The E-Business Man

2006-04-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

Continuing on the 'things happening in a straight line' theme from yesterday. (Actually never intended to get on the computer service tanget in the first place, but sometimes these things over power your train of thought.) In February of 2005, I added a merchant account and changed my shopping cart from PayPal's to one that came with the website bundle I purchased. That was the most dramatic one month increase in sales I had ever had. I expected that to continue through March and beyond. When March was busy, not the 2.5 times busier than the month before. I somewhat expected that though. But I then expected the March increase to continue through April. It did not, in fact until March of this year, March 2005 was the single busiest month I had ever experienced.

Fast forward to January 2006, it was up 2.5 times from the previous January and dramatically up from December 2005. Ten days later, I was done with the corporate world. Not only were sales up website traffic was up dramatically. It still is the biggest single month traffic wise I have had. February was good, and while March was the biggest sales month I had ever experienced, it was disappointing, based on my expectations. And now here is April, traffic is way up so far this month and so are sales. Sales are close to where I have estimated they need to be for this whole thing to work. I figure I have until November to make the transfer complete, that is when all my pay from the corporate world will expire, although it might continue longer, as my earlier projections of August proved to be wrong.

So will April continue its torrid pace? I do not know, I would wager though at this rate it will beat March as the busiest month ever. A change form last year, and once again disproving that whole things happen in a straight line theory. So my point is while projecting sales, or anything is necessary and worthwhile, just remember your projections will be wrong, and for whatever reason things will happen slower or faster, better or worse, than you had anticipated.

It is always nice when things happen faster and better than you anticipated. But when they don't I have found it is these times that produce the most creative ways of forcing them to happen faster. In other words when the chips are down the tough get going, or something like that. So when things are going against you, dislodge those back of the brain ideas, and put some into motion. Do all the little things you have wanted to do, but haven't had time. I have found these little investments are what keep both the personal engine, and the commercial engine chugging along.

2006-04-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

It could be said the art of 'letting things unfold' is a hard lesson learned. Coming from the corporate strait jacket where things follow a line so straight it is the envy of geometricians. Your pay, your duties, your life, is all so predictable. Predictability is nice for doing such things as budgeting, paying your bills, planning a vacation, planning your retirement, planning your entire life for that matter. And coming from that you want your entrepreneurial endeavors to mature to a point where there is a straight line, so you can do all the things above. It is the way we are conditioned isn't it?

But it is not going to happen that, your business, your days will surge and retreat. Things will not go on like a scheduled regiment. You will have peaks, valleys, plateaus, and bogs. You will have in short, the full swing of emotions that life has to offer, and in the end, it will either work or not, but you will have done one thing, you will have lived.

Since my entrepreneurial bent has taken over my life, become my life, I have tried to support others, like me, who are in business for themselves, small business. Which brings me to my new computer geek. I had purchased a laptop from him, through a friend who also was purchasing one. Never did meet him. Well the laptop has issues, and I need a new desktop as well. So I met him two weeks ago, ordered a desktop, and told him to use his pull to see if my laptop issue could be covered under warranty. He was somewhat doubtful but said he would look into it. He had made some comments during the transaction that he should make some money on this, and that his rep hated when he sold units like the one I had just purchased. Comments that I thought did not need to be said, and since I am a new business, really who knows what my future needs might be. Sell me a $600 unit today, and next year I might need custom programming etc. But he is young, and I do want someone local to call when computer poo hits the fan.

Well, here we are two weeks later, and I have left two messages on his cell, gotten lambasted by his younger immature sister when I called his 'office line', who told me I was interrupting her program and called her entrepreneurial brother 'the nerd', and still have no computer. This is one of those valleys, from which I am sure will be fixed. Will I do business with this guy again? I do not know, I do know he told me he would be out of town for awhile, I do not remember the dates. But here is what I would have done differently.

I would have updated my cell phone message with the dates I was to be out of town. He could have and should have returned my call the first time, and explained he was out of town. He should not have his sister answer his office phone, if it just rings the phone in the house, then for pete's sake splurge and get your own business line.

As for me, I just sit back and look at this moment as one more incident on the journey called life. And enjoy the fact that at least now I am cognitive enough to handle it with grace, confidence, and patience.

2006-04-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

Comparing Google Ads and Yahoo Ads, the pay per click variety. I have had a love/hate relationship with PPC for a couple of years now. Fraud is just too easy, and if you don't watch they can be very expensive. I had dropped Yahoo for quite a while as their rates are about double that of Google. Earlier in my e-business career, I had dropped Google, because Yahoo delivered more conversions.

