eCommerce and

A botnet named “psyb0t” has made recent news for being “The First Linux Botnet.”  Psyb0t is actually a worm that targets routers and DSL modems that run Linux, and might be the first of its kind. The worm “psyb0t” takes advantage of default and weak passwords on these embedded devices by using a dictionary attack. Then, after gaining access it installs itself and starts harvesting usernames and passwords from the user’s web traffic.

So it is not a vulnerability of Linux, or the software installed on the router, or DSL modem, but poor user or default passwords that provide the vulnerability. Many routers have their default password set to 1234, admin, or even blank.  As you can see these are certainly not very secure passwords.  To make a long story short, default passwords are insecure.

Whenever possible change default passwords and make sure everyone in your department has done so as well.  Every device connected to your network, including the printer, can be compromised and used to access your network.  This worm is a strong reminder that strong password standards not only apply to your computers but also embedded devices on your network.  

If you are unfamiliar with the term “strong password”, a strong password at minimum contains: a capital letter, a lowercase letter, a number and a character or symbol.  For more tips on strong passwords I recommend this article.  Posters are available for those in IT that want to call attention to the importance of strong passwords. Just remember that default passwords are about as secure as an unlocked padlock.

Alright, if you haven't read Challenges of an Internet Retailer’s VOIP Implementation Part 1, please read it first. I think you'll find that the differences between Part 1 and Part 2 of the posts are pretty staggering.

We've finally made the transition from our digital-to-analog-to-digital lines over to full digital. To be clearer, we had eight phone lines coming into an AdTran over T1 that were converted from digital to analog. We then took each line and converted it back to digital using an Audiocodes MP-118 analog gateway. The tweaking required to make it work well was intense and not a project I ever want to repeat. In place of our analog lines, we've added a PRI line with 23 channels (plus one D channel), greatly expanding the number of lines available and drastically improving quality. Surprisingly, this change only increased our monthly bill by a few dollars.

We are still using a trixbox solution and I did a fair amount of research, mostly on the trixbox forums, to determine what PRI card would be best/easiest/least expensive to install and configure. In the end, I decided on the Sangoma A101DE.  The reason I went with Sangoma, and not the, perhaps, more natural selection of a Digium card, was the wide spread vocal support in the VoIP community. Not only did users swear by Sangoma products, but the vendor's presence among the community was also readily apparent; so I knew I would be able to get help when I ran into a snag (which we all knew was going to happen).  I used the same VoIP vendor that I had used in the past as I knew I could depend on them to get me the A101DE I needed.

Since my last phone system post, I have also found a Grandstream GXP-2000 firmware that seems to work well, but we have transitioned most of our call center users over to softphones. While I was waiting for the Sangoma card to arrive, a friend of mine that works for a large multinational corporation dropped off a huge box of Polycom phones. Apparently, his company has a very liberal "dead phone" policy and all of these were going to be junked. Picture this, a user says, "Hey IT! My phone doesn't work!" IT provisions a new phone, brings it to the user, and puts the old phone in the trash pile. He brought me the trash pile. More on this in a minute...

So, I received the Sangoma card within a few days of the order and proceeded to replace the production system with a temp system. I swapped out the systems and proceeded to install the card on the production system. Sangoma had recently posted a very simple installation walkthrough on the trixbox forums, so I just followed instructions found there. Piece of cake, right? Maybe not. At the same time, I was also coordinating with our T1 vendor on the PRI installation. Keep in mind, I have never been involved in a PRI build-out or a trixbox system that consumes PRI. I was flying in the dark, other than community documentation. I had already read a considerable amount about users who had installed this card on similar systems. I spent a fair amount of my time learning to match settings between the Sangoma setup and the PRI. The majority of the rest of my time was spent building out a scalable queuing solution that would support multiple customer service queues for separate ecommerce websites, business queuing for various business functions, and individual user assignments to queues and DIDs (Direct Inward Dial). There was also some up front maintenance in ensuring that the box was secured (no default passwords, alternate ports, etc.) and provisioned for our company's network.

