Lileks is at his understated best today - brief, ironic, and damn funny. If you haven't been keeping up, today is a good day to take a peek at the Bleat.

A few years ago, there was a television commercial promoting some consulting firm or other (maybe IBM?) in which a team celebrates the launch of their eCommerce site. They are excited when a couple orders trickle in, but then the counter starts going out of control and they all look at each other like "Oh shit". That's what the consultants are for, of course.

I am very happy to report that I had almost an identical problem yesterday. A confluence of good advertising and a well-timed link from AOL that attracted our key demographic (women 24-50), and we had a perfect storm of sales. It wasn't out of control, however, as the sales pretty much stopped once all the shoes were out of stock.

This is a very good problem to have. And, luckily, many of the shoes were not actually out of stock, so I refilled the inventory coffers. I am sure we won't have the kind of day we had yesterday again for a while, but it was great to see how many sales could be generated if our ads are put in front of enough eyeballs. In other words, as I've believed from the beginning, selling Chabah sandals is simply a matter of getting exposure and keeping organized. The product is super and women will buy them, often two or three or four at a time.

So, I'm exhausted. I was up until 4 am putting together packages. But's it's great to get some validation after the disappointing market sales. Needless to say, that's finished - internet sales are the way to go. Now I just need to figure out how to better automate the shipping process and we'll be in shape.

If you haven't checked out the store in a while, you might want to take a look. It's greatly improved and quite attractive in my opinion. Once we replace some of the photos with better versions, it will be damn near irresistable. I hope.

We've added some new blogads. I try to keep them funny and relevant to the site:

Astroworld
Mexico Travelers
Witz
Metaefficient
Manhattan Transfer

I probably won't be able to keep all of these indefinitely, but I'm definitely getting my feet wet to see what happens. The hits on the website are taking off, but I'd like to see a higher proportion actually buying the shoes. I think there may be a disconnect in going from the Chabah home page to the store. If you have any ideas on how to improve the site, please let me know! I've already incorporated some feedback but more is always welcome.

Woops, lost a week there. For good reason, pretty much - the sale at Eastern Market was weak. So weak. Unbelievably weak. Our spot sucked, so only about 3% of the market saw our stuff. Even then, I was really surprised how many women liked them but didn't buy, or only bought one pair. They seem to have the attitude that we'll always be there, so why buy now? Why indeed?

Anyway, that's not how I want to spend my Father's Day or any other Sunday for that matter, so I am bagging direct sales until further notice. The web site is looking great, and has almost all of our styles (with photos!) now, so people can shop online. Online orders have actually been pretty good - we're averaging about a pair per day. My short term goal is about 10 per day so that's not too bad since we've only been open about 2 weeks.

The shed has been moved - that took some work, but I had some help and we got it done. Now I just need to finish rebuilding the roof and that project will be done. I am psyched about getting all our projects done, because then we can build our own shed and also refinance our house (to eliminate other debts).

Artemis is the best - she's really active and interactive now, so we're having a ball. She can tell us what she wants, and she follows directions really well. For example, if she takes something out of a bag and brings it to you, if you ask her to "Put it back" she'll do just that. She loves chocolate cake.

Poker is also going well - I am playing tournaments really well now, and have cashed a few times. I have a couple big tournaments coming up, so hopefully a big score (in the thousands) will be in my future. Not exactly going pro, but an extra grand or two a month would go a long way.