The e-commerce competition

The highly competitive e-commerce arena has begun to see an evolution in the paradigm of packages prices and shopping cart platforms. Many e-commerce management software providers are successfully bundling their e-commerce software with storefront templates, shopping carts, and complete marketing services making it easy for the inspired entrepreneur to start an online retail business. While the internet itself always provided a revitalized, virtually unlimited opportunity for making money, there still existed - as with most pursuits - numerous challenges and a somewhat slippery learning curve.

Foremost among the obstacles for excited proprietors and transitioning companies, was adapting an existing local retail business to the web: stores without stores, displays without bulky shelving comprised solely of pixels, customers service departments replaced by phone agents, and the unending yearning to create significant brand awareness in a market that had no regional boundaries. 


However, the advantage of the internet was the profusion of readily available information, and the game began to change slowly, and then rapidly, in a historically unrivaled communication of knowledge in the form of everything internet, from html tutorials to shopping cart solutions, all for the taking for those willing to eager to learn - and to pay. And, so the future and ecommerce were born, fast and unrelenting. The merchants of small town life often seen sweeping the steps of their shops each morning, tidying their stores for the days traffic, spent more time in front of their computers, changing the graphic on their banner ads, as the first, obvious element of online business was recognized. 

Though online retailers would still require consistently reputable customer service departments and quality products to sustain repeat buying and avoid dangerous complaints from newly sprung online review sites, proprietors foremost need was for a presentable online location - a good website - and ten thousand web design companies responded on cue in a Starbucks-sustaining din, accented by the sound of fingers-flying across Dell keyboards and the exuberance of freshman classes filling the seats of newly-created college web classes. 

 A good web design, a user friendly shopping cart, the right niche products, and successful SEO and cost-per-click marketing quickly arose as ingredients of a winning web formula that companies had to struggle to discover, understand, and master. And, inevitably, as the necessary components of online business become more clearly defined, the opportunity to make money servicing those trying to make money selling was handsomely seized by ecommerce programmers, web developers, and web marketers. It is somewhat dizzying and mathematically staggering, looking back now in 2010, to remember just how fast the internet rose since its dawn, first cresting the technological mountains.

 Now those musing starting an online business over their cappuccino the morning after graduation can sign up with a monstrous drop-shipping conglomerate offering thousands of products, carefully select a design company promising exceptional custom work for a few hundred bucks, hire an inexpensive SEO firm promising first page results, and barrel head long into an unknown, optimism-laden online business future. 

 Unfortunately, like falling stars on an August night, the sight of once-bright entrepreneurs burning out from their web dreams has become a regular statistical vision, and the reality considered by this article. Namely, how viable is creating an online business? And specifically, have ecommerce companies succeeded in delivering the services that give you a better chance of succeeding than failing? Sure, we're way past the early '90's when everybody was jumping on the internet as it sailed away from it's brick-and-mortar harbor, but ecommerce still has no end in sight and is, perhaps, more appealing possibility than ever for Americans analyzing the future of their financial well-being in a lengthening recession. Online adaption has taken place though, and while early internet pioneers faced a more uncertain journey - having less affordable options available for web services - modern web mavericks will face a different primary problem: themselves.

 There's just too many people doing the same thing and the competition can be fiscally suffocating. It's in the choices made during that critical growing stage that will play the largest role in being able to jump to the next milestone without drowning out. Like everything, to succeed online will, without question, require some investment, but spending little enough to put all the pieces in place - a dependable hosting solution, an appealing, dependable site, successful CPC and SEO marketing strategies, efficient ecommerce management tools, etc. - and getting a large enough return in the form of purchasing consumer traffic while make or break a new generation of potential web tycoons. Enter the aggressive arena of ecommerce and you'll find numerous ecommerce software providers and web development companies standing by the gate ready to equip you for the battle for a nominal fee, themselves engaging in a tense contest to earn your money as you pass by. 

But choose wisely, young maverick, because paying too much for the wrong service could leave you strapped when you get the marketing gauntlet and have no padding left. There are specialized web designers, shopping cart providers, SEO gurus, custom programmers, and hosting giants all dangling their goods before you with appealing phrases like "scalable", "custom", and "#1", vying for your selection. Other companies promise to do it all for peanuts, and while tempting, leave you with a nagging anxiety that may be getting less than you paid for, which is very little. 