Everything was ready to go, except for one glaring issue... the system could not be truly tested until our T1 was live! The months of research, preparation, planning and building would all come to an exciting "everything works" climax or a dismal "nothing works" thud! When I mentioned the impending go live to our development department team leader, he asked, "How long have you been preparing?" I replied, "A few Months." To which he replied, "Well, nothing ever goes 100% right on a project that you're months deep in without live testing." My confidence was obliterated. Was he right? What would I do if something went wrong? I only had a window of a few days to get it to full functionality once our T1 was live. Would I be able to get the necessary support from Sangoma or from the trixbox community in that short window? Would I be forced to buy really expensive support time from someone much smarter than me? Had I done enough research to have a clear understanding of what I was doing? I panicked a bit. But, I calmed down quickly, since I knew that there was nothing I could do until testing.

On testing day, I arrived early, checked all systems to ensure readiness for testing and waited for the telecom tech to arrive. I paced nervously, knowing that I was helpless and alone until my hour of glory or defeat... At 7:00AM, on the dot, he arrived, Customer Premises Equipment in hand. He came in straight away and began the work of testing our new PRI. As he tested the equipment that he had provisioned the night before, he noticed something that prevented the go live. So I waited as he called his project manager to ensure that everything was set up appropriately. I hovered over his shoulder to see what was going on. I'm sure I annoyed him enough to make him want to punch me in the face. As I peered into the screen of the battered field laptop he was using to telnet into the gateway, I could see all of the settings used to prepare my connection. I could see everything I need to confirm that my setup was appropriate! So, I continued to hover, elated as I watched him work through all of the settings. Everything I had set appeared to be correct. By 10:00AM, he had worked through his bugs and we were ready to get the party started. So, we did. We plugged it in, turned it on, and I pulled up a softphone on my laptop. I placed my first test call, a local call, to my cell phone... it worked! I placed another test call from my cell phone to my softphone... it worked! I went down the list of test calls, international, emergency, information, toll-free, etc. I tested queues, DIDs, ring groups, caller ID data, reporting... everything worked! The first time! Was I dreaming? Did I escape from this project unscathed? The answer was an assured "YES!"

The only thing that was really left to do was to get a phone for everyone who didn't have one in the past. Thanks to my very generous friend, I had a pile of Polycoms to go through. So, I brought one home, tested it out and used trixbox's endpoint manager to make provisioning the phones a snap. Eight of the first eleven phones were (nearly fully-) functional! A few had non-functional speakers or broken microphones, but they worked well enough for most users. I even spent the three extra minutes it took to build a customized logo.

My development team leader had put doubt in me, and I knew he was likely right, that not everything would go as planned. The phone system has been such a thorn in the side of the IT department from our humble beginnings with a two-line Vonage solution, to our analog hunting solution, to our digital-to-analog-to-digital line solution, to this. I did not want to see another half-completed phone system that barely meets the needs of the organization. I wanted to build it out to its fullest potential and I wanted it to be scalable and I wanted it to be inexpensive. I think I accomplished that. This one feels good.

• We are working in an economic climate that requires retailers to be efficient and cut unnecessary costs.  That being said if you offer promotional codes at your cart page you may want to read “How Much is Your Coupon Code Box Costing You?” by Linda Bustos.  This has been a topic of discussion here for a while now, yet we haven’t come to any definite conclusions about what our strategy will be moving forward.  Linda’s article offers valuable insight about how coupon code boxes at the cart page is likely affecting your bottom line.
• Ever sent out an email that you wish you could take back?  If you are like me, then you are probably a bit clumsy and can totally relate to this question, so I am really glad that I am a Gmail user.  Gmail users can take a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief, as Gmail has added an “undo” feature.  After you send a Gmail message you will have five seconds to change your mind and undo your email, and although the previous message says “message sent” it actually hasn’t until the five seconds is passed and the “undo” feature is no longer available.  You will have to activate the feature in labs to take advantage of it.
• TechCrunch’s review of Internet Explorer 8 is optimistic when it comes to the improvement of features like tabbed browsing, and search suggestions, but is bleak when it comes to the speed of the browser.  The article points out that IE’s market share has been on a steady decline for a while now.  This begs the question, “Is speed the most important feature when web browsing?”  If so retailers will need to make sure that their websites performance can keep up with consumer expectations.
• I hope that this doesn’t come as a shock to anyone, but Google knows a lot about you.  Most of us know this, but you may be surprised exactly how much they know.  E-Justice reveals 25 things you may not think Google knows but likely does.
• Entrepreneur Magazine published an interesting article on how generational differences may be the root problem of work conflicts.  The article states that you should watch for certain red flags, most of which I believe are too generalized, as they may be indicators of a generational conflict.  Even if the red flags mentioned are general and often present in most work environments, it doesn’t mean that generational conflicts aren’t the origin of the problem so, it is worth the read.

