I had a small victory this week in my ongoing effort to automate and simplify day-to-day tasks. Because shoe inventory is always changing, one of my biggest challenges is keeping all the product links up-to-date.
Up until about 15 months ago, I was doing all this manually, individually checking each link. It was a very slow, [...]
“Running a start-up is like being punched in the face repeatedly. But working for a large corporation is like being waterboarded.” –Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator
This quote was from a recent issue of Inc. magazine, but I don’t really like it that much. It takes a pretty negative outlook on both start-ups and “normal” [...]
It’s pretty exciting to have made it a full year on my own without having to look for another job. Still, with the Internet and the economy changing so fast, nothing is certain.
Last summer for example, I fell victim to the “Google Slap” and lost 75%+ of my traffic and revenue for three months. Stressful. [...]
I knew I’d made the big time when Shoeline.com offered to send me a pair of any shoes on their site for free. They are a relatively new partner on Shoes ‘R Us but the early results have been great. And since this is the first pair of free shoes I’ve gotten in my 5 [...]
From an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal this week:
Visiting college basketball teams usually don’t enjoy playing in North Carolina, and now Internet businesses don’t want to compete there, either. But while the state’s hoops programs are a source of pride, a new Internet tax isn’t going to win fans among North Carolina consumers.
[...]
For a little bit of background, I run ShoesRUs.net, a comparison shopping site for shoes. We carry no inventory, process no orders, and ship nothing. Instead, we refer customers to our retail partners in exchange for a portion of the proceeds. These are actual customer service emails I’ve received over the past few years. They [...]
I’m the proud owner of the new Verizon LG enV Touch. It’s no iPhone but it’s pretty slick. Looking forward to being better able to keep tabs on the biz from the road.
During last weekend’s Las Vegas trip, I had the opportunity to visit the Zappos headquarters in nearby Henderson. It was good timing, as I’d just finished reading this article in Inc. magazine about their CEO Tony Hsieh, their history, and their company culture.
Since Zappos is the largest online shoe-seller, it follows that they are [...]
And all I have to do to claim my winnings is send my bank account information to some guy in Nigeria with a hotmail email address. Here is the super-official text of my winning notification:
From: House Of The Senate House
Subject: Attn
This is to officially inform you that 6.8 Million Dollars has been credited
to you. for [...]
When the California legislature tabled Assembly Bill 178 until 2010, affiliate marketers in the state let out a collective sigh of relief.
A Background
Online retailers have traditionally only collected sales tax for sales to customers in states where they maintain a physical presence, meaning an office, warehouse, or brick-and-mortar store. Smart online retailers have spent the [...]