Then there is an aisle of ecommerce giants that are well adorned, and seem stronger and more experienced, holding a long list of previous champions they've supplied, and they would likely be an excellent choice except that the young business warrior would suffer a debilitating loss just paying for the goods, before ever seeing their brand's flag waiving in the arena. Though some may come to the ecommerce table with a sizeable sum and a wealth of business management experience, I am most interested in the plight of those who do not. For those weary occupational travelers, business confidence may fall sharply as hard earned start-up capital diminishes, and success will be carefully garnered by monitoring spending. For sake of those e-commerce combatants, we're most interested in the growing breed of ecommerce providers who offer complete services - hosting, design, shopping cart, store management tools, analytics, seo marketing, ssl certificates - basically everything you need - at an affordable price. 

These vendors bring a ray of hope to the prospect of starting an online business, and can certainly bring forth operational proof of other companies they've assisted numbering in the tens of thousands. Which begs the question, with so many advanced yet simplified tools available and so many companies already enjoying success, how easy is it really? Does anyone with a desire, some cash, and a willingness to succeed really have a shot at the modern American dream - making a viable income working from home as an internet retail proprietor? A home-brewed latte, some checkered pajames, and a picture window for office adornments are the stuff of dreams for many office-scorched blue collar Americans. So, just how well do total ecommerce providers succeed at helping you succeed? There are numerous good ecommerce players out there - Volusion, BigCommerce, Shopify, and 3DCart are a few notables - that can provide your store with a site, hosting, ecommerce platform system, shopping cart, customer support, etc., however, they can vary significantly in quality, ease-of-use, and price - all factors that can affect the reality of online success.

 The question is, in a rush of e-commerce competition, have packages become like so many package products, appearing to include everything you need but lacking in fundamental quality. Children's fishing sets are available at discount retailers that provide a pole, reel, lures, weight, bobbers, and an assortment of neon-colored tackle for under $15, but many Dad has faced crying toddlers after arriving at the vacation destination to discover that the reel jambs and the lures don't work. When it comes to your ecommerce provider, you don't want to be a victim of that old adage, getting only what you paid for. After all with competition and technology increases, can't we demand that the functional value of our purchases exceed their cost, or at least exceed another product of the some price. 

 Some ecommerce companies offer relatively cheap shopping carts and management tools, but their site templates are crudely commercial - replicas with differing color schemes - and obtaining a custom design is an additional service costing hundreds or thousands more. Once you enter into a deep-digging, nuts and bolts comparison you'll discover the variety in price, quality, service, usability, is great even among competitors. Ultimately, selecting the right company will depend upon your particular business, target market, product catalog, knowledge level, experience and budget, with the latter likely holding more weight than all others. 

One of my favorite new ecommerce comapnies this year is AWDCommerce, (http://www.awdcommerce.com)  an emerging Montana based e commerce software developer and a subsidiary of American Web Design, for their quality, cost, and small-town style customer support. They offer over 500 customized storefront designs for numerous industries of very high quality for a professional site, robust ecommerce management tools, exceptional small-town style customer service, shopping cart, unlimited products, support, and hosting for $39.99/mo. What I liked most is AWDCommerce combination of price, quality, and support - they provide everything, with friendly small town support to back it up, for under $40 a month. The storefront designs offered a superb quality against comparable templates - providing entrepreneurs with a truly, professional appearance - plus they offer agent-assisted assimilation and customization of logos and graphics, making the site formation easy for the unsavvy.  .

Today isn't the end!!

It's her tears that keep her worm
Too young yet so old
too many wrinkles intertwined in her heart
too many times it's too much disillusionment
panic is to the the heart
all knowledge learnt is to the grave
but she wonders what could be wrong
what could be so unfair about life?
what will she believe in without getting disappointed?
and now it's not the people who've made fun of her
it's not the friends who've betrayed her
it's not the friend who never really understood
it's not all the men and girls she shared a bed with
it's not the exams she passed just to prove she's too bright
now it's not about all the element of law that she knows about
it's probably the time to know how close God can come
It's the time to know how much longer she can hold on
how many times she can smile knowing the days are numbered
it's the time to do all she's dreamed of
it's the time to know some things though too far-fetched are true
it's the time to be strong for the little girl who looks up to me
it's the time to know that cancer ain't the end of my world
if too far it's the beginning of a struggle to handle well
by lady wendy .

