Let Me Help You Simplify Your Ecommerce Business

My daughter started full-day kindergarten this school year and my son is in third grade . As much as I knew I’d miss them, I was excited all summer, anticipating the hours I’d have to focus on my business during the day, and the time I could focus on my family in the evenings.

As it turns out, I struggled with a bout of fatigue starting in late September and lasting though November. I started feeling better just in time to make some serious goals for this year.

Hi! My name is Michelle Waters. I’m a wife and a mom to two kids, a dog and a cat. I also run a home-based web hosting, design and ecommerce business. I’m passionate about helping women start and grow their own online businesses.

After recovering from my period of hibernation (Ha!), I took a hard look at my business and my life. And I realized that it was seriously time to simplify things, time to take my focus back to what I knew my clients and family needed.

My main business, Watersweb Solutions, started in 2002. Since then, I’d added more than a half dozen websites, including a blog, a podcast, and two annual online events.

While I two virtual assistants help me run things, all of these websites (one for web design, one for basic web hosting, one for ecommerce, and more…) were too much for me to maintain effectively.

So, I consolidated several websites, and am still working on consolidating more. I can take better care of one site, than I can of several. The changes were made based on feedback I received from my clients, who are home business owners just like you.

So when Kelly McCausey invited me to be a writer here, I knew this would be a perfect fit. With fewer websites to keep up with, I have more time to devote to finding out what you need to know and writing articles to meet those needs.

This fits in with my two most important missions: Simplification and teaching.

So far, I’ve taken a few steps off the Internet to promote my mission: Teaching web design and internet sales classes at Mid-America Technology Center and working with a local women business owner organization to present ecommerce topics and workshops in Oklahoma.

This blog, teaching and my new speaking opportunities give me the opportunity to share what I’ve learned in seven years of online business, with people who are new to the arena. And I’ll have the opportunity to learn what services and products you need, so that I can plan to meet those needs through my business.

And that’s what the whole concept of ecommerce boils down to: Finding out what people need and meeting that need. So that’s my first nugget of advice, if you’re new to online business:

1. Find out what people need.
2. Determine what your passions, talents, resources and skills can be harnessed to meet those needs.

There you have it — very simple. But it’s not easy. If you’re new, you’ll make mistakes. If you’re a long-time business owner, you’ve already made mistakes.

And if you’re like most of us, you’re wondering how the economy and some new regulations are going to affect you. I can tell you that I’ve either made most of the mistakes already (like not starting a mailing list back in 2002 when we weren’t overrun with spam), or worked with clients who had made mistakes (like the client who took an Internet Marketing course at a small business school that taught her to setup multiple blogs in Blogger, each with a different topic and only one or two posts, and she couldn’t figure out why no one read them).

The fewer mistakes you make, the less expensive your ecommerce journey will be. The best place to get great advice is from those who have gone before you. So, I’m here to lead the way.

I’m looking forward to getting to know you and hearing your stories. We’ll discuss how-to, issues we face and topics of importance to ecommerce businesses.

Got questions? Just ask!