One of the first commercials that aired after Steve came back to Apple (when the company was a few weeks from bankruptcy) in 1997 was the infamous “Crazy Ones” commercial which has the following verbiage:

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Steve Jobs, you changed the world in my opinion…

Before leaving Apple, the Macintosh launched the “Personal Computer” revolution…
After leaving Apple, his company Pixar changed digital animated movies forever…
After returning to Apple, the original iMac helped start what we now view as personal computers…
The iPod changed the entire music industry (no need to explain that one)…
The iPhone has completely changed the entire cell phone industry (again no explanation needed)…
The iPad is currently in the process of helping to change the computer industry again…

The original Mac was promoted as a computer for the masses, and although it did not quite achieve Job’s marketing pitch, he may well have done so with the launch of the iPad. Only time will tell on that one, but judging by its adoption rate over the last year or so, it is well on its way.

I don’t think that there has ever been a better example of leaving when on top!!! Apple last week became the most valuable company in the world on the stock market… From near bankruptcy in 1997 to what Apple is today, such an amazing and inspiring story for everyone to follow for many years to come. Although Apple will be fine, they will never replace the aura of Steve Jobs… Just like when Michael Jordan retired from basketball, the NBA has never quite been able to replace him (although they have surely tried!!!).

It will be a long time before we see any Apple products that don’t have Steve’s influence on them in some way, as I’m sure they have product plans in the pipeline for years to come… As long as Apple keeps Jony Ive happy (the main designer of the products), the company will be fine in my opinion… Tim Cook has basically been the CEO this whole year anyway, and seems to be a great pick to carry the torch.

Here’s to the crazy ones!!!
Steve, you were the craziest of us all, and you did in fact change the world!!!

EastWave Media
www.eastwavemedia.com
We launched a website overhaul a while ago which simplifies everything our company does. Our main skills lie in website & internet development, but we also offer various other services including multimedia production, graphic design for all types of printed materials & other services. We recently launched a FaceBook & Twitter account for this as well.

EastWave Products
www.eastwave.com
This segment of our company has recently blown up to be the biggest thing that we do. A little under 3 years ago we switched our main website & main operations center to offer products (instead of development services) and we can say without question it was a good move. After adding various products from various reputable distributors, we then built a few smaller websites that focus specifically on those product lines. We have also recently started selling on Amazon.com as well.

NC Scene
www.ncscene.com
Our first big website that we ever built has now been rebuilt to be better than ever. Integration with FaceBook, Twitter & ReverbNation. Completely redone look. New writers as well as a few older writers reprising long forgotten sections. The future is bright for the original home on the web for North Carolina hard rock & metal. The 10 year anniversary of the website also coincides with the 20 year anniversary of NC Metalfest that the site also has a big hand in helping to bring back. Check it out when you can!!!

Allnite Toys Network
www.allnitetoys.com
We sold off smaller sites that were once part of this network but kept our main site and one sister site (VixenStore.com) that sells products of the adult lingerie & novelty nature. Sales have remained steady for this segment of our company.

We want to thank anyone who reads this blog and/or follows us on various social media networks. We are always looking for unique products that fit within our company’s interest to offer as well as any new services to offer as well. After regrouping, retooling & rebuilding we are ready for the next wave and hope that all of you follow along with us.

THE NEXT WAVE BEGINS TODAY!!!

We flew from Raleigh, NC to NYC on Saturday, and what shocked me the most about our trip up there is that we actually had more snow in North Carolina than we did when we landed in New York.  After finding our hotel (Park Central), we realized that we were only 7 blocks away from Times Square.

We went straight to the Apple store (the cube) which is located across from Central Park.  This place was a madhouse, and without question the busiest place that we visited in New York.  I was actually quite surprised that almost all of the computers that I saw people carrying around the city and at the Toy Fair show were MACS!!!  I guess that its only fitting that a place known as The Big Apple actually prefer Apple computers.

