhaps surprisingly, I do not enjoy writing; I’ve just always been rewarded for it.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Writing slogans on products is so much easier than writing articles and so much more gratifying and lucrative
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
The hardest thing is not necessarily better. Apply that to any area of life.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Like that boyfriend relationship where you really have to work on it? It’s work? A lot of work? NOT MORE VIRTUOUS OR DEEP
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Dump that mofo, esp if you want to have kids. Things will get hard! Find someone who’s easy to be with when life is basically OK
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
ANYWAY. LET’S TALK ABOUT SLOW COOKERS
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Fun fact, “Crock-Pot” is a brand name, so say “slow cooker” I guess
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I am an AMAZING COOK if the food is more or less a stew and also I have never followed a recipe in my life
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I am constitutionally incapable of baking. Don’t tell me how much flour to put in something! And also I don’t eat flour.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
(Did I mention I was also a bodybuilder in college? I guess I didn’t.)
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
But I am AMAZING at soups and stews, and I can even fix a fucked up soup. Let me tell you some of the ways.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Is your soup too salty or spicy? Serve it over rice! Is the taste OK but the texture gross? Puree and drizzle with olive oil.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I could do this all day, but I AM THE SOUP AND STEW QUEEN. Also I monetize all my hobbies bc that’s who I am
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
So I had two kids and I now have two slow cookers going simultaneously, I’m not fucking around
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
And I run a company with two employees and a real office/warehouse and my daughters are 3 years old and 7 months old
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
And our e-commerce store https://t.co/syO6bcUrUA is going great! But I was like, our shit is hilarious and amazing but…
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
…what can I sell that people need and will really help them and they will want to buy super often?
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
FOOD. People need food and in fact often buy it on the daily. And some people do not want to cook, or…
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
They want to cook as a hobby, not every goddamn day. Look, most people don’t make their own clothes or cut hair at home anymore
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
The idea that families with 2 working adults or a single parent should make 21 meals a week is absurd
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Fun fact, during WWII THE GOV’T PROVIDED FREE DAYCARE FOR WORKING WOMEN AND IT CAME WITH CASSEROLES
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Literally, women in the ’40s who worked for the millitary could pick up their kids from daycare and ALSO A CASSEROLE
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
But hey, it’s 2017 and fuck you, no one cares about whether you can afford day care and make food and not lose your shit
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
BUT I DIGRESS
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I got the idea for https://t.co/0p5sV9aog0 and have spent months working on slow cooker recipes
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I also tried Hello Fresh during this time and became INFURIATED that the meals took WAY MORE prep time than just cooking from scratch
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
DO NOT MAIL ME A CARROT if you then are going to tell me to cut it into matchsticks
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
My time will always be more valuable than that. NO MATCHSTICKS. Robots are taking our jobs? THEY CAN HAVE THE MATCHSTICK ONE
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
So here’s the concept: Busy Bowl Club will ship you meal kits for your slow cooker. You don’t have to be home to get the packages.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
We rely on many dried ingredients – from staples to luxury items – that preserve nutrients while shipping well and avoiding waste
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
I was horrified by the giant boxes and styrofoam and ice packs of other meal kit plans. Ours … doesn’t do that
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Our kits have a longer shelf life, and give you more food for less money. BECAUSE SLOW COOKER
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
But basically we’re optimized for prep time. I spent a fucking hour making some of those other meal kits. We’re … 5 minutes
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
So you can hustle or be a girlboss or, I dunno, go bench press a lot or whatever it is you want to do that’s not chopping things
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
(I also like to bench press, no disrespect intended but I’ve sort of forgotten how to talk to random dudes)
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Here’s who my thing is not for: People w/nut allergies. People who want raw meat mailed to them. People who want a “soup cleanse.” Gwyneth.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Here are some recipes I’ve developed: Polenta corn chowder with Spanish chorizo. Hummus Lovers chickpea bowl. Butternut squash thyme gnocchi
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Most have vegan versions. Did I mention I also once dated a vegan for 2 years and had my Thanksgiving gnocchi recipe feat. on a vegan blog?
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
OH AND ALSO: I am a big evangelist for the MVP (minimum viable product) startup method, esp for NON SOFTWARE startups
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
You can use MVP for any biz as long as you’re more about serving needs than about your own identity fulfillment
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Here’s the article I wrote about this: https://t.co/Ad5JcEav7z
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
As such, I am launching Busy Bowl Club with a 3 week trial designed to get feedback from real buyers
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
You can get on the invite list at https://t.co/0p5sV9aog0
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Our kits are non- or semi-perishable. Like, there are baby potatoes. But those don’t go in the fridge anyway.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
The end. I made a startup with no VC money and it is delicious and more importantly = food for lazy/busy food lovers
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Hi! The kits will be the same size (about 4 servings), but you’ll be able to buy less often. You can take leftovers to work, etc.
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
THIS IS FUCKING NATIONAL. INCLUDING ALASKA AND HAWAII
— jendziura (@jendziura) June 25, 2017
Busy Bowl is designed to be less expensive, less time consuming and offer more food than traditional meal kit plans – as well as more flexible in terms of whether you’re feeding just yourself (with lunches for work!), a couple, or a family. Throw the food into the slow cooker before work and come home to a delicious, nourishing meal.
You may have read my advice about starting a biz with an MVP (see also our side hustle webinar!) And that’s exactly what I’m doing – quietly launching a three week trial with just 20 customers, and a ton of surveys! Get feedback, iterate, expand.
Learn more, and sign up here for an invite for the fall.
