The Keepers

Written by Mick Meredith


Continued from page 1

8. Keep it up. If you're right, don't ever quit. Be ready to test and modify. Work on it daily, regularly. Love it or loose it. Promote it everywhere you go. Hang a window sign on your car.

9. Keep it positive (About everything). No one ever built a statue to a critic. Use good language. Profanity in any form degrades you notrepparttar reader. Be a leader. Have a quiet I can do it attitude. Don't knockrepparttar 109046 competition. Avoid negative people. Don't lie. Be honest about everything.

10. Keep it. Copyright and trademark everything. Use license agreements. Pay bills and avoid lawsuits. Have access to competent legal counsel. Have a reliable, friendly and supportive ISP.

Having an e-commerce small business onrepparttar 109047 Internet is one ofrepparttar 109048 most exciting things I have done. That doesn't mean it has always been easy or profitable. But it is worth it.

Mick Meredith is web master and owner of Kids Against Drugs National Campaign For A Drug Free America. He has written and designed Family Programs to help family members turn their backs away from drug and substance abuse. These are available at http://www.kidsagainstdrugs.com/ e-mail contact: str8tker@kidsagainstdrugs.com


B2B? Watch your Mouth!

Written by Rob Spiegel


Continued from page 1

So whyrepparttar heartfelt disdain? Part ofrepparttar 109045 negativity is simplyrepparttar 109046 result of repparttar 109047 audacity and arrogance ofrepparttar 109048 young Internet entrepreneurs. The dot coms showed up in virtually every business sector, announcing they had arrived to turnrepparttar 109049 industry on its head, all without any depth of experience inrepparttar 109050 industry. For all their audacity, they were rewarded with sky-high IPO results after just a few quick months. Suddenly these interlopers were valued higher thanrepparttar 109051 decades-old industry stalwarts. Ifrepparttar 109052 young dot com smarties had half a brain, they would have purchased some of those traditional dinosaurs. In their arrogance, they didn't seerepparttar 109053 value ofrepparttar 109054 dinosaurs. Steve Case of America Online was one ofrepparttar 109055 few withrepparttar 109056 wits of nab a traditional industry leader, Time Warner, while AOL's stock was soaring. Executives of traditional companies had good reason to fear these upstarts. There was a moment when an upstart could become your new boss.

Most ofrepparttar 109057 dot com arrogance is gone, and with it wentrepparttar 109058 swaggering entrepreneurs. Now it falls torepparttar 109059 dinosaur companies to implementrepparttar 109060 transformation. And do it they will, even while they trashrepparttar 109061 concept of B2B ecommerce.

I recently attendedrepparttar 109062 annual executive conference ofrepparttar 109063 National Electronic Distributors Association. The dot coms that two years ago came to disintermediate and destroy these distributors are now "dot gone." In their place are humble software companies that sell e-business functionality torepparttar 109064 industry dinosaurs. The leaders of these software companies are former distribution executives whose start-ups were funded byrepparttar 109065 very dinosaurs they now serve. Better to buy B2B solutions from a former colleague than a whiz-kid college dropout who knows nothing about your industry.

The executives in this industry won. They're eating their cake. They vanquishedrepparttar 109066 un-scrubbed dot coms and are now happily hiring their former colleagues to transform their companies. Yetrepparttar 109067 bitter disdain over B2B persists. It likely stems fromrepparttar 109068 quiet anger overrepparttar 109069 reality thatrepparttar 109070 young no-nothings almost capturedrepparttar 109071 age-old industries.

Rob Spiegel is the author of Net Strategy (Dearborn) and The Shoestring Entrepreneur's Guide to Internet Start-ups (St. Martin's Press). You can reach Rob at spiegelrob@aol.com


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