Countdown to the new show...
Hope you all stop by the TalkShoe site after dropping by AgentsofRevenue.com
John and I will be glad to see you in the chat room, and we are looking forward to everyone joining the conversation...
Wednesday 1:14
Today is Tuesday (Happy Veterans Day to all who served)... many have wondered what the heck is Scott talking about with this silly slogan...
It's a great question! To tell the truth, I wonder sometimes myself...
It is not a quote for the book of Genesis and it is not some sort of weird eBook pitch... "sighs of relief", all around.
Many of my regular readers know I have been part of the meteroic rise to stardom of one very interesting fellow known to many as ColderICE.
John Lawson is what I call him, but he can have a cool handle if he likes, it fits his personality and his message. (Maybe I should have a moniker like that? Hmmm.... What would I be... WarmerFudge?)
John is a Platinum Powerseller on eBay and also has his own website at 3rd Power Outlet http://www.3rdPowerOutlet.com. He brought hip hop merchandise to eBay and has had great success with this very finely crafted niche market. John is a pillar of the PESA community and he has brought a fresh new look to both eBay and eCommerce.
John Lawson is a straight shooter, a matter of fact kind of guy and he has little time for BS artists or scammers. I wonder why I like him...
John gained a greater audience, or dare I say his very first national audience through my insistence that he guest post here on the Trading Assistant Journal. You can review his guest post writings and other mentions on this site here.
John has since started his own eCommerce blog or videoblog and named it ColderICE.
He seems to be more comfortable in front of the video camera than at a keyboard and I am less excited about doing video blogs than writing.
We have remained steady friends since the day we met thanks to Scot Wingo and his Channel Advisor Catalyst conference. Some may be surprised at John and I being friends if they had followed our political battle on Twitter over the last several months. Yet, we never have let the politics cloud our respect for one another, even in the heat of battle.
You can follow John on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/ColderICE
My Twitter account can be found here: http://twitter,com/Scott_Pooler
John and I are very different people, yet we have a great deal in common. We each come from very different backgrounds and may have never met if it were not for a common interest. That interest is making money on the Internet.
John Lawson and I are each very interested in, and good at, looking at the big picture when it come to the overall business of selling online. More importantly, we each, in our own way, have found ways to share what we think is important information with the world through blogs and videos. We get a lot of fulfillment from helping people to understand what we wish we had understood when we each started.
On Wednesday - This Wednesday November 11,2008 @ precisely 1:14 Eastern Standard Time a new Internet talk show and podcast will be born.
The idea is simple, No BS eCommerce, eBay and eBusiness. We won't be selling and DVD sets and we won't be pulling any punches when it comes to sharing our opinions about anything to do with the industry. We know that as co-hosts we will not always agree on every subject but this is also what we think will make us unique.
The show is scheduled to air on Talkshoe every Wednesday @ 1:14 in the afternoon. Why 1:14? I will let John tell you that... but it has it's own significance.
(Talkshoe link with appear on the Agents of Revenue site soon)
I am building a new website for the show, and it is not quite finished. But the home page can be found at either http://agentsofrevenue.com or http://agents-of-revenue.com
The website will have a email form available for all of you to send us your questions, topic suggestions, or other interesting and useful information. The show will only be on for 1/2 hour per week so we will not get to everyone's questions, but be assured... if its a good one, we will discuss it live.
We just kinda landed there while discussing the concept of the show. We want to impart information which will help people produce what really counts, and that's real honest cold hard cash - or positive revenue.
We also want to enforce a no BS atmosphere and be matter of fact about what it takes to become revenue positive in eBusiness. Part of the show may be dedicated to John and I duking it out in a point counter point style on some subjects but overall we just want to bring a fresh, no nonsense perspective to the space.
The fedora hats are a Blues Brothers or Elliott Ness reference, they signify our goal of being straight shooters and honest advisors.
OK the Blues Brothers were neither, but they were very cool... they wanted to help the Sister, and they were ultimately very good at what they did for a living.
Elliot Ness just got the bad guys and he was Untouchable...
Continue reading “Wednesday 1:14, Firehose of Traffic and Comment Followup” »
John Lawson of 3rd Power Outlet and the Colder Ice blog has invited me as a guest on a special post election podcast/call in show today at 1:30 PM EST (That's in Atlanta - Ya-All)...
Click on the image below to log in....
Colder ICE & Scott Pooler After Election Call
I know, I know... I wrote a specific post about not bringing politics into eCommerce or business, but heck... It has been a very politically charged atmosphere and if John and I did not have strong opinions - none of you kind folks would follow either one of us or our blogs... Right?
Just for the record, John and I are still friends and will remain so, no matter how misguided he happens to be... LOL - Oh, and I am the Conservative - John is the Liberal - Who would have guessed that?
From my visit to the Polls bright and early at 7 AM this morning it was a sight to see. Both sides coming together in an orderly fashion to make their opinions count with a very simple vote. As citizens, we all should be proud of the numbers of people who joined democracy this election. In my youth it was not uncommon to hear more from people who had never voted, and would never vote, than to see people take the right to vote seriously.
I always took it seriously and wanted the opportunity before I was old enough to legally accomplish the task. Therefore, whether my side wins or loses this election, I am still proud to be an American.
...How lucky we are, as citizens of this country.
I have traveled most of my life, working in Third World countries and sailing as a merchant mariner around the World. I have seen the unrest and downright dangerous nature in people when other places try to emulate what our American democracy has been doing for hundreds of years. I have seen machine guns at the polls in these other countries, sights, fear and unrest some here in the USA would never imagine at the polls.
So take heart, all who may feel anger or frustration, simply because one side or the other did not win, it is all part of our great tradition, part of America.
