Be careful what you ask for

Is an honest opinion really what I'm looking for when I ask others for an assessment of the store and the blog? Or is it encouragement, words of faith, and reassurances that what I'm doing is on the right path? I got a taste of this when I received an unexpected critique from someone I don't really know. The words certainly stung, for all their honesty and truthfulness, because I agreed with what the person said. I all but fell over myself in trying to justify the things that they found fault with - the background theme of the store not matching the merchandise (I'd like to offer merchandise that does); the lack of volume in the inventory categories (which I'm working on to generalize and sort out). That the writer was correct in no way lessened the message that I actually took away from it - that I've failed, and I don't really know what I'm doing. I've been found out, and my secret has been discovered.

Some of this I can attribute to my being utterly green, which I've been told I should actually treasure, because this is the only time I'll be this way. At some point, I'll become experienced. I'll receive criticism with the spirit that it was given; that is, to help improve the look and feel of the site. For now, though, this little spirit is feeling just a bit bruised that all their hard word might be hitting off the mark. At least, according to one.

Another bump on the road to success has been figuring out whether we should offer payment by way of credit cards at the upcoming antique show in Tampa. Alas, the cost of being able to offer such a service is truly extraordinary for first-timers like us. A hand-held wireless credit card scanner costs around $900 to purchase; one could lease a unit for around $35 per month, but that's not worthwhile if you're only doing a few shows a year, since the leasing contracts run around 3 years. I think we'll be in a better position to reassess the situation after doing our first couple of shows, to see if the expense would be justified.

Newsflash - we have realized that we can process credit card transactions in the old fashioned way, with a manual imprinter machine (the chit!chit! back and forth sliding thing) and calling in for authorizations on our cellphones. We're already set up with a merchant account for the online store, so it's a very simple process. I do think that writing it all out here is what set this particular light bulb alight...

So today is feeling rather like I've had a few lumps. On the bright side, my photography skills are coming right along. I was able to take pictures of several different items with no difficulty today, which means that I'm learning! I only had to retake pictures of one of the items that I wasn't satisfied with; the others passed muster.