B283 - Week 10

Aside from being grateful this week for being off from work, as well as getting to enjoy my family and Thanksgiving, there are many other things that crossed my mind this week that I am thankful for:

• Upset customers - They remind me how passionate they are about their business and our products and that their expectations are high not only for our brand, but for our people as well. Not everybody gets to work for an iconic company like ours!
• Mistakes - They keep me humble and remind me that I still have plenty to learn!
• Unemployment - I still cringe at the thought of ever losing my job again, but I also remember those faith building times and the many people I got to know.

For the $100 challenge I listed 4 more items this week, but unfortunately the listings have not attracted any buyers yet. It’s getting down to crunch time, so if these last items have not sold in another 10-12 days, I will simply relist them as 99c style auctions with no reserve and sell them for the highest bid!

B283 - Week 9

Here are some lessons I learned this week about business and business operations:

• There is always another day! Yes, sometimes it can be frustrating having to work with a difficult customer or co-worker, but if looked at as an opportunity to hone your skills and improve your technique, it can take on a whole different look!
• Focus on the goal. Sometimes business processes can get so overwhelming that it is hard to remember why one started to begin with! Reminding yourself every day why you started the process and how every little step takes you closer to that goal is always great motivation!
• Celebrate! When you win a victory, no matter how small, make sure to acknowledge your success and thank all parties involved! This week I received a public thank you note through our company system. It reminded me of all the hard work I had done for a coworker of mine and it sure felt good having her express her gratitude.

I sent out my first printer cartridge this week for the $100 business challenge. It couldn;t have gone smoother and I was actually surprised how quick the first sale came and even at full list price! I had had received multiple offers at about 15-20% below my list price, which had me worried about my pricing strategy (about 5-10% below the average previous sales for comparable items), but voila, within a day someone bought it at full price!

B283 - Week 8

Tough week at work. My personal values about how do conduct business came clashing with how my employer seems to want to increase their business. No, nothing dishonest going on, at all. Just unproductive, wasteful efforts to grow volume share in a very competitive space. We are fortunate enough to be the biggest and most well respected brand in our industry and I happen to work in an area where we dominate by a margin of well over 50%. Understandably with that much saturation, it is difficult to find quality new customers. Instead of continuing to focus on continued growth and sustainability, leadership seems to focus only on gaining new accounts. Doesn’t matter if they are going to make us money, say a year or even just a few months from now. Just place our equipment, get an order, and call it a day! That just goes against every fiber of my business mind and is driving me crazy.

The last two days I had to deal with other employees’ misjudgments and became so frustrated, I honestly contemplated leaving. Fortunately I have a former boss whom I can call when I’m in a tough spot. He told me he felt the same way and would hate seeing me get as frustrated as he has been. He challenged me to just focus on doing the best I can do, to stick to my personal values, and to not worry about what other people have left behind for me. Just fix it and move on, he said. Great advice before starting this weekend!

I’ve listed the first two items on eBay and have already gotten one counter-offer. I didn’t accept it, but made a counter-offer myself. I don’t mind giving buyers a good deal, especially since I got the cartridges for free, but I don’t want to lower the price too much either.

B283 - Week 7

The other class I take this semester is ACCTG202. Accounting is a dry and difficult subject to begin with, at least for the majority of students who find joy in the real world, without numbers and T-accounts. The way BYUI is conducting the class, though, takes it to a whole new level. All homework, quizzes, teaching, and exams are conducted through a third party website owned by McGraw Hill. The weekly assignments are not only bone dry, they are dusty and antiquated! You would think that since we are 15 years now into the 21st century tools such as Excel or any other spreadsheet program would be not only allowed, but expected. Nope, not in this course! Instead you get out your rusty calculator and add/deduct everything by hand.
I'm all for understanding and being able to apply the basics of any subject, such as algebra, but when is the last time you've seen a real life accountant use a calculator? For the life of me I do not understand why students in this day and age are not being taught how to use basic accounting forms, use formulas, quickly double check data entry in an accounting spreadsheet and most importantly, be able to find an error in an accounting spreadsheet! Now that would be education worthy of admission.

Alas I only pay $65 per credit hour, I guess I get what I deserve!

I've finished the listings for my eBay auctions and am getting ready to post them this weekend. Hopefully by next week I've completed some of them and have started the shipping process!

B283 - Week 6

I really enjoyed David Neeleman talking about their approach to creating the JetBlue Experience. Rather than throwing more money at something that customers are not really paying you for (food on a flight), spend money on something that will give them an experience different from any other business in your industry (personal in-flight entertainment controlled by each passenger)! I also liked their inventive approach to get each plane turned around as quickly as possible, by getting the flight attendants along with the pilots to clean the plane (team building anyone?), as well as actively assisting the passengers to stow their carry-on luggage and get them to their seats.
Neeleman makes some great points: You don't have to reinvent the wheel, just get rid of all the annoyances that make a wheel spin less effective (squeaky noises, out of balance, etc) and provide your consumer with as smooth an experience as possible. If we look at everything that touches our business with that frame of mind, we will find countless opportunities to improve both eternally as well as internally, all the while increasing satisfaction, profits, and the success of our company.
No news on the $100 challenge. I thought I still had the HTML code for a nice looking eBay template, but it most have gotten lost in the transition to a new PC.

B283 - Week 5

Continued success at work, yeah! My new outlet goal for Q4 2015 is almost within reach and the first month still has a whole week to go! I wish I would have transferred out of the big city a long time ago, that could have meant as much as $6,000 more annually. But downtown was good for me, I learned a lot, built a lot of relationships and it allowed me to have more time available for family.
My new counterpart still works hard, he just has a hard time seeing what improvements could be made. Even at his young age he seems to be set in his ways and doesn't like to hear new or different ideas. I'm honestly surprised. It's not any major areas, so I may just wait until he gets to move on and work with other employees on our team as well. He's done a good job holding down the fort during the transition, but I need to make this area work for me, and do it fast!
I've checked out all the print cartridges I picked up and priced them by using the "closed" auction search feature on eBay. Even going with the lowest closing prices on eBay, the sales should total just over $200. Hopefully I will be able to sell 2 of them for higher than the low prices, which means I could easily go well over $300!
I want to put together some nice auction templates, or find if there are any free services that offer templates. I really don't like the default eBay look for individual auctions.

B283 - Week 4

This week I started in my new territory for work. One of the big reasons management made this change was so I would have a better chance of successfully prospecting for new customers. One of the student leadership associates (SLA) will be working alongside me for the next few months. He is a recent college grad and had been helping the previous market manager for the last 3 months. I have to say I am thoroughly impressed with this young man. Over the past 5 years I have worked with plenty of new employees and SLAs, but I have to say I’ve never found them to be this hard working and more importantly humble! Parker is a go-getter, not afraid to get his hands dirty, always polite, quick to share his thoughts, but willing to go with my lead if it’s different. I hope my boys will grow into young men like him!

I’ve picked all the printer cartridges now for my $100 challenge. I was going to work on finding out this week for how much money they’ve recently sold on eBay and the likes, but I simply have not had the time yet. Tomorrow is Saturday and with my homework almost done, I should be able to spend a couple of hours doing some product pricing research. I plan to list the cartridges first at a fair market value price. If nobody makes a purchase within the first few weeks, I will list them as a 99c auction with no reserve.