Hello Friends,
As many of you probably know already, I had a very tough week. The web site crashed and it took the week (and a lot of money) to get it up and running again. I almost gave up and closed shop, but I was told I can never do that. So, come on, and I’ll explain everything to you.
NEW BUSINESS
There is a lot to share here. All I can say is, please read it — at least the new stuff. If you feel it’s too long, then you will have to figure things out as you go along, or I’ll have to just deal with losing you. Unfortunately, this choice is yours to make, not mine 🙁
THE STORE IS UP AND RUNNING AGAIN!
The web store is fully functional again, so go place your order NOW! You can now make that order you’ve been trying to make. HOWEVER, if you cannot get to the site or store, or have trouble adding items to your cart, you may need to re-set your cache.
THE WEB SITE CRASH
Some how, the web store was riddled with malware. That malware got past my hosts protective services. I discovered that I could and should have paid for a higher level of protection (go figure). I now have the highest level of protection on the site. Once they fixed the basic site, they had to re-load the back-up. Then they discovered more malware in the WordPress side. They cleaned that up for me. Finally, they got things working, but I had to go through and fix all my cache settings. But, after a week of frustration and financial bleeding, the company is up, running and taking orders.
MY RESPONSE TO THIS INCIDENT
I LOVE running the modeling side of TMD. I also LOVE taking care of each of you out there. But I hate this sort of thing. There is more of it in the background than most people know. I share more of it with you than most business owners, but I don’t tell you everything. This side of the business is exhausting. It accounts for as much as half of my work week — sometimes more. However, it costs money, it does not make it. This is the side that had me ready to just quit — and I almost did. In fact, I wanted to quit, but BB put her foot down. You will never hear talk about quitting from me again. That has been forbidden, so this is behind us all.
A NEW SITE IS COMING
The one thing I have decided — and received permission — to do is build a new, simpler and much easier site. I am going to start working on using my hosts site builder program. In the long run, it will save me money. However, it is going to change the look of the current store, as well as the way it works. For most of you, I think this will be a welcomed change, especially since it will be much more phone-friendly. However, for those of you who do not follow our blog page, you are going to have some reasons not to like the new site. This is because I will not be able to post instructions on the new web site. You will have to get them from the blog page. It may be too much for some of you, and I understand. But this is what is going to happen. I am doing it because, from what I understand, this will let me build a store that will be as stable as they come, as protected and as much in my control as it can be without me actually having my own server.
OLD BUSINESS
M10/ACHILLES INSTRUCTION SHEETS
I will get these posted as soon as I can.
OPEN/NEW ORDERS
I now have a few orders, and I am sure more will start rolling in now that we are up and running again. I’ll start sorting them out next week. Until then, I would appreciate your business. Don’t order anything special but, if you had planned to make a purchase in the near future, placing it now would be a big help. Just be a little patient as it will take most of next week to get things running smoothly again.
SHIPPING DELAYS
If you have not been listening to the ‘news,’ then you might not know that the entire U.S. Postal System is slow right now. I won’t bother guessing why this is, I just know that it is true — no matter what the Post Master says. So, like I said before, get used to slow shipping times. They are going to be with us for a while.
NEW RELEASES
The new releases are going to be delayed. I’ll let you know when I decide to post them, but it might not be until we get the new site up and running.
NEXT WEEK
This coming week, I hope to post my aircraft reference book collection on EBay. I also hope to put the shop back in order. If I have time and am in the mood, I might even put in some time on the master bench. Also, if I do not manage to get the M10/Achilles instructions posted this weekend, I’ll figure out how to get that done this coming week.
ON THE BENCH
This is all on hold, sorry.
KARL VAN SWEDEN
Karl is working on the M113. That’s all I know.
THE SHOP
The shop is an absolute wreck, and I have no idea when I will get around to putting it back in order.
THE OFFICE
Given the web site issues, you should be able to guess that the office is competing with the shop for mess of the year.
THAT IS ALL
OK, that’s all I have for now. So, until next time, please stay safe and take care of your loved ones. If you can, try to build something (preferably something using TMD resin).
Joe
Joe, give BB a hug for me. A frustrating week for sure, but I’m glad she pulled you out of that defeatist doldrum you were getting yourself into. Crap happens, things get worked out, and look where you are now? A positive uptick. Don’t hate on me…I’m familiar with what you went through, though not the level you did? Anyhow, I am happy to see that this turned around and you’re still doing what you do.
I smell some 75mm stuff coming…..
Mike
LOL, thanks 🙂
Dear Joe – Glad you got this problem under control and that BB has encouraged you to keep your mojo going. Her support must be a real backstop and feather in your cap!
When you build your new site, please include a one-click way to get to new products, maybe a listing that holds a month’s worth of new products and sends a week’s worth of older products to the main product listing only as each new week’s new products are added.