We then checked out FAO Schwartz, Trump Tower & then headed back to meet for dinner at a cool Italian restaurant a few blocks from the hotel called Pazza Notte.  Coming from southern upbringing, I was a bit shocked that an Italian restaurant didn’t actually have Italian dressing for their salads!!!  I also could not read a thing on the menu at this place, but luckily the owners of RoundTable Toys had been there before and we figured out how to order a meatlover’s style pizza.  The pizza was cooked in a smokehouse style oven & was truly delicious.

On Sunday, our Toy Fair experience began…  I didn’t really know what to expect at the trade show, but it was definitely much larger than I could have envisioned.  The show was held at the Javits Center, which was literally 3 football fields wide with 3 levels and hundreds & hundreds of aisles of toy companies and product lines.  Over the course of 3 days we must have walked more than 20 miles just inside the show.  Highlights of the show included a replica Delorean time machine from Back To The Future, extreme pogo stick jumpers, Dan Dunn’s speed painting exhibition & hanging with the Myachi guys at their booth.  We also checked out conferences on social marketing & innovative new sales channels such as the Sears marketplace (which is setup very similar to Amazon’s Seller Central).

On Sunday evening, we ate at a small Mexican restaurant a few blocks from our hotel called Cancun…  This was a poor choice as they were only serving from a limited Valentines Day menu.  I don’t think I have ever eaten at a Mexican restaurant ANYWHERE that didnt have a freakin Taco or Burrito on the menu.  After an absurdly long wait time for our food, I ended up with a Filet Mignon, which was very tasty, but not quite the authentic Mexican experience that I was expecting.  It was at this time that I started realizing that NOTHING in NYC is normal!!!

On Monday evening we had tickets to see The Phantom Of The Opera.  A co-worker and myself decided to split away from the main group and get something quick to eat and meet everyone else on Broadway later that night.  I realized that there was a Hooters literally across the street from our hotel, so that was the eating destination for the night.  I figured that of all places, I would know this menu by heart!!!  We sat at the same table that legendary Dolphin’s QB Dan Marino sat when he visited the place.  They even had a sign above us that said DAN MARINO’S SEAT, my buddy Rand would be jealous at this as he has had a man-crush on Marino for years!!!  All Hooters in North Carolina have a wide range of wing sauces, so it was quite a shock to see that Hooters in NYC (OF ALL PLACES) only had like 4 wing sauce choices!!!  As I said before, NOTHING in NYC is normal!!!  The wings were great, our waitress was great and actually it was one of the quickest meals we had at any place in the city.  I left with a replica Hooters girl shirt for my wife, which I’m looking forward to seeing her in very soon : )

After our Hooters experience, it was onto the show.  Let it be known, I am not an opera fan by any stretch of the imagination.  The production for Phantom though, was AMAZING…  From the costumes, the lights, smoke & sound system to the HUGE sets that I’m still not sure how they got on and off the stage so quickly, it was like seeing a movie play out live before your eyes.  The only thing I didn’t really care for though was the singing…  I didn’t realize that nearly EVERY line in the entire show was sung,  I assumed that there would be musical parts in some of it and regular acting/speaking parts in other parts.  Some of the musical parts were really cool, but when multiple actors and actresses where singing different lines at each other at the same time, much of it came off sounding like a wall of unorganized NOISE.  Anyway, it was an experience that I won’t soon forget, for better or worse…

Our last day at Toy Fair was on Tuesday and we didn’t spend a full day there, as we had finished our goals for the show by then.  Although the weather had treated us well during our stay in NYC so far, it started snowing like crazy during the last day.  We had to take a cab back to the hotel during the midst of what a southern raised person like myself would consider a blizzard.  I’ve been on a lot of thrill rides in my life as I am a roller coaster freak, but I would have to say that a cab ride across NYC, in the middle of a blizzard, with icy roads, with a foreign cab driver who couldn’t understand us & we couldn’t understand him would have to rank as one of the top 10 thrill rides that I have ever been on.  I have no idea how we weaved in and out of some of the spots in traffic that our cab went.