That is the best thing they both have to offer is cost per conversion. If you do not have this feature turned on, figure out at once. You have no clue the effectiveness of your ads if you do not have this turned on. At one time I was just so focused on traffic that I did not really care if they bought anything or not. I was listed on several of those silly Top 100 sites for my category, and dammit, I wanted to rank higher. Figuring the higher I ranked, the more leads they would supply, to a certain extent that is true. But still if you average sale is $30, do you really think paying $20 per conversion makes sense? If you do, you will not be in business long, unless you have unlimited capital.

I have figured I could afford around $4 per conversion. With Google ads I managed to keep that fairly close. Right now it is down around $1.17/conversion, so I have upped the bids on the keywords that have produced most efficiently. Likewise it is easy to edit and drop ads on Google. And the nice thing is Google is more sophisticated than Yahoo, and if your ads get clicked on more frequently than your competitors' than you get better placement, because Google is in the business of generating clicks, even if yours is a few pennies less than your competitors.

Google also makes it easy to manage your daily budget. I place mine higher than I will ever reach, because I do not want my ads to shut down for the day. Mine is at $4/day, and yet I think I only spent $39 last month. Right now is the hot time for my business, so I have the clicks rather high, but the conversion rate is higher this time of year, as people are shopping and not just surfing. If I spend all $4 per day and get one conversion per day that turns $120 in advertising into $1200 revenue, and just a as importantly I have a new customer, one I can hopefully turn into a regular, one I can send a mailer to, an email newsletter too, one that will tell their friends etc. If just 10% of those 30 new customers do those things my business will build exponentially, just like multi level marketing.

Yahoo in my opinion is not as good as Google, because they do not reward you for higher clicks, ad placement is all based upon bidding. Their website in clunky, and their method of payment is confusing. I tend to run the same ads over again, as editing is cumbersome. But if I find something that works well on Google I will place it on Yahoo. And Vice Versa of course. You can run longer ads, although their partners in search ad placement won't run the whole thing so make you best points first. Always do that anyway.

You will still be you

2006-04-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I was naive, perhaps you are too. For those of you wanting to leave the rat race for self-employment, and expecting all your problems to disappear, or at least expecting those that you attribute to work to disappear, I am here to tell you this; you will still be you. If you are prone to melancholy, to fatigue, to disilliusionment, to the blues, and you think they are all because of work, be prepared.

I hated my job, and I mean hated it more than anyone I know. I blamed my bouts of the blues, my defeatist attitude, my fatigue, my not wanting to be here on that lone fact. I knew I would have all the time in the world, when I left, I knew my aches and pains would disappear. I knew I would create a world that would be interesting, evolving, fulfilling, all I needed was to get away from work.

It has been two months now, the honeymoon is over, and I am still me. Business actually has been overwhelming the last 6 days. A far cry from two weeks ago. Will it be enogh to support me? I cannot tell yet. My trading has been in the sewer though, and in the last week I dented a car, broke my laptop and had to buy a new desktop. Is that hte reason for my mood? Nope.

My aches and pains are still here as well. And sometimes just for an instant there are people I miss from my old job. Perhaps I need to contact them.

Your business will become your NEW life, and while it is yours, and let me tell you I am not wanting to go back for one instant. Life is not a tropical beach either. I am at it a lot, it can over take your life, if you let it. Sales are up that is good, orders are behind, website needs to be updated, products ordered, emails returned. Suddenly you find yourself feeling the way you did before.

But that is human, my humanness. I still am self-employed and wouldn't trade it for the world.

2006-03-29T18:50:00.000-08:00

I was contacted via phone the other day, well it was about a month ago now, buy a gentleman from India wanting to sell me some products. After I said I was interested he faxed me a blurb on his company. He called me again to see that I received the fax, and then emailed me. I checked his products, his pricing, his terms, and I placed an order.

In the end it was refreshing to do business with a company that actually WANTS to do business with you. That requests your business. He has just e-mailed me that my order is complete and will be shipping it. Whether you are a wholesaler or a retailer how can you show your customers you want to do business with them?

