I am back and finally getting to a post about my 2 weeks as an eCommerce Hippie.

Two solid weeks on the road is tough. It was GOOD to get home. But I had a great time while gone, both personally and also for Doba.

Internet Retailer

So we exhibited at Internet Retailer for the first time. Our booth was made out of cardboard boxes all piled on top of a guy laying in the middle, and it was received very well. People loved it. We had a great show while introducing Doba’s mid-market product (more on that in another post). If you’re involved in eCommerce or eTail, Internet Retailer is a must attend event in my opinion. Next year it is in Boston in June.

Bonnaroo

After Internet Retailer was over, I headed back to Midway airport to meet up with Amy so that we could fly down to Nashville and then head to Bonnaroo. Bonnaroo was bad ass. I know some of you may not be comfortable with a swearword to describe it, but anything else wouldn’t do it justice. It was one of the most fun things I’ve done with Amy. The music was just great, and I think it has broadened my appreciation and tastes in music, and my appetite for it as well. I think Amy and I are both in love with music festivals now. You can see so many bands in such a short period of time, and if you only listen to someone for 30 minutes and head to another performance, you don’t even feel bad. We saw almost 30 different bands over the 4 days. Metallica, Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson, Willie Nelson, BB King, Bluegrass Allstars, and Drive-by Truckers were my favorites of the festival. The people there were so nice. Maybe we all ought to spend more time with hippies most of who are partaking of performance enhancing drugs more often, because it was genuinely a very chill, relaxing, and fun time. The prototype definition of a vacation. Good times at Bonnaroo. I will be back to that festival someday. Guaran-damn-teed. Here’s a few more pics (if you click the slideshow, it will open so you can see all the pics):

Tennessee

After Bonnaroo, we spent 3 days in and around Nashville. We didn’t really have a list of must do things, just saw some great stuff. I think our favorite spot was Franklin which is just south of Nashville. We also saw some plantation and civil war sites. And of course to keep with our live music theme, we attended the Grand Old Opry. I actually enjoyed all of the performances even though it’s country music. Especially since Charlie Daniels closed out the night. And we ate at the Waffle House at least 4 times. That place rocks. All in all, Tennessee was really fun. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it back someday.

eBay Live

We then headed back to Chicago for eBay Live. We had basically planned the same booth as Internet Retailer, but a 10X20 instead of 10X10. It was a huge departure from our previous year’s booths. Again, we had TONS of compliments, photos, and generally all-around feedback that this was the best booth that most people had ever seen. Just need to work on the overall message it conveys, and we’ll be set. Although if I had to pick, I’d go with impactful and memorable all day long if I had to pick that over a specific message. Hopefully next time around we nail the message and the impression.

One of the best parts of our booth this year is that it was a disposable booth. Anyone that’s done tradeshows, and had the privilege of engaging with the Trade Show Mafia and paying outrageous fees for things like drayage fees and unionized labor to assemble giant 20 foot tall booths will appreciate how nice it was for us to be able to at both Internet Retailer and eBay Live literally walk away from the booth. (the shipping and drayage to eBay Live in Boston last year cost us more than our entire show this year). We gave the $30 Ikea chairs to some folks and left. Best moment of my life.

All in all it was a great 2 weeks. The shows for Doba went very well, and Amy and I had a great time on our vacation this year without the kids.

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After this week, I’ll be gone for the next 2 weeks. Being an eCommerce Hippie.

Maybe I should explain. Back in February, I was looking at the schedule of conferences for the next several months, and noticed that Internet Retailer was in Chicago at McCormick Place June 9-11. I attended this conference last year in San Jose and we were in the midst of making plans for Doba to exhibit for the first time since it’s the worlds largest e-retailing show. I then noticed that eBay Live was just over a week later June 19-21, again at McCormick Place in Chicago, and again, we were making plans for Doba to exhibit–for the 5th time at eBay Live.

That very day, I saw a blog post in my RSS reader where the blogger was talking about how he was looking forward to the fact that tickets for the Bonnaroo Music & Art Festival were going on sale in a couple of weeks. Bonnaroo is a four-day, multi-stage camping festival held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee. It’s one of the largest music festivals in the country. I knew about Bonnaroo because of a live recording of Warren Haynes from a previous year. My wife and I were both big fans. The dates for 2008 Bonnaroo were June 12-15. Exactly between the two eCommerce conferences. Nashville, TN is just over an hour flight from Chicago.