Happy New Year all!  I am out for the rest of the week so the variety is early.  There are some new posts that I wanted to share, but in addition to that let’s take a look at some of our favorite posts, top stories, and some of the biggest developments in the industry from 2008.

• Google Product Search up 786% in the category of shopping search.
• The Silicon Alley Insider reports on Digg’s revenue losses and why ad targeting, or the lack there of, could be a major factor in these losses.
• Have your 2009 wish list ready for Google?  I know Zach does and Matt Cutts’ parents do, but submissions are coming in fast so add yours soon.
• Jennifer Laycock released her second installment of “Six Lessons from a Wooden Boy”, but I recommend starting from her first post on the subject.
• A legend about the inventor of chess may provide insight into internet retail growth.

2008 In Review

• Election news spreads and bloggers highlighted Super Tuesday.
• eBay jolts sellers by changing fees.
• eCommerce celebrates its 25th birthday.
• OutdoorPros.com launches!
• Mercado rebrands one month and then sells to Omniture a few months later.
• April Fools jokes get better and better every year so it would seem.
• eBay adds a merchant dashboard so sellers can track best match search placement.
• Amazon goes down!
• PCI updates Data Security Standards, again.
  
• The iPhone is released.
• Google adds shopping list to Product Search.
  
• The Top 100 Web Celebrities is announced.
• Yahoo and Google team up.
• Brian gives a lesson on forecasting.
  
• Amazon is finally able to ship Kindle.
• Big companies continue to try and squash the little guy.
• Vanessa, yeah that’s me talking in the 3rd person, goes on a rant about employee responsibility.
• The Olympics!
• Google News causes a 75% drop in United Airlines stock.
• Bill Gates retires from daily role at Microsoft.  Little did we know the extra free time would be spent with Jerry Seinfeld.
• Spore, the most copyright protected game, also becomes the most pirated game.
• Barack Obama becomes the first “Internet President”.
• Macy’s requires online shoppers to “wait in line”.
• Reputation management becomes increasingly important as social networking becomes more popular.
• Internet retailers have to respond to declining economic conditions.

• The Internet star rises in a down economy
• E-commerce on the move
• How the Supreme Court Fractured Online Pricing
• Retail Explorer
• We-commerce
• The Power of Customer Reviews
• Advantage: Amazon
• Merchandise sold on eBay falls 1%, the first decline in company history
• Exit Strategy
• Target.com supports site design for blind people under legal settlement

I know this couldn't possibly be everything, which events in 2008 were most memorable to you?

Something is going to happen this week at the Gordian Project that I didn't expect when I started work here three years ago. We are beginning our transition to "The Cloud".
 
That's right, we're testing a transitioning of our users over from the clunky and resource intensive (and expen$ive) Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, MSN Live Messenger, etc over to Google's cloud model of Google Apps, Gmailesque email, Google Docs, Google Talk, and Google Sites.

So, this week, I will be "living in the cloud" and completing 100% of my work on email, documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from Google Apps. This may not sound too revolutionary, since Apps has been around for awhile now. But, it's a challenge to transition your daily life away from what you're used to and what's comfortable to you. Over the next several weeks I'll also be transitioning our departments over to Google Apps, one at a time. The initial test is mostly about me ensuring that no individual user will be without key features for which they currently have a critical business need.
 
With any major software or interface change, there will be some user soreness. I fully expect moans and groans from a number of users that don't know what to expect. So, we're going to try to make the transition as painless as possible, by adding a function (email, calendar, chat, etc) by individual departments first, then, once all departments have transitioned to a new function of Apps, we'll move on to the next function.
 
We've used Google Apps for some time, but I am curious to see how others have fared in cloud computing for an entire organization. I'll have an update with thoughts and challenges once we're fully deployed.

One of our latest projects, which I have been a part of, is optimizing our Amazon store both for dollars and seller metrics to make it a better channel for us to sell through. Our account has been upgraded a few times and we are in a prime spot to really take advantage of the Amazon Marketplace. As part of that journey I continue to be amazed at two things.  The first is how many sellers, buyers and products Amazon has on its website.  It’s amazing that such a site can exist. The second thing that has baffled me is how hard it can be to integrate with Amazon and the amount of support and partnership that can sometimes be lacking or completely unavailable.