On our final night in the city we had reservations to eat at Il Vagabondo on the upper east side.  This is a well known place in NYC where many celebrities frequently visit as was shown by the numerous pictures lining the walls in the place.  Although this restaurant’s menu is primarily authentic Italian, they actually had a menu that I could read and know what I was trying to order.  This was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip as the food was excellent and the service was a level above anything we had experienced in NYC.  I felt like Tony Soprano was going to waltz in the door at any moment, if that gives you any idea of what this place caters to.  They even had a bocce court in the back room that we played a few games on.  After dinner we walked a couple of blocks down to a local piano bar named Mimi’s.  This was yet another memorable experience as they had an older guy who changed costumes based on song requested and gave comedic performances of each song.

Our plane was scheduled to leave early the next morning, so by the time I got back to my hotel room and got my bags together,  I didn’t even risk going to bed.  I spent the last couple hours outside the hotel getting my last taste of the city life and taking in the sights, sounds & smells of The Big Apple.

The whole experience of NYC was very cool and very eye-opening.  The big city experience is something that everyone should get a chance to check out at least once in your life.  You realize that there is a whole different world out there outside of Eastern North Carolina (or whatever smaller city that you may be from).  With that said, I was more than ready to bring my tail back home to the south.  As the plane came toward the runway at RDU, I was thinking just land this baby and I’m home.  Raleigh has only looked better once before in my life when my wife and I drove straight through without stopping for 17 hours from her parents house in Wisconsin a couple years ago.

Although it is sad to see businesses fail… the recession helps to weed out merchants (both online as well as brick & mortar) who probably shouldn’t have been in business to begin with. It also helps weed out merchants who are trying to establish themselves by undercutting prices until there are no margins whatsoever in certain product lines. The failure of some of these merchants is in no way a bad thing… especially for the more established merchants who can stay alive until the economy starts to improve. This not only applies to merchants… but websites as a whole in general… regardless of the content of the site.

As others fail… there will always be someone who can step in and do it better. If your website is unique… or if you offer a unique way of presenting content that is better than other websites in your niche… you will become a success as long as you keep it online long enough and are consistently growing traffic to your site. Success does not usually happen overnight… and in some cases may take years to become established in your chosen niche.

I truly think that we are starting to see the economy begin to bounce back. Sales revenue from some of the more established websites that our company owns have picked up tremendously in the last month and we hope that this continues to be the case. We are looking forward to what 2010 offers to our company. We re-established our company’s operations in 2009 as a merchant first and an internet based services provider second and are now starting to see the fruits of our labor.

EastWave strives to take our established entities and only make them better going forward. We plan to sell off even more of our less profitable ventures to focus specifically on our core entities. We see a beautiful break on the horizon and we are gearing up to be ready for the ride.

Secure The Control Of Your Domain Names
I can not stress this enough.  There are some providers who may offer free domain registration in exchange for design… ecommerce or other services.  Do not fall for this gimmick… instead choose an ICANN approved registrar and register all of your domains there.  There are many registrars which will register domains for around 10 dollars a year or lower and will provide a control panel which gives you full control of your domain name’s contact information and DNS records.  The low price that you pay is worth it to ensure that you can easily move your website if you decide to go a different route in your business.

Be Wary Of All-In-One Hosting & Design Services
Although my company previously offered both development & hosting services in the past… I now recommend to keep these services separate.  Although it may be convenient to have one company handle both of these needs… you must always look at the possibility that unhappiness with one of those services will transcend to unhappiness with the other service.  Many website developers also offer hosting services and some developers even require that you host your website with their company.  The majority of the time a person is better off finding a larger reputable host with 24-7 support than hosting the site through the developer.

Multiple Revenue Streams
The concept of keeping all your eggs in one basket can also be applied to revenue sources.  This year our struggling economy has taken its toll on nearly everyone.  If your entire web presence is based on the sales of one line of products or one type of service offering… your business will be in dangerous times if what you are offering is not considered a necessity due to the economy or other reasons.  Even in a booming economy… if your main line of products is a seasonal line of products such as baseball equipment or a seasonal service such as lawn care… you should find other lines or other services that can be offered to customers when your primary line is not in demand.

