E-commerce management as full-time job?

[EduCatOR]

Hi there, new to the site and am searching for some opinions. I recently got together with a company just started producing a new all natural dog chew. They sell wholesale and have had major success so far, and we just got the retail ready to go within the last three weeks.

Turns out, their parent company wants me to produce an e-commerce site for them as well. The problem with all of this is that they do not have anyone with any sort of technical background there to support any of this. I really feel uncomfortable setting up systems with no one there to run them.

The parent company sells their product to over 250 wholesalers, but the owner told me that the strength of the relationships are dwindling. He says he does good business, but I don't know actual numbers.

The parent company produces custom rustic furniture, has taxidermy items/is a taxidermy service. They have all sort of items, and I believe their biggest items are antler chandeliers. They have tried the web before, and it went no where. (Got to the shopping cart part and it was a "coming soon" type thing)

I met with the owner the other day and offered him one of two options. The first being to just setup the site and let them have it, the other being to work full-time at getting their site off the ground and making money.

We have decided to market the rustic furniture and taxidermy as separate entities, so all in all there would most likely be three different shops to manage/support. I gave him a list of typical things I would do during a normal workday.

- Build/maintain website/web presence.
- Check and respond to any e-mails from customers or potential customers.
- Process any orders.
- Cross reference in-store inventory with online inventory.
- Online marketing / high-end client marketing. (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc)
- Continuously build inventory. Store 500+ items.
- Take quality images of products.
- Product image editing.
- Loading/removing inventory from the websites.
- Take care of any support issues.

They also have a normal store front and the owner has told me that he just doesn't have the time or the knowledge to do anything online. *The economy has made it's mark on them, make no mistake. He wants to take his business online and I warned him that it's pretty much all or nothing to make it work online.

There is competition online but I figure since each piece is unique there is still marketability. They are all about quality, and the nice thing about big ticket items is that they can be purchased and shipped without sales tax.

I have never done this type of thing before. (Just outright asking a company to create a "new" position.) He did make me fill out an app though so maybe that is a good sign?

My question at the end of all this is really do you guys think that this is a good idea? I don't want to sound arrogant, but I have a knack for online marketing and believe I could produce them money. I explained the whole process of building things, but I'm really tired of selling myself short. (As a designer, webmaster, marketer, etc.) I meet with him Monday morning to go over the site details.

I told him just setting up the store + branding and tweaks would be $1200 (I'm thinking this is without the 500+ inventory items), or that I would work for him fulltime doing the list above + more for $32k starting out. We then started talking about quickbooks so maybe he is interested?

So, do you guys think I'm crazy for asking to join them full-time in this troubled economy? I believe I can do the job, but is that payment justified? Looking for advice, thankyou for reading this if you made it all the way through.

Take care.

[jwolthuis]

Welcome to Webmaster World!

I'm not sure how you arrived at a $1200 figure for a new site with 500+ items. Are you referring to a *working* and *correct* eCommerce site, with accurate shipping rates, great product images, and thorough product descriptions?

Successful eCommerce sites take years of product-description refinements, shipping-rate tweaks, and relevant product reviews to become successful.

The $32k/year is a more-relevant figure, but the owner needs to understand that he'll probably be losing money for the first few years. (The old IBM commercial where the order-counter spins faster and faster on the first day simply doesn't happen in real life).

Keep in mind that there are already a dozen half-baked sites selling the same products as what you propose to do, so in order to break out of the pack, you'll need to invest lots of time (and the owners, lots of dollars) to make money.

[EduCatOR]

Thank you for the response jwol.

I came at the 1200 figure just for the setup minus the products and what not. I understand that there are quite a bit of factors that need to be taken into account in terms of sales. I also realize there are dozens of half-baked sites trying to do the same thing, which is why I do think we can break out of the pack.

Out of them all I believe we will have the most unique and quality items. There are sellers that sell the "same things", however, it seems to be a bit different than trying to sell dvd's or ipods. No product is the same, all of them are unique, and several competitors have less quality items.

Also, of course I am referring to a fully working and correct ecommerce site, I wouldn't do it any other way.

Again, thank you for the response.

[HRoth]

Geez. I was paid $1000 just to optimize a four-page site with no cart. It took me six hours and I don't do SEO for a living. I don't think I was overcharging AT ALL. Further, to me, $32K to manage an online shop--or three online shops, which is what it sounds like--is ridiculous.

