NEWS FROM THE WEB!

by gene

Natasha's Café has become the largest seller of Turkish coffee on the web. Every day we ship out Turkish Coffee Gift Sets and Starter Kits, Ibriks and Demitasse Cups to customers in every state and several different countries. Search "Turkish Coffee" on any search engine and there we are…usually number one or two on the list. Turkish? From Kentucky?! The Web makes the old maps look really funny… 

Natashascafe.com has been on the web since 1997. Built only by the two Genes, it all started with a trip to Barnes and Noble to buy one of those very thick books that nobody in his right mind would want to read for pleasure. Webmaster Gene tackles java script, visual basic, and perl, and battles with Photoshop and illustrator. Gene, the Director, chooses the direction, conducts research and marketing. When needed, both pack boxes and ship.

We are proud to say that we have managed to keep up with the fast pace of Web development and do it all "in house." We do our own writing, marketing and customer service, order fulfillment, tracking, and our own photography in a portable studio using digital and 35 mm film cameras.. Our site has expanded to 1700 files, 50 mega bytes, about 140 products in three locations: our main site hosted by INETU in Pennsylvania, Yahoo/Catalog City in southern California and Buy-It Online in Massachusetts.

This year we hired our first "cyber-clerks": Bryan Durall and Scott Thompson. "What is a cyber clerk?" That was heir first question… Now they know. 

Beginning in 2001 we will divide our product line into four different domains, expressing four distinct looks and attitudes. natashascafe.com will continue the Turkish coffee line and expand the kitchen. Our clothes jewelry and artifacts will have a new address…balagula.com, pronounced Ba-la-goo-la…then there is goatsaccordian.com and beetnik.com to develop in our spare time. 

Actually, that's what we are getting next--some spare time. Doing it all ourselves has its rewards (somewhere), but the web is moving too fast. The development bar keeps rising and it's not just time that is required but BIG money. At the present rate of growth, next year our company will reach a benchmark that will demand a major overhaul with costly new software that integrates all our systems …inventories, customers, shipping and the weather in Key West. We are preparing an investment package that will take us to a new level of growth and the first person we'll hire will be an experienced CEO to drive this starship Enterprise. And that's going to leave us with either some spare time or begging for spare change.

We've invited Gae Granville, a CPA having recently retired from the Justice Department to help shape our investment future. Welcome Gae!

Speaking of driving starships, we recently purchased a 1978 750 Honda Super sport just in case. Got a used helmet for sale, anyone? 

New Discoveries for the year.
Traditional 35 mm film is still better than thousand dollar digital cameras. 
Web shoppers like to buy the most expensive item when given a choice.
The picture should never look better than the product. 
Zen Gardens sell well to our customers in Hong Kong.
Web pages are easier to make than newsletters.