This post is Part 2 of a series on the story of how HPP Enterprises, an e-commerce company, was born.  Read Part 1 here.

In my search for companies that would wholesale toys I kept hitting websites that promised to sell “thousands of products” at wholesale that people would buy.  I learned about this thing called “dropshipping” – where you don’t have to stock inventory or own a warehouse.  Companies would let you sell their product and would “dropship” it to your customer.  In many cases they would ship to the customer with YOUR NAME on the box and packing slip, called a “blind drop ship”, leaving the actual supplier and shipper invisible to the customer.

I think I probably stayed up all night … reading, searching, reviewing.  Most of these sites were clearly affiliate-driven sites trying to earn money off my clicks and signups.  I found companies that wanted lots of money in monthly dues or subscription fees.  I found sites offering “lists” for a fee that would give me the secret information I needed to make millions.  Most of them felt like scams.

At the end of the night, I decided to take a gamble.  I purchased a “membership” to one of these sites.  (I keep saying I’m going to write an e-book some day with all the nitty gritty details!)  With this membership I was able to search for the products I wanted to sell and find suppliers who would dropship for me.  Within a day or so I’d chosen a few, filled out the “open an account” forms and was well on my way.

My gamble paid off.  The information I purchased was golden – the company, reputable – the suppliers, real.  Since selling video games and toys didn’t seem to fit under the original vision statement of “Highest Praise Productions” (the parent company), I created a new DBA, “HPP Enterprises” – the HPP of course, an acronym for the parent corporation.  Somehow, in the midst of this process, I learned how to upload inventory to sites like Amazon.Com and Ebay.  A day or so later we received our first “Sold:  Ship Now” email!

So that is how a business was born.  10 years later, HPP Enterprises has moved way past dropshipping a few packages to a handful of random customers.  We are networked with suppliers from across the globe, we dropship, we warehouse, and operate a handful of niche-stores online and enjoy prominent exposure on major marketplaces such as Amazon.Com, Buy.Com, Ebay, and the Sears.Com Marketplace.  We have an amazing staff who log countless hours of hard work and customer service, 365 days a year.  And looking forward, the sky is the limit.

That’s our story.  Hope it inspires you … not to become an e-commerce entrepreneur so much, but to chase your dreams.  To be willing to take risks and actions that can change lives.  That’s living life … and living it to the full.

You see this guy …

It could be you … trying to get customer service.

Good luck.

Or … it could be how the person on the other end feels, who is trying to resolve your issues.

Today, I worked from 8:30 – 5:15 in Customer Service for my e-business, HPP Enterprises.  Nikki usually handles the bulk of our customer service and returns issues but she’s off having fun.

Let’s just say that I have a greater appreciation for what that poor girls deals with on a daily basis.  At one point, I spent 40 minutes on the phone with what seemed to be an elderly man who relentlessly insisted we never sent him a return label; while, reading back to the the exact emails and even the FILE NAME of the attached return label from his email box.

I have to stay away from this stuff.  It fuels a nasty attitude in me.  I’ve learned that you can expect certain responses from certain demographics, consistently, which creates a stereotyped form of “consumer racism” in my heart that is disgusting – to me, and to God.

So, for all you folks who tend to get frustrated and demand certain things from customer service, whether it be the online store you purchased from, your cell phone carrier, your insurance agency, your waitress, or “___ insert service provider here ____” … here’s how it feels from the OTHER SIDE:

1.  If you’re polite to me, I’ll be polite back to you.
2.  If you come across professional and spell words correctly, use proper capitalization and grammar, I’ll take you more seriously.
3.  If you start out by demeaning me and making demands, you’re already at the back of the line.
4.  Refer back to #1.
5.  Don’t demand.  Ask.  With courtesy.

Granted, I have gotten to the point where #1-5 didn’t work, I was completely exasperated, and lost it.  (Visions of the Circuit City logo float through my mind and a hideous scene I caused in the store … still have a hard time regretting it, though!).  But for the most part, be as gracious as possible.

Case 1:
We are allowed to charge a restocking fee if we choose.  Many of our suppliers charge it to us, so we can recoup that.

Person 1: this product is worthless.  I’m offended you wasted my time sending me such a worthless product.   I hope you’re happy you got your money.  I should file a lawsuit for consumer fraud.  We were not happy with this at all – i am returning it and I demand you send a return label and give me my money NOW.

Person 2: Thanks for getting the product here so quickly.  Unfortunately, we weren’t happy with the quality of the product.  I’m sure you are only the reseller and have no control over the quality of the product.  I just felt you should know how poorly this is made – maybe you could pass this along to your manufacturer or supplier.  Regardless, we’d like to return this if possible.  Any help you can give us on the restocking fee or return freight would be greatly appreciated.

Resolution:

Person 1: stick it to them.  They pay return postage.  And by golly, we’re deducting the 15% restocking fee.  They are going to leave a negative review anyway.

Person 2: thank the person for being so gracious.  While you’re at it, send them a prepaid label, and no matter what – waive that restocking fee.

Conclusion:

I suppose it’s common sense – but there’s this thing we call the “Golden Rule” – remember learning it as a kid?  “Treat others the way you’d like to be treated”.

Discussion:

Nothing profound here, but I’m curious – how does this relate to you?  Are you the demanding person, or the courteous one?  (Does anyone really confess to be the jerk?  I do.)  How can this apply outside of business customer service?  Leave some comments and discuss.

The last 7 days have been …

Exhilerating
Exhausting
Sad
Encouraging

and more.  How do I describe it?

Last Friday kicked off the holiday shopping season.  Thank God, we’ve enjoyed a very successful first week of online shopping for HPP Enterprises, our internet e-commerce company.  Even with the hiring of several additional folks during the holiday season it’s been taxing.  I’ve even enlisted my beautiful wife who has learned how to “confirm shipments” by pasting in tracking numbers.  So our evening sit-down-and-watch-tv-time is now “sit-down-and-work-on-orders” time.

