Store updates, July 2 2013

Caching issues
I’ve only just been made aware that most people see the last blog post as may 18, 2013. There is a system in place to deliver web pages to you faster and it has been broken. Here I’ve been making post and working on cool stuff and only my Facebook friends know about it. So I’m working on that right now.

No more date of birth
Don wrote in to ask why the store registration process requires a date of birth. I’d never thought about it before. We don’t! That’s for sites selling adult material. So it’s g-o-n-e. Thank you, Don!

Out of Stock
The Standard Operating Procedure until now has been to list lots and lots of parts and then to make or buy them on demand. That was great for securing a sale, but I’d rather get a sale and ship the order same day. So I’m taking a cue from Lululemon and starting to work on a Scarcity Model – item stock counts will truly reflect number of units you can buy this second. The challenge will be to find out who wants what and make it before they pay. Any advice?

Should we start hiring?
When I started out people told me “if you aren’t turning a profit in 18 months, find something new to do.” Well… this is my passion. After 18 months I’m breaking even, which I’m very pleased with. I think the future looks bright and things are only going to get better. There are some really exciting robots in the pipeline like the MixologyBot and we’re growing our manufacturing base to meet demand.

The oldest challenge for me right now is doing every job. I strongly suspect that if I had people working on my team I’d be making the $ to afford the people on my team. I know it’s a bit of a gamble but life is for living and I’m willing to take a risk now and then. Is there a way to prove numerically that it’s going to work? That’s not a rhetorical question, I really want to hear from you.