That is all…
So, I guess I must have had SOME spare time — we’re expecting another little one. Woohoo!
This time around we actually had a baby welcoming the news with some screaming. “I’m…so…happy…” I said through gritting teeth as Joseph shrieked. But I was, and I am. And Joseph seems to love his “Best Big Brother Ever” sweater.
Oy. Life is a he’ll of a ride, isn’t it?
If it’s not one thing, it’s another…
So, this summer I relied heavily on positive reviews on Yelp.com. At the high point, I had FIFTEEN five-star reviews. Not just “He’s helpful,” but full-on, here’s-a-story-of-why-MTB-is-awesome kind of reviews. In all humility, we rocked the moving industry with our kick-ass customer service.
Pride goeth before the fall, and all that, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when, after I Facebook and Twitter bragged about it, the reviews began disappearing from my Yelp page. I did a little research and discovered that only the reviews of ACTIVE Yelpers stay up indefinitely. If you just get an account to review someone once and then never Yelp again, after awhile your review will disappear.
For awhile, the Yelp reviews were driving tons of traffic to my site. But then I was down to 11. The next day I was down to nine. A couple of weeks later, I was down to FOUR good reviews. Four. I think I’m back up to five now, but unfortunately, all my eggs were in the Yelp basket, and now my traffic is down to a crawl.
Argh. This, right before the slow season.
Time to dig into that bag of tricks…
Heh. I’ve been saying that since before some of you were born.
Seriously, though, what’s stopping me? In a few weeks, it certainly won’t be MyTruckBuddy.com. August was our biggest month ever, and September wasn’t far behind. But here we are into the first week of October, and there are already signs of it becoming deader than my desire to get a W2 job. Is it that voice that’s been plaguing me since childhood? (“You suuuuuck. You suuuuuck at everything….!!!!!”) Well, I put a couple of round through the head of that voice.
I’ve…uh…learned things. I’ve “come to terms” with things. As the real capper, I think I gained some insights about my father, a subject so sticky and personal I don’t think I’ve ever written about it in these blogs. Here’s a spoiler: my dad was a fantastic provider and one of the hardest working men I know. The reason he often seemed distant and detached is that he probably learned long ago that emotions waste time!
It’s been a hell of a ride. I think I’ve got some things to write about. I’m making notes and trying out some lines of thought. I’m going to do it. Please help keep me accountable to this. How about a deadline? Say, a first draft by my birthday in late January? I can do that.
Testing whether I can post a pic via my iPhone.
Yeah, I got an iPhone…
Tonight my wife mentioned something she read in “Ellie” Magazine.
“I think it’s pronounced “Ell,” I said.
“How did you know that?”
“Uh, I don’t know. I guess I heard it somewhere.”
Not one minute later I asked her where she was going to get her hair done tonight.
“Uh, I’m not sure. I think it’s the biggest one in town.”
“Circe?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “How did you know that?”
“I…”
Sweet Fancy Moses, I had no idea.
“Do you want to tell me something?”
“I…” Our son was playing next to me. “I am his FATHER. I’m not…YOU’RE gay!”
We had a laugh, but now she looks at me a little differently. To be fair, I did do some marketing work for a local salon, so maybe I picked something up.
Or something. Oy.
Anyone read this yet? It could be a life-changer, but I’m reserving my final impressions for the period AFTER the euphoric discovery phase. You know how it is — you come across some new book/CD/system that makes you see things in a new way, and you just know that This is the thing I’ve been looking for all my life! But after a few weeks or a few reads, you realize you’ve just purchased/read/stolen more re-heated schlock by some hack system marketer who just rewrote everyone else’s material. At that point everything is back to normal and you really regret Facebooking and Twittering all your friends about the book/CD/system.
What — you’ve never done that? Uh…me either. I’m talking about other people.
Nonetheless, I’m excited about some of the ideas in this book. How attainable they are, we’ll see. Some of it is pure crap if not unethical. For example, the author teaches “How to become an expert in four weeks.” Citing an example of a friend of his, he shows how you just need to join a couple of associations, read a lot of books and give a talk. BAM! You’re an expert. I see that kind of crap in Washington all the time — kids who have barely completed their internships show up to this or that event or TV show pretending to be experts on this or that. It perpetuates mediocrity and suspect that this advice teaches thousands of people how to basically scam other people.