Last Friday also brought shock, unbelief, and grief as I learned of the passing of Mike McClure.  Mike is a dear friend – like a brother to me.  He’d just celebrated his 40th birthday and had a massive heart attack.  Mike and I were college roommates, did worship together and eventually lived on St. Simons Island together for several years – up until my wedding day.  I played for Mike’s wedding.  We hunted together, fished together, played music together, invested money together, built businesses together, rode jet skis together … and now he’s gone.  I was part of the funeral yesterday – and the great comfort was that the body in that casket is just a tent – Mike is in heaven.

Even now, I’m praying for another dear friend, more like a Daddy … who is battling for his life.  Don is his name and he’s battling the final stages of pulminatry fibrosis.  Selfishly, I can’t stand the thought of losing two loved ones this close together.

We celebrated our HPP-staff Christmas party Monday night and our SSCC-staff Christmas party last night.  Joy and I nearly won the “cup game” – Joy had to lay on her back and I had to kneel down behind her, lean over, and put my forehead on a cup that was on HER forehead.  She had to get up, stand, and then I had to lay back down, and she had to get down – all without letting the cup fall of our forehead.  We were beaten down to the wire with only a second to spare by the legendary Chris and Amanda Moncus.

One of our guitarists at church was accidentally shot in the back and arm by his young son in a hunting accident. His life was spared, thanks be to God.  We could have lost him easily.  He needs a lot of prayer but he’ll be OK and I hope he’s playing music again with us soon.

So … this has been a taxing week.  The insane blowup in e-sales has been exhilerating but managing it, even with great workers, is exhausting.  The entire week was an emotional roller coaster, dealing with loss – loss of a friend, loss of sleep …

All the while, I’m reminded of this one thing …. God … He is Good.

How is your December going so far?

Hey Gang,

CONFESSION: this is one of those blog posts that is different, and I hesitated to even do this.   But, I’m going to put this out there, for whoever is interested.  This blog is usually visited by friends, family, and those who share similar ministry positions.  So why mix up my business affairs with that?  Well, because it’s a huge part of who I am.

As many of you know (anyone who has followed me via blog, facebook, or twitter for very long), I have a flourishing “e-business”.  To summarize, my company (HPP Enterprises) pulls wholesale pricing from a handful of huge distributors and we resell over 125,000 products on the internet.  About 95% of our sales volume is through Amazon.Com where we’re one of the highest ranked sellers.  In addition, we sell on Buy.Com, Sears.Com, Ebay, and on several custom “niche sites”:

GetSkinsNow.Com (laptop, phone, MP3, electronic skins, cases, accessories)
HPPEnterprises.Com (consumer electronics – TVs, BluRay, Phones, Marine Electronics, MP3, Laptops, Accessories)
DiscountKidsGames.Com (computer games, video games, accessories)
McKinnonOutdoors.Com (outdoors, hunting/shooting products)

One of the things we are trying to do is create a special “E-Blast” about 3-4 times per month, featuring some of our deals, discount codes, etc.

That’s the purpose of this email.  If you’d like to get on that mailing list and perhaps “become a customer” at some point … please do so.  It would be totally cool to actually pass along these products and prices to people we know.

What do we sell?  HAHA – just about anything.  TVs.  Home Accessories.  (we just shipped a whole pallet of Lasco Fans to Amazon.Com).  Video Games (50 of the in-demand “Wii Wipeout” on the way!).  Laptops.  Computers.  Hard Drives. Hardware.  Tents.  Games.  Software.  Accessories.  Hunting Products.  DVD Players.  and the list goes on and on.

When we are able to bulk buy a product or get special pricing .. we’ll send an E-Blast.  If you’d like to be on that list, go for it.  Just fill out the form below, then click the link in the confirmation email.  And hey, spread the word!

Hey Folks,

I am actively searching for someone who would be interested in a part-time position in my internet business, HPP Enterprises.  I have an incredible assistant right now but she was offered a great full-time job and needed it … so, I’m back to “asking, seeking, and knocking”.  I’ll be quick to say that for now, the compensation (see below) is not high, and probably equates to around $5/hour, but can increase dramatically once a certain sales threshold has been reached.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MAKE SALES CALLS.

Suitable for:

* a stay-at-home mom, or self-employed person with extra time during business hours
* someone who is online a lot, and has a few hours per day

Basic Daily Tasks:

* entering orders into distributors’ websites
* entering tracking numbers into order confirmations
* replying to customer inquiries via email
* setting up and managing returns and refunds

Additional Opportunities:

My desire is to find someone who will want to partner to grow this business.  I’m not interested in someone who will only do data entry but in someone who can learn the in’s and out’s of the e-biz (apprenticed by yours truly!) and add revenue.  There are a number of things that can be done to increase revenue that I am aware of, but simply don’t have time to devote to it.

Compensation:

This is a “very-part-time” position for now, meaning you should be able to complete the required tasks in 2-3 hours per day.  (It may take longer when learning, but gets quicker as you get more familiar with the processes and protocols).  Compensation is based on a % of revenue, with tiered commissions.  That means the more revenue the company brings in, the higher % of revenue sharing you earn.  Absolute minimum of $200/month.

Skills Needed:

* Online skills (web browsing, email, IM)
* Excel proficiency (basic knowledge of spreadsheet)
* Available to check on system, M-F during business hours, 9-5 EST.  Could be an hour in the AM, an hour in the afternoon, etc.  Ideal to be available to check and process orders each day, trying to have any open orders submitted by 3:00 PM EST.
* Good computer with monitor, mouse, etc.  (lots of copy/paste, if you are working on a laptop with trackpad, it will be slower and tedious)
* HTML/Web Design skills are a huge plus, and would be used in creating promo mailings, etc.

