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I am back…

Sam here… Sorry about disappearing for a few weeks, but one thing led to another and before I knew it, about 5 weeks went by… but wait, a lot of things got done in that time so I don’t feel that bad about the lack of communication! Hope you don’t.

So what happened? Well, I had moved over the summer and to top it off, it was overseas and doing that took a lot of energy out of me. I had to re-boost. So, I took a week off in the first week of Nov. to visit good ‘ol Ohio, vote and take care of a few things. Then I returned to the mess left by the move. For twenty years I have built my own study/work/pc desk, and I started on the newest one. Then I got delayed. Before I knew it a few morel weeks had passed.

Anyway, I got a lot of things done.

The following list of things are done:
Banking, Paypal Account, Brokerage Account, etc. etc.

There has also been a failure: I have not collected the $3995.00 from the business acquaintance that I sold the corporation in September. It was a goal to have the money by the Thanksgiving holiday, but that didn’t happen.
Perhaps, this is a temporary situation. My solution now is to press to collect the funds or put it up for sale/auction and get a new buyer. Next time I think I’ll collect funds a little sooner to avoid this issue.
I didn’t count the proceeds from the sale into any of the STEPS and this is why. There’s no way to say “I’ve got the money” until it’s in my hands. In this case, I made an agreement, but nothing happened after that.
So, I need to explore PLAN B to keep the STEPS growing. I need to come up with a product. Earlier, I decide not to do this and keep this going for free, but that altruistic approach is not going to work.

I’ll spend most of today exploring the pros and cons of the products that I have on my mind. Of course, all of the decision making will be shared with you!

The product list that I have in mind:
1. Setup the FORUM that I discussed earlier.

FORUM PROS: The system is easy to setup and once done, it’s a matter of maintenance. The “product” will keep running on it’s own and I feel that time wise, I’ll spend much less of it using the forum as a product.
Other PROS: It’s something that I wanted to create as part of the site anyway, so why not put a price on it and enable a membership.
FORUM CONS: Value. Does the forum provide a value for the user? Does it provide a benefit? Does it create a product that the user cannot get from another source? Will the forum continue to provide the benefits that my readers or paying members will look for? Perhaps not.

2. CD with a collection of the BEST SOFTWARE for Webmasters.

SOFTWARE PROS: Another product that is easy to assemble. It’s relatively easy to maintain for the long term. It is more than information –the CD’s are tangible products and the value is there.
SOFTWARE CONS: I’ll have to ship a CD to the buyer, worldwide, on time. Since I have a quarterly travel schedule –going somewhere on business or vacation, this can be a problem. I cannot hire someone for this either as the initial budget does not allow it.
Another CON: I believe the interest in the product is very limited. Perhaps, only webmaster. Since the subject matter is a bit technical on top of the vast reading needed to analyze the software, reports and other “how to” material, many people on the Internet will not be interested in it.

SUMMARY: The conclusion is that I have to provide one of two types of products. One is a virtual product that delivers information and the other is a physical product that must be postal mailed to the buyers. The first product may not offer that much value (unless I find a way to improve it) while the CDs offer value, but to a limited audience and I need to ship them out every day.
My resolution to this is to ADD VALUE to the FORUM PRODUCT and offer a Membership to it. I’ll develop the product and supporting features during the month and plan on launching all of this the beginning of the year 2005.