Web Site Gone Wonky

So the good news of the day is that we got our 2nd customer!!!! SO we are now averaging one per month since the redesign of our business plan and web site on the limited advertising $$ we are using. However this is positive - it means a couple people are buying in to our concept.

The crazy thing is the visitor tallies. See graph for what I am talking about.



I knwo it is a little difficult to see, but the green and red on the bottom are the page views and the uniques vistors. The crazy spikes are repeat visitors (apparently). They range from in the 600's to the mid 100's. I don't get how that is but whatever.

Essentially I have 3 components left that I need to resolve in order to get to where I believe we will be accepted by a greater audience and have a higher return rate.

1. Better web site design - which my big brother is graciously helping me get to! Thanks Bro!

2. Online database and player profile management - which is the next step for me to do but I had some help with a developer and I think I am pointed in the right direction to getting that done....only issue is money - but I might be able to make it work.

3. Advertising money - this is actually the easiest. I have several ways to go about advertising and the first and cheapest will probably be email marketing lists to my target audience. I can get them for about $100 per 1000 and with a 1% expected return rate, that can get me the residual advertising $$$ needed to grow the business.

I'm close.......please send more positive karma our way so this will see the potential we need it to.

Yahoo Blunders! I am Standing on my Soapbox

So about a month ago Yahoo was doing a contest for small business owners that basically had us write in:
1. What our business was about,
2. What does our business need to be successful,
3. How can Yahoo make that a reality.

The prize was $25K in search mktg and a few other perks like meeting Ivanka trump and having an executive sponsor for a year. You also got some web site development and I think there was a small kitty of cash.

So I of course entered. Well.........I looked the other day after realizing I was probably not one of 5 finalists and what did I see? A BUNCH OF CRAP!!!!!!!!!!! I GOT ROBBED!!!!!! Of the 5 finalists - only one even had an interesting concept!!! AND it is clear that the rest of the world agreed with me because of how many votes the ONE guy got and how FEW the other schmucks got. And the contest is supposed to have 3 winners of the 5. So let's evaluate the losers that bypassed me:

1. Crooked Houses - the only good concept and he will win. Basically he makes customized easy to assemble playhouses that look like cartoon buildings - you know the slanted houses. I would even buy one if I had a kid. Go to his web site at www.crookedhouses.com (I think)

2. Willy Wonka - well that is basically what he is. He is a candy distributor. Now help me out here. The contest was to help people who NEEDED free marketing money to help make their business grow. yet this sap has like 5 full time employees and a freaking warehouse of candy - how the hell does he NEED extra money - he clearly is doing well enough already - oh and he has been in business for over 10 years. He was pretty whacked out like Gene Wilder in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as well.

3. The Fairy Lady - OMG - have we reverted back to the 70's???? So this hippie chick makes customized fairies and fairy dresses and anything fairy wise. Don't get me wrong - her fairy stuff looks nice, but way specific AND there is a bigger problem with her concept. it is not easily scalable because it is she who makes all the fairies and it isn't something you can just hire more admin people to come in and do - which means that if she gets slammed - oh well everyone will be on back order until next year Christmas. Seriously people - is anyone having a fairy fetish???

4. Moms On Edge - RIPOFF Artists. So they have a couple of kids and watched Supernanny a couple times. Big freaking whoop. These two ladies first of all look like Stay Home moms whose husbands are doing well enough they don't have to work and secondly, they basically just hand make the Supernanny style things like a portable naughty spot and some bath blocks that are supposed to be smart blocks or something. Now, I have a friend who has a kid and last I checked, Baby Einstein has a whole line of intelligence for your kid stuff. So ...........I just don't get it, other than they are clearly trying to appeal to a demographic of moms and young kids. BOOOOO!

5. The over the top sony play station keyboard. Ok well it isn't a sony play station control - it just looks like one on steroids. But it is a keyboard that allows you to be walking on your treadmill and type at your computer.......yeah cause when i am working out, that's what I want to do - type on my keyboard. Oh and no....it is not wireless btw. Not yet - but NASA wants one when it is. People - if you thought carpal tunnel was out of hand before - wait til you see this contraption.

So one of my big soapboxes is the fact that MY business actually HELPS people. It helps people continue their education!!!!! I guess maybe I had "too noble" of a concept for them and it wasn't weird and cool enough. But that wasn't the point of the contest. I cannot believe that I got lower on the totem pole than these people. How did this happen other than the Yahoo committee being completely inept at their jobs and identifying good business concepts??? I was sooo pissed off, I had started writing my letter to Yahoo telling them how inept they are. I even had the executive I was going to send it to. But I calmed down about 72 hours later and instead decided to bitch here. :) How nice of me. I also accidentally voted for the crap moms one when I meant to click on the video for them and didn't want to be called on it by Yahoo if they looked into my account - but that's between you and me. :)

Ok .....I feel better now.

