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Well, it has been a bit frustrating to say the least these past few days.  We have launched the Snoloha Store, but we have ran into issues with the site rendering properly in Internet Explorer.  Currently, everything looks great in FireFox & Safari, but the there are still layout issues with IE.

I don’t use IE.  I don’t even have it on my computer (I use a Mac).  So I was not aware of the IE issues until I recieved a couple of phone calls asking why the site didn’t look right.

We are very close to having all of this resolved.  I knew going into this that there would be hiccups and glitches along the way, but is still frustrating to say the least.  Launching a business and building a brand is a very hard job.  And I realize we are going to take it on the chin every now and then.  So we’ll shake it off and move forward.

Again, I can’t say it enough, thank you for your continued interest, support, and patience!

Advice. Critiques. Compliments. Questions. And a ton of other words that describe what you’re bound to hear when starting a business.

Maybe some people are simply better listeners than others, or maybe they are just more interested. But for some reason they get it, while others shake their head as if you have no idea what you’re doing. However, if they managed to listen, or if they were the least bit interested, they’d realize that you indeed do have an idea what you’re doing.

I had a good friendly debate recently about the Snoloha brand and what it stands for and where I see it going. Snoloha is NOT interested in being the next Quicksilver, Billabong, DaKine, or any of the other popular surf related clothing companies that are mass-marketed and homogenized to the point that it is difficult to tell them apart. Now I should mention that I like all the aforementioned brands, but I do not intend on becoming any of them.

Ask LeBron James about becoming the next Michael Jordan, and you’ll hear him say something like, though it’s flattering, he’s just interested in being LeBron James.

Same thing. Snoloha is only concerned with being Snoloha. When I decided to start this company, I didn’t do it to try and become the next Big Brand. I did it because I am passionate about what Snoloha stands for, and I truly believe that there is a very large market out there that is just as passionate about this lifestyle.

I think that good brands are the ones that stick to their core values. They don’t forget their reason for entering into the marketplace. Sure there are times when brands need to adjust and adapt, but the meaning of the brand can remain consistent. I’m sure Snoloha will experience many growing pains and will adjust accordingly, but at the end of the day, Snoloha will always be a brand that represents a lifestyle and tells a story. People appreciate honesty. They appreciate humbleness. They appreciate a brand that is real.

The Snoloha Shop is now LIVE!  There are some minor tweaks to work on still, but nothing that will impede upon your shopping experience.

The Snapshots & Scenery Photo Gallery will also have its layout issues cleaned up very soon now that the store is finishing up.

Thanks for your patience and continued interest.  And please feel free to share any complications that you may experience.  We did quite a bit of testing so hopefully we have already encountered any flaws.

Yes, I love watching “The Office”. Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson just crack me up. However I don’t think I would have the appreciation of the story lines and atmosphere had I not had the opportunity (not sure if I’d consider it an opportunity) to work in a real live office environment…I hated it.

That’s why I love watching this show so much. In last night’s episode the Scranton branch was closing and the employees got wind of it earlier than they were supposed to. Some were devastated, while others thought it was a blessing in disguise and the chance to try something new and different.

Well to make a long story short, the branch ends up not closing and everyone’s jobs are safe. The last scene is of the HR employee talking to the camera and he is talking about how for a while he saw himself selling is house and moving to Costa Rica and learning to surf. He then makes a half-hearted attempt to be upbeat and says “but Costa Rica will still be there…” and follows it (with a bitter, angry tone) “when I’m sixty-five.”

The point? Why wait? If you have ambitions to sell your house, to take up a new sport, to switch jobs, to start a business, why keep waiting? It is much easier to roll out of bed every morning and drive to the same ole job that you really don’t care for, than it is to actually do something about it – but the reward it much greater than the risk in the long run.

Think about it. If you were told today that your job was being eliminated, what would you do? You would finally be forced to make a change. And often times, change is good!

So what would that change be?

I have been thinking about this website quite a bit lately (as you could imagine), and one of the issues that my web designer and I feel very strongly about is the ease-of-use, or usability, of the site. I was reminded today of how we have become so spoiled with how easy certain aspects of daily life can be.

I was walking into the local Target following (not in the stalker sense mind you) a female shopper. As we approached the entrance, I made a conscious effort to watch which doors she would use. There was nobody else entering the store at the time and both the automatic doors and the manual doors were an option. The manual doors were the closer of the two options, and just as I had expected, she chose the automatic doors. But then, without even thinking about it, I realized I had followed her right through the automatic doors as well.

