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In the fall of 1997 I started an internet company, and after three years of intense work, I developed a profitable and efficient
enterprise. In January of 2000 I decided to broaden my experience by setting my sites on a different challenge. I never thought I'd be immersed in the plumbing world, but that changed when I accepted a position at
Worldhomecenter.com. The Worldhomecenter.com office was like a barren warehouse infested with fruit flies and gnats. The web site resembled a rocket ship taking off from Cape Canaveral, and the database of products was
incomplete at best. Despite the companies' dire state, I knew an opportunity existed for anyone who could create the premier on-line home improvement store. My job description was business development/marketing and
promotions, but because I was one of only four employees, my position entailed much more. I understood that working at Worldhomecenter.com would mean all-nighters at the office and heavy personal sacrifice. That's
exactly what I was looking for, so I accepted the position. After exterminating the unwanted insects I got to work on improving the front end of the web site. Having done extensive web design for my own
company, I went to work on making the user interface more customer-friendly. That meant removing all the glitz and glamour from the front page, making it easy to use and simple to navigate. Since only about 30% of
people using the internet are equipped to view flash movies, I informed the CEO we were losing 70% of our customers with the use of a rocket launch introduction on our home page. I made a call to the web developers
and informed them of my ideas and concepts. They seemed a bit taken aback that someone else would be working on "their web site," but overall they thought the changes were necessary. It cost a pretty penny to have
the web site developed, so the CEO needed to be persuaded before I could make the changes. I decided to develop and present my own view of how I thought Worldhomecenter.com should look and feel. I introduced
my Worldhomecenter.com web site at a company meeting, and most employees were unimpressed by the boring white design and unimpressive graphics. However, I explained that most people searching the web are impatient,
usually willing to wait only about 15 seconds before clicking onto another site. The entire group seemed to agree with my stance, but the CEO was still reluctant to make such an expansive and expensive change to the
overall company. Toward the end of the meeting I decided explain the effectiveness of my vision in lay man's terms:
George Lucas created the original Star Wars movie in the late 1970's. The characters Chewbacca, R2D2 , and Yoda, were essentially human beings in costumes, nothing special. Lucas' 1999 Film
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
included the character Jar Jar Binks. Lucas was enthralled with modern technology and he became obsessed with creating a character that was entirely computer generated. Jar Jar Binks, although a tribute to modern technology, proved less than loved by the American public. The point is that simply because you have the capacity to use a new technology, doesn't mean that the people will embrace it. In fact, people often prefer simplicity to complexity.
I wasn't sure if my speech was a bit over-the-top, but the CEO said, "Let's go with it." The following day I consulted with the original web designers and showed them my new designs. They told me that
since the web site modifications were global and not just minor alterations, the total cost would run about $80,000. Although that was well within Worldhomecenter.com's budget, I took the next couple of days researching
cheaper alternatives. With my previous experience working on the web I had grown accustomed to actually coding the HTML of my own web sites. Although the scale of Worldhomecenter.com was much larger than anything I had
done before, the coding was extremely similar to web sites I had already built. I decided it was not only economically feasible, but generally smart to build Worldhomecenter.com myself. Because of frequent updating that
would occur with the web site in the future, we could save even more money if we kept the web design in-house. I called our web developers to let them know that I would be taking over the project. At first, all I was
greeted with was some fuzzy silence across the phone lines. After the web developers seemed to catch their breath they informed me that we were their only client, and the probability that their business would go under
without us was likely. I took a few days to think about it, and realized that both businesses would prosper most if I worked in tandem with the old design team as the new web site was developed. Together, we could
design and implement the new web site in the shortest time frame possible. Because we would continue working together until the web site was fully functional, that would give the old web design team enough time to
secure new business. It took about two months of diligent work before my vision became a reality on the world-wide-web, but the results spoke for themselves. We averaged 30% more sales a day, and the average consumer
spent a whopping 120% more per order! I took a few weeks to instruct co-workers on the basics of web design, but in no time, my colleagues were able to update the web site at will. By the time our out-sourced web design
team was finished with the project they were able to obtain two other clients. My time at Worldhomecenter.com has exceeded my expectations. During the development of the company I've enjoyed participating
in web design, but I also have been head of customer service and even attempted to install a toilet in a customer's apartment (operative word being attempted). During a time when most business-to-consumer web sites have
experienced a downturn, I am proud that my vision and follow-through dramatically improved Worldhomecenter.com. |
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