I have a nephew!!!

My sister in law gave birth this AM to a beautiful baby boy named Gavin. Mom and baby are doing well and I am an Auntie again!! No pics yet.

Groundhog day 880......

OMG

That really sums it up for me.

My job is the craziest thing. Really - it isn't crazy at all - it's just a mind warp. 2 and a half years ago i was lured to Seattle with a lots of money and stock options with the guise of an IPO happening.....oh about right now. So 3 months after I get heere the CEO decides he isn't going to spin the company off like he told me. So I wass like - well what about those options - those will just convert to options in the company I work for right? Well....he waffled.....the amount of those options don't compare and a year later he gives me a set of options NOT comparable to what I was originaly given. I mean people, one of thee reasons Tony and I moved here was because I thought I would be sitting on about $250K in stock right now. I mean, who turns down that kind of opportunity??? So for the last 2 years I have hated my job for many reasons. A few of which are:

- The boss doesn't give us or our product the time of day.Literarly.
- Everytime I come up with good ideas and present them....I am shot down....only to hear months or years later the same ideas out of other people or my boss.
- All the efforts to move forward with things have been underminded and people have been told to not listen to me.
- When I am being "real" and protecting the interests of the company by pointing out problem areass......I am being too negative.
- I have been cut out of meetings.
- If you loiter "too long" having a conversation with someone and one of a few managers see, you get the evil eye.
- I love having an office because there is no commotion in the office and you feel like you are in a tomb. Even the walls are thin...but they are better than in the cubes.

But hey....we have FREE drinks!!! LOL

So today we had a sit down with the big man - the one who hasn't given us the time of day for 5 years. And he basically wants to move forward by going backward 5 years later. I mean dude....the first thing you do is a business plan - where the hell was it 5 years ago? It amazes me how he can circle talk people into believing other people (of course no longer workign there) are the reason for the problems and where we are at today. Keep telling yourself that buddy! I mean he hasn't even sat down in 5 years and done a product review. But now he wants to do a business plan. He also wants to turn us into sales people and was talking about commissions and incentives and blah blah blah.....so then that had us thinking.....wait a minute, does that mean he is going to cut our salaries???????

Oh nelly. I just shake my head in a cloud of bewilderment. So as is I have now submitted my resume to Volt - who handles Microsfot staffing. I submitted my resume to a different Volt offices with a recruiter that I know. I have also submitted my resume to Microsfot directly for 13 different positions all in my realm. I don't care if someone laughs at me at the other end, maybe it will make them bring me in just to see who this character is. i want them to know I want to work there dammit. I am trying to jump off the cliff but I need someone to give me my parachute. I have lots of people tell me they think I am smart and I will be fine and such. And that gives me hope. But I don't interview well and I have difficulty getting to an interview stage as well. Not good combinations. I told Tony of all my employers once I work for them want me to stay or come back. I don't ever have that problem, it's just getting in the door for me. I guess part of it is I have a pretty strong aura - even when I try to tone it down I have a strong aura. I can't help it, that's me. But I do need someone to believe in me....someone that can offer me a job that is.

Please think lots of posititve juju my way.

~A

This really was a highlight of my day........

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - Hope you rot in jail Princess!!!!!!

My Surgery

Well the good news is that my surgery seemed to be a good thing and when the doctor looked at my achilles and heel he saw the achilles was attached to the scar tissue which was attached to the bone - so he separated that. Apparently there was also a sharp jagged edge on my heel which he believes was also part of the problem so he removed that - along with a chunk of my heel bone. Apparently the docot r was so far happy with the results. He made a few lateral incisions in my achilles and cleaned out my achlles a little bit too and saw some blood which is good because it meant blood vessels were already active. I guess from the conversation Tony had with the doctor he asked if we should do this to the right one. As of right now I haven't ever had the tendonitis in my right one like the left one so I'm not so sure it will be necessary.

I am supposed to start doing some weight bearign on it but it makes me a little nervous to do so. So as a result I am really just hanging out and using my crutches. :) But all in all everything is good and TOny is being a great husband! He always is when I have a problem though. He did say that this time because people knew he was my husband that everyone was willing to talk to him vs when I had the appendectomy. Interesting little things of when you get married I guess.