Interested?  Leave a comment below, or contact me directly.  I will get more info to you and setup an online interview via IM.

Hello Everyone – welcome to “FreePlay Friday”.

Today, I want to talk about technology, specifically, Twitter, and more specifically, a third part service called TweetLater.Com. I have three primary twitter accounts at the moment that I manage:

@fmckinnon:  personal tweets about me, life, family, church, music, leadership, worship, and a lot of @reply to friends and dialog

@theworshipcomm:  co-managed by Russ Hutto, this is the twitter account for TheWorshipCommunity.Com.  It’s mostly automated with announcements on new threads, replies, discussions, and articles at TheWorshipCommunity.Com, but we also post quick news, updates, etc.  Russ has made it more fun by engaging directly with our followers with daily Q&A, polls, etc.

@ebusinessonline:  a brand new account that will be the hub for a new forums-based/articles site I’m creating on e-business and e-commerce.  I’m looking for a bunch of people who are interested in e-business and e-commerce to help launch these forums with relevant discussion.  (I also need someone who can make a great design of the vbulletin skin, and who is gratis or VERY CHEAP).  See http://www.e-businessonline.com

As I said, I’ve been using a service called TweetLater.Com.  It’s been very effective for me in how it allows me to:
1.  manage multiple accounts in one screen (with their premium service)
2.  schedule tweets to post while I’m away (during the night, etc)
3.  automate followeres (auto-follow, auto-unfollow, etc)
4.  manage scheduled or automated DM’s (direct messages – I don’t recommend that one!)
5.  Keyword Tracking

Keyboard Tracking is perhaps the biggest deal for me.  I have TweetLater.Com setup to send me an email digest several times of day with any tweets using words like “worship pastor, worship leader, worship team, worship confessional”, etc.  It’s helped me to find and network with followers who share my passion.

TweetLater.Com has both a free service and a professional service.  For a limited time, the professional service is $19.97/month (no contract).  I hope you’ll check out this service.

In the interest of integrity and transparency, I want to let you know that these links are affiliate links, and should you signup, I get paid.  Yeah!  Hey, that’s the entrepreneur in me.  However, it’s just as important for me to say that I’m not just posting a spam affiliate post .. I believe in the product, and use it!

So go check it out – try the freebie version first, and if the professional version is right for you, then go for it!

Hey Gang,

I’m veering off-course here, and departing for a moment on the normal “worship, leadership” content.  Yeah, I typically save this stuff for “FreePlay Friday” posts, but when I believe in something, I like to shout it loud and clear.  When I don’t believe in something, I am known to share that, too.  (biting my tongue regarding comment plugins)

A while back I was turned onto this nifty Mac program called “Text Expander” from the great folks at SmileOnMyMac.Com.  You can download and use it for FREE … and it reminds you every now and then that you should consider buying the license.

Text Expander allows you to save text “snippets” and recall them with a simple keystroke or a combination of keys to activate the expander.  It saves you time in typing … lots of time.  I’ve been using it a couple of months now, and tonight when I reminded me that I’d saved over 10 solid hours of typing (nearly 300,000 characters), I decided to be a good guy and pay the $29.95 license fee.  I actually bought the double-license pack – one for my Mac Pro, and one for my Lappie.

So, this is how I cheat.  Now my blog comment signatures probably don’t seem so sincere (haha).

Example:
When I type “url” (without the quotes) and hit the spacebar I get:  http://www.fredmckinnon.com

When I type “fred@” (without the quotes) and  hit the spacebar, I get:  (my email address, I don’t want to type it here for spam mining)

When I type “sig” (without the quotes) and hit spacebar, I get:
For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon
www.fredmckinnon.com
www.theworshipcommunity.com

(recognize that sig, haha?)

I use it in my e-biz, too – when I need to forward an order, the distributors typically want certain information, so for example when I send to this distributor, I type:  “es*” and it becomes:

Customer #9012xxxxxx
PO#
PO Date:

Ship Complete:  Yes
Signature Required:  No

Shipping Method:  F02 (Ground)

Ship to:

SKU:
Qty:
Description:

Thanks, Team!
HPP Enterprises, Customer #9012xxxxx

How ’bout this one – sometimes when a product sells out on Amazon before I have a chance to remove it, and it goes on backorder.  I create a new message to customer, and simply type “oos” and it expands to:

Thanks for your purchase from HPP Enterprises.  Unfortunately this item sold out just prior to your purchase.  We have a network of several distributors and have searched to see if this is available elsewhere with no success.  We’ve entered your order on backorder with our distributor so that as soon as these arrive your order will be dropshipped directly to you.  Because of this, your order may not ship before the expected ship date given by Amazon.  Most backorders ship between a few days to 1-2 weeks.We do not charge until we confirm shipment, so you are welcome to keep this on backorder while you attempt to find the item in stock elsewhere.  Should you desire to cancel, simply reply and let us know.We do want to explain that we update our inventory throughout the day, but even with hourly updates, the inventory QTY  can quickly during this buying season.  Once we remove an item, it can still take several hours for that update to be processed by Amazon.We appreciate your gracious understanding.  Feel free to followup with us at any time for ETA, cancelation, or other questions.  Just reply to this email, or contact support and be sure to include your Amazon Order ID.Sincerely,HPP Enterprises

Pretty cool, huh!?
Every Mac user should try it!

Hey Gang,

Happy Saturday (or whenever you get this).  I need your input …

I’m making some changes to one of my e-stores over at GetSkinsNow.Com.  My buddy Joel is re-designing it, so don’t worry – it will look cool design-wise, as opposed to how it looks now), and then Chris will take Joel’s graphic design and implement it as code.

