Posts Tagged ‘business’

Driving thoughts

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
11 December 2012
0

Driving is a great time for me to think – in fact, I think it’s even more effective than showering.  It used to be that I’d get tons of reflection and inspiration while showering, since you don’t have much to think about beyond your routine.  However, now that I’ve taken to really enjoying all the bath products I’ve gotten, I tend to think just about those brands, why I like the products, and how I feel about it all.  Doesn’t leave me as much thinking space as I used to get.  Nowadays I’ve found that it’s driving time that is really precious and useful.  From reflections of life to rehashing business ideas, it’s an ideal way for me to get some creative juices flowing.

Unfortunately it’s not like I can sit there and take notes about what I’m brainstorming, and I always found it challenging to try to dictate my thoughts to remember.  So, I’m getting used to summing up those thoughts into a few to-dos and dictating that to my phone.  I set a few reminders to trigger sometime after I get home, and then I can sit and reflect some more.  It’s a decent system and I kind of wish I had more driving to do!  Perhaps I’ll take up some other similar activity like biking, jogging, or getting back on my beloved longboard.

Secret prices

laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: , , ,
07 December 2012
0

It’s been years since I’ve shopped at Sears, so I felt like a stranger when I strolled through one day, wondering where the prices of their products were. As it turns out, they cover them up! I thought this might be something that is exclusive to them, but just the other day I found that some of the displays at Target are like that too.

sears hidden prices from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Mounting pressures

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
05 December 2012
0

There sure are a lot of ups and downs with trying to run your own gig.  Sometimes it’s super rewarding and fun and sometimes I take things too personally and get sad that things aren’t perfect.  Lately I’ve been going through a rough patch again, grappling with what to focus on, how to grow things, and where to develop my skills.  Between self-doubt and perceived doubt from others, it’s been tough going.  One of the hardest things about being an entrepreneur (besides trying to make it work) is the lack of understanding that you get.

Most people don’t quite get what it means when you don’t have a traditional job, work for yourself, or otherwise aren’t a part of the “normal” workforce.  They see you sitting at home all day, in front of the computer, and wonder if you’ve done anything at all.  For whatever reason, you apparently don’t amount to much if you’re not working 40 hours a week for a paycheck or going to school for certification or a degree.  At least that’s the impression I’ve gotten based on questions and feedback from some people lately.  While I don’t think they mean to judge, I feel judged – and that gives me pressure to get results, fast.

Unfortunately, that’s just not how it all works.  Here I am trying to build something, cultivate and grow it.  My little seed won’t magically become a beanstalk without a lot of love and care over time.  While it’s only been 8 months and in grand scheme of creating something, that’s chump change, it sure feels like a long time.  I think that’s partly due to all the change that has happened, which makes leaving my job feel like a lifetime ago.

It’s hard to stay patient, keep pushing, and not give up because there is no specific time frame at which I can determine whether this will or will not work.  Plus, for the time being I’m at it alone.  I don’t really have any support and nobody really knows what I’ve accomplished except for myself.  When I face a challenge, I don’t have coworkers to help me out or a manager to guide me.  While I’ve been seeking mentors for years, I just haven’t really found someone who has the expertise and time for me.  So how long do I keep trying?  There is no real answer; we’ll just have to see.  In the mean time, I’m trying to keep my spirits up and reinvigorate my enthusiasm.

Shipping headaches

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
31 October 2012
0

Written a week ago:

I had a down day today. Managing this whole eBay thing has started to wear on me as I move past the honeymoon phase and learn some of the not-so-pleasant aspects of being a seller. It started off great – listing and selling items was exciting and mailing out packages was fun. But now that I’ve sent out dozens of items, I find it increasingly challenging to manage inventory, get the right shipping products (particularly appropriate box sizes), and find a good balance between price and shipping speed/service.

