NevBlog

Neville's Digital Surrogate Brain

Neville

Favorite Quotes

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I like to put quotes around my room. I mainly use them to motivate myself when I’m slacking.
The quotes I enjoy are simple, concise and evoke a passion for working hard or show the harsh realities of NOT working hard. Anytime I see a quote to my liking, I write it in my quotes section on Microsoft OneNote. Usually my main source of quality quotes comes from random posts on TheKirkReport.com, from which I regularly steal them.

Once I put a quote up, it helps to motivate for a while, but then quickly starts fading into the background. I then begin to stop noticing it when I walk in my room. For this reason, I’m constantly adding new ones or moving them around.

Here are some of my favorite quotes for whichever reasons, and some of the places I put them around my room:
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“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running.”

“It is a common oversight in people not to make provision for the bad times while they are experiencing good times.”
–Machiavelli

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
–Thomas Jefferson
(Taken from How to Be An Expert)

“I never saw a pessimistic general win a battle.”
–General Dwight David Eisenhower

“A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner”

“When written in Chinese, the word “crisis” is composed of two characters – one represents danger and one represents opportunity.”
–John F. Kennedy

“The wise person has long ears and a short tongue “

“If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. Of course, no one would have remembered him either”

“…..it doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and either should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because…All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.”
–Mark Cuban

“If you think your actions are too small to make a difference, you’ve never been in a bed with a mosquito. “

“The only man who never makes a mistake is the one who never does anything.”
–Theodore Roosevelt

“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”
–Barry LePatner

“Good things come to those who wait. Better things come to those who try.”

“Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty.”

“If we do not discipline ourselves the world will do it for us.”
–William Feather

Google Ads Gone

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On February 1st 2006 I for the first time put Google Adsense on NevBlog. I begrudgingly did this to fund my charity account, but the ads annoy me more than anything, so I will take them down for a little while.

Selling Pixels made me over $2,000 with just a little work and was more fun/unique than AdSense. However, I do see why people use Adsense. Here are the revenues from my first few days using AdSense:

After the 5th day, revenues were usually pretty low, somewhere in the $1 – $2 range or lower….sporadically jumping to over $10 on some days. The big money days were when I actually wrote about the ads, naturally drawing more attention to them.

Something really going against the ads is they were “below the fold” which means people must first scroll down to see them. I like extremely simple usability, and putting an ad where a navigation menu should go is a no-no to me.

If utilized correctly, people can actually make a decent amount of extra money with AdSense. This would mean positioning the ads correctly and writing about high pay-per-click topics, neither of which I did (or plan to). However, the ads tend to clutter pages and skew what content topics are written about.

This was a nice little experiment with Google Adsense for me. I learned something and came away with a total of $138 for the 28 days of February…..roughly $5/day.

Cheap Ecommerce Shopping Carts

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I’ve tried and used tons of different Ecommerce shopping carts over the years, and some online shopping carts can be very expensive. Nowadays, open source shopping carts have sprung up all over the place that offer novice web users the chance to open an Ecommerce store…..FREE.

For a recent partnership business I’m helping start, I did a review of several open source shopping carts which allow you to start a fully functioning Ecommerce store with little know-how and little money:
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OScommerce:
This is the big daddy of open source shopping carts. It has an enormous amount of users who regularly contribute to their support groups and add on modules.

Pros:

  • FREE
  • Easy to install
  • Huge support section and forum.
  • Add on modules created by the community for free
  • Great selection of out-of-the-box OScommerce templates available (for money) at TemplateMonster.com
  • When you purchase a template, the entire shopping cart is already included for free.
  • Can have a store up, running and accepting orders within minutes.
  • Simple checkout screens.

Cons:

  • Templates are extremely hard to manipulate, will most likely need to buy a professionally made template or have someone help.
  • A little “Bulky” on the backend.
  • Will take a little getting used to the backend: adding products, adding options. Not as intuitive as some of the for-pay shopping carts.

OScommerce Frontend

OScommerce Backend

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Zen Cart

This is basically an easier to use offspring of OScommerce. From my experience, it is almost identical in every aspect to OScommerce, just a cleaned up interface. The only major difference I saw was the ability to easily upload multiple templates, something OScommerce is pretty fussy about. Zen Cart is also slightly easier to use in the backend, but once again, is almost identical to OScommerce.

Zen Cart templates are not hard to find (for pay), but OScommerce has more templates, more add-on modules and a larger community of users.

ZenCart Frontend

ZenCart Backend

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X-Cart:
This is a for-pay shopping cart that allows a full, turnkey solution to Ecommerce:

Pros:

  • Easy to install
  • All add on modules and templates usually cost money, but are professionally done.
  • Easier to use than OScommerce and ZenCart.
  • Has easier add-on features and a clean interface
  • Easier to get professional help than the open source carts.
  • Has very nice upselling features and makes it easy to upload multiple images for a product.