2+2=5 in this scenario. It was a perfect opportunity for mine and Amy’s trip without kids this year. Plus, she’ll be able to attend the first day of eBay Live and see me do my presentation on Product Sourcing.

Today, I ship 2 packages together weighing about 75 lbs to Tennessee. It’s all our camping gear for Bonnaroo. You see, Bonnaroo is a camping festival. One could say it’s my chance to be a hippie for 4 days.

Two eCommerce conferences over 6 days. One Hippie musical festival over 4 days. I’m out for the next 2 weeks being an eCommerce Hippie. I’ll be posting more when I get back.

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I headed to New York Sunday for a quick trip to the National Retail Federation 97th Annual Convention and Expo, a.k.a. Retail’s Big Show.

I mainly went to cruise the show and get info and meet a lot of the exhibitors.

I ended up with a bit of extra time on Tuesday, so I headed down to the World Trade Center Site. I’ve never been. I went on a walking tour with Tribute NYC. These tours are led by people whose lives were profoundly changed by September 11th. Each tour is unique and connects those who want to hear stories with those who want to share them. One thing that surprised me is that 75% of my tour was from Europe, mostly England.

My tour was led by Ruth and by Jack.

Ruth is a lifelong Manhattanite and volunteered extensively during the recovery effort and since then. Jack lost his 32 year old son. His son was a firefighter and ran into those buildings. They think his son made it to around the 40th floor carrying over 100 lbs of gear before the building collapsed. If you ever need a way to tell your kids what true heros are, tell them about firefighters and the like that run towards danger and to their own deaths oftentimes to try and help people and save lives. It’s hard for me to comprehend that.

I couldn’t help but feeling a lot of emotion and sadness by the tragedy of it all. But more than that I was proud, because all over that site, things are being rebuilt. I think that’s very entrepreneurial. New York was knocked down by this tragedy. But the site is alive with activity.

Things have been rebuilt and repaired. Buildings will be built there again.

And the tragedy and the lives lost will be remembered. By the memorials that will be completed on the site yes, but I think more by the fact that great people with great spirit rebuilt what was lost. That’s pretty cool if you ask me.

This is a great time of year. Christmas is 5 weeks from today, Thanksgiving is in 2 days, and the New Year starts in 6 weeks. My family is coming tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving here with us. We’ll have 14 people packed into our house, and it will be great! (cross my fingers)

So in the spirit of things, what 3 things are you most thankful for?

I’ll go first.

Family



I have the best family in the world! My wife Amy is so cool she has to live in the freezer or she’ll melt. Kaitlin and Alex are 2 amazing kids, I learn something from them everyday. Something that has surprised me is that a lot of what I learn from them is directly related to entrepreneurship and business. Their support is the key to me doing what I do, and doing what I do makes me very happy. And my extended family is great too. My Dad and Mom really helped turn me into what I am today–guess that might be a negative as much as a positive. I am truly lucky to have such an amazing family.

1. Friends



I have some of the best friends in the world. Friends that will come out adventuring with me. Friends that give me advice. Friends that are just plain awesome. Friends that I don’t tell near enough how thankful I am to be blessed with their friendship and relationship.

2. Entrepreneurship



I love entrepreneurship. It’s who I am to my core. Entrepreneurship can change the world. Not only do entrepreneurs solve problems and make the world a better place, but the very act of entrepreneurship changes those that participate in it and makes them better people. I really feel grateful that I am now in a position to start helping other people chase their entrepreneurship dreams–whether they’re kids selling Sno-cones at Doba, college or high school students, or first-time entrepreneurs.

These might be the ‘book answers’ for this question, but they really are what I am most thankful for. What 3 things are you most thankful for? Comment away. I’m shooting for a new record on comments: 20 from this post. So share thankfulness freely!

Best fortune I’ve ever gotten from one of those little cookies:

Opened that up yesterday at dinner with my wife.

Maybe I should play the lotto numbers on the back.