Where it all started - a very humble thank you! (AMA - Ecommerce)

Hi Tung,

Very nice meet you!

At 33 years old, I actually started IM at the very young age of 12...back in 1999! A time where life was much more simple. Even then, I was on Yahoo chats using a dial up modem trying to sell graphic designer to Real estate agents that barely even knew why they needed a website.

If I could go back and give myself some advice to 12 year old me, it would be - buy invest in Amazon, Facebook, Tesla, and spend all my money I had into Bitcoin when it they all first come out .. LOL

But in all honesty, it would be that life is precious and time flies SO fast. And to just get a quick grasp on whats the most current strategies that work, reach out to the experts, follow their social media, become an ALL KNOWING 'sponge' of the information they have to offer. And EQUALLY giveback as much of the knowledge you gain as possible.

To add to that, if I had to start all over from scratch right now, it would be figure out the most difficult problems people are going thru - personally or in the business world - and solve it for them!

For example, with COVID19 - so many people are at home, struggling, either lost their job or working with insurmountable amounts of stress. Ecommerce is a great way to overcome this, easy to get into for free, so much amazing knowledge out there on Youtube that requires no investment.

Think... PPE masks...Face shields...plastic guards for retail businesses, glass repair for businesses affected by the riots... the list goes on and on. These business owners have no time to try and re-invent the wheel so they just go to Google or Instagram, see an ad right in front of their eyes that speaks to them so effortlessly and just hit BUY now because they need it so bad.

Once you figure out a problem to solve and build a small store around it and get it cranking out some sales, add some CUSTOMIZATION/PERSONALIZATION to it. ie) BestFaceMaskDepot.com (not a real store..) and you can let people select from pre made designs or upload their own and then come order time, have a slider where the more they order, bigger discount they get. -or-

Other piece of advice I would give myself is to not be greedy - and to give much more to charity. So even with the above idea - every mask purchased, one is donated to front line workers - be proud of this and get right in ones face at checkout about it.

Hope that gives you some good perspective and happy to assist with any other questions

Hey DurableOil.com

Very glad to be back and thanks for the welcome!

My current most successful endeavors right now is in the eCommerce space, but specifically the health care & construction industry. In end of feb, early march 2020 due to covid19 took a very small hit, but then honestly, once these were deemed 'essential', we have been busier than ever!

Why? Because our competition got wiped out..and fast..and we stood strong and have dozens of warehouses with solid systems. #1 reason for this? They didnt have any plans in place to deal with a few slow weeks and were churning and burning cash by the day with no systems or scalability. Not even the best business model in the best of times!

Why have I stayed so successful even during these times? Being a forward thinker, strong minded, starting each day with zero expectations, and a drive to always over deliver. Also already had team members at times working from home, so making that transition and having the technology in place like (Zoho assist for remoting in, Zoom for meetings ect..)
literally overnight made the decison...alright folks, we working from home starting monday - and 14 weeks later stronger than ever before!!

Even to this day, if you pick up the phone or visit a website, and talk to a real person who is an expert for whatever you are selling, is helpful, it will make you stand out above so many other endeavors out there that are plastering messages in big red banners "Due to covid19...delays...ect...' - people are more available than ever staying at home and working from home - have no where to spend there money..which means they have much more to spend. Be the business thats open and ready to serve - not distracted by anything going on, but still behind the scenes knowing whats going on and making adjustments accordingly.

Lastly, now is a great time to think, what could come next and how will you respond. What if wave 2 happens? What if the riots get worse? Maybey the dollar could crash? Are you ready for more people to visit your website? What could you sell this world in the current state? Are you ready to accept new payment methods? If the internet goes down..could you operate 100% offline- as in do you have a current list of all customers printed out at saved - ready for your sales team to hammer the phones if need be?

Success IMO is really executing on knowledge, with the drive of always thinking of what the next move to take to keep that success going and growing!

Hope that helps but always available if you have more q's

Welcome back to WF as well Derma! I am seeing so many people coming back to our roots...love it! There is no reason why we can't get this place busy again pumped full of valuable info!

What keeps you busy these days??

Hey Ghita - thanks for the kind words and glad to be here!

I see you have an Academy/blog going that reviews product - good job - keep that going for sure!

How has 2020 been treating you so far?

Thanks for the warm welcome, fellow Canadian!

What keeps you busy these days?