Parents worry. I don’t think this comes as news to you.
I remember calling my mother after watching my daughter Buck Wheat, Panda at the time, drive off alone for the first time. You can watch here if you like.
“When do you think I’ll stop worrying about her driving alone?” I asked.
“You won’t, get used to it!” was her reply.
Thanks mom, that was comforting.
I’m not nearly the worrier my mother is. So when the now 22-year old Buck stopped threatening to move to Austin, TX and actually moved, I was planning on missing her. But I didn’t plan on doing much worrying.
Then she texted me to say that she’s discovered that you can’t open a can of chick peas by stabbing it with a knife!
Now, I think I’ll worry!
While sitting around worrying about THE Buck and her fingers, I’m managing to continue to make steady progress on the web sites and e-commerce platforms for THE Revolution. Our 9 AM daily “stand-ups” allow me to see my vision become reality, as the developers turn my words into the site foundation and features.
While there are three dealers in this first group of Minutemen, we are only building one site at the moment: for Town Line Wallpaper and Paint in Malden, MA. Selected because he had the most vendors, once we build the Town Line site, the other two should pull together quickly.
I am far more intimately involved in the actual building and development of these sites than I was with the Janovic.com job, where my role was more of a project manager. You don’t have to know how to program or write code to design a web site and e-commerce platform for paint stores. And you don’t have to be a graphic designer.
You can buy those services!
What you need is a deep understanding of what’s important to paint dealers and the consumers who will be using these sites, be they DIY or professional.
CHECK!
You’ll get your first peek in about three-weeks.
And of-course since time is money, we are also spending less than budget. The Minutemen of THIS Revolution will all be paying at least 25% less than they were planning on paying.
With reimbursements from manufacturers, which all dealers with coop funds available will be eligible for, these sites should (NET) cost a dealer less than a weekend in Vegas.
Depending on what you like to do on your weekends in Vegas!
On-time and under budget. Five words that CEO’s reading this blog recognize from me.
Covid-19 Outbreak!
I put up another podcast today, you can find it here on my site, on Soundcloud, Apple, Stitcher and Blubrry. My guest this episode is Jay Ward of Ward Lumber. Headquartered in Jay, New York, Ward Lumber as the name suggests is a two-store lumber yard operation. Like most good lumberyards, Ward sells paint as well. Some 300 miles north of the virus’ New York City epicenter, Jay’s stores are in Essex County, on the New York-Canadian border.
A county of almost 2000 square miles, Essex has less than 40,000 inhabitants. Despite the natural social distancing of such a remote setting, Ward Lumber had a Covid-19 outbreak among their staff of 50 employees.
The story of the outbreak and Jay’s response is both a warning and a learning opportunity for dealers as we head into winter which we have been warned by many health officials could be a difficult one.
Jay’s lesson is simple: be prepared and you won’t lose control!
So don’t worry, but make a plan! I plan on sending Buck an electric can opener!