Obviously if you are a retailer you cannot cold call the entire planet, but you can exceed your customer's expectations, you can let them know you are happy to have them as a customer. Doing business online it is difficult to add that personal touch. You do not know your customers as they walk in the door. You do not know the level of service they would like, you do not know if they like you to call them by name, or just treat them with calculated courtesy. In short, you do not know their personal needs. But I do not know anyone that does not like to be thanked, that does not like to be told you appreciate their patronage, that really hates to be asked if they want to join the e-mail sign up, that hates to be notified when their package is shipped, or confirmed that their order was received. All these things I do any every order, their first or their fiftieth.

And the customers that want that extra attention? Well they will let it be known. And I give it to them, willingly. Even if they want their money back. You can not like my pricing, you can not like my products, you can not like my shipping, but you are to going to respect my customer service even if I have to beat you over the head with it.

2006-03-21T19:39:00.000-08:00

To say this month's sales have been disappointing is an under statement. At this rate I'll be back punching a time clock by November. Last year March was my biggest month, it would have to be twice as big as this month to support me. There are signs of slow steady improvement, though, keeping optimistic and flexible is important.

I am back in Yahoo ads, at a very low budget. Traffic to my site is low, lower than January, although sales are better than January. So I am running very targeted ads at a very affordable budget. I am also pursuing advertising on a well-known website in my field, it is $135 per month, can give it a try and see what happens.

I am also ramping up my mailers, as more orders are coming via mail than ever. By this I mean five or so a month. The toll free number also is picking up its pace.

Some of my disappointment stems from lofty expectations, some of it comes from budget reality. You have two choices work harder or become dejected. This morning I was dejected, this afternoon I was working harder.

2006-03-14T11:26:00.000-08:00

Re-creating your life, re-inventing your self. It is the biggest fear of most people. The thing most people hate about themselves is this fear, and/or lack of desire. Look at TV ads, aren't they filled with messages getting at your inner most fears and/or desires? Weight loss, dating, new careers, life insurance, hell even beer ads are almost all aimed at your inner fears and desires.

Some of these desires go unfulfilled from sheer lack of dedication. Almost nobody is afraid of losing weight if they need to, however they may be afraid to join the gym, or weight watchers or going to see a diet specialists.

However, the fear of recreating the way you make your living is a fear monumental in proportions compared to most other fears. Not only are you doing something very risky from a financial point of view, you are taking away one of your main identities. Perhaps one of your main security blankets in life, perhaps your escape from an unhappy home life. Perhaps your spouse or your family and friends are negative on just such a move. It does seem the world has a vested interest in keeping you in your place most of the time. Finding even a little support can be a very difficult thing to do.

T revolutionize your life. To do this right, you can't just willy nilly do it, it does take a certain amount of planning, a certain amount of dedication, a certain amount of putting off gratification. You just can't wake up one morning and say 'ah to hell with it', you have to start from ground zero. You have to allow yourself to fail, but to learn from that failure and you have to stay focused.

In the book 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' he says that nine out of ten small businesses fail. So all that means is you better start ten small businesses. There is a certain truth in that, and a certain impracticality as well. You can't very well invest in nine failed businesses in a row. But you can research nine in a row, or nineteen in a row. You can talk to people, you can bounce off ideas off of them, you can sell Amway, all these things you can do, to learn. To get your feet wet, to change your current mode of thinking, to stop thinking like only an employee.

And then you have started to reduce the fear in recreating your life, in fact you have begun the process of doing just that.

2006-03-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

In the early days, when I produced all my own products, except for supplies that I bought in bulk, some of which I resold, being a craftsman was the attraction for my customers. And then when I closed down, only to re-emerge as a seller of imported products, I wanted to appear larger than my company really was. Part of it I think was to appear trustworthy. But now that I am a full-time entrepreneur, and stay at home and am accessible by the phone, I have found people really appreciate my one on one availability. They like to pick up the phone and talk to the man himself. And I think they appreciate me being somewhat hokey. I don't mean hee-haw hokey, but willing to bend over backwards for them, if they are a little demanding, I can accommodate that, I can follow through, check back.

Never, never be afraid to provide what your customers want, even if it is a little attention.

2006-03-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

Continuing from yesterday the problem I have had and the problem I have no control over is getting my shipments cleared through US Customs at Fed Ex Memphis facility. US Customs only became interested in my shipments some 6 months after I began importing my main product line. After obtaining the license they required, which in itself took a whole day of phone calls just to find the right place, Customs released the first order they searched. From then on virtually every order was held sometimes up to a week, for seemingly no real reason, other than fill out some meaningless paperwork that they never required six months earlier.