I understand that Amazon is the 10 ton gorilla in this arena but at the same time it seems like there might be some issues and limitations with their merchant model. Just to note a few of the areas we have had issues with are: Their entire integration process (although much of it was finally worked out), product normalization (Amazon has an extreme reliance on UPCs), the feedback system (which in some cases I am still unsure if it is calculating right), and customer metrics (we found out the hard way that these metrics play an extremely important role in how Amazon treats your account.  Not only do they play an extremely important role in how your account is measured and judged by their “Seller Performance Team”, but they just started giving sellers access to this information a couple of months ago.  You would think, and maybe this is just me, that if these metrics are so important to the seller’s account status that Amazon would make the reporting on these metrics readily available to sellers… from the get go).

The highlight of one of my frustrations with Amazon was over the phone with a contact that was helping us with our account. After I explained that the first person who had worked with us to upgrade our account (you know during the courting phase of the account upgrade process) was really helpful and talked up partnership, and a better relationship and process with Amazon.  He proceeded to tell me that there was little he could do with the issues I was asking about and mentioned that Amazon was simply too big to help us in that regard. This made me think, “Is Amazon too big to effectively help merchants and will merchants continue to deal with that?”

I’d just like to take a minute out of my day to thank our Manager of Customer Service, Josh, for his management of our internet connection. You see, when we were small and starting out, Josh was there from the beginning and it fell on him to set up our internet connection. Then as we grew, moved, expanded, and moved again, Josh has maintained his maniacal death grip management of our internet connectivity.  In fact, Josh single handedly maintains all of our connection issues, including designing and implementing our VOIP phone system. And a job well done, I might add.

However, up until very recently, we at PlumberSurplus.com were the red-headed step children from the wrong side of the tracks, literally. Well, not the red-headed part, but some of us are step children, and we were definitely on the wrong side of the tracks. Due to the archaic monopoly structure that limits cable service options, our area was serviced by Charter cable, who in turn refused to service our particular building. And although we are a mere stones throw from the regional headquarters of Charter, we have been unable to get Charter high speed internet access due to the fact that we are located 50 feet on the wrong side of the railroad tracks.

So here we are, a fast-growing, expanding company, complete with VOIP (did I mention that the “IP” in “VOIP” refers to internet protocol), sharing a slow T1 connection at several times the price we could pay for high speed cable internet. Download a large file and be ready to become the office pariah and heaven forbid you have a webinar to call into. But thanks to Josh’s relentless pursuit and a little luck, a couple of months ago we finally got Charter to service our area, and now we cruise the internet at true broadband speeds. Ah, life is good. We have become spoiled by our high speed connection, streaming episodes of The Office and playing Sudoku at will.

That is, until the day the sun stopped shining; the day Charter disconnected us. Due to some clerical error on their end, one recent morning Charter disconnected us. The internet was no more. We panicked. We didn’t know what to do. We quickly reverted to our early days before Al Gore invented the internet; selling bathtubs on the street corner, filing invoices in a drawer, and using those calculators with the rolls of paper that keep a record of your every keystroke.

Josh alone remained calm, level-headed, and undaunted. Since we still had our T1 line (dedicated solely to our VOIP system), Josh set about restoring our internet connection via the T1 line. As we set out to restore connectivity to the masses of employees huddled around a stapler, I was concerned. How long would it take? How complicated would the switch over be, and then the subsequent switch back once Charter reconnected us? Fortunately, it took longer to vocalize my fears than it did to enact the redundancy plan.

For Josh had designed the system, spanning two buildings across the street, with redundancy in mind. He simply patched a couple of connections and we were up and running, splitting the T1 connection between our VOIP and networking systems. A couple of hours later when Charter got it all figured out, we simply reversed the process.

The best part is that when Charter made the same mistake the next day, I didn’t even need Josh to restore the connection. As the office descended into panic, I simply walked across the street, made the appropriate connections, and waltzed back into the office full of adoring fans, all thinking I was a networking genius. All thanks to Josh!

Several months ago, we, the staff of Gordian Project, set out to author a blog. Not that all of us immediately found the prospect as inviting as others, but we generally engage a team spirit; thus the eCommerce and Entrepreneurship Blog.

