Today was the IMU webinar class – Passion-Inspired Video and Other Creative Content by Gary Vaynerchuk. Wow. Gary, you are my new hero.

I only wish people would use their brain and think, instead of just reacting. Why do people take everything so literally any more? Is it something in the flu shots? Sometimes it can be sooo hard to communicate these days.

Do y’all pick apart the food on your plate, separating all the ingredients, or do you look at the overall idea of it being food to eat? Chew before you swallow, folks!

People were stabbing at Gary’s words with their forks instead of listening to the message. Their loss. But it’s not surprising. I see this a lot on forums and such. That’s why I mostly lurk and don’t participate much. That’s my loss, but it’s so tiresome when people jump on you because they can’t see the context, only the words on the page (if even that). But I digress…

It’s so hard to speak in literal terms when you’re in conversation, without having to “script” it – at which point it ceases to be conversation.

Hey people, go back and listen to what he’s saying and not how he says it.
(I personally loved the reference to the CEO…)

Here’s what I got from Gary, very basically (he really said a lot):
Focus on what you’re putting out there – CONTENT.
Focus on how you’re interacting with others – CUSTOMER SERVICE. CARING. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS. Don’t just throw a bunch of links out there like so much mud on the wall, but actually relate to people like they’re… uh… people, not cash drawers!

That’s the steak…

All the other stuff – tracking analytics data, what camera to use, video or written word, ROI, SEO, blah blah blah – is all “seasoning” to help you serve that steak up as a delectable meal for the world.

Think of it as tweaking a recipe. Seasoning’s good, and sometimes necessary, but without the steak you’re just sitting there with a salt shaker…

I get it! I’m amazed and excited! Thank you, Gary!
(Can you tell I loved the steak/salt & pepper analogy?!)

Oh – and the bit about the Thank You economy is very interesting. I do believe you’re right about this. Will be back to your site to watch the video!

Okay, now I’m hungry… Talk to ya later :-)

Ah yes, the shops and stores are sitting patiently, waiting for some attention. The ZenCart store is still, uh… nothing. BUT – it’s all good.

Mr. B came over wanting to check out a friend’s web site. Yes, Mr. B has a computer – in fact, two of ‘em. One’s a monster Toshiba (Windows 95), the other’s my old Sony notebook (screen’s toasted after someone “worked on it” for him). He doesn’t have internet access, though, so comes over here for that.

Anyway, we looked up the site, The Whole Truth Network, and I fell in love with the template …uh oh… so of course I had to go find it. (Interesting site, by the way. Check it out.)

That was quick and easy enough, even found a Blogger version – yes! Unfortunately, it also led to hours and hours of template-itis, during which I must have downloaded a couple hundred (at least). Some were WordPress, but most were just regular ol’ web site templates. I need a few of those, and the ones I have stashed on the hard drive just aren’t getting it. Customizing takes time and I haven’t been keeeping up with the latest CSS and stuff. Yes, I’ll catch up, but it was actually a time-saver to spend 8 hours ooh-ing and ah-ing and downloading like a maniac. My most heartfelt thanks to all of you out there who build these great themes and templates and freely share them with all of us! Bravo!

Sooo… 7 hours and 45 minutes into this quest. Eyeballs are dangling out of the sockets, hand frozen to the mouse. Click into third-to-the-last page out of, ummm, somewhere over a hundred pages of templates, and what do my dried-up bloodshot eyes land on? An ecommerce template. Whoa. And then another. Whoa whoa.

What’s the big deal about that, since ZenCart’s already installed on the store site? Well, as much as I love ZenCart, I don’t like the fact that one can’t just use Google Checkout and PayPal buttons. You have to set up with regular cart integration, SSL, the whole proverbial ball of wax.

I don’t need that with my site, don’t want it. I can offer secure payment with buttons that take the customer directly to the payment site where they can pay securely. In my most humble opinion, that is The Most Secure process for the customer. Also the easiest for them, considering I offer no multiples of anything. If a person were to actually order more than one item, it’s a very simple process to issue a partial refund for any discounts (if applicable). Perhaps not as convenient for the shopper, but there is a work-around for that which reduces the inconvenience.

All this has resulted in replanning, redesigning, and regrouping – more reinvention. Here we go again… hah!

And now the phone has rung with yet another distraction/interruption/annoyance.
To be continued…

…but a very busy long time.

So what have I been doing???

Getting back into photography…

But mostly, working.
I’ve been making lots of things for my Etsy shops – DanceTheMoon and JewelryObsessed. Haven’t listed any of them yet.

I have mixed feelings about Etsy, and am debating on whether to keep those shops or where to move them. Will probably stock them up for the holidays and then make some changes in the spring.

I’ve also been sorting through my tons of inventory for my eCrater stores – IncredibleClutter and CraftCottage. I’ll be getting those things cleaned up, photo’d, and listed, starting this week.

AND – I’ve been working on themes and templates and such for the web sites. Just installed a new theme on my main site: DanceTheMoon.com, which is a WordPress blog right now, with more to come. Also got a home page up on my web store site: DanceTheMoon.us. It’s still a work in progress, but really needed to get something up there. The ZenCart is on the site, but no link to it yet, as it needs lots o’ help…

WordPress themes are all over the place, but ZenCart templates are few and far between – unless you want to pay a bunch for one, which I don’t. So I’ve been digging through code and working on customization. Looks like I’ll end up having to do my own, to tie all the sites and pages together. (Yes, there’s more sites, but they’re on the proverbial back burner for now…)

Of course, living out in the middle of nowhere, there’s a lot of preparation for season changes. I’ve been busy with that, too.

Winter, it’s coming… are you ready?