Another Beautiful Day in the Minnesota Wilds

After a serious cold spell, the weather is really great. The trees are turning and the air is crisp, but not bitter. I'm considering more products to sell on my website, eBay, Amazon, et al. The only way I'm going to compete with larger anchor stores is to offer a better selection. The bane of many a micro-business.

Now, in my case, you might say, this is easy. Just take the items that go every day across bar-code scanners every day. The thing is, there are other factors. What's the margin, how long will it last on the shelves, how much to ship, where can I source it, who's the buyer, why buy from VersaGlobe, who finds my site, what's the exact price point where I make money, what about returns, what about errors in the system, can I really afford to ship overseas, when will sales reflect my bank account, how long can I stay in business? These are all respectable questions for any micro-business owner to ask. And then, how to grow the business on top of that!

I'm happy to see that my advertising campaigns are doing well. Traffic is increasing to my site. I'm keeping myself amused while waiting on sales. It's all too easy to say, "if I had a million dollars" and go comatose until bankruptcy, but that's not what I want. I'm willing to claw my way up the corporate ladder, help myself, my family, and strangers in the process.

Some things I'm taking off the burner until VersaGlobe is more profitable...1) Education, it's a glorious tool to make money and make life more enjoyable, it's just not in the cards right now. 2) Spending on frivolous things. Now, I need to eat and keep myself presentable and profitable, but not much more. Books, Dvds, New Clothes, Art, Gambling, Drinking, Tobacco, anything that seems frivolous is going to be slashed and the money will go straight to VersaGlobe's bottom line. 3) Feeling sorry for myself. Small business is not a gift, it's a slow process of building something that will last. 4) Silly marketing tactics. Sometimes it's tough to distinguish between a genuine sales strategy and just winging it, so I'm spending my time and money on the things that will get the best return on investment. This also means getting off my high horse and selling at profitable market rates. 5) Looking up to big business. Big business is the enemy, they can afford to sell my products at better margins than me, so be it. I'll continue to build what's right for me, and my market, to secure what's really important, small business.


And that's all for now, with a little focus and persistence, we will get this thing going and I will become a very wealthy man, not to mention my team, and a million happy customers along the way.