The problem was Customs really did not want to deal with me, they wanted Fed Ex to, and if you have ever have to go through this with Fed Ex, then you know the meaning of ineptitude. And knowing the meaning of ineptitude means you have felt true frustration. And this went on every shipment for about two months. Now the delays come and go.

My current shipment was held for four days. Which is not that big of deal now that I am used to it, but Fed Ex said it is released, then they say it is not, then they say it was partially released but not all the way. And now after the shipment was officially released there was another one day delay because there was no zip code on the package. After they held it four fricking days, they notice it needs a zip code? Well its not like you guys should ever think to look at an address, your just a fricking delivery company from christsake.

So I call, I call, I call, call them every name in the book, even though I know they could not care less. I talk to customer service reps who know nothing but think they do, I talk to supervisors who know nothing but think they do, I talk to import specialists who know some things but don't care, I talk to import specialists supervisors who know one thing and that is I am a royal pain in the ass, and there is not a damn thing they are going to do about it.

I have learned the following things, if I don't track it online I don't get as frustrated so I wait until a day after it should be cleared, and then check, and sometimes everything is done! Only sometimes, and then the wrangling begins.

The other thing I do, is order my product earlier, in greater quantities, plan ahead more. This costs a bit more, as I keep more inventory on hand, but it allows me to run more auctions on eBay which moves the products, generates new customers etc. It also leads to fewer back orders. I also now mark products on my web site sold out when they are getting really low, and remove them from my eBay store. I used to wait until they were out and had to back order a customer. This, I think leads to greater customer satisfaction, more repeat business, which means my larger inventory costs is just an investment in my business. I also have fewer back order shipments which is a cost saver.

It also gives me greater peace of mind so I can avoid the whole situation described above. And when you are working alone, your peace of mind can be your greatest asset. I also talked, in rational tones, to everybody under the sun about my situation and how to best go about it, including talking the very inspector responsible for examining my shipment, so I know that there is truly nothing more I can do on that end.

The lesson here, is that a situation that really is out of my hands, has gone from an entrepreneur's nightmare, to something I can live with. And probably has improved my business.

2006-03-06T15:23:00.000-08:00

As you conduct your daily business, and I do not necessarily mean your business, but what you do in a day. The people you meet, the small business owners you meet. Ask yourself, "Is this the best that can be done?" To me it is amazing how many business owners are inept at what they do, and do not seem to care that they are. Or perhaps they don't know they are. My guess is once upon a time they thought the had learned all there was to know, and now they have stopped.

And now everything that is not going right in their business is caused by a force outside of themselves. Economy, discounters, chain stores, etc. But for just about every business problem there is a solution, there is a method that you could take to discourage the ailment.

Tomorrow we will look at a very specific recurring incident in my business, and the ways that I could help alleviate it. Because I got to tell you, this problem come sup repeatedly, and it is out of my hands 100%.

2006-03-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

The biggest jump my sales ever too was between January and February of 2005. The website also took a jump too. But it was also the month I began using a merchant account. I still have PayPal as an option and it still receives quite a few payments from the website, as well as eBay of course. But the merchant account seemed to legitimizie the website as an actual business in a way that PayPal alone never did.

If you have an e-business and are not using a merchant account there are sales you are missing. Be forewarned, however that the fees are no cheaper than PayPal and you have to pay a monthly fee as well. You can shop around for fees, but be sure and use one that is automatic with your shopping cart unless you do not receive very many orders. Other wise you will be wasting a lot of time entering the transactions by hand.

I began by using the cheapest, and then switched as my shopping cart only accept authorize.net. And then I had to pay to cancel the other service. My 'bargain hunting' cost me over $200.

2006-03-01T18:47:00.000-08:00

Content is king, an irritating over used phrase, that I now have come to believe is BS. For 16 months now I have written articles on the topic of my business, and publish them on my website. I also submit to free article submission sites, and they are prevalent on the web.

They also have done very little to improve my google rankings, that holier than thou, all mighty sought after grail. And then I learned that I need not to just put links in my articles, which I usually do. But the links need to be for important key words for my website. So I did this.

Then I learned that I might get penalized for publishing articles on my website that are also submitted to other websites. Because content is not king, but unique content is king. And I agree. I am no longer submitting articles for republication. And my 60+ article library is going to get edited one article at a time. Until they are all unique works strictly for my website.

