This year has brought some changes and challenges for my family. In the long run, these are good changes. In the short term, they are stressful. My dad has owned a road service business that serves the trucking industry for around 18 years. During that time, the way business works has changed radically, moving from being based on paperwork and the print phone book to being based on the internet with cell phones. In addition, a lot of the truck stops have started doing mechanic work and won’t let independent companies like ours onto their property anymore. We used to work with local truck stop owners and share the income from this arrangement. Large corporations have bought many of those truck stops and have strict policies about who can come onto their property to work.

Until this year, my dad didn’t really see the value in bringing his business online. He has realized that we can’t stay competitive if we don’t enter the online arena. Since I am the person in my family with both writing and marketing skills, the job of bringing our business online is mine. This means that I’ve got to learn about and understand the needs of an industry that I really haven’t paid much attention to over the years. I’m also challenged by learning how to market a niche service within a vast number of websites and services. I’m used to marketing and selling cosmetics and food, not service for big rigs and box trucks. Selling cookies and makeup is so easy. Talking about tire pressure and brake pads feels like speaking language from another universe. So I’m interviewing my dad and writing content from those interviews. It’s worth doing, and this is not a comfortable experience for me. I know I’ll be a better person… a better marketing consultant and writer after this. Still, the stakes are really high since my family is depending on me to do this well. Failure isn’t an option.

To add to this mix, we are in an economic recession that is hitting the trucking industry hard. The drought here in Georgia has impacted our crops, the housing industry is in a big slump. and people aren’t buying as many goods right now. Because of this, our business is slow, and I can’t hire a seo firm to help me with some of our marketing. In case you don’t know, seo stands for “search engine optimization.” Seo consultants help companies build good content with good links so the company’s site will be easy for people and search engines to find. When our income was good two years ago, I wanted my dad to let me do what I’m doing now with the help of a consultant. Now he sees the need for it, and I’m on my own. I’ll bet I’m not the only small business webmaster in this boat though.

I’m a little annoyed, mostly overwhelmed, and somewhat frustrated with this situation. I’ll get over all of those feelings, and I’ll make this work or go nuts from trying. I’m spending hours reading search engine marketing blogs, adding content to our site, learning to use social media sites like Facebook, and learning how to use Google’s Adwords and webmaster tools. I’m working somewhere around 12 to 16 hours a day, learning, trying things, and dealing with a bunch of badly-implemented captia.

On the bright side, I’ve made some new friends, found some truly funny people on Twitter, and now know where to go help with using some advanced web design techniques. So as I said, this short-term stress will end up helping me and my family in the long run. I do wish I had a buddy to work with though, someone who is in the same boat and who is working hard to learn the ropes. The companionship would feel good. Instead, most of my friends roll their eyes and stop listening when I try to describe what I’m doing. I’ve learned just to tell people I’m keeping busy and not talk about it most of the time. It’s kind of sad in a way though because I feel like I’ve moved to a new town where no one knows me and it’s somewhere my old friends don’t want to hear about. That will pass too though. I’ll make new friends, and my learning curve should ease up over time so I can begin to have a life again. Meanwhile, I seem to have to carry a lot of worry by myself.

Right now, I need to do something fun and light-hearted. I can’t seem to do it though since so much still needs to be done. I even dreamed about the Google Analytics graphs last night. Not fun! I’m sure I’ll feel better with a little more sleep and some hazelnut coffee. When things are better, I need to get away from my computer for a whole weekend. I need to go to the mountains to a cottage or cabin and just relax in a hot bath full of fragrant bubbles and read mysteries or just be quiet. No phone. No web. And no Google!