Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

A day of surprises
Today was a day for a couple of surprises. I got the new content up for One Stop (no, that wasn't surprising) and then started looking at which articles I had available that would work well for syndicating. I went the Open Directory Project to see how much work I'd need to do before I would have an extensive enough site to stand a chance of getting accepted.

To my surprise, the first couple of sites I checked were comparable to One Stop, if not actually less extensive. I noticed that they tended to be a little more clean in design than One Stop, but that's something I can easily change. But it tells me that I'm a lot closer to being ready to submit to the directories than I thought.

Second pleasant surprise was that my son decided to treat the whole family to a movie—Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. A clever and inventive film that we all enjoyed. And I'm sure that the boys are already hunting for an MP3 of the hilarious title song, "Thanks for All the Fish," to download.

All in all, a pleasant day.
Jeff

Pushing onward
You wouldn't know it by looking at my One Stop site, but I had a satisfying day getting nearly to the point of adding another chunk of content. You wouldn't know it, because I still have a little linking together to do before I upload this new chunk.

It's nice, though, to see another step forward. The middle of the week was a little disconnected again and I wasn't feeling like I was getting all that much done.

I've come to the conclusion, though, that I'm going to have to look at bringing in some more contract work to tide us over while the One Stop site matures. Revenues are not sufficient to live strictly off them—yet.

I'm also growing convinced that I need to find a local entrepreneurs' group to join. I'm not even talking about the networking aspect of it. I feel the need to gather with other entrepreneurs—to associate with other positive people who are focused on reaching for their full potential.

The one thing I miss from my office job days is the cameraderie—just being able to sit down with someone else who shares a common vision and common goals. That sharing of the load can be refreshing.

As appealing as working from home can be, we're all social creatures and need that human contact to function at our best. And entrepreneurs especially need to associate with others. Maybe we're not sharing the same load—each of us has a different business to run—but we are sharing many of the same perspectives on life.

So there are now two things to add to my schedule as I prepare for my week away at my daughter's graduation—following up on some leads for potential contract website development, and finding an entrepreneurs' group to join.

The challenge will be to not let the former squeeze out the latter. Without feeding my spirit I can't be at my best.
Jeff

Just tired
After fighting a bad case of back spasms most of the day, I find myself worn out tonight.

I got more things crossed off my list, but realized today that only six more days remain before I head off to Virginia for my daughter's college graduation. There's a lot to do in that time, including getting my other kids prepared to hold down the fort with the business, checking eBay and forwarding orders on.

But for now, the priority is bed and getting ready for a new day.
Jeff

A bolt of lightning
I finished the content for my client's affiliate newsletter today except for my tips and tools portion of it. I was having trouble figuring out what to write on. All the ideas I had didn't quite seem to fit an affiliate site.

Then it struck me: visit a sampling of their sites and figure out what they need by seeing first-hand their strengths and weaknesses. Duh! And how many times have I preached to focus on what your audience is looking for rather than trying to force on them what you want to pitch.

I guess it goes to show how easy it is to slip up on the basic principles of e-commerce when you focus on yourself instead of on your audience.
Jeff

Back to business
Today was a more upbeat day. After a series of days where work seemed stuck in molasses, I got a good variety of things done today. Some went faster, some went slower, but they got done (including an invigorating project for my daughter's college graduation present).

Sales on my client's site have come out of their tax month doldrums and page rankings seem to be on the rise.

Funny how fast moods can change.
Jeff

Time to reassess
I got the latest One Stop newsletter out late last night. Got bummed with the results. My subscriber list certainly isn't large enough yet for my subscribers to sign up or unsubscribe without it getting my attention.

So I was disappointed today to find that one subscriber, husband and wife actually, had unsubscribed. Their signup had been one I had been particularly proud of. My client had shown me an e-mail he had received from them shortly after they had checked out my site after a mention in his update to his wholesale customers.

They were highly complimentary of both him and me for trying to help new wholesalers improve their businesses. I was pretty proud of their comments. So I was a little saddened to see them go today.

Now one unsubscribe doesn't mean the end of the world, but one that had been so excited to sign up for my newsletter does make me reassess whether I'm providing as much value as I'd like to.


Part of me, at this point in the blog, wants to launch into my big "expert" voice and expound on how each business has its ups and downs—like all this is a big intellectual exercise over which I am a distant observer. But I feel like I'd be doing anyone who reads this a disservice by disassociating myself emotionally from the roller coaster.

I can do better. And I intend to. I put a quote at the end of all of my newsletters. Ironically, the one I used for this one read, "'We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluable problems" (John W. Gardner).

I firmly believe that progress is the fruit that grows out of problems. Problems force you to focus, and focusing leads to progress.

So time to sort through all the directions I could go with the site and focus on where it needs to go in order to benefit others. Always make use of the obstacles in your business to force yourself to explore the territories you've been trying to avoid.
Jeff