The situation you describe makes me uneasy for a number of reasons. The owner doesn't know anything about selling online, which means his expectations are most likely unrealistic. He is looking to get into it because he is losing B&M business, which means he'll be getting desperate. Desperate people who lack knowledge are not happy people to work for. He'll be taking money out you need to keep in to expand the online shop, and he'll be sticking in his own oar. Not good.

That said, if I had no job, I would take this job, get paid to learn how to run an online shop, open my own shop, and quit when I had enough income from it. Seriously. I am not a mean or unethical person, but that's what I would do.

[ssgumby]

You will work fulltime doing all that you mentioned for 32k per year? Where do you live, I want to hire you lol.

Seriously 32k lots and lots of people would hire you. I think you are selling yourself short.

[EduCatOR]

Well, to be honest, I am pretty desperate. (I asked a company to essentially create a new position for me) I have school loans to pay, medical bills to pay, credit card payment to pay, no job.

I am a little uneasy about it as well but like I said, I'm pretty desperate. I live in NW Indiana. So far I've only looked at things I was qualified for in Chicago or have talked to businesses that think websites just poof themselves onto the web here in the NWI.

ssgumby if only you were serious, I really need work. :) I too, think I'm selling myself short, but I don't really know which way to turn, and am starting to feel real pressure in life. (due to a lack of funds of course)

I will keep looking for work as well I guess. I meet with the owner tomorrow so we'll see what happens. He does know it takes time to start something like this, and I pretty much explained to him mostly everything within this thread, but we'll see what happens tomorrow.

I ruptured my Achilles back in May and am trying to "get back on my feet." (Both mentally, emotionally, and physically. lol

[EduCatOR]

:edit to above: Things I was *not* necessarily qualified for in Chicago. (I could probably do them, but I don't have the necessary "experience" yet for most of them)

[Luxoria]

Something is wrong with this. First off it seems like no one, except you, knows anything about how online sells/marketing works. Even then the quoted prices are wrong.

An enterprise class site will cost 5-10+ thousand dollars. Unless you want a junky site that looks like it's a default oscommerce store from 1999. That cost might only, mostly likely only, cover the site itself excluded product descriptions and such. If you had a professional photographer take 500+ pictures of products for you that might cost 75-150+ per product. Then the cost of transportation and such. So without an outsourced photographer you will need a full time body skilled in photography. That will be 40k per year plus a thousand in software.

Then you will need full time customer service and order processors. Depends on volume, but you will need several for sure. They will need to be trained... by who? There is no one in corporate with experience!

Then managing the site itself with SEO and marketing is a full time job. Then you will have to take care of security issues and keeping the database error free. And if the webmaster has no talent in graphic arts you will need a freelancer to update the sites graphics from time to time... and there might be THREE sites!

Also, space space space. The cost of the extra space for computers, employees, shipping and receiving, packaging supplies, et cetera will add up quick.

My impression is that the want is an enterprise solution based on '250' distributers. With that, in my mind, the scale is larger than what any single person can do. Do you know how much the owner is willing to spend? If it's less than 200-300k per year he needs to find a enterprise ecommerce owner/operator and take a tour of their company, IMO, he will be shocked.

Also 32k is laughable, if you know what you are doing and intend to manage this site and ALL of it's operations and people, it' more like a 48-56k per year job with full benefits.

If the owner truly understands the costs and is willing to invest 300k on a website, a few employees, and give you 50k a year, I say go for it. On the other hand if he gets nervous at any number greater than 50k yeah, you might get paid for a year or so but he will blame you when he does not make the 1million he thinks he will make overnight.

[Wlauzon]

Pretty much what Luxoria said. We just spent over $20K just for an appearance/navigation overhaul of our main store. And over the past 3 years it cost us over $120K trying out various failed platforms and "solutions" that never got off the ground before we found one that worked for us.

..Also 32k is laughable, if you know what you are doing and intend to manage this site and ALL of it's operations and people, it' more like a 48-56k per year job with full benefits...

I agree - mostly. We have two similar positions, both full time, and pay around 55K/70K (for the senior position).

However, the key words here "know what you are doing" + how to get it done.

Of the two positions we have now, we probably went through half a dozen people that claimed that but failed.

No two situations are the same, but an "ecommerce manager" for a small business pretty much has to be a jack of all trades for anything concerning computers and the internet. If they don't know how to do it - such as writing Javascript - they know how to get it done.

Desperate people who lack knowledge are not happy people to work for.

