Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

A Blessed Christmas to You All!
I wish to you and those dear to you heartfelt blessings from me and from my family on this Christmas! Peace be to all of you!
Jeff

Winding Down
I'm starting to wind things down for Christmas. I'm making some substantial changes to some pages of One Stop Web Support, but I've decided not to upload them until after Christmas. I've been caught before where I tried to upload before a deadline and then found myself doing more testing and revising than I intended.

So after tying up a few lose ends tomorrow, I plan to shut things down, finish my shopping and enjoy Christmas. Before long, our children will start heading back to their homes across the US, so I'll have to enjoy their visits while I can.
Jeff

SiteBuildIt! Two-for-One Reminder
Just a reminder that the two-for-the-price-of-one offer for SiteBuildIt! is running out at the end of the day on December 25th. To refresh your memory, Ken Evoy offered this as an opportunity for people to give a special gift to someone who is starting—or would like to start—their own business. You pay for one and have a second one to give to someone else—or to keep for yourself.

I'm very high on SiteBuildIt! because of their unprecedented history of success in helping people succeed at building a successful business. They combine hosting, keyword research tools, tools to help you figure out the most profitable ways to monetize your site, an easy site-building tool, search engine optimization tools, analysis tools, tools to help you succeed at various promotions, autoresponders, list management—everything a business owner needs to succeed online.

They take care of all the technical matters so you don't have to, provide you with step-by-step training in how to build and grow a successful site, and give you access to private forums where you can learn from the many SiteBuildIt! customers who have already built sites that rank in the top 3% of the most visited sites online.

And all of that comes for about what you would pay for hosting alone with a decent, professional hosting company (namely, one that doesn't cut corners like most of the free or cheap hosting companies do by not providing essential elements that they figure their newbie customers won't be savvy enough to know they need).

Frankly, this is a great offer. I know of no other tool that is this complete and has this record of helping people succeed online. And if I was in the position of starting my first site and was able to buy only one tool to help me succeed, it would be SiteBuildIt!. No question. I hope you check it out before this offer expires after the 25th.
Jeff

Controlled Chaos and Marketing
I've been getting a healthy dose of controlled chaos this week. My five grown children who are in college, the armed forces, or otherwise on their own have returned to the nest along with my daughter who is still at home. I had forgotten what it was like having six in the house, each with their own ideas of what they want to do and when.

My wife's attempt to organize them into a shopping trip this morning was an exercise in herding cats. Whenever she finally got the last straggler ready to head out the door, she'd find that two others had decided that there was still time for them to get "one more thing done" before they left, and the cycle of steering them toward the door would start all over again with a couple of different faces.

That notwithstanding, it's been fun having them home and having the house as lively as it once had been on a regular basis. And it got me thinking about some of the similarities between raising a large family and running your own business.

First off, ANY IDEA THAT YOU HAVE CONTROL OVER THE SITUATION IS NOTHING BUT AN ILLUSION. In raising children, you plan the direction in which they start out. But once you get them going, they develop a mind of their own and can go in directions that you never anticipated.

It's the same way with a business. I know, most people start out their business trying to control every detail, trying to ensure that there is absolutely no risk of failure. But eventually, the realization that that isn't possible leads them in one of two directions. Either they quit, disillusioned that they couldn't achieve the rewards they sought without accepting the risks that lead to those rewards, or they recognize that risk is a constant part of the journey and they hop on to enjoy the ride.

And you never quite know where either journey will take you. Some of our children have developed interests and career choices we never would have expected. And similarly, my business has taken me in plenty of unexpected directions. What I originally envisioned and where I am today is quite different, as trial and error have led me to discard directions that were not as profitable as I expected and to embrace directions that allowed me to fill needs of others that I hadn't recognized.

Ultimately, both raising children and building a business remind me of a comment that actress and director Jodie Foster once made about why she'd rather not act in movies that she directs: "When I'm directing myself in a role, I always get exactly what want out of that character. But when I direct another actor, I sometimes get much better than what I wanted."

Having things under complete control is not the wonderful thing that we think it is. I'm amazed what our children have become and they grew and earned increasing control of their lives. And I'm amazed at the directions that my business has taken me as I've driven it along, seeking out the surprises it has held for me along the way.

There's something to be said for controlled chaos.
Jeff

A Disadvantage to Working at Home
For all the advantages of working at home, there are times when it's more convenient to be an employee. This week, with all six children home, I've felt like I was in a no-win situation. There has been work that definitely needed to be done, but there's no telling when we might have everyone together like this again.

So when I work, I feel guilty that I'm not spending the time downstairs with family, and when I'm with family, I have that nagging guilt about not getting work done.

Being on somebody else's timeclock certainly would eliminate that guilt. Then I would either be working somewhere away from home, or have taken vacation days where I was still getting paid.

Still, guilt aside, I wouldn't want want my work situation to be any other way. It just proves, though, how much of a challenge it is to achieve balance in a work-at-home situation.
Jeff

A Vacation of Sorts
What with the extremely rare occasion of having all six of our children home through Christmas, I've decided to take a vacation of sorts. I'll still keep blogging, but I'll put the many-part tutorial of SearchIt! free multi-purpose research tool that I usually do on Sundays on hold until after Christmas.

That blog usually takes me most of my Sunday afternoon, and right now I'll opt for making the most of this rare convergence of family.
Jeff