It’s the shopping category structure where I need your help.

I want to revise the category structure to make it easier to browse and find exactly what you need.  My idea is that instead of having very “general” catgories like I have now (ie. iPod, Sansa, Zune, and other MP3), I would have something more specific, such as “Choose By Device”.

If I go that direction, I need to know what you, as a customer, would rather see.

General Device Description, with Sub-Categories for Specific Devices:

Example:

Choose Your Device:
- Apple Ipods
— 4th Gen iPod Nano
— 3rd Gen iPod Nano

- Apple Laptops
— 15″ Inch
——- 15″ Aluminum Unibody
——- 15″ Core Duo/Core 2 Duo

etc.

Or …. would you prefer to NOT have all those subcategories, and have all devices just listed under “Choose Your Device”

Example:

Choose Your Device:
- Apple iPod Nano 4th Gen
- Apple iPod Nano 3rd Gen

etc.

My initial thoughts are that without the various sub-categories, the “choose your device” list could get VERY LONG.

So, what’s your thoughts – as a consumer.  Or, is there a better idea?

This mapping process is critical, and it’s a real pain to re-do it, so I really need some good feedback before committing to a plan.

Thanks!
Fred

(this FreePlay Friday banner was submitted by Jon Morris – if you’d like to make a FreePlay Friday Banner, send it to me and I’ll feature it here with a link to your blog!)

Hey Everybody,

Welcome to “FreePlay Friday” – where I take the day off posting on worship leadership and just ramble about anything random – life, family, politics, business, sports … and ask you to do the same!

My E-Biz and 4th Quarter Holiday Shopping:

For those who have followed my blog for any length of time you know that in addition to my role as a Full Time Worship Director for my church, I also own an e-business of sorts . I’ve always been active online, from creating sites like HighestPraise.Com and TheWorshipCommunity.Com to running a full-blown web hosting firm (which has since been aquired by a hosting company in Tulsa, OK) and several e-commerce shopping sites.  As we enter into the busy 4th quarter (holiday shopping) I’m making a shameless, selfish plug to keep me in mind as you are ordering online for your friends, kids, and loved ones.  As my co-workers at the church often say, “if you can buy it online, Fred probably sells it”.

If you’d like to get the newsletter (blog) or twitter updates when we have a special, check out these resources.  (BTW, I’ve got about 3 boxes of returns and open-box specials I’m about to blow out below wholesale cost!)

HPP Enterprises Blog Newsletter
HPP Enterprises Twitter (Tweeting Deals)

To give you an idea of the diversity, here’s a small sampling of some of the orders our e-biz has fulfilled this week:

• Speck See Thru Hard Shell Case for 17″ MacBook Pro (Aqua) from Ebay
• Speck ToughSkin Case for 3rd Gen iPod Nano from Amazon.Com
• LEGO BATMAN, the VideoGame for Nintendo Wii from Ebay
• LEGO BATMAN, the VideoGame for Nintendo DS
• LEGO BATMAN, the VideoGame for PS2
• DECT 6.0 Digital Cordless Phone System from HPPEnterprises.Com
• SLAPPA Ballistix Aura Shoulder Bag from Amazon.Com
• Canon WaterProof Case for PowerShot SD870 from Amazon
• SeeThru Hard Shell Case for Motorola 9QC from GetSkinsNow.Com
• UltraLinx Clamps, Ground Bars, and POTS Splitters from HPPEnterprises.Com
• Myst Masterpiece Edition from DiscountKidsGames.Com
• Lego Rock Raiders from DiscountKidsGames.Com
• Speck 13″ SeeThru Hard Shell Case for 13″ MacBook (Pro) from GetSkinsNow.Com
• UNIEA U-Suit Leather MacBook Pro Cases from GetSkinsNow.Com
• Garmin NUVI 360 GPS from HPPEnterprises.Com and Amazon.Com
• BebeSounds Angelcare Movement Sensor and Sound Monitor for Babies (HPPEnterprises.Com)

As you can see, it’s an incredibly diverse group of products that we have from multiple distributors.  Check out (and support) our e-biz when you’re shopping.  Feel free to IM or email me if you don’t find something you need.

Our Listings on Ebay
Our Listings on Amazon.Com
HPPEnterprises.Com (electronics, telephony, accessories)
GetSkinsNow.Com (Apple laptop, ipod, cell phone, electronic cases, gadgets and accessories)
DiscountKidsGames.Com (computer software and video games and accessories)

In closing, (and if you read this far, you really must be a friend!) … I realize this isn’t the fun, happy, cut-up FreePlay Friday post … but every now and then I like to share what’s going on in the e-biz, and ask that you consider at least checking our pricing and availability when you’re shopping.

How about you – this is how the McKinnon’s earn extra income … most people need it these days.  Do you have something “extra” you do to supplement your income?

Go for it … got nothing to say about this?  Just share your own, random FreePlay Friday thoughts!

Hey Everybody

Pardon the off-topic interruption … but wanted to let you know about a great opportunity for you to do two things:

1.  Find some great deals
2.  Be a blessing to me (and my family) at the same time.

As must of you know who’ve read my blog any amount of time, I operate an e-biz called “HPP Enterprises” which sells products (mostly electronics, electronic accessories, iPod, iPhone, Apple MacBook, computer software, games, etc) on multiple storefronts, including GetSkinsNow.Com (cases and accessories), HPPEnterprises.com (electronics, components), DiscountKidsGames.Com (games, software), and on 3rd party sites like Amazon, Ebay, and Pricegrabber.

Yesterday I decided to create a “twitter” account for the e-biz which will be used to send out updates of special deals and sales.  For example, we have cool cases for the 3rd Gen iPod nano for less than $10 (both leather cases and toughskin or clear plastic cases).  We also got a great deal on 7″ Audiovox Portable DVD Players for $89.00!