This is a truth that should be engraved on the hall of failed enterprises. Few people - and apparently your prospective client - have a clue as to how much day to day work is involved in keeping an ecommerce site and the associated infrastructure going.

And IMO, $1200 for adding 500 items is also laughable unless the vendor can supply the full range of images ready to go, and an "upload ready" database file.

[jwolthuis]

Then you will need full time customer service and order processors...

He's just starting out. If the new site gets 2 order the first month, I'd be surprised. In the context of what he's discussing with the owner, an "enterprise solution" at this stage is overkill.

... get paid to learn how to run an online shop, open my own shop, and quit when I had enough income from it.

Yes, what he said. For $32k/year, you are a webmaster-in-training. You don't intend to retire with this firm, correct? It's simply a job at this point, and you can learn from it. If you suddenly demand 55K/70K, you've just killed the deal.

[RhinoFish]

make a rev share deal, shows you believe you can rock it, and should be more lucrative for you if you can.

[mattb]

I think you need to discuss reasonable goals with your potential boss if your both thinking about a long term relationship. Start with a simple timeline with milestones that you both can agree on ahead of time. You are making many assumptions about the finances and knowledge / expectations of this person. Regardless of the money you want to make sure that this person will give you a good reference for your next endeavor.

[EduCatOR]

Well I met with him today, and he does not want to hire me to manage all three of the shops. I tried to explain things to him about progression, and pretty much all I got in return was a "Well if we start making money then ill be able to hire more people."

I'm sorry, but I know for a fact the site is just not going to do all the work itself. He talked a lot about marketing, who's going to do that for him? I don't really know.

I'm not really making assumptions about his knowledge, he told me himself that he knows nothing about it. The reference isn't even really a big deal for me either, as 9 times out of 10 the work you do can stand on it's own.

All in all I'm a pretty disappointed person today, although I guess it's nice to have some money. Basically they want to make money from it before they invest anymore into it. (aka not going to work)

Back to square 1, looking for more jobs.

[EduCatOR]

The good news is we had our first retail sale today. (First sale in less than a week is good?) :))

[ssgumby]

Im just reading this again. You seriously are offering to do all the items listed below for 32k per year. Buddy, I can promise you if you do all this and you do it with any competence you should have no problem finding work.

Specifically what do you do for online marketing? What type of coding do you do to "build/maintain website"?

- Build/maintain website/web presence.
- Check and respond to any e-mails from customers or potential customers.
- Process any orders.
- Cross reference in-store inventory with online inventory.
- Online marketing / high-end client marketing. (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc)
- Continuously build inventory. Store 500+ items.
- Take quality images of products.
- Product image editing.
- Loading/removing inventory from the websites.
- Take care of any support issues.

[EduCatOR]

Well, I think a pre-built system is the best option at this point for almost any e-commerce site. Even powerful open source cms systems seem to be a nice choice. (A lot more community input = better store IMO) You could hire a coder to make one from scratch but I think that would get ridiculously expensive and take way too much time.

When I gave them their options (free vs. paid), of course they chose the free option. I ended up choosing prestashop. Building the site is basically setting up the core infrastructure (db and all that, script,etc), skinning it, and making it ready for sales. I don't really change too much core coding besides modding certain things. (ie add "quanity" box to product list instead of just in the individual product descriptions) I am also in the process of learning the template system but I've only been at it for 3 weeks altogether. (With this cms system, with little pay, lol) I also tend to change the blocks around to make it a bit more relevant. It was ready for sales last Wednesday and we had our first sale with it today. Went really smooth. (Except I had to call them and tell them they had an order of course! >:-|)

I graduated with a BS in computer graphics tech from the school of technology @ Purdue. I've studied your standard adobe software. Final cut, motion, etc. I've also studied things like marketing, color theory, philosophy, and taken classes in creative thinking.

I run oldschool dedicated game servers, my own internet radio station, and a mirage of other little personal project sites.

As far as online marketing goes, strong SEO along with proper use of social media seems to be the way to go for me at this point. Targeted advertising as well. My latest (personal) project is a video sharing community somewhat similar to YouTube, except dedicated to a specific sport. I know it's not much, but here are some statistics for the website.

Started: June 13th, 2010

Currently I'm about to hit 10,000 unique visitors, 600,000 pageviews, 2.1 million overall hits. Ranked in the 500,000's on Alexa (I know, I know), but to me that's pretty good. The nice thing is that the unique visitor count and traffic is basically doubling each month. In my eyes the web is saturated, and unless you're bringing something different to the table your chances of success are slim.

