Fifteen minutes of fame and why you shouldn't trust the media by Richard Grady

Hi Folks!

New Wholesale Multi-Media Product...

I want to start this newsletter by launching a brand new product that I have just completed this week....

'The Trader's Multi-Media Wholesale Guide' is a package of screen-capture videos that you can watch on your computer and that will guide you through the initial steps of dealing with wholesalers. I have put this course together in response to the many, many emails that I get from subscribers who just don't know where to start or simply don't feel confident enough to approach suppliers for the first time.

As well as making that first approach, I cover a range of other topics such as what to sell, what to avoid and how you can source specific product lines.

In total the videos run to just under 1 hour and 20 minutes and any new trader should find them useful.

To find out more, please visit:
http://www.the-online-trader.com/multi_media_wholesale.html

The PC versus the Mac!

I moved a step closer to purchasing a Mac computer this week. Why? Because my PC fell over in a rather dramatic manner YET AGAIN! I am told by my Mac-owning colleagues that they don't have this problem. Apparently, Macintosh computers don't crash - they are reliable and they work - wow, what a novelty! Macs are also unaffected by the vast majority of virus threats that PC users defend themselves from on a daily basis.

So why the heck are we all using PCs and Windows (which seem to crash far more regularly than is healthy for any business)? I can only put it down to superb marketing by Microsoft - I mean, how many other products are there that can achieve almost global domination when they only work properly 80% of the time?! Please note, I have no figures to back up this statistic and it is based purely on my own experience :-)

Anyway, I went to look at some Macs and I have to say, regardless of how reliable they are, they do look cool and the operating system just 'feels' smoother. The reviews that my colleagues had given me made me feel confident that the Mac wouldn't let me down and I could rely on it to start up every morning and work effortlessly throughout the day...

But here I am, still writing this newsletter on a PC. Why? Because the vast majority of my software will only work on a PC and if I make the move to a Mac, it will cost me several hundred (if not thousand) dollars to buy the Mac versions of the software (and that assumes it is even available - many software programs do not have Mac versions). I know that it is possible to run Windows-based software on a Mac using a program such as Virtual PC (which makes the Mac work like a PC) but I am informed that this makes the Mac unreliable and prone to crashing (which of course, does not surprise me one little bit!)

For the time being then, it would seem that if you are running an Internet business, there is no getting away from the fact that you must use a PC and Windows. However, I have a feeling that over the next few years this may well change. More and more people will get fed up with the unreliability of Windows and will look for an alternative. At the moment, the most likely alternative is the Mac.

I can only think that if more people start heading down the Mac route, then there will be a number of potential business opportunities for anyone that knows anything about Macs and how they work. This in itself may be reason enough to invest in a Mac, even if it is an older, used model. As the old saying goes, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King.....

I for one am strongly considering buying a Mac, if only because it would be nice to go to bed at night with the confidence that my computer will still be working when I turn it back on in the morning :-)

Fifteen minutes of fame and why you shouldn't trust the media!

I had my fifteen minutes of fame this week as promised by Andy Warhol (actually it was closer to ten minutes so I am still owed five!). Yup, I reached the dizzy heights of participating in a live radio interview for the BBC on the subject of selling on eBay :-)

To be honest, if it hadn't of been the BBC, I probably wouldn't have agreed to partake in the interview since the travel to the studio/preparation etc took up half a day and as I say, I was only on air for ten minutes. However, the fact was that it was the BBC and the producer agreed that I could get a mention in for one of my websites and of course, this would have meant some superb exposure at no cost.

Unfortunately, the whole experience turned out to be a lesson in dealing with the media as although I kept my half of the deal, the BBC didn't and they made no mention of my website and prevented me from doing so also.

But am I bitter? Nah, course not, as I mentioned above, I am still owed another five minutes of fame and I won't make the same mistake again :-)

Until next time....

Richard Grady