Celebrate yourself

Perhaps you have been asking yourself a thousand questions as to how you will make it in life.You must have read a number of motivational books but you have not gotten the magic formula to success.
I want to dissapoint you the more by dashing your hopes of ever finding one,but i want us to start an endless journey of constructing that highway we need in life.

The Road To Success is Always Under Construction ( Larry Wall & Kathleen) Russell.What do they mean?Putting your first foot forward starts you off,building castles gives you the believe but its putting the first stone down that will make you realise those dreams.

If you don't care where you're going any road will get you there.or have you had that if don't know where you are going then you will never get lost!Putting your pen down to outline the specific objectives is what will you directions.Draw down indicators and outputs,put the deadlines for achieving them,let your objectives not be very ambitious but be achievable.

Ever wondered why the rich always attract more riches?Then start purchasing your future with the present.Larry Wall & Kathleen continues saying 'One thing you can't recycle is wasted time'.

Why Most young kenyans fear self employment

On one hand we have impressively qualified people looking for a job, any job. On the other hand we have the brave few who have enough courage to try and start their own businesses. Who would you rather be?Over the weekend i had an interesting chat with a regional manager with one of the multinationals here in Nairobi.

The manager has a lot of beef with his employer but one thing that stood out was his unwillingness to change the situation for himself. Its one thing to complain and another to take a firm decision and move on.

As we discussed over a warm Tusker beer he let me know that last year he brought the company K’sh 105 million worth of business directly and another 216 million through staff under him. Can you imagine making over 300 million for your employer and coming out feeling cheap and used!!!

Anyway, with him making all that money for his employer i asked him whether he had thought of starting his own outfit. His answer was a faint yes. This puzzled me. for someone who is still young and has the money why is he reluctant? The reason shocked me. Apparently he doesn’t want to disappoint his old man who used his connections to get him the job.

It then hit me that many of us are wasting valuable time and a great chance to make a better life for ourselves by listening to the wrong advice. And it looks like its not only me disturbed. Here is an article from a great IT consultant who helps us in making sure career point is up and running.

Like chapaa. We are missing something?

I have a story for you: a few years ago, one of my best friends quit his job. He used to work at one of the best performing companies in the Nairobi stock exchange. He quit so that he could set up his own advertising agency.

Guess what? His parents and his whole family, really, were up in arms over his decision. They could not believe why anyone would leave such a high paying job. His uncles even took time visiting him to ‘advise’ him to go back to his old job. To this day, one of his uncles always calls him with contacts of managers at large companies – he asks my friend to send his CV to the managers so that he can ‘make something out of his life’.

What you probably won’t believe is that my friend’s business is doing quite well. He has about twelve employees now, and has been profitable since his first month. Yet his family still refers to his work as ‘jua kali nonsense’. He should go get a ‘real’ job like everyone else, they say.

Really?

Recently in Thika, I heard of a bizarre incident. My friend’s dad was interviewing job applicants. The quality of the applicants was impressive – almost everyone had an impressive CV full of various qualifications and accomplishments. Some of the applicants were university graduates with degrees and everyone seemed like they really wanted the job. Surprisingly, as it turns out, the job in question was that of digging trenches. Can you believe it?


Let’s face it, we do not have an entrepreneurial culture in this country. How can people who try and start their own businesses be looked down upon by their families and societies while what they are doing is precisely what is needed to address our high unemployment rates? We need more people starting businesses yet these people’s mothers and fathers won’t let them. They’d much rather have their loved one’s join the over saturated job hunting market.

We need change! We need people like you and me to start businesses today. We need society to stop stopping us. We need to embrace the entrepreneurial culture in this country!.

Ten characteristics of a successful team

Ever wondered if your team is susccessful or not?There exists a big difference between "groups" and "teams" with respect to the workplace environment.

I pointed out that the internal dynamics of a group are different from those under which a team operates.

Managers and supervisors must therefore understand these differences if they hope to oversee effective and productive teams where tasks and roles are completed with expected results.