I’d like to offer 3 real world examples of the concepts that I have mentioned…

• From the years of 2000 to 2004… I worked as the main web developer for a web hosting company.  It was during this time that I learned the value of good domain names.  The first domain names that I registered were done through the company I worked for… and at time I did not know very much about purchasing domain names as investments.  My relationship with this company ended due to a dispute over the direction of the company as well as other reasons… and it would be correct to say that it ended in a very heated & negative way.  I had major issues in the next month after leaving the company when I tried to transfer the domain names that I owned and had rights to.  The owner of the company would not approve the registrar requests to transfer the domains and I was stuck.  Luckily… I still had a friend within the company who approved the transfers of the domains… unbeknownst to the owner.

• Just recently… I was involved in a similar situation in regards to transferring domain names for the main company I work for now as my dayjob.  This company was using an all-in-one ecommerce system provided by a company that shall remain nameless… so lets just refer to them as Company Z.  One of the owners of the company had worked for Company Z for many years in a relationship that was mutually beneficial to both parties… and one of the perks of the job was free domain registrations.  After building a new system for this company… we planned to move our website on a certain date and then problems with moving the domain off Company Z’s system began.  We experienced blatant lies about dns changes that were never made… derogatory heated emails attacking the character of our entire company and other childish actions.  We then realized that we were getting nowhere with Company Z.  We finally had to go over their heads and go direct to the actual registrar of the domain names & prove that we owned the domain name in question in order to get anything at all changed.  A process that should have taken less than 5 minutes ended up taking up nearly a week to get straightened out.

• An example of multiple revenue streams in action comes from my own business in the last year.  During the years of 2007-2009… one of my main revenue sources was affiliate marketing.  My company owned a network of affiliate stores which would showcase products from various merchants and then send the customer to the merchant’s website to complete a purchase… giving our company a percentage of the sale.  We did very well in this venture until the middle of 2009 when the state of North Carolina passed an affiliate nexus tax which seriously decreased the amount of revenue that our company could make from affiliate sales.  Internet companies usually do not have to charge sales tax on purchases if they do not have an actual location in that particular state.  The affiliate nexus tax was worded so that affiliates of a company are considered to be a sales force in that particular state and the merchant would have to charge sales tax.  Amazon was one of the first merchants to oppose this ruling and decided to cancel all affiliates in states that passed the affiliate nexus tax instead of paying sales tax on those sales… and many other larger merchants followed.  My affiliate revenue started dwindling down immediately following this law being passed.  Luckily… my company was already running our own network of stores selling our own products so we converted some of the better affiliate based sites into actual merchant sites selling products from our own inventory.  Had our company’s only source of revenue been based on affiliate marketing only… our company probably wouldn’t still be online today.

I know that its really not a secret… but you would be surprised at how many entrepreneurs completely overlook that simple idea.

I have owned various types of internet stores & websites on the internet for years now in many different niches.  I have made money from some of them… but I have also lost money from keeping many of them as well.

I look back on much of the stuff that I put online over the last few years and I realized that much of what I built was to see if something stuck…
One of the problems that I have faced was actually realizing when that idea didnt stick …   at least not like envisioned… and then letting it go

You can put a lot of effort into something… milk it for all it’s worth… but its hard to just give it up completely… since so much time has been spent up to that point so far on the project…

Maybe pride has a bit to do with that… as it is very hard to admit defeat…

There are a few errors that I have seen that newbies make when trying to start selling online:

SELLING ONLY PRODUCTS YOU LIKE
Just because you like something… doesn’t mean the rest of the world will…
(look for products that offer you maximum profit… even if it is stuff you would never dream of selling)

SELLING ONLY PRODUCTS YOU THINK YOU KNOW A LOT ABOUT
Just because you think you are an expert in a certain field doesn’t mean that the rest of the internet world will…
(you may well be an expert at your field… but the demand for the line of products that you are an expert in may be very low)