Mostly it has to do with shipping woes. For the second time now, someone has contacted me saying they have not received their item after waiting nearly a month. In cases like this, I am so powerless yet I feel responsible. I want to help but should I have to replace or refund an item every time the post office or customs screws me over? While I appreciate the low prices I get with USPS, I feel like there’s no accountability for when items are lost, damaged, or stolen. I have no recourse and it is disheartening.

In a similar vein, I have no idea what customs offices might be doing with my shipments… are they holding them? Did they never receive them? Will my customer get their package soon, or at all? It’s so frustrating to not know and not be able to provide any comfort to the recipient patiently waiting for the delivery.  Additionally, I constantly worry about how much abuse my packages will suffer after finding out some of my items were crushed in transit.  How do I ensure that the items are well-protected yet don’t add so much weight to the packaging that shipping costs go up?  It’s a fine line to walk.

Now, with some time to think:

All of this has led me to an old idea I had a long time ago – wouldn’t it be nice to “rent” space in a suitcase or car that will be traveling from somewhere near you to a destination close to the one you want?  People are constantly covering so much ground and not taking advantage of all the space they have to bring things with them.  If we could tap into a network where travelers can offer up the extra space they have and shippers/mailers can then pay for that space, wouldn’t that be a great way to take advantage of the travel that’s already being done?  With the rise of community marketplaces, this seems more and more a sensible reality for the future.  If I can trust the listings on Airbnb, I can certainly find a way to create a similar level of trust for listings involving assisted shipping.

Granted, there are plenty of challenges to consider, especially when it comes to international shipping, but this is a problem I’d really like to help solve.  I can just imagine the powerful community that can be created around this, and with it a built-in level of service unlike that of many shipping services.  After all, each person signing up to help deliver items wants to maintain a pristine reputation or else they won’t get more opportunities to earn money.  We’d need to integrate some technologies to assist them in the tracking process, among other things, but I wonder if overall it’d be worth all the effort.  Would I really be able to drive down the price, yet provide optimal service?  I’d sure like to try.

Micro-entrepreneurism

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
24 October 2012
4

I’ve just spent a good 3-4 hours deep in the world of community marketplaces offering all kinds of awesome products and services, powered by the individual.  These sites are empowering people around the world to become part-time (or even full-time) entrepreneurs who get to choose what they do and when they do it.  It ranges from sites like TaskRabbit and Zaarly, which offer skill-based listings, to Vayable, which offers tour listings, to Airbnb, which offers accommodation listings.  Whatever the niche, the message is clear: personalized, personable services provided by your neighbors or that local in your destination city are on the rise.

Our society is seeing a shift away from “traditional” jobs and towards the more flexible, on your own terms type jobs that are a far cry from the salaried employee.  And those people clamoring for these unconventional/unpredictable job bookings find themselves serving a consumer that has evolved too.  It used to be that consumers had to go to the store and choose from whatever was available at the time, or customers had to sit through customer service calls before finally getting help.  Now it’s all about getting what you want when you want.  Who needs to sit through half an hour of automated phone menus when you can just hire the guy in your town to install that new TV?  Why go to the store and be forced to choose from food in flavors you don’t like when you can have someone come cook for you or bring you delicious baked goodies just the way you like?

It’s service to the max, because it’s customized for your needs.  On TaskRabbit and Zaarly, you can post exactly what, when, where, and how you want things done, then choose who to do it.  Or, for sellers, you can post exactly what and how you’ll do something, then determine the when and where with the “who” who’s booking you.  The great thing about these services is that it not only empowers people to make money for doing what they love and/or what they’re good at, but it offers a better experience for us as clients.  Get a tour of a city you’re visiting customized to your interests!  Discover that perfect room to stay in that’s closer to everything you want to see than any reasonable hotel option.  Let someone else handle the chores for once, so you can relax and take time to do what you love.  Meanwhile, the people doing this work find themselves more fulfilled AND with more money to line their pockets.  It’s a wonderful win-win situation.