If you’d like to be notified about deals like this, follow the twitter feed and/or the blog feed for HPP Enterprises.

Some of the products are shipped from my office on St. Simons, but many are dropshipped directly to you from the manufacturer or distributor, which is how we can have really low prices (and how I can have this business to supplement our ministry income).

So … I’d like to ask all of my friends … if you’re in the market for electronics, computer games, video games, or any type of electronic accessories (cases, chargers, etc), keep me in mind.  You can always surf the sites, or even contact me directly … maybe you’ll get a special COUPON CODE for a discount if you blog about the purchase!

As for the content here on the blog that counts most … thanks for allowing me the opportunity to pitch this commercial … more worship leading tips, worship confessional, and ministry/leadership info soon to come.

Thanks, gang!
Fred 

Hey Everybody -

FRIDAY – now that things have settled down a bit after our transition into the new building at church, I actually start having my day off again, Fridays. Typically, Fridays aren’t a day off work … just off work @ church. I’ve still got to get up and enter lyrics for ProPresenter this weekend (one of my tasks that didn’t get completed), but for the most part, I’m done until Sunday.

However, as a small business owner – I have a ka-zillion other things that stay on the back burner until Fridays when I catch up. Until I can find a good part-time assistant to return phone calls, take orders, process orders, and manage inventory, I have to neglect most of my incoming sales calls – many don’t leave voicemails … many leave voicemails, only to have shopped elsewhere by the time I call them back. NOT good business … for the folks who did it simple, and order online …. it makes the world so much easier. Speaking of … for all you folks w/ Macs, iPods, iPhones, PDA, BlackBerry, Treo, etc … checkout all the goodies we offer at GetSkinsNow.Com.

Anyway – I love Fridays. For the first couple of hours, I juggle attempts at beginning work, while at the same time listening to the non-stop beckoning calls from the younger two kids through the baby monitor as Joy has a girl’s accountability group for b’fast every Friday AM from around 8:30 – 10:15.

Today:
1. There are currently 753 messages in my email inbox.
2. Only 75 unread blogs in my GoogleReader (unfortunately, those are lower on the priority list)
3. I have multiple cases of product from vendors to check-in, ship out, or manage. (new cases for MacBook and HP 6000 series from Speck, a huge shipment from Canada/Hong Kong arriving today from UNIEA, more from Marware, InvisibleShield, OtterBox, iSkin, and Klear-Screen)
4. I have 3 piles of paperwork on my desk – tax paperwork, invoices to be paid, bank statements
5. I have a stack of returns/exchanges spilling over in a pile on the floor.
6. I have 3 big boxes of NEW PRODUCTS that have arrived from vendors that aren’t listed anywhere for sale yet.
7. I have a few banking errands that are like bugs biting me … need to take care of them, but they are just nuisance errands that I don’t really feel like dealing with yet.
8. We’ve been approved as official dealers for M-Audio, maker of incredible music products, including keyboards, monitors, studio headphones, in-ear monitors (the IE-30′s are awesome), music software, ProTools plugins, USB MIDI controllers, guitar processors, etc. We have full dealership to all the M-Audio product line – so I have a huge bit of products to get added into our listings at Ebay and Amazon … in the meantime, if you want any M-Audio gear, I will make you an awesome price. Contact me directly. And hey – how ’bout spreading the word that you can get M-Audio gear from me!? Thanks.

Think I’m kidding? I’m ashamed to show you just ONE ANGLE of my studio/office (much more an office/warehouse these days as opposed to a studio).

How’d you like to walk in to THIS in the morning? I’ve got my work cut out for me today.
Fred

Hey Ya’ll,

Just a quick “hi” to my friends and readers .. I’ve not blogged much, but I’ve been here – just swamped w/ Christmas music preparations for church, meetings, and then lots of early AM time and late PM time doing e-biz (it’s the holiday selling season and discountkidsgames.com, thekidmall.com, getskinsnow.com, and our Ebay, Amazon, and PriceGrabber storefronts are booming) … so I’ve not had any time. I have over 283 unread blogs in my Google Reader. I see another RSS Bankruptcy being filed.

On a separate note – I was checking over Jon Michael’s homework tonight. He’s in 1st grade. He had to write five sentences with each of his first five spelling words. The 4th word on the list was “shine”. Jon Michael’s sentence?

“I want to shine for God”.

Made my day.

Hope to be back to blogging consistently soon … please don’t remove me from your Readers … we’ll be back!

Merry Christmas,
Fred

PS: see all those links up there … still shopping? Check out my stores! Also, as soon as I can catch a breath … and if you’re interested, I’m about to put my Worship Under the Stars CD and DVD online for $5.00 … not each … for both. That’s $2.50/each. Cost. Less than cost. CLEARANCE … so if you’re interested in a deal like that, let me know!

Hey Ya’ll -

How ’bout that title … basically, this is a quick update to let you know what’s going on with several things I’ve mentioned (or meant to mention!) ….

1. O Holy Night – the saga continues. I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with the REAL “O Holy Night” singer yesterday. I’ll post the interview here this weekend. Plenty of people “claim” to be the real “O Holy Night” singer … and the fact that more than 15 YouTube vidoes alone have people “claiming” to be the real person and the dozens of “urban legends” surrounding it … well, that fact is what made the real person decide to break his silence and step forward.

As far as the big question – “was the singer for real, or just cutting up” ….

… you’ll have to wait.