Why did we both choose the automatic doors? It is just normal at this point. We are so use to having doors swing open for us that I guess subconsciously why would we choose to exert any physical effort and pull on a set of doors?

Why do we flock to self-checkouts at the supermarket? Or the drive-thru dry cleaners? Or the touchless car washes? Because it is easier and faster (well, it’s supposed to be anyway).

My point is that the Snoloha website (which is set to launch by the end of this weekend) needs to be very easy to use. If it’s not, then our visitors will leave and move onto the next website that requires less effort.

I challenge you to make a conscious effort as you’re out and about this holiday season, to use the manual doors…It’s harder than you think, but it’s quite easy.

The Snoloha Shop will launch any day now. There are some minor tweaks to work out, but that is not the hold up, those can be tweaked while the site is live. We are waiting on coding from the payment processing service company. They are the ones who provide the final step of the shopping transaction – tranportation of funds electronically, and securely.

Our sales rep said “we can’t be but a day away”. Then we can install the code, test it, and launch!

By the way, we will be accepting Visa, MC, Discover, and AMEX.

If you’ve read the story behind the idea for Snoloha, then you already know about the trip to the islands. If you haven’t. it’ll only take a minute.

That trip to the Caribbean was a much-needed escape from everyday life here on the mainland. And it was a much needed “time alone” trip. For those of you who know me, you know the reason why that trip was made. For those that don’t…let’s just say that it was due to an ended relationship – you get the picture.

So upon my return to the real world, I received an email at work form a very good friend of mine. I printed that email and still have it more than three years later. It’s the type of message we all need once in a while. A message of support. A message to let us know that although it may seem like we’re taking on the world all on our own, that we do have people on our side ready to lend a hand.

I’ve abbreviated and edited the message, but the main points are clear.

A few reflections for my friend…

1. Who’s gonna be there when the chips are down?

I will…what’s done is done. It’s over, move on…start YOUR new life. Take all that beauty you absorbed during your “sabbatical” and apply it to your new life.

2. What’s next?

Who cares. It’s only an adventure from here on out. You can do what ever you want. The important thing is your reached out and saw that there are other things out there to experience.

3. What’s in our way?

Nothin. Nothin can stop us from doing what we really want to do. Remember, we can check out any day. Whether is happens tomorrow or fifty years from now, it is our responsibility to live THIS life to its fullest. It’s a gift given to us.

Again, shortened for the sake of brevity, but you get the idea. It’s important to have this kind of support. And it’s important to give this kind of support.

Starting a business is a frightening thing, but having the support of friends and family helps the “second-guessing” that goes on with this desicion to “be-your-own-boss”.

For those of you already familiar with the Snoloha brand and the website, it is fairly apparent that Jimmy Buffett has had quite an influence on the lifestyle that we are promoting.

On his new CD, “Take The Weather With You”, Buffett is at it again with carefully crafted lyrics and songs that immediately take you to a different state of mind.

An early favorite here at Snoloha is track #6, “Nothin’ But A Breeze”. Weather he realizes it or not (and we are pretty much 100+% positive that he doesn’t), Buffett touches on the Snoloha lifestyle with the following lyrics:

“I don’t like all this back and forth
Me I want to live with my feet in Dixie
And my head in the cool blue north
Me I want to live with my flip flops in Dixie
And my head in the cool blue north”

Hey, if Jimmy sings about it, maybe we are onto something here?

And if you don’t have it yet, “Take The Weather With You” is worth the purchase.

If you haven’t read it yet, “The E-Myth”, by Michael E. Gerber is a great read for any small business owner.

In it he discusses the challenge of managing the Entrepreneur, the Manager, and the Technician. According to Gerber, all three “personalities” exist within a business owner. The Entrepreneur is the one who innovates, creates, and keeps the business moving forward. The Manager is the one who keeps everything in order and under control. The Technician is the one who focuses on the dirty work, the tedious jobs, and likes to stay busy for the sake of staying busy.

What’s the point in mentioning this concept? The Snoloha website!

If you’ve never done it before, building an ecommerce website is a very demanding and intense project. It is labor intensive and very, very detail oriented. Great work to keep a Technician happy and busy, but frustrating to the Entrepreneur and Manager who want to move onto other aspects of the business.

Yes, I have been concentrating on the Technician in me for many, many hours in front of this computer screen.

Sure there are marketing messages and marketing collateral to design, merchant accounts to setup, new designs to approve, new orders to place, POP materials to decide on, and the list goes on. However, the storefront is oh-so-close to being done.

Then, the Entrepreneur and the Manger can get involved again and balance out the workload.