TRYING TO SELL PRODUCTS THAT ARE HOT FOR THE LOWEST PRICE
I have seen numerous people try to get into an niche like electronics… and then realize nearly everyone else had the same idea…
(this ends up with no one making money at all… just trying to outdo everyone else on price)

SUCCESSFUL AT ONE NICHE… AND THEN TRYING TO RECREATE IT TOO MANY TIMES
The first idea you had a passion for… the 2nd as well… but once it gets to the 10th or 20th idea…
(this can end up with you completely forgetting the first few good ideas that you had… and stuck with more projects than you can handle)

I know its crazy… but a hard rock guy like myself will even quote Kenny Rogers here:

You gotta know when to hold em… know when to fold em… know when to walk away… and know when to run…

Selling on the internet is a huge gamble… knowing that going in is half of the battle…

Research your chosen product line to the fullest (and other potential complementary lines) before you ever invest the first dollar…

Provide unique content on your website… and try to provide an experience that other sites selling similar products do not…

Give your 1000th customer (and 100000th customer) as much reason to buy your product as your first customer…

Don’t go overboard and try to replicate that in other niches… instead focus on your main products and add lines that relate to your initial successful line…

Try different things… but do not get attached to those things that you try…

If a certain niche is not working… let it go quickly and don’t look back…
Constantly trying to milk something that is just not there gets you nowhere…

There is really no secret to selling online…  what works for one person will not work for another…

Even if you read about someone who made a fortune selling a product out of the trunk of his car… doesn’t mean that you can do the same with the same product…

How quickly people forget that North Carolina’s history can be directly attributed to the tobacco market. There are many universities & even whole cities in this state that wouldn’t be here if NC had not been the largest tobacco producing state in the nation over the course of the last century (Duke university is a prime example).

With that said… I do agree that non-smokers should not have to deal with second-hand smoke if they do not want to. But honestly these non-smokers already have that option as they have the FREE WILL to frequent locations that individually choose to ban smoking. There were already numerous restaurants & bars with a non-smoking policy in existence way before our intelligent politicians decided to dream up yet another law restricting the potential profitability of an establishment.

A friend of mine mentioned to me that the tobacco industry is a dying industry… and that may well be true.   But lets look at the reasons why…  Government regulations have killed the tobacco industry more so than anything else. The tobacco industry years ago used to be a free market in which farmers would sell their crops at an auction to various tobacco companies. The government then stepped in and started helping farmers whose tobacco was not up to par… by purchasing tobacco themselves & through price support programs designed to help the farmer. Less than 10 years ago… the government along with the tobacco companies then eliminated the auction system in its entirety and now farmers have to sell directly to the tobacco companies at a price that the tobacco companies set.

The government has done something very similar with the auto industry in recent years.  After forcing increasingly stricter safety standards… fuel economy ratings and the use of electric vehicles… many were shocked that 2 of the largest American car manufacturers went bankrupt this year.  The government then rushed to their aid and threw those companies a lifeline to get them out of the mess that they were in.  Does anyone see a pattern here?

No matter what your opinion is of the smoking ban… you are blind if you believe that more government control of private businesses is a GOOD thing.  A non-smoker can jump for joy at this new law because it gives the false impression that this law is written with the public’s best interest in mind.  This is a complete fallacy as the government does not care about the individual.  The government plays on individual interests in order for it to pass laws giving the system more control of private businesses.

Lets look at a personal example of the auto industry…  Lets say you have a choice between a mint condition 1968 Camaro with a big block V-8 engine or a brand new Honda hybrid vehicle.  Today’s consumer would probably pick the hybrid because they are led to believe its a safer vehicle and the fuel economy would be way better.  Now…  lets say that you know that both of these vehicles are going to be involved in a head on collision and you have to pick the one you would rather be riding in…  I don’t know about you… but I’d pick the old Camaro ANYDAY… as it would plow through that little Honda like a tank.