I understood the blog’s driving purpose to be sharing our personal experiences within our given area of discipline as it relates to all things eCommerce. After several months of participation, I thought I would review our blog.

Caveat: I’d never read a blog going into this project, nor had I any desire to. The actual thought of sitting around reading peoples random thoughts makes me feel a bit voyeuristic. After reading Wikipedia’s definition of voyeuristic, it certainly isn’t that. Still, to this day, I’ve had no desire to read blogs other than for the purpose of this review.

I’m not sure it counts as “reading” but the one key area I check out on our blog each month is the Authors section of the home page. The key here is to identify how many posts I have in relation to other staff. I’m not sure what about life turns everything into a competition. This post will launch me forward to eight posts, however, I know I’ve written a couple that haven’t yet made it past the cutting room floor so this number isn’t hard and fast. But going with eight puts me in a respectable position.

Vanessa’s an over achiever at 40, but in all fairness she administrates the blog. I doubt any of her posts have hit the cutting room floor. If light reading and interesting tidbits is your thing, Vanessa’s Variety for the Week delivers. She shares what’s going on around other blog spaces, here at the office, and perhaps her life more than any other contributor.

Matt is our Development Manager. We’re among the elders of the office so I’ve truly appreciated our friendship. I don’t read his posts. I don’t understand what he does beyond the fact that I know he can fix or improve just about any internal process. Any time I walk past his desk he has a monitor filled with gibberish. I simply figure I won’t understand his posts either. Nice picture of his son in his most recent post though.

You might also notice Zach has 11 posts as of today. I’d read his if you only have a few minutes each day. Scanning through his titles, (that counts as reading I don’t care what anyone says) I find his posts most on topic: They include Website Improvements: Test Basic Usability Before Advancing, Google Sitelinks: Capturing My Proverbial Moby Dick, and Google Search Engine Results Pages Illustrated.

As a partner of Gordian Project I have to say bang up job Brian! I particularly enjoyed your Soft Economy Priorities? Time to Paint Your Parking Spaces; that’s leadership.

I’d like to thank Josh for his most recent post, The iPhone 3G Saved My Life. It truly inspired me to write this post. All this time I’d banged my head against the desk trying to come up with another post showcasing the thrilling world of Supply Chain, when all I needed was an iPhone post. Below, the desk I bang my head on as taken with my iPhone.

Over time, you’ll notice that Elizabeth stopped contributing as often. I have mixed emotions on this one. Elizabeth so desired to be a mother and now she is enjoying that gift with her daughter, Kara, as a stay at home mom. Congratulations Liz! However, Elizabeth also worked in Supply Chain and guess what that means, I’ve had to cover Supply Chain blogging without her. Thanks Liz!

I’ve actually loved reading Ellen’s posts for the first time as I prepared for this post. Ellen has taken the reins of a department that everyone loves to hate, HR. She sifts through all the big issues like food programs and political sensitivity. What a fun department to be in. Blog post ideas just shoot across Ellen’s desk, I’m sure. Ellen also manages Accounts Payable but I’ve yet to see a post with any real hard numbers.

Ryan takes his job seriously. He’s building a career, a future. He’s a smart guy who understands this isn’t just a 9 to 5 but an opportunity for him to build a foundation for his future. He’s always learning and looking for how to add value to the company. His posts are read as a “Where’s Ryan?” I just hope he’s not building his resume based on Ryan’s Randomness for the Week of June 20th, 2008.

Tim, as partner, bang up job! Please don’t break your run on providing an image in every post. No one does it better than you.

Our blog was launched just prior to Simon’s moving on to launch his own business. Nice work getting in a post you can use as a business card.

Before you jump to any conclusions about why Emily posted her first and, to this day, last post May 19th 2008, I dare you to read it (Dealing with Difficult Customers: Best Practices for Addressing Customer Complaints). She is right now over there fighting the good fight. Without her and her team keeping those customers happy there’s no need for this eCommerce and Entrepreneurship blog.

And finally I’d like to say welcome to Arianna. She brings so much to the table: customer service experience, multilingual, eye for detail and now she’s a vital part of Supply Chain. FYI Arianna…I’m going to need at least one post a month.

So those are my “collective of experiences, thoughts, processes and updates from people that are not only actively working in ecommerce but are also zealous about the industry.”