The DL.....that's The Down Load

Goodness gracious! A lot has happened in the past few weeks. We began our adventure by making sure the house was clean - cause I like to come home to a clean house. The fluffy bunnies had 2 litter boxes a piece and 2 feeder systems to make sure they could get by. All the doors were shut and propped open to ensure no kitties got locked behind anything (I did that once and Bagheera was stuck in a bathroom for 7 days - I felt like the worst mom).

Our drive to Colorado was easy - no weather except for some wind in various places. Beautiful sky and the cops weren't interested in us. :) Actually we went long stretches without seeing some. It was so great to see family and friends. The bridal shower was a good time and great snacky food. I had a lot of people there which made me feel loved. We had two little kids there and they both were amazingly well behaved. Tony was quite the hit with our niece Renya and she even popped off a "Tony" before he left. He's going to be a really good dad. It gave Angie and Rob a small breather of knowing she was ok and they could chat a little bit. We of course found them at one time in the bathroom with buckets and running water saying"buckets & splash". LOL I thinkt he cleanup was 4 towels all soaking up the water on the bathroom floor - LOL.

My bachelorette party - night on the college town of Ft Collins was fun. Me and 3 girls. I definitely was having quite the girl rowdy night for sure since I don't remember the last time I had a full out one of those. One of the bars we went to was called the drunken monkey and the bar stools were actually swings. The kind that you see in the country where it is a flat plank of wood with ropes on the sides going up into a tree. There were a few pictures from that! We got home (to the hotel) and I made good on my promise not to snuggle Staci! LOL

As we were almost to the Lodge we got diverted - and lost many a time - around an accident that apparently involved a rolloever, 3 ejections and a bike rider. We were able to see the wreckage from the Lodge and found out that it did NOT involve anyone inour wedding Party thank goodness and we are pretty sure no one died. I was hoping that would not be a sign of things to come. Luckily it was not. The groom's dinner came and the ambiance was nice and it appeared everyone had a good time. I had one meltdown the night of the wedding - but that was addressed and a resolution to my satisfaction has been agreed to as a result of the catalyst of the meltdown. The day of and I was running through all the paces when I realized - oh no Mr Bill, I forgot to coordinate the timing of the pictures with the flower lady. As a result I have pictures with my flowers and pictures without my flowers - so not the end of the world. She apparently got a speeding ticket trying to get to the Lodge as well -oopies.

My hair was perfect, my makeup was perfect and I didn't wake up with a big boil on my face I had been afraid would happen for years. The dress made me feel like a princess and I definitely felt the most beautiful and put together I have ever felt. The pictures so far are turnign out really well and my brother and his wife said the good pictures turned out "freakishly well" - which means they look great if they think that. here is an example of one and it wasn't even one of the ones off the good cameras.

The clouds got dark and the wind kicked in and my wedding was threatening to turn out not how I had hoped. But the wind only stayed for pictures and the sky broke open and it became blue, warm, and perfect for the ceremony. All the people I had hoped would show up that said they might not did. The flower girls were perfectly adorable in their perfect little dresses. Everyone acted how I hoped they would and in the end i couldn't have asked for a more perfect day and event. There were a few small snafu's but in the end it really didn't matter and I tried to just not make a big deal about them. The only thing I had really wished I could have done was mingle with more people during the groom's dinner and the reception. But you get in this whirl wind of you either have to eat or talk and you are doing an activity and then people are leaving and the DJ is trying to get you back on the dance floor and so I didn't get to spend the socializing time with everyone overall that I had wanted to.

But the views were awesome and it looked like everyone had a great time. The meal was good - even though Tony and I had to send ours back! The mashed potatoes were cold. LOL There were a lot of tears and tearing up - but all happy and joyous. I was so glad I got to see Tony before the wedding for pictures cause I think if I didn't - I would have lost it on the walk towards him and when I was looking at him during the ceremony - which I almost did anyway. The minister the day before had told us to hold hands and pass of my bouquet. When I got there I started to do so and she stopped me - no not yet. SO I stood there and after about 5 minutes I just couldn't take it anymore and realized I was about to lose it and sort of whipped back my bouquet to Staci. If words had been said it was probably pretty obvious it was like "Take this quick!" LOL She grabbed it and immediately I grabbed his hands which seemed to calm me. He smiled at me and later said it was clear "we are holding hands now". The 2 2year old flower girls of course did their X factor bit and started runnign around which was totally adorable.

Steamboat was good - went to the hot springs where I fell and bruised my tailbone. I thik I got a slight concusion too but I am fine now. We had our first Moretnson Classic putt putt contest which Mr Mortenson won - but that's ok, I'm going to sharpen my game and have a come back for next year!

We got home safely and the kitties were fine. Now it is back to the grind - but I will write about that later.