2. Highest Praise Worship Podcast:
I released a new Highest Praise Worship Podcast last week but was too busy to announce it here. It features 3 cool songs for corporate worship by Barry and Terri Collecutt, Will and Crystal Yates, and Mark Condon, so check it out:
web | iTunes

3. Amazon.Com Saga:
Thanks to everyone who contributed their input regarding the Amazon.Com situation. For now, I’ve decided to run BOTH accounts simultaneously. You CANNOT list the same products in both accounts, so the products that are automated by my inventory source provider are in the original Marketplace account, and the products that I physically ship and sell are in the new “ProMerchant” area. The “new seller” logo is gone, I have my first official 100% positive feedback (thanks, Chris), and have sold 31 items already – so I think it’s moving along nicely.

4. New Blog Alert:
“Thinking Out Loud“, a new blog by the Technical Director of SSCC, Travis Paulding (known on TheWorshipCommunity.Com as dtpuga). Travis and I share an office and he’s always talking about how he has too much work to do for “blogging”. Well, he’s eating crow. Travis is now Blog Boy #2. And it’s a good thing – he’ll talk about life, his baby girl (eta about 3 mos), technical stuff, ministry, and whatever else he feels like discussing. So go over and leave a comment on his first post, and give him some link love. I’ve added him to my blogroll.

5. Christmas – Be Still
I’m very blessed by the strong encouragement I’ve gotten from everyone about recording the “Be Still” album. After publishing this blog, I hope to finish up the final version of “Away In A Manger” and start on Silent Night.

Speaking of Christmas and music – stay tuned, because we’re about to do a CD/DVD blowout on Worship Under the Stars that you won’t believe. (Can you say Abe Lincoln?). Seriously, watch the blog for a package sale that will be an incredible deal.

OK – so regarding, “Be Still” … It’s your turn to contribute - what peaceful, (slower) Christmas songs would you like to see “make the cut” and get on the album?

Have a great day – I may be back over the weekend, but will be at soccer tomorrow AM and the UGA/FL game tomorrow afternoon!

For the Kingdom,
Fred

Hey Ya’ll,

Well, this blog is certainly about much more than just worship and music. As you may recall from a previous post, I had a 911 Emergency with Amazon.Com and my online business. I’m happy to say that was resolved, but now I have a new issue.

You see, I am an Amazon.Com Marketplace Seller – anybody can signup for this and start listing products to sell. For over a year, I’ve been trying to get approved as an Amazon.Com “ProMerchant” seller through their Business Solutions department. There are many advantages to this over the MarketPlace format. Advantages include:

1. ability to upload your company logo, which makes it stand out more in the listings
2. ability to customize your own shipping rates, as opposed to being restricted to the default, flat rate Amazon pays to Marketplace Sellers (which in many cases isn’t enough to cover actual shipping)
3. ability to sell internationally
4. ability to qualify as a “Featured Merchant” to be displayed on the top of the listings
5. and a few more …

The cost for this is the same as for Marketplace – most everything else is the same. To the end-user, the purchasing experience is identical – they can’t really tell who is a “Marketplace Seller” or a “ProMerchant Seller” except for the fact that a ProMerchant Selller may have a logo next to their listing.

You can have a ProMerchant account AND a Marketplace account – but you CANNOT sell the same items in both. Just so you can see what I’m talking about – I’ve got some separate (but similar) products listed at the links below – look and see the differences. FYI – my SellerID is “hppenterprises”.

13″ Aqua MacBook Case (listed as a ProMerchant – note HPP Enterprises logo, and “Just Launched” … no feedback score, which would go away after my first sell where someone leaves feedback).

15″ Aqua MacBook Case (listed in my MarketPlace account, the one I’ve had for a few years … no logo (no big deal really, I don’t think) and the “94% positive over the past 12 months (325 ratings.) 748 lifetime ratings.”

Here’s the dilemma. In order to convert, it’s like starting all over. You lose ALL of your feedback ratings, lifetime ratings, and “star ratings”. I’d go from a very high, positive 4-1/2 star (out of 5) rating with nearly 800 lifetime ratings to a “Just Launched – New Seller” rating.

It’s a tough decision. If my feedback score and previous ratings would migrate to the new “ProMerchant” portal, it would be a no-brainer. I’ve wanted to get accepted into this “more elite” level of sellers, but not that I’ve received approval, I’m having a tough time letting go of that feedback reputation and starting all over – it took me 2+ years to earn that much feedback. Of course, I can always start buiding a new feedback score.

If you’re e-business saavy, please let me know your thoughts … and if you’re not, please pray for God’s wisdom. I really appreciate it. It’s a critical time to make these decisions, just prior to the big Holiday Season.

God bless,
Fred

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

Hey Everyone -

It’s Monday evening … bookkeeping night for my biz. Joy and I have this routine for Mondays … I get home from church, we do dinner pretty early, and she takes off to do the week’s grocery shopping (or at least, most of it) while I get the kitchen cleaned and get the kids to bed. Then, I start on my books and before you know it, it’s time to crash.

It’s been a long, busy day so I just kinda felt like “blogging” .. just go clear my head before I start into this bookkeeping session.

1. Tonight, I helped JM with his homework. 1st Graders never had homework in my day. JM has it every night. He has a folder full of work to makeup from missing school for our vacation. But, it was the first time we’d ever sat down and done “real homework” together. It was a special moment for me.

2. Tonight is probably the last Monday night that I have to do my QuickBooks on my laptop … ’cause I ordered a brand spankin’ new Mac Pro today … (yes, Dave … we paid cash!). For an internet/computer guru, it’s horrific how old my studio computer is. I think it’s nearly 8 years old. I’m upgrading from my old Power Mac G4 Dual 1Ghz MDD to a new Mac Pro 4-core with 2 Dual-Core 2.66 Intel Xeons, 3GB of Ram … finally, I hope to not have “you are running out of CPU horsepower – please disable some plugins” messages when multi-tracking in ProTools. Robert – I ordered it from Gary @ MacMall.Com … and he thanked me for sending you to him, and apologizes that your new Mac still hasn’t shipped, and that I’ll get mine in 3 days.