I'm 26 right now, graduated way late I guess you could say, but I feel I could really produce for some company. I've been around the internet since the 14.4 days. I think if I was matched with the right programmer I could really make things happen, haven't been down that road yet though.

I figure that list would be all in a days work, almost in order besides the build/maintain site part.

Cheers and thanks for all the advice.

[dpd1]

Years ago, I started trying to get web work. I quickly gave up for the very reason you are describing. In my mind, there's two worlds... One world is the one where people are willing to spend big money and do everything big-time right form the get-go. The other world is the people with no money. I found that the latter were very hard to satisfy. In that scenario, I think all you can do is tell them what needs to be done. If they ignore you or live in denial, then your only options are to say forget it, or just do it... take the money, and move on. I would never sign any kind of contract or anything in that environment. But on the other hand... If nothing else was going on and I needed to do SOMETHING, then I would do the best I could and just move on when the opportunity arises.

Many people in this business believe there's one way, and one way only, to do this stuff, and that is... Big. I do think in some situations, a business can do well on a grass roots level, spending very little money. It just takes a lot more time and patience. So it really just comes down to whether or not they have realistic expectations. You could do the best you can, get them to feel that at least something is happening on a small scale... then dangle the carrot in front of them to spend more. I think most people will feel a lot better about throwing the money around if they can at least get a little taste first.

[EduCatOR]

I hear you on that, I'm beginning to learn this myself. I was supposed to be able to start on this Monday, but these people are with a host that has no control panel, no mysql database support, nothing. He is family to one of the higher ups within the company and it's already getting real frustrating to work in this type of environment. By the time it gets setup tomorrow I will have gone through three days waiting around to start, with no projects to take it's place, and no payments coming in.

He said it should be setup tomorrow, but then I'm sure there will be other things that need to be installed in order for the cms to work properly. (php, mysql versions)

I'm going to get it done as quickly as possible and then hopefully be done with it, all the while looking for stable work. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

[lorax]

Time for a reality check IMHO. BTW - welcome to our forum!

What's the annual income for the company? What % do they hope to get from the web? How many people in the company can do what you do, learn what needs to be done, are committed to continued learning and adjustments to keep the company viable and competitive? Are you the best person for the job? Create a list of 10 reasons why you are and make sure they're damn solid.

Keep learning, testing, breaking things and then fixing them up. But for now, focus on earning that paycheck with what you know.

[EduCatOR]

Thanks for the welcome lorax, let me actually try to answer a few of those questions.

Annual Income? Not sure, they sell to over 250 wholesalers and Tractor Supply Co. has most likely just picked up the Dog chews. (900 retail stores) I'm not even sure if they even need the web at this point, so it's possible that they are just not that serious about it and will be putting more money into physical stock.

They want to move retail items in their actual brick and mortar shop. (Pretty large store) I have setup the dog chews portion with wholesale as well as retail so anyone can handle accounts online. I'm not sure if the parent company's site will be the same. Their products are actually very nice and pretty unique, so there may be a slim chance to break through online.

At the moment the only person working the online system is a guy who is being pulling in a lot of directions at the moment. He pretty much runs the dog chews part by himself (the physical portion of it) and is the one that will ultimately handle things once I am done with them. If they get multiple orders from multiple sites I'm not sure how he'll be able to handle it all, but who knows. There is really no one technical at all at this company so they might be able to handle what I setup for them, but keeping up with updates and adjustments will most likely prove more than they can handle. They want certain things in certain places at the moment, so I end up changing the core code which will make it hard for them to update I'd imagine.

I think I'm the best person for the job. I have a good background in actual retail sales, as well as large community management and advanced cms systems. So far everything has been pretty smooth, although out of the box there were many things to fix. I have a proven track record with online advertising and driving organic traffic to a website. With a proven product and proper budget I believe I could do big things. I multitask well and work well alone or with a team.

Anyways I really won't go on but I appreciate all the feedback and honest advice I got from this thread. It actually gave me more confidence to get out there and go for what I want.

Has anyone looked for work along these lines? Where is the best place to look for these types of jobs?

Thanks and take care, happy holidays everyone!

[Wlauzon]

...Has anyone looked for work along these lines? Where is the best place to look for these types of jobs?...

Oddly (or maybe not so odd) places like this is one good source. (hint- fill out your profile).

There are thousands of small companies looking for a or a better web presence. 90% of them don't know they are looking for one or need one.