Along those lines, I have a similar idea of connecting people with specific needs to those who can help fulfill them.  I’m still working on the details of the idea, but as far as I’ve seen there is no other service out there that completely addresses the issue.  I’m really excited to develop it further and hopefully I’ll be sharing it with the world sometime next year!  For now, you can use your imagination to try to guess what it might be… and hey, maybe you’ll come up with another brilliant (and viable) idea to take advantage of the power of community-powered marketplaces, where everybody’s a micro-entrepreneur!

Traveling saleswoman

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
14 October 2012
0

Ever since I started selling things on eBay, my choice of products has been affected by my physical location.  When at home, I list the items we have there; when at Panda’s I list the items we get here.  These things vary based on our interests, as well as what stores we have access to.  So, when it came time for a bit of traveling, I found myself packing a suitcase full of products so I’d be prepared in case something sold while I was on the road.  It certainly made for some interesting packing!

It’s funny how I’ve become a sort of new-age “traveling saleswoman.”  Rather than traveling around the country to try to increase sales, I’m traveling as I please and bringing my inventory along for the ride.  As my needs change, I hope to one day travel to discover new products to add to my offerings.  That way I’m enjoying myself while still managing to get plenty of work done to further my business!  Plus, I can find excuses to travel to some awesome places around the world, searching for the best gift items out there.

eBay success

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
30 August 2012
0

listing of deckmyphone's fuchsia-colored iphone 4 case on ebay siteA few days ago, I decided to try to sell my iPhone cases (currently listed at DeckMyPhone) on eBay.  After all, the new iPhone is supposed to be coming out in a few weeks and before we know it, the iPhone 4/4S model will become obsolete.  Granted, there should be a nice secondary market of people purchasing iPhone 4/4S’s once the price of those drop in light of the newer model coming out.  Still, I’d like to be able to move my product as much as possible so I can then focus on getting some iPhone 5 cases to sell.

To my delight, I got a bid on the very first day AND have since sold three at the “Buy It Now” price!  Who knew that people were so eager to get a case that they’d pay over twice as much to get it ASAP.  I happily obliged and sent out their covers the day they were ordered.  I was even more pleased when I discovered how easy it is to ship with eBay, printing labels at home for packages that I can arrange for pickup if I want.  It’s like the entire Stamps.com service, but integrated so I don’t need to pay for the membership.

So far it’s been a great experience selling on eBay and I think I might start listing other random items that I have for sale.  Who knows what people might want to buy.  🙂  As for the iPhone 4 cases, I hope that this streak continues!  You can check out my listings in my personal account and my business account.  Feel free to start bidding!  😛

Customer disregard

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
13 August 2012
0

guy with face in palms looking down in frustrated pose

photo credit: zachklein


You know what really irks me?  Companies that don’t care about being good.  This usually exhibits itself in two main ways: poor/non-existent customer service and dishonest (or not-so-honest) sales/marketing.  Unfortunately I came across both in one day, and found myself quite perturbed at the state that businesses are in.  Why is it the case that those providing outstanding service, great value, and by all accounts “do things right” are so few and far between?  Why is it that as a consumer and customer, I tend to expect that my voice won’t get heard?  I guess that’s why I love small businesses and start-ups, since they do tend to listen and care who I am and what I want.

It started when I came across an issue with Yahoo Mail and wanted to contact their customer service to request a feature be added.  After sending me on a wild goose chase of automated answers and browsing through their community forum, I reached a dead end that didn’t even allow me to email their service department (if they even have one!).  That’s like spending half an hour on the phone going through a tedious menu with robot voices only to get hung up on in the end.  Why waste my time?! Ugh, I was so completely disappointed in Yahoo at that point and almost didn’t even care if I could contact them anymore.  Here I am trying to help them make their service better and I feel like I’m yelling into an abyss with nobody within miles.

yahoo help dead end - only option go to community forum

The only option?! What about a contact form for YOU, Yahoo?!

