FredMcKinnon.Com

Hey!
My friend, Mandy, posed the question on her blog about “why do you spend time blogging”. I get this question a good bit myself, and I even ask MYSELF that question. Thought it would be fun to also answer that question here, and ask for your input.

“Ya, the post was a good one yesterday, and this response helps. I started thinking “why do I really do this”. My wife isn’t a blogger … some of the guys @ the church office aren’t. So, I had a lunch conversation with our Admin Pastor a few weeks ago and had to answer that question, ’cause he just doesn’t get it. I’d almost rather write/read blogs than watch TV .. as a matter of fact, other than about 3 shows, I’d ABSOLUTELY rather do it.”

I’ve got a few reasons behind my blogging:
1 - to hopefully mentor, encourage, and edify others in regards to spiritual and personal matters with my own experience, failures, and occasional successes.
2 - to network and build community, relationships - both on a personal/spiritual level, and self-admittedly, on a strategic/business role as well.
3 - to unwind, dump and empty my thoughts. It’s a great way for me to just get some of these rambling thoughts OUT of my mind.
4 - on a personal level, to let more closely related friends and family understand what’s going on in my life - both the silly and the significant.

So, why do YOU blog? (I don’t blog is also an acceptable answer, haha!)
Fred

• Comments (11)

Hey Ya’ll,

Sorry for the lack of “depth” this week with my topics. I desperately need to wrap up the “Worship Q&A - Professional Worship Leader” series, I know. I *AM* making progress on a new piano solo, though - and can’t wait to share it.

In the meantime, I’d saved this chat transcript from a tech support chat with my internet service provider a couple of weeks ago. It was too hilarious not to post. Sheez - is there such a thing as quality tech support?

Note the BOLD highlights and timestamps …

analyst Tyler has entered room

user FRED_ has entered room

Tyler(Mon Sep 17 2007 19:31:44 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

have you powercycled your modem recently?

FRED_(Mon Sep 17 2007 19:32:25 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

yes, I’ve shut it down, and now have bypassed my router as well - direct from my Motorola Surfboard to my Mac Pro via ethernet .. rebooted computer, too.

FRED_(Mon Sep 17 2007 19:32:43 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

done all the routine troubleshooting .. I can connect, it’s just VERY SLOW .. started a few hours ago.

FRED_(Mon Sep 17 2007 19:33:10 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

I unplugged modem and mowed the lawn … came back about 45 minutes later, plugged it back in - syncs right away, but any website loads VERY SLOW.

FRED_(Mon Sep 17 2007 19:33:27 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

thought maybe it could be an issue in my area?

Tyler(Mon Sep 17 2007 19:33:36 GMT-0400 (EDT))>

Okay and are you currently connected through a router?

AARRRRGGGGHHH!

Did you catch it?
Fred

• Comments (6)

Hey Ya’ll,

I need your help. I need prayer. Prayer for grace and favor. I just got the following notice regarding my “amazon.com” seller account:

Hello from Amazon.com.

This message is to let you know that we have blocked your seller account and ended your listings. You may no longer sell on our site.

We took this action because it has come to our attention that your seller performance is significantly below our standards for sellers.

The feedback, claims and/or refunds submitted to your seller account profile indicate that a number of buyers have been dissatisfied with the service you have provided. As per our Participation Agreement, Amazon.com reserves the right to close accounts that fall significantly below our standards.

If you still have items to ship, please take appropriate steps to resolve your pending sales. Your Seller Account will remain accessible and you are encouraged to refund or ship pending orders.

Your funds are being reserved in your Amazon.com account for up to 90 days from the date of your final sale. After 90 days, the funds will be disbursed minus any A-to-Z Guarantee claims or chargebacks. It is possible to expedite the release of these funds by providing sufficient proof of delivery and/or shipment for your orders to payments-funds@amazon.com. The order number should be included for each order you are providing this information about. If you have further questions about your disbursement, please email payments-funds@amazon.com.

While we appreciate your interest, the closure of an account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts that are opened will be closed as well. Please note that we take such actions for the protection of all Amazon.com participants.

So … this has happened before. Once with Ebay because someone somehow hacked my account once. It took 6 months to get resolved. It also happened last year with Amazon … thankfully, they heard my appeal and re-opened my account within a week.

Here’s the lowdown, and why prayer and a plea for grace and favor on my behalf is critical:

I do e-business. It’s fun for me, but it’s necessary for me. It supplements my ministry income, and with a family my size, “supplement” is beyond necessary. I’m a great seller. I ship promptly and give incredible customer service. However, some things happened a couple of weeks ago that were beyond my control.

A 3rd party inventory source provider handles the “inventory feed” for about 2,000+ products that I sell on Amazon.Com. They erroneously pushed over 2000 products into my account one morning with a price of $1.85. Like, brand new $50 video games or software that would never cost $1.85. Items I don’t have … and certainly not at $1.85. It was a glitch. A mistake. A technical error. Within 30 - 40 minutes, I had over 200+ orders in my inbox.

I had no choice by to pull all listings and refund over 200+ orders. I then spent half the day personally emailing EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER explaining what happened to them, and why we were forced to refund their order. The majority of customers were positive and wrote back with “yeah, I knew it was too good to be true, but thought I’d try it”. There were many who were very negative, leaving horrible feedback on our Seller Account - some even threatening lawsuits … over a $50 video game.

Long story short, Amazon has a policy (and a good one, I might add) where if the ratio of refunds to sales gets too high, it suggests that the customer service and/or product is not good. As a result of this huge technical glitch, my ratio of refunds to sales soared well above the acceptable threshold.

So, don’t be mad at Amazon. It’s just their policy. At the same time, I’ve just sent a detailed explanation and I’ve pleaded my case with them. This “fiasco” that happened a few weeks ago should be notated on my Seller Account with them because they were the first ones I contacted.

Please join me in prayer that God’s will would be done. I’ve written a blog like this before - last year, a similar thing happened. God showed His favor then, and I’m praying He’ll do the same now. The last couple of months of 2007 would be our highest ever, based on previous years of “holiday buying”, and we could really use the business.

Will you pray?
Fred

• Comments (16)

Hey Ya’ll,

OK, so since becoming a “disciple” of the financial principles taught by Dave Ramsey (which oddly enough, happen to be the same principles taught by another person I’m a disciple of … CHRIST) ….

Dave just made a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT …

check it out.

• Comments (1)