There are thousands of people like you - the big problem seems to be getting the two sides together.

We have had a B&M store for over 30 years, but we hit the web with our first site in 1996, on a free geocities site I think it was.

We were one of the very first in our niche to have a real website, and since then our online sales and leads as of 2010 are about 90%+ of our revenue.

But getting back to the original question - yes, $32K is laughable, but it may also be an entry door for learning your way around ecommerce and for getting your name out there. It is unfortunate that what you have to work with is so primitive, but in the ecommerce world you will see a LOT of that, and tons of clueless customers. And the problem is not just the business owners - it took us almost two years to find someone that could actually fill one of the similar positions that we have. (hint - being a computer guru does not make anyone an ecommerce expert).

[votrechien]

I, like many other people here, have been down the road of dealing with companies looking to make an entrance into e-commerce. My experience is they either get it or they don't. For the latter group, it's generally a losing battle trying to explain to them the world of e-commerce. Unfortunately (or fortunately) your skillset at this point is probably better aimed at either being successful in your own entrepeurship (from an ethical standpoint, learning from your mistakes with someone else's money isn't such a great idea) or working for a bigger company already established where you can learn some valuable skills (if you're in the Chicago area, there's no shortage of such companies).

[MeynOnline]

So, is it better to just work for somebody for awhile, get their sales going, and move on to doing your own thing then? I guess by this I mean, should I work long enough to get an idea of how it all works and then replicate what I learned to set up my own ecommerce site?

I am currently employed as a webmaster for a wholesale company. They do millions a year in total on the various marketplaces and their own web sites. They sell on eBay, Amazon, Buy.com, and more. They also have 4 ecommerce sites, and 3 Amazon webstores. I manage all of this, but make less than $15,000 a year. I only took the position because it was do this or live under a bridge.

I'm asking about this because even though they make literally millions (we are over $2Mil in sales for 2010), they require me to only do the FREE things to promote their goods. I did run a small ($60-$100) Google AdWords campaign for about 3 months, until the credit card on file expired. When I asked to renew it they said to just concentrate on the free stuff (Google Base, Bing, TheFind.com, etc.) I'm really at a loss with this place. There is more pressure everyday for increased volume, but a budget that shrinks daily.

I could replicate what they are doing and do what I want, how I want, and in a couple of years probably surpass them in sales. Would this be ethical? I would have to go through them for products initially, but I could get a discount (for awhile anyways). I'm not even sure that they wouldn't care about me "competing" with them so long as I went through them. They would get their asking price, I would simply mark up the items to sell on my own. They sell at a low enough price that there are many middlemen that sell their stuff to actual retailers and still make a profit (for example, they ask $0.60-$0.90 a piece for cosmetics, and the "middlemen" ask $0.95-$3.00+ for the same items from the actual retailers. The retailers in turn ask $2.00-$15.00+ for the items in their shops.)

While I am here I just feel as though I am spinning my wheels, getting nowhere. I've been here almost two years with no raise, no benefits, and my hours continually get cut. (I am now down to 3 days a week.) I have student loans to pay, and need food and shelter. While I can pay for the latter two at this time, loans are being put off until I can make more. I was a Marketing major in college, and understand business in and out. I completely understand the old mantra of "it takes money to make money", but this company seems to have never heard this.

Management (of which I am not a part of even though I control all of the sites. I just don't do the customer service, inventory management, or shipping functions) is technically proficient in some aspects of eComerce, but the owner doesn't have a clue when it comes to web related things. To top it off, management would rather spend money on "company phones" (Droids), netbooks (that are used more for personal use than business), and other nonsense. When it comes to spending money for marketing, there just isn't any.

I'm in need of some guidance from those of you that might have been where I am, or just been around long enough to know what to do. I would love to do what I am doing now, for myself. The hardest part of eComm for me would be to find my niche and source product. If I could simply sell what my current employer sells then I would be golden. Should I strike out on my own (with my two extra days a week), or should I just suck it up and keep up the daily grind? This company is growing, but in all of the wrong areas, and will soon plateau.

Any help would be appreciated.

I do apologize for hijacking this thread. I just really related to the OP.

[HRoth]

If I were selling cosmetics or something else generic, I wouldn't be able to stand ecommerce. It's nerve-wracking to deal with customers, unsteady supply lines, the capriciousness of search engines, etc. There are advantages in working for yourself, but there are also problems, like not having benefits or vacations, no retirment program, and having to be completely self-motivated. Some people can't handle that or don't want to deal with that. Even so, the problems are easier to handle if you are selling something you yourself care about. If I were in your position, I would find - or create - the niche first, on those days off.

