Here is my true take on the subject...
When you have a business or just sell animals from time to time you have to have a 'brand' which to most is our name, but what people don't realize is that when you refer to yourself as a company for branding purposes to your peers you don't get the effect that you want, the desired effect is the look what we created but not look what WE at blahblah.com can do mere mortals, bow to us and WE at blahblah.com can show you how...okay maybe not that extreme but you get the idea....
To me this is ultimately why alot of folks use their names in their business, once you have established yourself you can link it with the business side....people go entirely way over the top in my eyes.
Business side of things, unless you are doing this as a business turning a profit and paying your bills with this then don't think you need to act like a business, what you need to act like is a fellow herper with the same intentions and treat them the same way that you want to be treated. Don't change who you are and become some overly formal machine and don't count your chickens before they hatch....
On the otherside of the coin if you are doing this as a business ON THE INTERNET then treat it like one, don't have a webpage with ads if you don't check your email but 2 times a week...that drives me freaking nuts, you advertise on the web, want the benefits of the web but treat the common form of communication as an inconvenience that you can't be bothered with.
All in all I want to see people act like people, this is a live animal business no matter what fashion we are involved....I shop the animal first and the person second, both have to be right for me to pull the trigger...this goes both ways and I am sure I have lost a sale here or there due to my overly opinionated stance on things but I would rather be able to speak open and honest to people and treat them as people not buyers.
Jeff
