TGIJ

January is normally the slowest month for retail sales. Thank God! Ironing out the kinks of a newly created anything is tough. Ironing out the kinks of this new store is especially taxing, since the combination of slow download/upload speed, even slower PC performance, entirely new area of eBay I’m unfamiliar with, new interface rules to remember, etc., means I have little time to spend on customer service.
         Yes, I’ve made a couple of sales. The first was to a total newbie, from Italy, no less – first purchase, no feedback. The second alerted me to a major goof-up in my instructions for downloading eBooks, which meant revising all my listings to give the RIGHT instructions for downloading my files.
         Now I’m off to the bank to open another account for PayPal micropayments on sales of less than $12 US. I’m sure there are more headaches ahead, but I’m looking forward to the eventual automation of so much that I am doing by hand – and foot!

This blog is MONETIZED!: Update...

So, I'm checking my bank account online when I come across this line:

01/04/2007 ACH CREDIT GOOGLE ADSENSE REVENUE SH $0.64

Now, as it turns out, that money was to verify the payout account. Their haven't been any REAL clickthroughs yet. So, to help that along, I'll be putting up some affiliate links that I've researched.

More soon.

The "Theory of Everything" T-Shirt slogan.

Physicists are striving to quantify the four forces of physics, a "Theory of Everything". Without boring you to tears, they want a single equation to explain gravity, electromagnetism, and a couple of subatomic forces you can look up yourself: Strong & Weak. One noted scientist explained that it would be an equation you could fit on a t-shirt.

Self-branding is about the same thing, without the clipboard and lab coat. One strives to sum up everything in a pithy, well written sentence. Or two. The trick is to understand what the strongest brands have that I don't - yet. And, no, it ain't a slogan. It's congruency.

Coming up with that slogan means you are committing to it. Choose wisely - the less congruent you are with it (and it with you), the weaker your brand will be. Contrariwise, selecting the perfect slogan in advance (cart-before-the-horse methodology) means you will grow towards each other in an organic, meaningful way. There's no guaranteeing you won't outgrow each other. Hope that it's you that's doing the outgrowing!

Already tried and rejected by me, as Vince Runza Online:

It's the customer, stupid.
I'm not for everyone, but that can be good!
Always Busy (saw this one chiseled into the facade of a building in Downtown Scranton)
Good Products, Good Service
Bootstrap entrepreneurship
It's not work if you love doing it. It's even better if you get paid for it!

Okay, it's a work in progress. Feedback? Smart-alecky responses welcome!