Cons:

  • Not open source. If you have complicated modifications to make (which most people don’t), this shopping cart will be much harder to manipulate than OScommerce/ZenCart.
  • Costs at least $200 for the software, plus extra money for templates and add on modules. Probably not the choice for an uber-cheap startup.

Xcart Frontend

Xcart Backend

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All of the above shopping carts allow for easy merchant account integration and are a complete out-of-the-box solution for starting an Ecommerce store. I’d suggest first downloading OScommerce and trying it out. Add a few products, add some categories, place a few orders yourself and get used to the feel of it. The only requirement is a web hosting plan that allows you to create databases.

Verdict:

OScommerce: Use if a free solution is needed. Best option when looking for free upgrade modules. Best options when looking for great looking templates.

ZenCart: Use if a free solution is needed. Works slightly simpler than OScommerce.

X-Cart: If you’ve got a few hundred dollars to spend and want a nice looking store with upsell features and easy multiple image uploads, I’d recommend Xcart. They have a free demo also.

If familiarized with these sorts of shopping carts, you can have a brilliant idea for an Ecommerce store and actually exectute the idea while you’re still motivated about it rather than first having to learn about ecommerce!

Maximizing Efficiency

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In my effort to become ever more productive throughout the day, I’ve done several more things:

For starters, if I need to concentrate for a prolonged period of time and start to drift, I’ve found these things work pretty well:

Ear plugs. Blocking all audible input greatly reduces the amount of things to concentrate on, therefore helping concentration. I use them time to time if I have a large amount of “boring” work to do.

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When I work out now, I bring a checklist of exercises to do. I wish I had started this years ago!

There’s a quote I like by Brian Tracy that says: “At the age of 24 I began setting clear, written goals for each area of my life. I accomplished more in the following year than I had in the previous 24.”

Setting goals and creating plans helps accomplish more in any field, so I don’t know why it took me so long to apply it in the gym. Instead of simply stopping when I get tired or unmotivated, I now finish long workouts, and I can see my progress in visual form on the checklist.

I got the initial checklist from this workout plan post at AskMen.com, then slightly modified it to be one workout with more sets.

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My latest motivational addition to my room comes in the form of a large poster I had printed out at Kinkos on foam board. It’s a quote I stole from Stephen Stephanian’s website.

I put this board right in front of my desk so I can’t ignore it.

Steve Balmer Video – Enthusiasm & Body Language

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There is a short video clip of Steve Balmer, the billionaire CEO of Microsoft, which has been out for a while now, but I find myself watching it everyday.

To get people motivated, you have to lead by example, and this guy DOES IT. This is a famous video from a Microsoft company meeting where he comes out screaming and jumping with unsurpassed energy, apparently he pulls stuff like this at all the speeches he makes…I love CRAZY business people!

If a guy 30 years older than me can show THAT much enthusiasm (or insanity) for what he does, as a 23 years old with all the opportunity in the world, what am I doing?

While looking up some more videos of Steve Balmer, I found some interviews with him by Robert Scoble:


(Video Link)

I was again enthralled with Balmers enthusiasm, but I picked up something else from this video….by watching it on mute. He NEVER crosses his hands or hides them, and he frequently uses them in combination with his speech in a very animated manner. Interesting.

Note to self:
Start working on developing better body language and becoming more energetic.

Stop Thinking About Products

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Too often people take a look at some of my small businesses and want to replicate them with different products/services.

These people first start searching for a product to sell. I think this mentality is wrong. First people should get serious about researching what goes into creating a small online business, THEN start looking for a product.

Many people don’t realize the first steps it takes to setup a fully functioning ecommerce website. This is just a short list of things to do:

  • Finding a domain name, buying the domain
  • Setting DNS servers for domain
  • Finding hosting to resolve domain
  • Creating an entire website
  • Enabling shopping cart capabilities
  • Opening a merchant account
  • Finding suppliers or means of production for products/services
  • Installing SSL security
  • Getting page properly indexed in DMOZ and search engines
  • Reaching customers
  • Drawing people to the website
  • Converting visitors into sales

Trying to do this on a budget of maybe less than $100 isn’t easy, so much of it must be done yourself. Something simple as designing a logo can be difficult if you don’t know how to use PhotoShop or other software.

Fortunately, there are solutions nowadays that take most of the technical stuff out of the process such as Volusion.com and Yahoo Stores, but even then it still really helps to be somewhat tech savvy.

If you’re serious about sometime starting up a small online business, first do some serious reading and research about the business and technical side….then decide on your product/service later. Don’t be afraid to sail uncharted waters.

Staying Organized

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I’m currently involved with tons of different projects, and staying organized is a task all unto its own. After years of trial and error, here are my favorite ways for staying organized in different areas:

DAILY TO-DO’s:
Favorite method: Sticky Note Chain.
I’ve experimented extensively in this area, and nothing comes close to a sticky note. I’ve tried Palm Pilots and computer calendars to no end….but nothing beats the sticky note.

