I’ll never forget my first big inventory mistake. It occurred in 2006. I was working for LivingDirect, an online appliance retailer. I thought for sure I would get fired. LivingDirect sold icemakers, air conditioners, refrigerators, and similar appliances. I thought for sure I would get fired. I’d been sourcing appliances for about a year and […]
I see a lot of startup entrepreneurs copying successful businesses. The entrepreneurs observe what those businesses do and assume it would work for them. Or they attribute the success of a company to a certain strategy or practice. The confusion has gotten worse with the publication of “The 4-Hour Workweek.” For example, many entrepreneurs and
How do you let go of the vine? This is something I’ve been struggling with recently. I love to read books and bring the knowledge to FringeSport to change the company and to make it better. I’ve long been a fan of Verne Harnish and his “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” book. He recently updated it
I used to work for LivingDirect, an online retailer. I started with the company in 2001, when I was an undergraduate in college. Tech companies were dropping like flies. The dot-com bust was real. But LivingDirect survived. It’s because we operated like a real business. We sold compact appliances, and we followed old-school business rules:
Have you seen the Tai Lopez video on YouTube? You know the one: “Here’s my Lamborghini, and here are my bookshelves. And the books are more valuable than the Lambo!” I’m not a big Tai Lopez fan — and I don’t have a Lambo — but it’s shocking to me how valuable books can be.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone. Christmas is approaching. It’s the “sales season” for ecommerce. And just after the sales season comes the “customer service season.” When I was an ecommerce employee for LivingDirect, a retailer, we sold compact appliances — air conditioners, icemakers, refrigerators, and the like. During the holiday season,
How do you get things done? When I first heard of Getting Things Done, the time-management methodology and book, I was mystified. Surely it’s not that hard to accomplish tasks. Just do them! Now that I’m a little older and a little wiser, I am in awe of people who are productivity machines. I’ve evolved
My personal productivity stack | Practical Ecommerce Read More »
What’s the best method for hiring ecommerce employees? I have struggled with the issue over the years. In this post, I’ll describe FringeSport’s hiring process. When we were a bootstrapped startup, we hired whoever agreed to work for us, essentially. This meant a lot of friends and family. We were excited about our growth and
I once was a Cub Scout. Much of it I liked. I liked camping and learning how to use a knife. I enjoyed hanging out with other boys. But there was one thing about Cub Scouts that I hated: selling raffle tickets! I would knock on door after door. I knew folks were home because
Teaching sales and marketing with Girl Scout cookies Read More »
Here’s the story of FringeSport’s why and how it has evolved. When I started Fringe, my why was focused on me. I desired to assist customers, but, really, I wanted something. I wanted to start a business so that I could be an entrepreneur The post The ‘why’ of my company appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.
