No matter how good your service or products are, if your appearance is not pleasant, you may lose that person or business, as a customer and the same goes for your internet appearance. Your website is your online business card and it’s usually the first thing a potential customer sees. So if it’s not clean, easy to navigate or takes too long to load all the pictures, links and advertisers, they will typically take their business to another site.

That is why I’ve been working on getting this website looking professional, clean, as well as easy to navigate. This site is my online presence to my business, JAG Wholesale. A venture that I know will be taking off faster and faster as I get the name out. The good thing about my changing the look of this site is that I just recently started using this site for JAG Wholesale. Many of the people who know this site, know it more on a personal level. Either way, you don’t want to be where I’m at now changing the look of my site. Especially if you’ve built up a following on your site and have a good client base. Customers like stability in a company and that includes the company’s website.

When you work on your website/blog, remember to take your time and do it right. You only get one time to make a good first impression. Rushing through to get the site up is something you don’t want to do. Once you have people coming to you site, you want them to return. You don’t want to have one look and then later on when they return to do business again, have another. They may think that they’re on the wrong site or that the ownership has changed hands and may go somewhere else.

It’s hard enough to operate a business without giving yourself more work to do.

These days, many more entrepreneur minded people are taking the leap of faith and starting their own business. Why? Because the job market is not what it used to be in the U.S. The internet has taken over and little companies can have a huge appearance on the web. I know of many companies that are on the internet with a large presence, but have less than ten employees. In some cases, less than three. I have already made connections with business’ outside of a hundred mile radius of my city. I’ve shown the customer an appearance of being larger than I actually am. And when you think about it, do you really care how big the company is as long as you, as the customer, is treated fairly and with respect and above all, felt like your business meant a lot to them? I rather deal with smaller Mom&Pop/local business. I feel I get treated better than doing business with a franchise or chain type companies.

The economy isn’t what it use to be and who really knows what kind of condition it will be in comes 2013. Unemployment is currently sitting at 9.1%. Many Americans out of work have also given up on trying to find a “job”, so instead they are venturing out into their own business. A way for them to take control of their lives and make a name for themselves. In doing so, smaller business’ are experiencing the effect of entrepreneurs willing to go the extra mile for their business.

I know how I want to be treated when I’m the consumer, so when I conduct business, I put myself in their shoes. Giving them the product they want and service they need to successfully run their business. All my customers have my cell phone number and they know they can call me for reason. I don’t want them to have a problem and wait for me to stop by or to contact me. it’s what I would expect from a supplier, so why wouldn’t I treat them the same way?

If you’re dealing with a supplier who doesn’t seem to be there when you need him or he/she won’t return your calls, then maybe it’s time to find some other distributor/supplier to do business with.

In my last post, I spoke about how many things were no longer made in the USA. Even though that is the case, it doesn’t mean you can’t find quality merchandise made elsewhere. Over the last few decades, the federal government has been chasing or assisting companies to move manufacturing overseas. In doing so, these countries have been growing as well as improving on things that they make and ship over the the United States. American pride is stronger than ever here. Many people won’t buy things overseas, but let’s be for real, there isn’t much these days that isn’t made overseas. What is still made here is priced quite high because of the labor cost and the taxes imposed on the company by the government.

Let’s look at one of the product lines that I’ve decided to carry for my customers, DuckUSA knives. The name itself is misleading, but I tell all my customers upfront where my products are from. I can not do business properly if I’m going to lie by saying these knives are made in the USA. I looked for information on DuckUSA online, but to no avail, I couldn’t find anything other than the huge amount of people selling DuckUSA on many websites including eBay. What I thought was cool is the fact that every one of these sites are charging 25% or more for the same knives that I sell at retail pricing. My wholesale pricing is even better than that.

What I can tell you about DuckUSA, is the quality of the knives at a good price. I know you can go ahead and spend twice as much for the same type of knife with the name Buck, Cold Steel or even SOG.The question is, Are you really getting the quality of the knife when you pay $100 or more for a spring assist knife? Probably not. I’ve owned many knives over the years and have own high priced name brand knives made in the USA as well as the less expensive ones from overseas, After a few years I haven’t really noticed a difference between the resilience between the two brand. I take pride in what I own and I take care of my equipment. As with anything in life, if you take care of it and maintain it, the tool/equipment will stand up over the years.