Then a couple hours later, I got a phone call from a guy who started talking about setting up a consulting appointment for me.  Excuse me – what??  First of all, what consulting?  I never asked for any sort of consulting service and I certainly don’t have money to spend on that.  Second of all, who are you to offer me consulting?  Then when I asked him what this was about he answered: “Your website” to which I asked, “Which one?”  There was a pause of confusion before he was able to look it up I guess – terrible service.  You’re calling me about my business and you don’t even know the name of it?  Great.  Maybe you should get to know me before you assume you know what I want/need.  So anyway, I hated how he went ahead and assumed I had already agreed to this and just needed to set up a time to discuss details with a consultant.  That sort of sales tactic is too pushy and frankly, dishonest.

I then requested to be removed from whatever list they had me on and the guy basically ignored me, talking on about some other part of his sales pitch or something.  When I repeated myself, he told me there was no need to be testy.  Oh boy!  He hadn’t seen testy yet!  I retorted that I wasn’t being testy YET and made sure he confirmed that he’d take me out of their database before ending the call.  It was so frustrating to deal with him and his annoying assumptions that he could just bulldoze over me and get me to set up an appointment when I knew nothing about his company AND didn’t even want to change my site anyway.

Whew, so now that that’s off my chest, I vow to always strive to provide value, excellent customer service, and honest marketing.  I want my business dealings to engage customers, not drive them away.  I’d rather stay a smaller operation that really takes care of it customers than expand into a multi-national conglomerate that forgets about the little people.  And I hope that I never forget to listen to the customers, pay attention to what they’re telling me, and ensure that they are being taken care of as responsibly as possible.  Nobody should ever feel voiceless against my business.  In fact, I’d love it if we built a community around us, where we’re all like family and everybody contributes to the whole experience.  That’s my dream for my own companies.

How to: Link Social Media Accounts

laelene Posted in how to guides，Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
08 August 2012
2

With the ventures I’ve been working on, much of my time and effort have been spent figuring out the nuances of social media.  I think these issues are pertinent to many people, particularly business owners, so I’ve decided to put together some of the lessons I’ve learned and tips for how to improve your experience and avoid pitfalls.  These will be filed under the “social media lessons” category, so you can filter by category to sort by relevant posts.  Hopefully you’ll find these things useful in optimizing your own social media strategy!

social media icon buttons: facebook, twitter, pinterest, instagram, vimeo, etsy

Icons courtesy Brandi Girl

Today I’ll cover how to link your social media accounts to offer consistency across social media platforms.  It can be quite time-consuming to post content across platforms, so why not link them and get more bang for your buck?  Most sites will allow you to connect with Facebook and/or Twitter to post your activity and updates; just check the settings and look for something like “Sharing Settings” or “Connect Accounts.”

First, you can interlink your Facebook Page and Twitter accounts.  That way, any post on Facebook gets updated to Twitter, and any update on Twitter gets updated to Facebook (except @replies and direct messages).

Link Twitter to your Facebook Page

  • You will be prompted to use Facebook as yourself (instead of as your Facebook Page) if you aren’t already.
  • Your personal Facebook account and any Facebook Pages that you are an admin of will be listed.
  • On the right side, click “Link to Twitter” for the account you want to link.
  • On the next page, make sure you’re logged in to the correct Twitter account and click “Authorize app.”
  • You will be returned to the previous page, where you can choose what to share (Status Updates, Photos, Video, Links, Notes, & Events). By default, they will all be checked so all updates will be shared on Twitter as well.

 
Link Facebook Page to your Twitter account

  • Scroll down to the Facebook section and click “Sign in to Facebook and connect your accounts.”
  • There will be a pop-up prompting you to allow Twitter access to your personal Facebook account. Allow it.
  • Now your account is connected to Facebook and you can choose to allow Twitter to post to your personal profile page, or one of the Facebook Pages that you are an admin of.

 

For all the rest, make sure you are signed in to the correct Facebook and Twitter accounts first.

