Tag Archive for: ProjectE

Your Invitation to an Unique Opportunity for 5 eCommerce Businesses for ProjectE

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Last Friday, I announced that I would be offering “A Unique Opportunity for 5 eCommerce Businesses for ProjectE” (see the link for the video), today I’m providing more information around this huge opportunity for the selected 5 businesses and opening to doors to applications.

What actions you take now, can have a massive impact on the busiest season of the year, Christmas. This really is a unique opportunity for you & your business, as I am essentially offering my experiences & services for free at a critical time of the year.

I’ve had quite a few emails already asking questions already, most questions are answered below, the common one was “What do I have to do to ensure I’m part of this Matt?”, one sent me this:

(Yes, I know it’s shameless, but if you could email Camelot and ask them if they would suggest which lottery numbers might be good to pick I bet you would).

As I mention below in this article and in the video, I have no real preference on the businesses size, just that the 5 chosen will be in non competing areas and have a willingness to learn and put the time in as needed. If I’ve worked with you before, that’s also OK. I’ve put the invitation as openly and as honestly as I can in the video below.

Why am I offering this opportunity?

There are two core reasons, the first is commitment. I’ve been hovering around ProjectE for some time now and I need personal commitment to its success, this is my way of ensuring that it happens and does not remain a ‘pipe dream’. The second is being able to understand & document exactly the right information to help other businesses grow through ProjectE.

Who am I?

If this your first time to this site, then I strongly urge you to read the rest of this site. This is my personal blog and I’ve covered quite a wide range of eCommerce related topics.

As a very brief introduction, I’ve ran my own eBay based business for three years, held the very first eBay PowerSeller meeting, worked with an auction management company called Marketworks (which was later bought by ChannelAdvisor) for 18 months and then spent three years at eSellerPro, a multi-channel software provider. I work with one of the most successful unbranded fashion multi-channel companies & launched Tesco on eBay a year or so ago. I have two “daddys” girls, I’m getting married next year, I have an unnatural love of Fridays and I’m addicted to coffee.

Non Competing Businesses

A critical part is my intention to pick five businesses that do not compete in the same product groups/verticals.

By picking businesses where they do not compete directly with each other, I’ve found from personal experience, breaks down the immediate boundaries that competition puts up and opens the opportunity of working together, so that 6 people in a non-competing environment can work more effectively, than just one.

A core part of these 8 weeks will be working together with myself and the four other selected businesses to amplify the experience. I’m suspecting that the latter, being able to talk to liked minded individuals who face similar issues will ultimately be most benefit to you.

What would be my personal concerns if I was a business considering taking part?

I felt it important to include this section, as it would be one of my primary concerns in taking part in this opportunity.

I’d like to stress that data to me is just that, data. I’ve seen sooo many addresses, inventory records, to just glaze over them. A customer’s address is just that, a couple of data fields, its contents are completely irrelevant and what is important is that the data is valid and in the correct format (and if not, why not).

I categorically have no intention of using any supplier based information to start my own “physical product based” business, I’ve been there and done that and will happily sign an NDA on supplier based information, that terminates for the period for up to 12 months after the project ends.

What is the “ideal” business type?

Your business should be eCommerce related and are using or intend to use eBay or Amazon as sales channels.

If you’re only taking a few hundred pounds per week or several hundred thousand turnover, this does not matter. What critically matters is that you’re able to work with others in a separate business area, are willing to learn fast and can commit the time needed for both the individual meetings, the group ones and the work that stems from them both.

What do I receive in return?

Ironically, I need your help as much as you need mine. ProjectE, which I’m looking forward to discussing with you, is about helping as many people as possible with their eCommerce businesses.

  • Permission to write about the experiences gained through the 8 week program
  • Use the knowledge & experience gained so that I can then help tailor future articles to help small & medium sized business.
  • Feedback on ProjectE

What is included?

The following is included & payment for the following is not implied nor expected.

  • Unique access to ProjectE
  • 1 hour per week dedicated support, via Skype or phone, focused to you & your business (will be on Weds, Thurs or Friday)
  • 1 hour per week group session to share your experience with the other members of the team (will be on Weds, Thurs or Friday)
  • Unlimited community forum & direct email support as required outside of the above
  • A ½ day site visit if you’re in a 30 mile radius of Bristol, United Kingdom (subject to lunch and coffee being provided)
  • [Pending confirmation] Access to two other experts, one of which will travel almost anywhere in the UK for the train fare, lunch and (uurrrh) tea.

What is required from you?

The most obvious inclusion here is commitment, I’m offering at least 16 hours or more of my time unpaid to help you, I expect this and a lot more in return.

  • An “open mind”
  • The purchase & completion of two or more books, within two weeks of the project starting (they’re about £15 in total on Amazon).
  • Attending individual & group meetings which will be held on a Weds, Thurs or Friday.

Questionnaire

To enter your businesses into this opportunity, I require a few simple questions to be answered. Please include a phone number that you can be reached on over the weekend of 20-21st August, as I’m intending to use this time to narrow down the entries.

The closing date for applications is Friday 19 August at 23:59.

All fields are required.

<< Sorry, this unique opportunity has now ended>>

A Unique Opportunity for 5 eCommerce Businesses for ProjectE

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Time to raise the stakes! On Monday 15th August, I’m going to open a public invitation for 5 businesses to work with myself for a period of 8 weeks, consisting of 1-2 hours mentoring & consulting for free.