And further, I am done playing the SEO game. My website, my business is going to thrive because it is quality, because it will grow one customer at a time. And google, yahoo, msn and all their little secretive algorithms, which frankly suck for finding any info that is worth a shit can just fuck off.

There deep breaths, center, another glass of wine. It all still beats all to hell, the corporate soul sucking world.

Using Credit Cards and Random thoughts

2006-02-28T14:24:00.000-08:00

Well, as I begin week 3 of personal freedom, I have the following observations.
My checking account is holding its own. Of course I am still receiving money from my former employer. And I received my tax refund. Business is not booming, but February did show substantial growth from a year ago. My business is still not where it needs to be to support me 100%. But my goal is to have it there in six months, not tomorrow. I figure I can go at this pace for at least seven months, before touching my cash on hand.

One way to free up extra cash, and this is not a recommendation it is just a technique, I have used, is via credit cards. If you have any credit at all, you probably are inundated with free credit offers. Although as interest rates rise, these are probably becoming fewer and fewer, however I did just open another one last week. Most of these offers give you anywhere from 3-18 months of free credit. Now, you generally can't use them for free cash, but you can use them to pay expenses like utilities, and probably many of your suppliers. Or use them in your personal life, and use that money to grow your business. One of the best lessons I learned from reading 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' was debt that produces assets is good debt. And I am here to tell you while donned in my new office attire of sweats and slippers, that is a lesson well learned.

I have repeated this process now four times, the new card will be my fifth. One card I repaid, the other three are still open. I have the cash available, now to pay them all off when the time comes. So, in effect I have gotten interest free cash, to the tune $16,000, try getting that through the SBA. Now before you poo-poo $16K, that goes a long way in internet business.
And for me it has proven a very sound money management tool, that has helped me grow my business

When reading the applications be sure to look at transfer fees and annual fees if any. The best have neither, some will have one or the other, if you don't plan to transfer balances that one does not matter, but stay away from annual fees, they are a thing of the past in most credit card offers. Transfer balance offers are also attractive down the road, when the time comes to pay off your free credit balance, if you don't ahve the dough, or don't want to pay it off, transfer it to a low interest rate offer, many offer low rates intil the balance has been retired. Use common sense and don't go hog wild. But if your return on your business is say 25%, then even paying some interest is a good investment.

2006-02-26T08:33:00.000-08:00

It has been a positive few days for business, I think. Have spent a fortune this month on getting inventory built up. Did not realize how many suppliers I actually have, but counting mailing supplies, I must have about 10. Still waiting to hear from my new African manufacturer, but as I have sent him no money, am really at no risk. Except heading into my busiest month, would really like inventory to be full. My supplier that I have had for eighteen months, is being uncharacteristically quiet, but I am sure he too is busy. I have no choice but to trust him, as I could drive myself crazy other wise.

Examined the whole Google ads situation, and realized content ads were one third as effective as search ads. And then learned how to adjust down my bids for them. Also adjusted down the bids for search ads. As the cost to conversion is way too high. I would like to keep it down below 5 dollars, as my average sale is probably around 40.

To this end eBay auctions continue to help. Have lowered the price on auctions and this is the busy time for me on eBay any way, can't buy a sale in the fall, so am keeping website traffic up through the auctions. All in all sales continue upward. The race is on, if they climb fast enough to keep my head afloat and my body out of the corporate arena.

2006-02-23T13:00:00.000-08:00

Ebay as a business promoter really is gret. Their fees really take out out a bite, but when you consider it as an advertising expense AND you move product as well, it becomes much cheaper than PPC ads, or ads of other kinds. If you can price your items to move through online auctions, and make a profit and supply a lin to your website on the auction listing itself, you really have gotten quite a bang for the buck.

Then when you ship the item, you can include your web site newsletter, your business card with links to your website and phone number, and put that info on an invoice as well. For the price of the listing and the ebay commish, and the paypal commish, you still have made some money and made direct contact with a likely website customer as well. For about say 80 cents to a buck, depending on the price of your item. Compare that to 30-40 cents pay per click, or much higher on yahoo, just to have someone look at your website. No contact, no purchase, no nothing, except paying someone to walk in your door.

That is why I am re-amping up Ebay auctions, cutting off Yahho ads, and cutting way back on google.

