Deadliest Catch vs. Your eCommerse Website- Kaboodle Gifts

Okay I admit this is a bit off topic for the title of the Blog. Even though that may be, there are still several comparisons that can be made. If you are unfamiliar with the Deadliest Catch it is a television series about crab fisherman in the Bearing Sea of Alaska during King crab and Opilio crab season. Here is a short video of what kinds of obstacles that they face:




Now that you have taken a peek at the You Tube video lets talk about the comparisons:

OBSTACLES:
Can you imagine trying to do a job in 20,30, or 40 foot seas? It almost seems to be overwhelming. Just like when you first made the decision to go into business for yourself. Sure the decision was easy, but little did you know what kinds of seas you would have to weather. Like for instance how do I register my business name with the local, state, and federal governments? Who do I pick for my accountant? Do I need an attourney? What do I name my website? How do I register my website and with whom? Do I file as a DBA, LLC,or Corporation?



Now lets look at the guys from Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch and some of their obstacles; five guys working on a pitching and listing deck, working in temperatures that get as low as 40 degrees below zero, working 20 hours straight and often more, dealing with rogue waves, often catching little on no crab,having to invest long hours dialing in the crab.

TEAM WORK:
Often times when you own your own business you have to wear the many hats that go along with that business. Even more so because there are no employees involved. Not only are you the owner but you are the department head for sales, marketing, customer service , shipping and receiving, repairs, and the production manager. the nice thing about being your own boss is that you don't have to go through the chain of command to make major decisions, but then again every decision you make is gut wrenching. You have to make all things work because you are the team.

For the guys of Discovery's Deadliest Catch team work is everything. Each member of the crew has a job to do be it operating the launcher, block, crane or the greenhorn that makes the bait. When something goes wrong and someone gets hurt as is often the case the other team members need to pick the pace up and fill in for the injured crew member. Even though each crew member has his job they still need to know all of the jobs to make the team gel together.

GOAL ORIENTED:
My definition of the word goal is nothing more than a dream with a date attached to it. You can't measure any aspect of your business if you don't have goals set. Setting down i front of your computer with a list of goals to complete not only lets you measure your success in your business but also shows you how far along you have come with your business. When you set your goals they need to be realistic goals. If you want to sell $2000.00 worth of product for a week then you need to ask yourself what you need to do to achieve that goal. If you want to add 100 new names to your newsletter database then you have to ask yourself how do I achieve that. You really end up talking to yourself a lot and answering yourself when you own your business.

Goals don't have to big. They can be small goals. For the guys on the Bearing Sea often their goal is to come back homes to the families in one piece, not have any accidents aboard ship, fill thier holds with crab. What may seem like simple goals to one person are huge goals to another. The point being is that by setting your goals wheather they are short term or long term you have something to chase. If you set your goals for the moon but miss you will still land amongst the stars.

REWARDS:
The guys on the fishing vessels of The Deadliest Catch reward themselves for the job that they do. When you set goals you need to reward yourself for achieving those goals. One of the major goals on a crab boat is to fill their quota. Often times these boats will have a King Crab season that brings in one million pounds of crab. The monetary reward for a crew member can be $50,000. Say they set a goal of one million pounds and now they have been rewarded for their efforts in achieving that goal. Another example of being rewarded a goal they set at sea is setting a string of pots. The crew members know that once the sting is set, which often takes 20 hours they will be rewarded with a 3 hour nap.

When you are the owner of your business you need to do the same, reward yourself for achieving your goals. This might mean a monetary reward, this might mean sleep after you have worked 12,16, or 20 hours. This might mean eating your favorite meal after selling $1000.00 of product. Just as your goals are yours to set so are your rewards.

PERSEVERANCE:
This is key to anything that you do in life. If you own your own business, work for someone else, or have had a heart attack. YOU NEED TO PERSEVERE! In the online world there are thousands of sites that go up and then come down on a constant basis. You are doing business in a fluid environment that is constantly changing. The kids need to go to soccer games, you are busy coding your site, your spouse had a bad day at work and wants to vent. Basically the car is sick and the wife wont start! Persevere! There is nothing that you can't achieve if you set your mind to it.

Perseverance for a crab boat captain is making sure that they get through the season to do it all over again. Perserverance is getting through the 40 foot seas and pulling pots that weigh 1000 pounds. Perserverance is pulling the crew member out of the Bearing Sea after he got caught in the rigging that pulled him overboard.

HAVING FUN:
There is no point in doing anything if you can't have fun at it while you are doing it. This applies not only to owning your own business and fishing in the bearing sea but to anything that you do. One way the captains from Dutch Harbor have fun is to pull pranks on one another. Usually this involves hoisting flour bags that explode when being pulled though the block. This season was different what the captains thought were pots full of crab turned out to be Port-O-Potties and pick up trucks. Now can you imagine this, thinking that you have a full pot of crab to sort but finding out that you have a 3/4 ton pick up truck that you have to bring on board. Yeah your right, no sense of humor there.

Conclusion:
It doesn't matter what you do in life. It all comes down to having a core set of skills for each vocation. Hopefully the comparisons made here have shed that light and given a bit of inspiration to those that may feel a bit overwhelmed.