[fabulousyarn]

My advice: Ditch the dudes, make your own dogchews and set up a niche ecommerce dogchew site. Better yet, make it an ORGANIC dog chew site. Better yet - an ECO -awaRE DOG cHEW Commerce web site.

You don't need to do this for someone else - you'll make more money short and long term doing it for yourself. Work at the Mobil station till it takes off, better time investment, plus you'll learn customer service. :)

I'm off to research dog chews.

j

[dpd1]

I am currently employed as a webmaster for a wholesale company. They do millions a year in total on the various marketplaces and their own web sites. They sell on eBay, Amazon, Buy.com, and more. They also have 4 ecommerce sites, and 3 Amazon webstores. I manage all of this, but make less than $15,000 a year. I only took the position because it was do this or live under a bridge.

OK, first off... These guys are total D-bags. In my opinion, you have little or nothing to gain by being there at this point. In two years, you probably learned about all you can from these guys... because it sounds like they're not only unethical, but morons on top of it. Anything else you can learn on your own. I certainly would not depend on them for my own business either. 15k a year? That's ridiculous. We've all worked for losers... You did your time, now move on, if at all possible. Whether you still work for somebody or do something on your own, it doesn't sound like you could do anything but go up at this point. You may not be able to start your own thing right out of the gate, but you could work on that on the side.

When I was 21 I ran a whole biz for these people for two years. I'll never forget the day my friends told me they got paid twice what I got, for working in the same field and doing a fraction what I did. To this day it still ticks me off. Unfortunately, many people are just S-bags, and they're just going to use people and do whatever they can get away with. Live and learn.

Side rant: Corporations wonder why the public and the government is gunning for them all the time. Seriously... 15k for somebody running their whole web presence. Unbelievable.

[MeynOnline]

HRoth,
Well, they don't JUST sell cosmetics. They sell everything under the sun. They buy closeouts, overstocks, etc. There's everything from xBox 360's to tea bags. It's an ever changing inventory, so it is sort of interesting. There is the potential for so much more (in sales) though.

No, I'm not passionate about cosmetics, or most General Merchandise, but it does make a TON of money. The owner just added a six car garage and remodeled his huge kitchen. His bedroom is bigger than my condo, and he has 3 seperate rooms for his master suite. He did all of this with the money from this company, and we live in the Phoenix area!

I just know I could do a better job. I don't need the latest and greatest cell phone (mine runs $25 a month, and I pay for it, not the company). I already have usable computers and don't need more. I wouldn't concentrate on saving $0.0002 on shipping per package that we send out, but focus more on increasing sales to get our shipping rates to the next bracket. I would have strategy meetings at least monthly. I would analyze sales data. I would do sooo many things much differently. Most importantly, I would invest in PPC, SEO, and getting our products into as many customers hands as possible.

I am fully motivated. My fiancee just got a job after going back to school (her second degree), so I will now have my "days off" to actually conduct business instead of loafing with her in front of the TV (her idea of quality time, not mine). I just really think I could make this take off, but I guess I need reassurance that my plans aren't unethical, and could actually help my current employer out with increased sales too.

I have thought about suggesting some type of profit sharing arrangement too. As I've exhausted my marketing avenues with all of the "free" marketing strategies though, I don't see this as feasible as sales have plateaued. They toy with the sites when I'm not here too, and one even had sales cut in half when they redirected it because they were thinking of "upgrading" it, and never ended up doing so. Now sales are 1/3 of what they were, and are only slowly climbing. When I built the site it was performing really well right out of the gate.

Some guidance with this would be great. I appreciate your feedback HRoth.

[MeynOnline]

Awesome....
Just got pulled aside. I was asked what my responsibilities are, etc. Basically warned that my "position" might be in jeopardy if I don't show an increase in sales!

Nice... I need this job, and like the two extra days off a week to try to do my own thing. It would be waaaayyyyy better to control ALL aspects of things though, and make the decisions and make more $$$

[MeynOnline]

fabulousyarn,
Were you replying to me or the OP? It probably fits for both of us.

[HRoth]

I guess I don't see what is unethical about taking what you learned in a job and using it to set up your own biz. It is not like they are selling something unique you are going to copy or that you have stolen the recipe to their secret sauce. It's generic knowledge.