The infamous “ProjectE” should be no surprise to you if you’ve read any part of this site or if I’ve worked with you before, its to be focused on eCommerce, with a hefty slant towards eBay & Amazon.

This is a huge & equally unique opportunity for you and your businesses, as I’m offering support, guidance and mentoring, at a critical part of the year. With Christmas with in easy reach, just imagine what you could achieve with the right guidance and actions on your part.

If you’re interested in working with me for free & for 2 whole months, watch this video now  as I’ve put together a brief overview for this unique opportunity and more details will follow on Monday.

I will be providing a submission form on Monday and the closing date for applications will be 17:00 Friday 19th August 2011.

Really Bad Product Video for #ProjectE

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I needed a video to use as a product video for an article in #ProjectE. I had some electrical tape and Facebook open (bad I know) and saw “Pistols the Pirate” on there. The scene was set for possibly the worst product review ever.

The HUGE question for ProjectE

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Howdy, I need your help in answering the following question. Its ProjectE related and thus would be a massive benefit for me to help understand how I can help you the most.

Any feedback you have would be exceptionally useful and I’ve created a simple form that allows you to post the reply without using the comments system on the site if you’re uncomfortable with leaving your reply publicly.

The Question.

Imagine a website that is targeted towards helping small businesses on eBay and amazon, what topics, resources and content would you find most useful to you?

Your Feedback

You can use the form below to post your reply/comments or use the comments box at the bottom.

[contact-form 3 “ProjectE Question Form”]


Sneak Peak at ProjectE

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Here’s a quick peak at a tiny part of ProjectE

Note: The red bit is on purpose, it would give too much away ;-)

What is an eBay Listing Template-1

ProjectE Update

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Get excited and make things

Photo courtesy of Nitevision

The more people I discuss this with, not only the more positive responses I get back, which is frankly great news, dropping 3/5ths of ones normal salary is a scary thought, but it gets deeper and deeper almost daily.

Focus

For the past two weeks I’ve been able really focus in on what is needed and to put the key tools in place so that the entire project can become scalable.

This has included, the re-working of a bought WordPress theme, the implementation of customfields groups and a clear layout path for the different content types. Up until now I have avoided outsourcing the major parts, however I’ll be drawing the line soon, focusing purely on the content and any additional tasks, subbing out to third parties. While I’m comfortable in most areas, design, PHP, CSS and HTML, these tasks are not the best use of my time and frankly, as much as I enjoy them, they’re better off elsewhere.

Video content

I’ve really got to grips now with video creation and the latest guide has multiple call outs, four content blocks and audio inserts. I didn’t realise how powerful the video format was until I really got stuck in and again the feedback has been fantastic.

There is still a lot to learn and the more I get through the easier they have become, I’m over 10 separate video tutorials in so far and I have two planned for today. The combination of both written content and visual content is going to be key to the project.

Self doubt

This is a huge one for me currently, its the 50/50 scenario, between knowing that I really do know my arena exceptionally well, to thinking its all going to fail and I’ll end up looking like a complete plank.

Having doubts is keeping me on my toes, I’ve got a list of 40 or so articles to produce over the next two weeks and most of these are far from simple and getting progressively deeper and deeper.

Ground work

What I’m finding is that I cannot cover the more advanced topics I’d like to without ensuring that the participants are up to a level to be able to take in fully those topics and going back to the basics. out of the 40 or so articles, probably 38 of them are just the basics and that’s only a small number compared to what I have estimated for the much larger sub projects I have planned.

No previews yet though!

I’ve kept the group of people I have been using to bounce this project off, completely out of the group of peers you may have thought I should be keeping in-the-loop. While this will come later, for now, you’re not the focus of the project (you guys know too much) and I do apologise for not keeping you in the loop, your time will come soon!

The deadline

I’m setting myself an ambitious deadline today of two weeks, 21st July.

This allows me around 10 or so working days to cover as much ground as possible. This is a bit scary when you consider that neither of the co-writers have actually produced any content yet, although I’m really happy to report a fourth is on board.

Your help

Now I did say I didn’t want your input just yet, however one section of ProjectE is a solutions directory. I’ve already received several overviews from different providers and are working on editorial reviews to accompany them with the providers.

“Broadly speaking”, if you are a solutions provider of any form in the eCommerce arena, contact me at matthew.ogborne AT lastdropofink.co.uk

ProjectE – Stark Reality of What I’ve Done

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Its Monday and in only two days time, ProjectE kicks off.

The reality of what I have done is starting to kick-in. I’ve essentially, cut my normal income to 2/5th’s and launched into a complete unknown. There has been no proof-of-concept, just the belief that its a brilliant idea and can only happen if it has the time dedicated to it.

Its an idea I’ve had for over 5 years, the depth of its potential to help sooo many people is huge and frankly “I’m bricking it”. Its going to put myself (and the team) at the blunt end of eCommerce and there will be quiet heafty onus to get this right. I’m sure that everything will be OK. The topics, I’m 99.9% sure upon, its after-all, what I’ve been up to for the past 9 years, but even still, it makes you doubt your own abilities.

Its not really sunk in yet, those who were following the tweets on Friday for its codename ‘#ProjectE‘, would have seen some teasers being tweeted out and the beginnings of what is going to be a rather public journey.

The steps have been taken, I’m out of my comfort-zone.

I sincerely hope I look back at this post and laugh, while I remember that the difference between an employee and a entrepreneur is, only one small thing, action.

Photo by danielbroche