2006-02-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

Forgot to mention that yesterday completed a nice wholesale order, not much in the way of profit, but the money is banked. Two nice orders came in last night, and few more scattered in today. The toll free line rang today, wrong number, and the cell phone line rang also, customer. Printed off more mailers to send out, this little extravaganza is costing over $500. And people want catalogs? Checked into other forms of advertising yesterday. Specialty magazines, WOW! And then the magazine has a website that costs $125/month for not much more than a google ad. Although have spent $300/month on google before, just not in the mood right now.

Have spent a small fortune on inventory this month. Some of which comes straight from manufacturers in third world countries. Like must pay them via Western Union, must have to answer questions with the US Customs, must get and maintain special import/export licenses. It was all a little intimidating. And now, I am sure they are very, very busy, so e-mail communication has come to a standstill. And manufacturing time becomes very slow. So slow I have contacted a new supplier, I told him I would not pay until the order was in my hot hands, and he agreed, so we will see. He can manufacture some new items, that my old one cannot, so we will see there too. My old supplier whom I have had for over a year now, is much slower at returning e-mails this month, and shipping delays have gotten serious. But, I haven't paid either so I am not out anything. Except inventory.

Where does the time go, I thought there would be so much spare time. OK, I am enjoying more TV time with the kids, and the kitchen is cleaner. But there are home improvement projects galore, maybe this weekend. Good thing I am no longer married. Good thing I am no longer employed. Tomorrow night, is girl friend night, that too is a good thing.

2006-02-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

Was in a better mood today, and for the lonely entrpreneur who is your own best friend, your mood is important. Woke up before dawn and went for a walk, always a good way to start off the day. Plus the stock markets were open, and as I mentioned earlier trading securities is as important as my e-business. The thing is I don't tell anyone about the trading, so in a way it is mine only. Although I do have a very popular blog about trading. It is only mentioned here to point out the effect that it has on my mood.

Which is good, becuase the e-business is a non-event again today. I have installed a toll free line, and it has been used exactly once, by a supplier verifying my credit card. I had always had a cell phone number on my website but was not usually available, so people would have to leave a message. Some did, some didn't, but I thought it lacked professionalism, however it was all that was available to me at the time.

But I thought the toll free line would open up at least half as many orders as I get online. Which still could be true since I received exactly one today from the website, although EBAY had a few, a scant few. I also had one through the mail. Traffic on the website is also amazingly low. I have cut the adwords budget in half, and stopped using Yahoo ads altogether, as the cost per sale was exhorbitant. But I always wondered if they actually recorded every sale or if there were glitches in the system. It also could happen. more often than I had thought, that people might visit off of a pay per click ad, and then re-visit to buy. I don't know, but something needs to break free here soon, and sales need to improve. Because one thing for sure, the creditors don't really care, about the lack of web site traffic.

I will continue my mailer, I have a list of over 1400 customers, and have been sending out a product list with order blank. I know some people prefer not to pay online. I have gotten about 4 back, out of 400 or so. But it also makes contact with the people to let them know we are still here. Your customer base is your best source for new business or so I am told. From what I can tell I have a very loyal customer base and they are very good at spreading the word. Just where are they now?

Day 1 week 2

2006-02-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

It is the first day of the second week of my new life. After 19 years barely feeling alive, in my old dreary job of sleep depriving, pride swallowing, and comatose inducing, existence. I took the next step in developing my now four year old e-business. I am staying home so I can build it into an entity capable of supporting me financially.

I began by ordering a new toll free line, that has been installed. I began with enthusiastic synergy, like a honeymoon of potential. Week 1 was spent filling orders ever more quickly than before, organizing my home office, something I more or less finished today, and catching up on some much needed sleep.

The weekend was spent with my girl friend away, a planned event that perhaps wasn't as fantastic as has been hoped. We saw Lucinda Williams who was phenomenal and ate two exquisite meals, but after spending last Thursday together, (our only regular night together) in an ecstatic celebration of my new beginning, the weekend was somehow anti-climatic.

And that feeling has carried over today. Somehow, it feels anit-climatic. Business has been very slow the last three days, but there was little business last year on President's Day. And although this is the second month of 8 months that make up my busy season (October-December being slow), I know I must make more money to survive. Yet I feel lack of urgency to get this done.

Hence, post1 in this blog. My other blog chronciles my other mode of making money trading futures. Which, I also hope to improve upon, now that I can obess all day in front of the computer screen. But, alas, the markets are closed today as well. So, tired from my weekend, unenthused by the lack of business, and naturally depressed from the February blahs, let's see where this big middle aged adventure takes us.