I’m attending and speaking at the first annual Online Market World Conference & Expo in San Francisco
this week.

I think it might actually be my last business trip of the year. (Hooray!!!)

This is going to be a great conference. I’m on the Content Committee and they’re put together a super show with some real experts to discuss everything about selling anything and everything on the Internet.

I’m going to be speaking on Friday about Product Sourcing. Here are the details:

Presentation: Sourcing - Trends and Strategies
Time: Friday October 5, 1:30 - 2:30 PM
Description: Large companies have very sophisticated means of sourcing products and they have volume to justify the deepest discounts. Historically this has hurt small and medium businesses that cannot compete on price because their cost of goods sold is higher. Today, small and large businesses alike have new options that enable the rapid identification of viable suppliers and more affordable pricing options. In this session you’ll learn how you can gain share of market and share of wallet using modern sourcing methods. Speakers: Jeremy Hanks, CEO, Doba. Moderator: Denise Hogue, Director of Education, Terapeak

This week has been interesting. I think it was my shot at my 15 minutes of fame. I’ve been ‘in the news’ 3 times.

First, Utah Business’s cover article for August 2007 was called The State of Small Business: Building the Most Dynamic Economy in the Nation. In this article, Jacob Moon interviews several Utah entrepreneurs about the interactions of cooperation, competition, and Utah specific culture in their efforts to build and grow companies. Recently, the 2007 State New Economy Index, a major study performed by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, ranked Utah # 1 in the country for “economic dynamism” and I put in my $0.02 about some of the challenges and opportunities that Doba has faced and seen in that type of economic environment. I think it’s a great article. And with my call out quote in the article (see pic below), I’m sure the folks running Omniture and MyFamily.com are trembling in their boots cause Doba’s coming for their best and brightest one day!

Note, I only put the pics up so that you could see that: a) I can wear a nice button-down shirt and look good doing it (right on for the Doba green background!), and b) I can wear a nice plain gray t-shirt and look good doing it too. Shoot, maybe I just look good no matter what I wear.

Next, I was Interviewed on Wednesday for the Online Marketing with RSS Ray radio show that is produced by wsRadio.com.

There are 2 segments to the show. In the first segment, I talked about Doba and some of the common challenges and best practices that online sellers could be faced with and should be aware of. The second segment talks more about my books and what I’ll be talking about at Online Market World in San Francisco Oct 3-5. Links to both: Segment 1 Segment 2

Finally, last week, Brad Baldwin from Rocky Mountain Voices came down to interview me about Doba and that was posted up on PodTech yesterday. You can watch the embedded interview below, or visit the Drop Ship Product Sourcing with Doba page at Podtech.

I think that’s what they call a ‘trifecta’ for being in the news: Print, Radio, Video. 15 minutes over, now back to work.

I’m back from Boston and eBay Live! this week.

The conference was great! Lots going on, here are some photos and some highlights:

My book eBay Inventory The Smart Way for sale in the eBay Live! Book Store.

Doba booth filled with people. Met lots of new people, caught up with lots of others.

Adjusting my mic on stage at the 2nd session of our presentation on Product Sourcing that I do with with Lisa Suttora from What Do I Sell and Rob Cowie from Worldwide Brands. Why am I adjusting my mic you might ask? Well, Tuesday night last week I went to a Boston Red Sox game. Major league ball players (and probably others too) get what they call walk up music. As the batter approaches the plate, they play a clip of song of the player’s choice. Some pick country. Some pick rap. Some pick rock. No one picks Celine Dion. Anyway, I’ve always wanted walk up music. I present last, and I worked with the AV guys to play my walk up music so I could warm up for my part of the presentation. And during the walk up music, I jumped off the stage and onto the chairs in the front row to get people a bit crazy. And my mic fell off. Not sure if most people get crazy enough at a presentation such that their mic flys off and about puts out their eye, but that’s how I roll. Especially when my walk up music was the first 30 seconds of Guns and Roses Welcome to the Jungle.

Q&A after the presentation is over.

Perfection. Let me explain. We have a 90 minute session. We present for 60 minutes, 20 minutes each. And then do Q&A for 30 minutes. I started my watch timer for us keep track of time while at the podium the second Lisa started talking. She finished, then Rob went and finished. As I was closing my presentation, I said, “Now we’re going to take some questions.” and at that second, without looking down, I stopped my timer. It shows 1 hour exactly. 60 minutes to the second. If my watch would have tracked hundredths of a second, it would be to the hundreths of a second. Folks, last time I checked, that’s pretty spot on. That’s perfection.

I’m looking forward to eBay Live next year in Chicago. Maybe I’ll see you there.

As I continue my whirlwind travel schedule I find myself in Boston this week for the 5th annual eBay Live event that starts tomorrow.

For the past 2 years I’ve been involved in a panel presentation that covers the basics on how to find products to sell on eBay. I present with Lisa Suttora from What Do I Sell and Rob Cowie from Worldwide Brands. This year, “Product Sourcing - Find Products Buyers Want.” will be presented twice, once on Thursday the 14th at 3:00 p.m. and again at 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning the 15th.

(You can watch my part of the presentation from last year’s eBay Live in Vegas by clicking on the Sourcing Success chapter.)

If you are at the show I’ll be at those presentations and then around the Doba booth #417 off and on throughout the show.

And next week, I’m actually at the office in Utah for an entire week!

I had the opportunity 2 weeks ago to speak on a panel about Product Sourcing Strategies at PeSA’s (Professional eBay Sellers Alliance) Spring 2007 Summit in Chicago.

I’ll be posting more info soon about what I see as trends, best practices, and strategies in the world of Product Sourcing.

PeSA is a great organization, and I consider my ability to be involved with it a great privilege. Doba is one of their partners. PeSA’s Mission Statement is:

The Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PeSA) is a trade association comprised of the largest and most highly-regarded merchants, quantitatively and qualitatively, across all categories on eBay. PeSA provides a forum for members to exchange innovative and creative ideas and business solutions for the purposes of devising and implementing auction marketplace best-practices.

If you’d like to learn more about membership in PeSA, you can visit their membership section of their website. I’d recommend looking into it if you sell on eBay.