Instead of setting my day hour-by-hour, I just write down TASKS. This way I can easily compensate for unexpected new tasks. If I don’t finish the list, I don’t sleep.

Alternate Methods: Outlook Calendar, AT Notes.

TAXES:
Favorite Method: Binder with transparent folders in conjunction with the spending cork board and Excel. When I have a tax write off I need to remember, I put it in the binder at the end of each month. Receipts are extremely important in this area.

EXPENSES:
Favorite Method: Cork board coupled with month end closeout on Excel.
When I get a receipt or incur an expense, it goes up here. I tabulate at the end of every month the total amount. This also gives you a real time visualization of your spending habits.

EMAIL:
Favorite Method: Outlook. I used to hate Outlook for a while, then was told by a mentor to start using it. I begrudgingly did so, and now I would never leave Outlook. As much as I hated it tying all my accounts into one, I now view it as a godsend.

For example, I used to view House Of Rave emails only when I got a chance or felt like it. Now with Outlook integrating all my email accounts in one place, order problems and customer inquiries get answered almost right away instead of in hours or days. This obviously improves profit and customer satisfaction which tends to = $$$

Outlook also allows me to sort all mail into different folders for future reference. I honestly don’t know how I was running my businesses without this earlier.

Business Cards/Contacts:
If I am handed a business card, I almost always snap a picture of it with my camera. I then upload the picture to the Buinsess Cards folders on my computer. I also enter the persons information into Outlook.

My list of organizational techniques is always changing, but for now these are most efficient ways that work for me in particular!

Starting Charity Account with AdSense

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I’ve complained about Google AdSense many times before, saying I will never put them on NevBlog. Well, that’s changed.

I have a very under-funded Charity Account with Bank of America which I recently started, and not much money has gone into it. This account automatically accumulates money every week from my main account, but relatively slowly compared to the other accounts.

Starting this Feb 1st I put a vertical Google Adsense banner on NevBlog to generate income for this new charity account. I tried to make it very un-invasive:

Leaving the ad relatively out of the way is contrary to maximizing its profit potential, but I don’t want to clutter the site.

So far the return is extremely BAD. The first day I got several thousand impressions, 8 clicks and a grand total of 38 cents. If that’s a taste of the profit to come, then I’m not sure AdSense is even worth it.

I thought this would be a painless way to increase the amount of money I give away, so hopefully the profits improve!

Monthly Expenses, Win Everyday, New Biz

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I’ve started more aggressively tracking my monthly expenses starting this January. I utilized the help of a cork board and dry erase board to do this. Every time I incur an expense, I write it down on the dry erase board and post the receipt.

I also keep an Excel file full of my expenses and tax deductions, but the cork board is always there to stare me in the face for what I spend. For January I incurred roughly the following expenses:

I know people who pay higher monthly rents than my entire monthly expenses. These are bound to go up, especially in the investment category. Luckily, many of my investment dollars are tax deductible.

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I was speaking to a mentor of mine about being more productive, and he passed down a simple phrase that was passed down to him:

For some reason, that phrase really stuck with me. He explained that, “Everyday should be a small victory.“

This means writing out all of your tasks the night before, then executing them all before you sleep the next day. If you finish everything and then some, you have won.

I used to plan out my day by hour, but it NEVER worked. I realized that everyday is different, and unexpected things always pop up, so an hourly schedule is not the best. My days are more planned out now using Microsoft Outlook Calendar and plain old sticky notes.

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I had set a goal of 1-31-2006 to launch another new small business of mine. I’ve postponed that launch date for 5 more days. It should be done by then!

Parlays and Picks Small Business

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Some of my sports obsessed friends got together and decided to start a sports picking business as a side income.

They had a common problem many people have: they had no idea where to start. I decided it would be interesting to document their progress as they develop their business:

So these guys know their sports, but not much about how to create a small web business. They started mapping out how to sell their picks, but were stumped when it came to actually implementing the page on the internet.

I helped them setup a website on my server, showed them how to use the basic functions of Macromedia Dreamweaver, insert PayPal payment buttons and how to buy and modify a webpage template from TemplateMonster.com.

Here is what they came up with: ParlaysAndPicks.com

Now this site looks pretty amateur and unprofessional. HOWEVER…..at least they got an actual working site up and running, more than what 90% of people will accomplish. Another surprising fact is they actually get orders and make money after less than a month in business. Their only “Product” is their sports picks which they send by email. Therefore there is no real overhead for their business. They can have 5 customers or 5,000 and have almost the same overhead costs.

They tried advertising with Google Adwords, but Google wouldn’t accept their ad because their site was considered a “Gambling” site. However, Yahoo allowed them to advertise, and they spent several hundred dollars getting traffic to the site through Yahoo. In return, they made more than double their investment back in just a month.

They have already proven they can make money with their micro business, now the goal is to make more. The next step is hiring a web designer to “clean up” the site and make it more professional.

I get questions everyday concerning how to start a small online business, so I think this will shed even more insight on the subject. I’ll continue to document their progress.