That said, the other principles in the book seem sound. The book resonated with me because I’m at the exact point where I need it. I’m the entrepreneur who’s overworked and yet the only man who can make the big decisions. His advice to automate and/or eliminate repetive tasks is awesome. And the idea about outsourcing? Fantastic. I didn’t think that was attainable. As much as I hate sending jobs overseas, well, a few bucks a week to take a huge load off my shoulders? It’s a simple cost/benefit analysis, and the benefits for having Nadeem, my Pakistani buddy, maintain my customer calendar are just too great. And for what I’m paying him, he can feed his family for weeks. (More on Nadeem in another post).
Anyway, let me know what you think of the book if you’ve read it. If you haven’t, do so. It’s not a silver bullet, but if you’re looking for ways to save time and have more quality time with friends, family or even just yourself, it’s pretty damn good.
I know, I know. For a blogger, I sure make a good mover…
Well, no more excuses. It was a busy summer. I could call it “The Summer of a Thousand Good Intentions.” Another equally accurate title might be “The Summer of a Thousand Moves.” I don’t remember if I mentioned it here before, (it’s been so long since I logged in I had to actually think about my login info), but by my rough estimates, I’ve done close to 800-1,000 moves since I started doing this thing.
Think about that. Remember the last time someone asked for your moving help? You didn’t really want to, but out of friendly obligation, or maybe because you owed your friend a favor, you did it anyway. Then, on moving day, you nearly twisted your spine out of place, and your forearms burned after lugging a dresser up the stairs, and you dropped an armoire on your foot. Now multiply that nearly one thousand times.
Lol. Okay, it wasn’t that bad for me. I actually enjoy the work for the most part. Moving myself for free is one of the worst forms of hell, but thankfully that doesn’t happen really often.
So what are these good intentions I was talking about? Let me review my pre-summer, pre-laid-off to-do list. Just a minute while I go wrap my sides nice and tight to avoid splitting them from laughter. Keep in mind that I put this list together around December 1st, 2008, roughly one week before I was laid-off from my job as a grantwriter.
Goal #1: By the end of February, finish “testing the Truck Buddy concept.” In other words, prove that it works. I had no real plan, mind you–just some fuzzy ideas about making money.
Goal #2: Recruit ten new Truck Buddies by the end of April from around the country. The idea was to have one in Chicago, one in San Francisco, one in Seattle, etc.
Goal #3, which actually goes with Goal #2: write the definitive MTB manual. Basically, the blueprint that TBs were to follow.
Goal #4: Retire from doing the actual moves by June.
Goal #5: Since I’m not very good at planning very far into the future, Goal #5 was rather vague. It was something like “Practice Today Show interview questions for my inevitable appearance to talk about the out-of-sight success of MyTruckBuddy.com.
Of course, things got a little nuts when I was laid off, and here we are, almost a year later, with a slightly different state of affairs. I am, however, still working on my Today Show talking points. 
The highlights:
- I have a good volunteer workforce in place. I’ve been meaning to write about these guys and our adventures all summer, but, well, it’s rather difficult when you’re using your hands to heft mattresses.
- This is the beginning of the slow season, but I’m still booking moves as far out as November 28th. I don’t have a slot available until mid-October.
- One of the top searches that lead people to my site is “How to make money with my truck,” which shows me that the Truck Buddy network concept is still alive and well. (In fact, I just got an e-mail from a kid in San Francisco wanting to do this.)
- My website, while pretty crappy, design-wise, is becoming quite the sophisticated, automated time-saver and sales tool. Seriously — I discover a new feature every day in the GoodBarry system that I can implement. For example, when someone books a move, I can set up a series of automated e-mails that gives them moving tips, payment information, jokes, whatever.
- I’m about to begin writing the manual for Truck Buddies, as well as what I hope will be a hilarious Moving Tips guide. After doing this for two years, I think I have some good material.
Basically, it’s gotten to the point that I’m “coasting” as my wife put it. It’s a lot of work for “coasting,” but I’ve got something that resembles a stable, money-making system. I even have a Pakistani assistant! (More on that later, I PROMISE).
Sigh. I’ve been writing this post for about two hours between this and that, and now I have to show my wife how to put stuff on the online store. I’m so glad she’s up for that, because it’s one more thing I can take off the list.
It took me somewhat longer.
Literally — the website and business are still in the same place.
Exhausted now. More soon. With pictures!
C.