Link Facebook* & Twitter to your Pinterest account

  • Scroll down to the Facebook section and click “Login with Facebook.”
  • There will be a pop-up prompting you to allow Pinterest access to your Facebook account.  Allow it.
  • Now “Login with Facebook” will be ON and you can choose to also turn “Publish activity to Facebook Timeline” to ON. If you do, another pop-up will prompt you to allow that type of access to your Facebook account.  Allow it if you want Pinterest updates to show up in a box on the right side of your timeline.
  • In the Twitter section, click “Login with Twitter” and authorize the app.

 
Link Facebook, Twitter, & more to your Instagram (instructions for iPhone app – Androids may vary)

  • Open up the Instagram app on your device and click on the icon that shows you your profile (bottom right).
  • Tap on the settings icon in the top right corner.
  • Scroll down to “Sharing settings” under the Account header.
  • Tap on that and choose the accounts you want to link. You’ll be prompted to log in and allow access.
  • For Facebook, your personal profile will be connected by default, but you can change it to a page by clicking on “Facebook,” then “Post to.” This will take you to a page in the FB app. Allow access here to then be able to connect Instagram to one of the Facebook Pages that you are an admin of.

 

  • Click “Connect” next to the account you want to link.
  • You will be prompted to allow access. When you accept, your account will be linked.
  • For Facebook, you will automatically be connected as yourself, but you can choose to link to a Facebook Page that you are an admin of instead by clicking on the dropdown.
  • Note that Vimeo will only send updates when you ‘like’ a video. When you upload a new video, you will need to manually choose “Share” in the top right corner of that video.

 
Link Facebook* & Twitter to your Etsy account

  • Click on “Connect with Facebook” and/or “Connect with Twitter” under the Connected Accounts section
  • You will get a pop-up prompting you to allow permission. When you do, your accounts will be linked.
  • For Facebook, you have the option of sharing your Favorites from Etsy on Facebook. Check the box if you’d like to, otherwise leave it alone.

 

*Pinterest and Etsy don’t appear to allow you to link your account to a Facebook page – right now you can only post updates to your personal timeline.

 

Is there another social media platform you’d like to see here?  Did I miss a step anywhere?  I’d love to hear some feedback.  Let me know if it worked for you (or what happened if it didn’t).

Kickstarter funding addiction

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
21 July 2012
0

For awhile I had heard whisperings of a site called Kickstarter, where you could use crowd-sourcing to help fund things, but I didn’t check it out.  I forgot how I eventually ended up visiting the site one day… I probably read an article that led me to look into it further.  Well, whatever the case, I found a gold mine of cool ideas that made me happy.  After browsing through a bunch, I ultimately decided to fund one called Twig.

It’s an ultra-portable USB charger and stand for your iPhone.  I hesitated at first because the new iPhone will be out in a few months (hopefully within 2!) and I plan on getting that.  As it stands, the rumors of a smaller charging dock is probably true, so this device wouldn’t work with the new iPhone without a converter of sorts.  Still, I really liked the idea and wanted to get behind it, so I went ahead and funded it.

Then I got one of the emails Kickstarter sends out highlighting some of their favorite projects and one of them really caught my attention.  This one, called the Lumi Process, is like the opposite of developing film in a darkroom.  Whereas traditionally you had to keep your negatives away from the sun, this process actually uses the sun to do the printing.  They have a special ink that reacts to sunlight and imprints itself into any fibrous material.  So the other cool thing is that you aren’t limited to paper like you are in a darkroom; now you can print on a wide variety of mediums, including various types of cloth and even wood.  Being the wannabe amateur photographer that I am, this fascinated me and I just had to get in on the action.

I’ve even got some ideas brewing for Kickstarter projects that I want to post!  It’ll be awhile before I’m ready for that stage, but I’m pretty excited and have done quite a bit of research to brainstorm some cool reward levels.  If you haven’t already checked out the site, you should, and maybe in a few months you’ll see of my projects up there!

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