Credit to a Great Hosting Company

Just a quick post to promote and thank the web hosting comany that I use.

It is United Hosting

As you may have read in the previous post, not only have I been flat out this last couple of weeks but so has the site. Traffic is up massively and not only has this upped the bandwidth but as osCommerce is pretty mySql intensive, the server resources used have shot through the roof.

I got in touch with UH support a couple of nights ago as I was starting to notice the site was reaching the maximum number of mySql connections and throwing up an error message (rather than my beautiful shop) at peak times during the day.

After explaining to them the seasonal nature of the problem and that I can and will look at upgrading the accout next year (but am unable to do anything about it at present) I recieved prompt replies to my support enquiries that resulted in them promising to try and "push as many resources" my way, without effecting the other sites on the shared server too badly, to help out just for the busy couple of weeks. Consequently, today when I have recieved record traffic, record sales and, probably, just overstepped my bandwidth limit for November, there has not been one single outage.

They are a great hosting solution that relies on its reputation (rather than its advertising budget) for growth and it is working for them. They have just recently sent out a feedback questionare to all their users and have stated publically on their forum that they are not actively pursuing any new customers until they have set in place all the requests/suggestions of their current users, as returned from the questionare.

Another big bonus of using United Hosting is their forums. They have a very happy, educated and active user base and this was one of the main reasons for me signing up in the first place.

Anyhow, if you are looking for hosting, I highly recommend them and, no, I am not on commission. They dont need to offer an affiliate scheme, they are growing very quickly through their reputation alone.

Blimey - Business has gone Bonkers!

Well, you will have to excuse me if this blog entry is a little incoherent but the online business has really gone doolally. Had an absolute record day today after thinking/hoping that things were maybe starting to slow a little after a (slightly) quieter day yesterday.

I am totally knackered and just running on adrenaline at present. Havent taken a day off for as long as I can remember - even the quiet summer months most Sundays were spent setting up the new warehouse and after rushing like mad to get moved in, get the stock in and take on the two new members of staff to run it, things have just spiralled out of control - Well, not quite totally out of control but it is a constant hour by hour, day by day battle to try and keep on top of things - keeping the customers happy, badgering suppliers to get stock through quicker, getting the most out of the staff members without having them up arms and walk out (they are certainly earning their wages just now!)

As I mentioned in a previous post, think long and hard before going into a seasonal business - you will spend 10 months of the year worrying about how quiet things are and trying to pay all the bills, then just when you think its not going to happen, all hell breaks loose and you are way, way too busy..... :)

So, is the bank manager going to be happy after all this? Is this wife going to get the xmas prezzie she wants (and even deserves after helping out immensly) ? Well, probably no on both counts. Until the summer of next year, its too early to tell about the bank. I have a lot of extra outgoings right now (bank loans, increased wage bills, greatly increased running costs - packaging etc) and I will be shelling out a frightening amount when it comes to January and February to the suppliers when the bills come in for the goods we have had delivered during November and December. Will their be any left for me? Too early to tell but I sincerely hope so after the amount of work I am putting in.

Oh yeah, the wifes xmas prezzie.... Well, I was all set to buy her a new TV until it came to light that the one she wants is nearly £2000!!!! Am I going to fork out that much just so the son can watch Thomas the Tank Engine dvds on it until he gets bored and starts using it as target practice..... Hmmm, I dont think so - Maybe next year.

One slightly negative thing right now is just how much the shop is down this year. Its well down at present but again, in this stupidly seasonal business, all though alarming, its just too early to make come to any conclusions. The shop has the potential to turn things around in just one week if xmas week is a blinder. I dont think its quite going to recover even if we do have a great xmas week but there are many factors that could be conributing to this. In brief, its had to cope without me - I have had to spend all my time and effort on the warehouse. Staff changes. We had a big change in the staff over the last 16 months and although the new staff are very good, we may have lost a few customers who shopped with us simply because they were acquainted with the previous crowd. The retail industry is generally in a slump and the town itself is not doing well. Finally, the amount we are taking online has got to be a very good indication of just how much shoppers are leaving the high street for the internet. They just cant be spending the money online and locally at the same time. If we, after just 18 months are taking more money online that in the shop, that should in theory mean that the equivalent of one store somewhere in the UK is taking nothing...... All these factors lead me to belive that although I am not happy about the shop being down in takings, it is probably doing very well given the circumstances.

Right, better be off, another 6am start tomorrow with (hopefully) another Parcelforce van breaking amount of orders dispatched.

Am I happy? Of course I bl**dy am - Is there anything I want to change next year? Yes, I am going to start a gardening/diy site to promote my dads shop seperately - hopefully this will help increase business in the summer and help to make business steadier throughout the year.... Maybe a summer seasonal business and xmas seasonal will cancel each other out to lead to a much steadier year round trade. Of course, it may just mean that I will be working 12 hour days, 7 days a week all year roung - but at least that way I may be able to afford to buy the wife her beloved TV this time next year ;)

Cheers and if you have got this far, thanks for reading,
Rich