DuckUSA makes a quality product and will hold up beautifully over the years if you do what needs to be done to it, just like you would with any other knife. I’m sure you don’t go out and buy the best weapon (pistol or rifle), to not have to maintain it. Don’t you clean and oil your weapons on a regular basis to assure proper working condition? So why wouldn’t you do the same for your knives?

Check out the line of DuckUSA knives I currently carry with more on the way.

I’ve been working hard on finding products of quality at a great price to pass on to my customers. It’s not as easy as one may think when you consider the types of products I supply to them. It’s reached a point where most everything that we consume in America is made overseas. Many of them are of inferior materials and/or assembled poorly.

I supply convenience store, gas stations, and small mom-and-pop business’ with many different products that range from knives and sunglasses to skull caps and caps. Those products are not made in this country any more on a large scale. It’s cheaper to make those products in countries like China, Pakistan and Thailand. As with any product, a big part of the cost is in labor. We all know that workers outside of the United States are paid less than American workers.

But that doesn’t mean that the product is not of good quality. Yes, like I mentioned earlier, many of the products are inferior. That is why I personally inspect and handle any item I consider offering to my customers. Quality assurance is necessary if you want to grow and stay in business. That’s why I’m able to grow my market share. Many of my competitors are not looking at what they provide to their customers. Their concern is how much can they make on each item at that moment. My way of thinking is to increase my revenue over time, not to make a “quick buck”.

I love what I do, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing it. I get to go out and meet people who have a need that I know that I can fulfill. Providing a product that their customers will continue to purchase with confidence. One of the biggest things to do for success is to have you customers trust you and the product/service you provide. I watched many new business’ fail because of failure of doing that exact thing, so why would I follow their lead? I’m in it for the long haul. I want to be able to one day turn the reins over to one or both of my daughters.

One hurdle I find myself jumping lately is the growth of American pride. I see many customers frown on products that are not made in the USA. I think that’s great since I too have a lot of love for this country and it’s people. When I talk to these customers and listen to their concerns about product from overseas, I hear their pride for America come through. Let’s be for real though people. The government isn’t doing the right thing and it’s mostly likely we will never see those “jobs” come back. As for the ones that are still here, I buy from them when I can. Our economy isn’t stable and people are looking to save their hard earned money, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be shopping in WalMart. We need to find quality product at a fair price, no matter where they are made.

For more information on the products that I can provide for your business and customers, please contact me at billyakerman@yahoo.com. please make sure you write product service in the title of the e-mail.

Time flies so fast and we don’t realize it until it’s too late. One minute we’re young and the next our children are becoming parents. Watching my children grow up has been such a pleasure it’s hard to put into words without tearing up for the joy I recieved from their existance.

I guess one reason why I’ve never taken it for granted that my children are getting older is the fact that when my wife Joanne and I adopted them at the ages of 5,8,10, we felt we already missed out on quite a bit of their lives and wanted to enjoy the time that was still available. Because of that reason, we never over looked our time with them. Yes there were times when I was “too busy” to hang out with them or had “better” things to do, but the truth is that I have the advantage of my daughters being homeschooled.

We started homeschooling them shortly after the adoption was finalized. We figured to make up for some of the bonding time we had missed out on, homeschooling would be a way to do it. Instead of getting up at 6am to get them ready , fed and driven to school, we would take our time sitting down eating a calm meal without the feeling of being rushed. Homeschooling them also gave them more time to talk with us, listen to us or play games with us since there wasn’t any homework to keep them occupied during the afternoon and evening when that time should have been spent bonding as a family.

The most fortunate experience to come out of homeschooling is the great things we get to do together without competing with others trying to do the same thing. When kids are in school, we go to Disney (we have season passes). When kids are doing homework, we get to go to the movies. When kids are out with their parents on the weekend “getting the errands” done, we just relax or ride our bikes in the neighborhood.

Homschooling has been the best thing we’ve done for our kids. They get to grow up in a secure atmosphere without peer pressure or the drama of other teens in the school system. I feel I’ve been able to make up for the time I didn’t have with them in the beginning of their lives. I know them so well and that I’ll never feel like I wished I could have done it over.