So how easy is easy?

Jim Tyler (a.k.a. Diamond Jim) is a magician who lives in Mesquite Texas. Jim manages a small entertainment business with one employee, himself. Jim worked his way through college performing his sleight-of-hand at private parties, restaurants, and various corporate functions. Over the years he has performed for companies and organizations as diverse as AT&T, ABC Television, PepsiCo, MBNA, McDonalds, Kraft Foods and even the Boy Scouts of America.

Despite having an impressive list of references, Jim knows that like any small business he must spend a considerable amount of his time marketing his services to new clients. Jim turned to the Web to solve his marketing dilemma. He applied for his domain, www.diamond-jim.com and purchased Microsoft’s FrontPage software. In a matter of months, he was generating thousands of dollars of new bookings as a result of the inquiries received from his online brochure.

How does he do it? Jim’s occupation as a magician may be uncommon, but his business and marketing challenges are the same as your business. He faces the identical problem of maximizing his time and money in order to generate new business. When performing his close-up magic routine, he builds rapport with the clients by telling jokes and answering questions. 

At the end of his performance he distributes his business card and asks that he be considered if ever there is a need to entertain friends or business associates. Jim encourages these “prospects” to visit his Web site, listed on his card, to learn more about what he can do for them.

If you visit Diamond Jim’s Web site, you will notice that he advises his visitors to call or e-mail him for additional information regarding his services. However, Jim also sells magic books, and commercial magic tricks from his online store. Jim is not peddling a catalog full of widgets, the majority of his income comes from offline activities. 

Is Diamond Jim doing e-commerce? 

Absolutely! Funds do not have to be exchanged “online” for a sale to be attributed to, or considered part of electronic commerce. Jim does a marvelous job of combining e-commerce with his highly specialized services via his electronic brochure. What then, is the accurate definition of electronic commerce? 

For the financial types, e-commerce is THE buzzword today, but how do we define e-commerce for small business?