3. “Restore My Heart” is on IndieHeaven.Com’s FanFaves charts. Please show your support and vote for it daily. I opted to not announce it when I added it last week, and it’s climbed into the 60′s all by itself. Praise God.

4. Joy doesn’t feel good … she’s all stopped up, didn’t sleep well, and sounds rough. Pray for her.

5. We are doing “For the Love of Money” by O’Jays for the walk-in song the next two Sundays during our “Money Matters” message. I think I’ll ditch the verses about women selling their bodies and “laying down, laying down” for money. True, but maybe not church lyrics … but the rest of the lyrics are pretty good – even for church.

6. I’ve got a bunch of Worship Leader stuff I want to blog about, but can’t seem to find the time. But on the radar is a new “Worship Leader Pitfalls” post … “what every worship leader does NOT want to hear” … and a video walk through of PlanningCenterOnline.

7. It’s been a few weeks since I last visited our church’s construction site – a 74,000 ft2 facility that is going to be unlike ANYTHING in this region. God has really entrusted a lot to us at SSCC – and it intimidates me a bit, and I know I have to be faithful and PRAY like never before.

8. Joy and I host our first small/home group meeting next Sunday night … we’re excited about the couples who are joining us, and will be kicking off with Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.

9. speaking of Dave Ramsey …. I’ve been meaning to blog this separately .. .and maybe I still will .. but I just can’t stand it any longer … after many years of living in debt, and after kicking off Jan 1, 2006 with a passionate, aggressive strategy to “work the plan” according to Dave Ramsey, $55,000 in corporate and personal debt later …

10. with the exception of our home mortgage ….. WE’RE DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, that felt good!

Time to get to work.
Fred

Hey Everyone!

Thanks a million again for everyone that prayed this week for me. It’s been a long week, but a successful one. I’m sorry that I had to be so vague, but that’s how it goes sometimes …

I’ve got an announcement to make … and it will probably deflate a bunch of you who expected something spectacular or flashy … but the truth is, I think this is pretty spectacular and is a huge “God thing” for me.

If you paid attention to the “Categories” I clicked for the “pray for me” posts … I was giving a little hint … one of the categories was:
“The Entrepreneur In Me” …

As of the stroke of midnight this past Wednesday, August 30 … HPP Christian Web Hosting Solutions, my web hosting business for the last 10+ years, was acquired by Advanced Online Solutions of Tulsa, OK.

You see, life has been spread way too thin for me … I embraced a new full-time position as the Worship Director at my church back in March … all the while, continuing to service and support my full-time web company, not to mention some of the additional ventures I have in online e-commerce and the worship-related side of my main company, Highest Praise Productions.

I have to confess, reading “Good to Great” did me in .. if you’ve not read it, I highly recommend it. As much as I fought it, “web hosting” just wasn’t in my “Hedgehog Concept”. I began to pray that God would either bring me “self-disciplined” people to hire to run this business, or that He would provide a buyer for it.

Long story short … a Christian company in Tulsa was very interested in purchasing the company – not just my customers, but the name “HPP Christian Hosting”, the site, the identity, the vision … all to take it from “good” to “great”. I actually spent a couple of days with the President of the company who flew here from Tulsa. After spending our time together, I knew God had provided the right person to pass the baton to.

So, what does this mean for me?

More time to focus on the things I’m passionate about!

… more focus for my role as Worship Director at SSCC
… more focus on my passion to equip the Kingdom of God in worship …

How does that look? Well, for starters – I hope to finally have time to write and record. I’ve got some incredibly exciting stuff happening in the “culture of worship” at church … more on that soon. I hope to be more intentional about blogging and podcasting. Starting this weekend, I hope to finally release a new “Highest Praise” podcast.

I’ve unloaded a major responsibility … one that has been rewarding, but at times was immensely stressful, especially the past few weeks leading up to this transition.

So, as “non-wow” as this announcement may be to you … it’s a big deal for the McKinnon Family. I feel 10 years younger and 100 pounds lighter.

Now, I’m curious … all this vague “pray, something’s up” talk surely got some of your minds wandering …

What did you THINK this was all about?

For the Kingdom,
Fred

Hey Everyone -

Just a quick note to ask everyone to say some prayers for me. I’ve got a LOT going on and need some serious prayer over the next 3-4 days. I have been up late for several nights in a row and will be up most the night … God is up to something, and I pray that within the next 2-3 days I’ll be able to make a major announcement right here … but in the meantime, please pray. Sorry I can’t be more specific, but I just can’t right now … but please pray for:

1. grace and favor in upcoming decisions
2. protection from any bad circumstances of influence from hindering God’s plan in the next few days
3. supernatural strength and rest, despite long days, nights, and hours.
4. Divine health (I’m not sick, nobody is sick in my family, but I’m very tired, very worn down, and can’t slow down just yet … )
5. grace and peace for my family (I’m “in the zone” heavy right now, and I’m not as available to them as I should be …)
6. technical wisdom
7. focus and clarity

I know there are lots of folks here who read, but never comment. Thanks for being here … and I really would appreciate your prayer.

All is well.

Will you pray?
Pressing through,

Fred

Hey Ya’ll,

I got up super early this morning, and spent some time earlier this week in the late evenings (it’s not been the most restful week) preparing my online e-business for the release of Apple’s new iPhone. I’m not buying a phone (unfortunately, ’cause they are super cool, and AT&T’s new pricing plan looks incredible), but I do have some super-cool cases (and about 5 more to be added later or tomorrow) for the iPhone. I got involved in doing some e-biz/online sales, Ebay, etc., a couple of years ago “on the side” as an additional revenue stream … and hopefully these cases will be good sellers!

