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Unfortunately, due to a stupid headache while working I got less done that I would have liked…

My todo list:
[X] - Finish shopping cart layout
[X] - finalize cart configuration
[X] - setup paypal
[ ] - setup shipping options (in progress)
[ ] - write shipping and return policy (in progress)
[ ] - write privacy policy (in progress)
[X] - write contact page
[ ] - create product listings (in progress)
[ ] - customize email templates (not started)
[ ] - transfer domain name to my control (in progress)
[ ] - point domain to server (not started)
[ ] - go live with site

I’m off to my other job UPS but when I get home tonight I’ll press on and get as much done as I can.  Most of the hard stuff is done.  It’s really just writting policies and creating content.

today is the big push… I’m going to try my hardest to get the website up and running today.  I’m pretty close to finishing up the shopping cart layout.  Then it’s just a few more steps and I’ll call it finished.

My todo list:
[  ] - Finish shopping cart layout
[  ] - finalize cart configuration
[  ] - setup paypal
[  ] - setup shipping options
[  ] - write shipping and return policy
[  ] - write privacy policy
[  ] - write contact page
[  ] - create product listings
[  ] - customize email templates
[  ] - transfer domain name to my control (in progress)
[  ] - point domain to server
[  ] - go live with site

the goal is to get the website up and running today.  Then after I run a few test orders in the cart it’ll just be a matter of “flipping the switch” and pointing the domain to the server and we’re live.

We’re a little behind but I’m pretty confident I can get things done today.

I’ve started the domain transfer but there’s a bit of a hangup becuase the current domain was registered with my girlfriends hosting company and they have the domain locked.  The transfer can’t proceed until the domain is unlocked.  We’ve contact the hosting company and are trying to get that done right now.

This is why I always say register your domain name seperately from hosting.  Web hosts are dime a dozen now days.  Commpetion has driven hosting costs to the floor.  If you keep control of your domain name you can always switch to new hosts to get better service, features, price, etc.  It’s just a matter of updating your domain info to point to the new host.  However if you have a host take care of it for you you can end up with big problems should you want to move.

Hopefully the hosting company she uses, bigstep.com, won’t be unethical bastards and hold the domain hostage becuase they don’t want to loose a customer.  There are web hosting companies that do this!  They register the domain for you acting like it’s just a service they do, but the reality of the situation is they’re scumbags that know that the domain is your identity.  If they control the domain they control you.  You become locked into using their service.  It can be a real battle to regain control of your property.

Well off to get working…

Up and running on the new VDS

Well we’re up and running on the new VDS.  Again a humongous thanks goes to Josetann at Arshost.  I’m like a school boy playing with a new toy!

I’m not sure what the exact host server specs are here’s what the VDS specs are:
1826Mhz AMD CPU (I believe it’s probably an AMD Sempron 2600)
256MB Ram
20GB Hard Disk
CentOS 3.4 Operation System
DirectAdmin Website Control Panel

I’ve managed to get everything configured and transferred over.  DNS seems to be running good and I’m sure almost everyone that goes to visit my site is seeing the new server.

Performance is very good.  One thing I had worried about was performance.  Since a VDS is basically a computer running inside another computer you know you’re bound to take a hit somewhat.  However, the VDS seems to run just dandy.

There were a few minor bumps in getting things up and running but now it’s all fine.

Now that I’m done with the move I guess it’s time to get back to working on the new website for my GF’s business.  Progress is slow but going.  I’m still very hopeful we’ll go live with the new site this weekend.

Well Sunday the GF came over and we got cracking on the Business Plan.

There are six main sections to a business plan according to the book “Business Plans for Dummies”.  The sections are the Executive Summary, Company Overview, Business Environment, Company Description/Strategy, Action Plan and Financial Review.

Yesterday we did probably 90% of the Company Overview.  There’s a small amount of cleanup work to do but we can leave that to a final draft probably.  Our original goal was to try to push to do one section each day but after reading up a bit I think it’s pretty clear some sections are going to take several days of research.

I guess we’ll just push ourselves and get as much done each day as we can.  I’d still like to get the site finished this week and go live this weekend if possible.  We can manage to get by without a full business plan as we first start out but we really must get it finished at some point.

On the technical side I’m moving forward with getting the VDS setup.  A major big thanks has to go to my friend Josetann at Arshost for setting me up with it.  I’ll report on the full specs and such later but if you’re in need of any type of webhosting check Arshost out.  Even if it’s something not listed on the site he will probably work something out for you personally.  That’s the kind of guy he is!

Well, things are going pretty good on the technology side of the new business.

I’ve made great progress in the website design and should be finishing up by tomorrow night.  It’ll be just a matter of doing the shopping cart templates so it matches rest of the site.  I should have a full working demo site up by the end of the weekend, hopefully.

Hosting is kind of in limbo right now.  We have to get new hosting because the current web host she’s using doesn’t support the features we need.  I’m working on getting a VDS account on a friend’s server but he’s been on vacation the last week and I haven’t had a chance to talk to him at all this week.

I’ll keep trying to work to get setup with him but if not I may go out searching for other options.  We’ll just see.

On the merchandise side this are also going very well.  My girlfriend has been a dynamo and sewing up a storm!  We should have a good stock at launch.

The one lacking area is in the business plan.  We really need to buckle down and get working on that.  I think maybe this weekend I’ll have her come over and we’ll spend a whole day Saturday or Sunday and just plow through as much as we can.  It’s really just a matter of getting the ball rolling.  Right now the idea of basically writing a 20 page essay seems daunting but once it’s starting it’ll just flow really quickly I’m sure.