Checks, Money Orders, DSR's and More
Guest Blogger John Lawson of 3rdPO.com and colderICE comments in a play by play style on today's eBay Town Hall... Griff never had it so good!
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EBay Live? Simply not the best it could beBy John Lawson of 3rd Power Outlet (www.3rdPO.com)
I stayed home and evidently many others did too!
Let me back that up and rewind a bit… See for those who don't know me…I wrote a little blog at the end of the last 2 "eBay centric" events prior to this party. You can check them out by going to http://tinyurl.com/59yq8v.
So I would like to add on to that now that the BIG party is over…literally.
Man, after Catalyst and the PeSA/eCommerce summits the stage was set, eBay made a "killing". Lorrie Norrington "nailed the speech", eBay execs came and stood toe to toe, they said "we are listing", "good feedback", "give us a chance", sound familiar?…err shall I go on?
The sellers stood up and demanded clarity on changes on feedback, some could not help but protest the real world impact, while others simply whined (you know I am telling the truth). At the end of it all, we felt that something good was blowing in the wind. I got that "Obama" feeling of change, LMAO. It was an Oprah moment with a new since of purpose.
Fast forward to the approach of eBay Live 2008... everybody kept asking me if I were going? I just did not feel like I wanted to go.
by John Lawson
President of 3rdPO.com
Hey all my fellow eBay'ers!
I use the word exciting loosely, because for some it has been aggravating, for others it has been exhilarating and for most in between it has been somewhat trying.
When I started doing business on eBay, I quickly learned that my business would definitely need to become accustomed to many changes eBay makes and mitigate them as quickly as possible.
Over the past 5 years, we have endured many changes in direction at eBay, both good and bad. It is part of the territory and I must admit after all these changes… Continue reading “Tough Love for eBay – Guest Post – John Lawson 3rdPO.com – PeSA Member” »
This is the Grand Finale of John Lawson's 3 Part series of commentary derived from his notes from New Orleans - eCommerce Summit 2008Hey guys, here is Part III and this is the final in this series. So let's get into it!
First I want to go over the little notes I listed in Part II of this series.
I'll go through it and give you my personal feeling about what Lorrie Norrington said and how what she said in her speech might affect my business and as a PowerSeller on eBay.
I want to respectfully say that I am basically just a guy trying to feed my family with an eBay business. My business is a business that I started at the kitchen table, literally. It is a business that I actively run and the day to day operations of it are handled by myself, my partner and a small virtual staff. I think 3rd Power Outlet has come to the point now where we would be considered small to medium eBay Powersellers, experienced sellers, and primarily eBay-centric sellers.
When Lorrie started the speech and said primarily that eBay wanted seller's business and considered us sellers as partners, my initial reaction was, "OK, this is different". I was not really used to hearing keynote speeches from eBay Presidents speaking in these terms. Continue reading “PowerSeller's Impressions – Part 3 ECMTA PeSa – eCommerce Summit – John Lawson's Final Cut” »
Wow, the intro that Scott wrote on Part I was very flattering. I really appreciated it, and he made me sound smart…way smarter than I am. I really am glad he wrote it though, because others may start to believe it, in spite of the glaring contradiction I will detail in these next entries of blogging about the conference. I got my own style, so do not get too offended. This is only me having fun.
We left off at 2:00 AM this morning. That is when I got my crazy butt in a cab to the hotel and got to bed about 2:45 AM or so. As Scott said about the fine liquor in his intro, I am glad it was fine because the sting is a lot less in the mornings.
Note to self…Top shelf means fewer hangovers. Continue reading “PowerSeller's Impressions of eBay President Lorrie Norrington's Speech @ PeSA ECMTA Summit NOLA 2008 -3rd PowerOutlet Part Deaux” »
John Lawson is the President and driving force behind 3rd Power Outlet www.3rdPO.com
If you are already a member of PeSA ECMTA you may already know of John. I mean, he is hard to miss! I don't say this just because he knows how to attract attention with his branded 3rdPowerOutlet clothing...
I say it because John is a active member on the PeSA ECMTA Forums and as the first first African American member of PeSA he is a trailblazer who adds real value to the community.
John adds value on the discussion boards and in person. John asks the questions most attendees at events like Catalyst or eCommerce Summit wish they had thought of asking. The fact that he is a straight shooting, successful business person and a pioneer who brought Hip Hop successfully to eBay just adds enormous credibility to what he says and lends value to the answers he gets from speakers at these conferences.
It did not take long for John and I to hit it off when we met at Catalyst in Pinehurst, North Carolina. I felt we had a connection both in business philosophy and as friends. I do not come from John's background, and to be honest I do not know much about Hip Hop. I would never presume to relate to John on that plane and he is fine with that.
I can relate to John as a business person, entrepreneur and a good guy. I appreciate hearing what John has to say and I thought my audience here at the Trading Assistant Journal would also appreciate reading John's perspective.
So after plying him with fine liquor and offering to make him even more famous than he already is... I have successfully convinced John Lawson to add to our conversation here at The TA Journal as a guest blogger.
What follows is what I hope to be the first of many entries from my friend John. Please read and enjoy. Check out his store and learn how this man views the world of eCommerce. You could only stand to learn a thing or two...and that can't be a bad thing.
You guys can read about the eCommerce / PeSA sessions from a real blogger as Scott has done wonders capturing it on this blog. I met Scott for the first time at the ChannelAdvisor Catalyst event earlier this year. At that time he asked me for my input and chatted about it. I mentioned that I would be going to the PeSA event in New Orleans and he asked if I would be interesting in a guest blog about it. So I agree to give it a try and I am not a pro at all, so here is my story.
This is a personal perspective of my trip to New Orleans and my perspective of the events at the summit. This is written by me and for me mostly, but I thought I would capture my thoughts here and you are welcome to follow along.