Now that the Democratic and Republican National Conventions are over I find myself more excited about this election then I have been in at least six years.  Some of the speeches and pandering to party ideals actually sparked my interest whereas I thought there was no hope a year ago.  Needless to say I think it is exciting especially when close friends and family disagree.  I know, I know, we are supposed to steer clear of religion and politics when in social gatherings, but I think I like to bring it up just to see how people respond.  

• What some are saying about Google's Chrome:
  
  • Google’s Sergey Brin Denies Chrome is OS for Web Apps
  • WebGuild gives their take on the browser.
  • Google has already updated Chrome’s terms of service.
  • Aaron Wall gives his take on how Chrome could affect SEO.
  • Google has added features to analytics to track Chrome.
• FutureNow’s Brian Eisenberg compares eye tracking studies done this year as opposed to 3 years ago and there is a huge difference in the way we view search results pages today.  In fact the study only reiterates the fact that ranking #1 in Google is what all SEO’s should be shooting for.
• Andy Beal lends his support to Twitter and the fact that many believe they were bullied by Google.  I myself loved the image they used during the update.

• Peter Shankman, self proclaimed CEO, Entrepreneur and adventurist has developed a way to become the middleman between publicists and reporters.
• Like politicians, business leaders have to portray themselves in a certain way to the public.  When they are lacking in an area they sometimes have to create publicity that contradicts what the public perceives is lacking.  It’s my opinion that the public likes the goofy laid back ways of Google, and Bill Gates in contrast is often seen as the stuffy type.  Seriously, how often is he not in "Microsoft mode"?  I think that is where the idea for this commercial came from, as he goes one on one with comedian Jerry Seinfeld:

Fish or Cut Bait?  This phrase came to mind this week as I have been putting off some new development to assess our website’s infrastructure. Lately I’d noticed more and more lag time and performance issues and wanted to take a look under the hood before it became a serious problem. Since our current systems were developed, we’ve added scores of thousands of products, orders, and customers to our databases, and experienced high site volume and traffic growth. And while things are still working pretty well, I thought it was time to address these issues.  That is before we hit that next level in daily orders, data storage, etc., and overwhelm our current systems.

Fish or Cut Bait? 

For you land-lubbers unfamiliar with the term “fish or cut bait”, this term refers to the age old fishing operational dilemma: Is my time better spent catching more fish now, or cutting bait so I can catch more fish later? If I decide to fish now, I may catch more fish, but soon I will run out of bait. Or I could cut bait right now, but that means I will not be catching fish. It is a valid question, and one that is almost as inextricable as the “Tastes Great – Less Filling” debate. 

Obviously, fishing is far more appealing. We all get excited when sales pour in, new suppliers are established, new markets are tapped, and new systems are implemented. Fishing is fun. Fishing feels good. Fishing is what makes the world go ‘round.

By contrast, cutting bait is not as exciting. Making the decision to slow growth, delay new supplier relationships, and hold back products until we stabilize shipping performance does not feel very rewarding. Putting off new development projects so that we can optimize database and site performance can feel like we are spinning our wheels and spending time and money on something that “already works”. And cutting mackerel and cod leaves your hands feeling slimy, and you smelling like, well a dead fish.

Why Not Fish and Cut Bait?

In a perfect world, we have fishermen AND bait-cutters. OK, pop quiz: raise your hand if you live and run your business in a perfect world. Unless your hand is raised (and by the way, you probably look a bit foolish to the person sitting next to you), you have to spend some time fishing and some time cutting bait just like the rest of us.

By nature, we want what’s new and exciting. We want to keep pushing ahead, keep forging new paths, and keep growing at a break neck pace. But in reality, sometimes that is the worst thing you can do. We’ve all heard stories of businesses that fail because they grew too fast. That seems paradoxical on the surface, as “growing too fast” generally means more revenue. But if you aren’t prepared to handle the rapid influx of business, you can get buried in the avalanche that you worked so hard to create.

So I encourage you to take a brief time out to sit back, evaluate your operations, and do a quick SWOT analysis before leaping into that next venture. Make sure your systems, procedures, and employees are prepared to handle the growth before you get there. Make sure your site, server, and databases can handle all the traffic you want to drive to it. Invest in the resources it takes to ensure solid operational performance for the sales you want to get. Make sure you are staffed to handle the influx of orders so you don’t overburden your employees. Then rinse and repeat as necessary.

It may not be as thrilling as landing Moby Dick, but then again that didn’t end well for Ahab.