So, if you are fortunate enough to get an iPhone, protect it with some cool cases from my e-biz site, GetSkinsNow.Com.

Ever wonder what everybody is up to? I wear a lot of hats … too many, no doubt … so my “To Do” list always looks like a bunch of non-related things. I have a dry erase board in my home office to help me sort it all out … but right now, I’ve got a handful of things that are just itching to be “scratched off”:

* finish praise team scheduling for June, start July (much easier, thanks to PlanningCenterOnline.Com)
* practice piano … I finally got my piano from home in my studio – and I’ve played it .. twice.
* send mass email to HighestPraise newsletter and blog to launch referral contest for TheWorshipCommunity.Com
* record a new Highest Praise Podcast
* record a new Worship Interludes Podcast
* take my wife on a date (note, this list is NOT necessarily in order of priority!)
* get the boys riding bikes w/o training wheels (Summer Goal)
* tackle the “Honey Do” list Joy has hanging on my bathroom mirror
(just curious – if husbands gave their wifes a “Honey Do” list, what ramifications would happen in their marriage?)
* update header files on my hosting co’s order form .. it’s a generic, blank template – bad, bad, news – wonder we get new customers, actually.
* invest some 1-on-1 lunch time with Shannon, the Associate Worship Director at SSCC (Shannon, let’s do lunch this week, OK … seriously!)
* Ebay: get some old software for sale on Ebay – outdated software I no longer use, or upgraded to newer versions … a software yard sale.

Speaking of Ebay, I recently crossed the 800 positive feedback mark as an Ebay Power Seller (see what I mean about wearing many hats?) … but I’ve been frustrated lately as i’m finding that the US Postal Service “Global Priority” (now called Priority International) method of delivery is severely lacking, slow, and I’ve lost probably $200+ because customers in the UK, Spain, Israel, Italy (and one in California) complained that they’ve never gotten their product, filed claims with PayPal and got their money back. I think I’ll have to limit my international shipping to FedEx or UPS where you can get reliable tracking. Sorry, US Postal Service, I’m losing faith as well as dollars.

Back to the e-commerce world, I’ve recently started adding a new product line to GetSkinsNow.Com – the iSkin product line. The ProTouch screen protectors for MacBooks and MacBook Pro are good sellers, as well as the iPod and phone covers, which I’m still needing to add on my “to do” list.

Finally, speaking of MacBook Pro … “Lappie” is still gone – still at the Apple store in JAX, still awaiting the replacement part – a “clamp shell” of sorts. I’m VERY DISAPPOINTED in the length of time it’s taking to have this laptop repaired, especially since we bought the $99 ProCare membership. Oh well, certainly Lappie will be repaired this week.

Oh well – back to life. As I write this I can’t help but think “Fred, do you REALLY THINK anybody gives a rip about your “To Do” list … if you want to be a good blogger and get lots of readers, you gotta give compelling content”. I’m sure that thought is true, but today – I just needed to type and rant. If I can’t have an hour by the pool, I’ll just sit quietly and “type” out loud.

So, what’s on your “To Do” list?

God bless,
fred

OK – It’s always nice to let people know when things go RIGHT … not just when they go WRONG.

I want to express mega-kudos to Staples. A few weeks ago, I redemeemed 10,000 points from my American Express Membership Rewards points for (2) $50 Staples Gift Coupons. Not planning on taking any vacations anytime soon, so I figured I’d save some money on office supplies I need anyway.

Tonight, I was buying a few things from Staples online (including the dreaded, much-FORCED QuickBooks upgrade … I hate Intuit!), and as I entered my first $50 coupon code it said “I’m sorry, this coupon code has already been redeemed”. Same thing for the next one. There was a 1-800 number for customer service. Being nearly midnight, I didn’t think anyone would really answer there.

Wrong was I! This sweet girl named Elizabeth answered and she was awesome. She looked up each coupon, and sure enough – one had been redeemed by somebody in one state, and the other by someone else across the country. AMEX obviously screwed up and sent me the same coupon codes they’d sent other people around the country. She said she was sorry, that I’d probably have to work this out with AMEX, but put me on hold for a while. She apparently went to her supervisor on my behalf, and when she came back on the line, she encouraged me to checkout anyway, and then she immediately put two $53 refunds on my AMEX card I used to pay with. I said “why the extra $3″ and she said “to offset the tax you paid”.

She said that Staples really strives to provide great customer satisfaction. As far as I’m concerned, I’m a customer for life.

Have a great week!
Fred

Hey Ya’ll -

I got a very pleasant surprise when I got back from lunch – a praiseworthy email from an “ebayer” who’d purchased a Speck Macbook case from my listings on Ebay. Makes you feel really good to know somebody is pleased with your work. So, I’m sharing an excerpt below … and in doing so, want to encourage all of you readers – take a moment today and CELEBRATE something good … give you waiter a bigger tip, tell your secretary how great they are doing, encourage your staff, take your wife some flowers tonight, or ladies … well, you can probably think of some way he’d appreciate that special “thank you”.

Here’s the email … I doubt this Ebayer would ever find my blog, and I’m not posting their userID anyway, but if by some chance you visit … “Thanks for encouraging me today!”.

Just bought the Speck cover for my MacBook after seeing that you guys had the best rating of all that sell those covers. Almost immediate communication and shipping notice came back……..I was impressed. When I saw the email address with Christian in it, I went to the web hosting site and saw your company philosophy and ‘real’ business. I’m so glad when I see Christian brothers and sisters do things right and glorify the Lord in the process.

My MacBook Pro (for which I made the purchase) is for editing Christian missionary video in the field. I’m always encourage to ‘do better’ when I see other Christians doing first class work.

Thanks! Keep up the good work.

Have a great rest of the afternoon, everyone!
Fred