Since that article, I have received several calls from people who identified themselves as young and ambitious managers, all of whom wanted to know whether they were supervising effective teams or groups.

So, what constitutes an effective team? How can a supervisor or manager determine the effectiveness of the team?

There are over 10 characteristics that describe an effective team. And a successful team must have more than five of them to qualify as effective.

Clear purpose

First and foremost, the team must have a clear purpose. This means the vision; mission, goals and objectives are clearly defined and shared by all members of the team. These outline the purpose of the team, which is translated into a plan of action to guide the team.

Once the plan of action is in place, each member must understand their role and work assignments. In all effective teams, roles and tasks are fairly distributed among members and clear expectations spelt out. Remember, it is these individual tasks that eventually define the work of the team.

Successful teams do not concentrate power and authority in the hands of one individual. The team might have a mutually accepted mentor, but effective teams have fluid leadership, where functions shift depending on circumstances, such as changing needs of the team and different skills of the members.

Decisions in all successful teams are reached through consensus and compromise. The best and most acceptable decisions are taken by considering all the viewpoints of the team members.

Listening to each other is, therefore, a critical characteristic of a successful team. Besides considering all the viewpoints and issues raised by the team members, all questions and doubts are also addressed and steps of actions mutually agreed.

Effective teams operate openly, with no hidden agenda. Members are encouraged to express their feelings over their roles and tasks, in addition to the challenges they face carrying out their duties. Members also express their frustrations without fear of being victimised.

Members’ success

Successful teams also show commitment and place great value on each member. The team takes pride in the success of its members, as well as the accomplishments of the grouping.

Effective teams also have an internal mechanism to rationally and proactively handle conflict. They don’t avoid or suppress it. Disagreements and positive dissent are tolerated and addressed to the satisfaction of the members.

The bottom line among successful teams is to cultivate trust among the members..

Dealing with love in the Work place

Published on 13/02/2010

By John Kariuki

When Cupid struck in the workplace a century ago, many bosses would bungle the fun. Often, the woman was forced to quit or take a transfer.

But as we celebrate this year’s Valentine’s Day, it is noteworthy that the rules of the game have changed.. Dealing with love in the workpace



There are more women now in the upper management ranks, and corporate romance is booming between them and men in positions of authority.

But the modern workplace, like the killing fields of the last century, is still largely unprepared or unwilling to establish love and romance guidelines.

So what do you do when love blossoms in the workplace? The following are some tips on coping with such an eventuality:

Take control

Decide whether or not you will have a romantic relationship in the office when the early signals start coming. If you wait until you are involved, it will be too difficult to extricate yourself without drawing attention to you. And while we are at it, never have a relationship with a person to whom you report to directly. It always ends in disaster for both of you. If you really must have an office fling, move elsewhere.

Shun office romances

If you decide that you will not get involved in an office romance, make it clear to the other party. One way of warding off unwarranted attention is by getting more serious as they get more flirtatious. And if the situation starts getting out of hand, dismiss him or her dramatically, in front of the boss. To discourage a romantic relationship developing, start talking about a current boyfriend or girlfriend, a spouse or an ex — even if they are all imaginary.

Outsource lovers

HR experts suggest that if you must have a relationship with someone in your company, then he or she should in a different unit or department, lest he or she influences your output and overall perception of the job. Do not have an affair with a married colleague.

Keep it quiet

Your supervisor or boss may not like the relationship, and may begin finding fault with your work. Chances are that he or she might feel that the affair is taking the place of work, and they are trying to put this across to you. When in love, people feel great. Unfortunately, your colleagues will not be blind to this fact, and may find your happiness offensive. Consider keeping your relationship secret until you see how serious it is going to be.

minimise disruption

Even if you have an office romance, make sure that the corporation sees you putting in quality time in your work. Don’t leave a trail of your love antics everywhere. Resist all temptations of wandering the workplace just to get a glimpse of your lover.

Finally both men and women should understand that there are two elements to career success. One is your actual performance and the other is how you are perceived. A flirtatious person who is not having an affair may incur harsher judgment than a discreet operator who is quietly dating nearly every warm blooded person in sight. Be totally professional at all times. .