Can anyone honestly say that our country as a whole is better off today than it was say 20 or 30 years ago?  We are at a point that a criminal now has more rights than a law abiding citizen. We have attempted to sanitize everything around and rid every public place of all possible germs & bacteria to the point that many people can become seriously ill by just coming in contact with bacteria that their body would have normally been able to inherently fight off 10 years ago. How is that a progression at all?

The only way to truly know where you are going in the future is to recognize where you have been and learn from it. Pushing change just for the sake of change is no better than just being at a standstill. Sometimes while always looking to change things… you can end up worse off in the end than where you started.

James Hetfield said it best 20 years ago… You can do it your own way… If it’s done just how I say….

Well… I now have an iPhone but I do not use AT&T. I purchased a used iPhone… jailbroke & unlocked it… and I am headed to T-Mobile. I can get unlimited data… talk & text for nearly half the monthly cost of a comparable plan on AT&T. I will not be on a 3G network in Eastern NC… but I wouldn’t have been had I decided to go with AT&T… either.

Although I am one of those “computer geeks”… I have always been one of those type people who want a cell phone to be a PHONE. I hate text messages with a passion and the truly terrible web browsing experience on Windows Mobile devices & Blackberry phones is enough to make a person toss that “smart phone” out the window.

The iPhone changed all that… and there is no need to go into the praise in this blog post. The entire world has showered enough praise on this phone already… and once again Apple has completely changed an entire industry within a few short years.

Their claim of “there’s an app for that” is most definitely true in nearly all aspects… though. Whether I am checking sales & advertising statistics… waving my lightsaber app at my friends or doing a quick tune on one of my guitars… its literally amazing the power of this “phone”. Many of the most useful apps are for checking various websites such as eBay… FaceBook… MySpace… Twitter… Google and others. Many times its actually quicker to open the iPhone app for a certain website (or company) than it is to get on the computer and pull it up through a regular browser.

Steve Jobs is a God amongst the insects crawling around in this world with their day to day lives… I hope that his health allows him to live long enough to change even more industries.

EastWave originally started out as a website development & web hosting company in late 2003.  After seeing the paths that some of our customers were taking with their own internet ventures, we decided to explore other revenue streams for our own company such as internet retail, affiliate marketing & the domain name aftermarket.  Based on an advice from a good friend at a former job (who is sadly no longer with us in this world…  RIP Archie), we turned on our first internet retail store www.allnitetoys.com in mid 2004 which sells adult novelties.  Over the years this website became the main hub of a network of sites selling these type of products.

After 5 years of successfully running internet retail websites and realizing that those ventures had grown to be more profitable than the services we offered, we decided to shift the focus of our main website www.eastwave.com to internet retail.  We made strategic partnerships with various distributors & manufacturers of unique lines of products such as beach decor, action sports, recreation & others.  We also built multiple minisites on many of the domain names in our portfolio offering various lines of products.

EastWave still offers development services, but we take these type of projects on a case by case basis.  We eliminated our web hosting division and moved all information about our available development services to a new home at www.eastwavemedia.com.

We strive to provide quality products at reasonable prices, along with excellent shipping times & customer service.  EastWave has grown so much since starting out with a dream & a love for the beach in a small bedroom office in Eastern NC.  We hope this growth only continues in the future with our new ventures.

You delivered the following words of wisdom to live by for many years:

What’s the matter with you guys? This was never about the money… this was about us against the system. That system that kills the human spirit. We stand for something. We are here to show those guys that are inching their way on the freeways in their metal coffins that the human sprit is still alive.

It’s basic dog psychology… if you scare them and get them peeing down their leg… they submit. But if you project weakness… that promotes violence… and that’s how people get hurt. Peace… through superior firepower.

100% pure adrenaline… others shoot for it… jab a vein for it… all you gotta do is jump for it.

If you want the ultimate… you’ve got to be willing to pay the ultimate price. It’s not tragic to die doing what you love.