Alaska’s Finest Seafoods

It is simple, because the company has a responsibility. I will be blatantly honest, I started this business as a means to do better for myself… it is a lifelong dream of mine. In the short time I have been running this business I have learned a lot, that includes staying committed to my word, customer satisfaction and so much more. In turn I’m not only doing better for myself but I am giving back to the online community any way I can.

There is no possible way I will run a profitable business with unhappy customers or employees, the products we sell at Alaska’s Finest Seafoods are amazing and the service has to match that. With the internet there are more scams than ever, so many people out there are ready to steal your money from you and run.

So why should aksfinest care? We cannot afford not to, your trust in us puts food on the table. We inform you the consumer on real issues and even if you leave the website without an order of Jumbo King Crab legs you still go away with a greater knowledge about what may be going on with the Environment, your Health or just how it is to become an Entrepreneur.

As the business grows our responsibility will increase but I am perfectly fine with that, I actually cannot wait. This journey is not about Net profits, it is about redefining the standard for which this business serves you.

I got a call from my Dad last night, I don’t know if I could put a label on the type of relationship we have. He still lives in Alaska and I stay here in Atlanta, GA. We talk maybe twice a month and probably have a heart to heart once or twice a year, last night was one of those conversations.

He gives me his assessment of my situation, I’m 27 and still not married with a business that uses up 80% of my resources. My dad is a military man, hard working.. the epitome of the blue collar worker who is dedicated. I am a hybrid of the blue collar worker but with the entrepreneurial spirit and I believe this is where the problem lies between him and I.

He asks me whether or not I will get anything out of this business, he explains that out of all businesses that are started 90% fail and that while he may not be rich, he is comfortable. I can’t argue with that, the military has been good to my father and he wishes I would have followed in his footsteps. As a young boy I had every intent to, I wanted to be a fighter pilot but I allowed someone else’s opinion kill my spirit. It was explained that I needed to be a mathematical genius to become a pilot and with that I defeated myself before I even tried.

Now I have the opportunity to make the right decision in my heart without letting anyone stop me. I have given up a certain lifestyle and almost every resource I own to get my business going, at this point there is no turning back. Furthermore the feeling I get when a customer replies back that they really enjoyed the product and my service is just an amazing feeling, its like I’m gaining a new friend with each one and I cannot give that up.

The frustrating part is that, I know my dad means well but he doesn’t understand. With great risk comes great reward, and my intent is not to be wealthy but happy.. I’m not happy with where I’m at, I’m excited about where I’m going.. just wish he understood that.

“Item Sold” I will never ever forget the title of that first email, I just sold my first product!!!! Well other than the two that I sold on the website but this was different, I immediately sent an email to the customer thanking them for their business and if there was ANYTHING I can do to make their experience better to let me know. Wait a minute, I just got another email! Same thing, another item sold.. I just outsold my entire year in a matter of two minutes!

Happy does not begin to explain it, it was complete euphoria. The trend continued, and I LOVED giving stellar customer service. (still do) It seemed as if I was shipping out every day, and at that moment I thought to myself.. “you know, I might be on to something here.” The feedback made it ten times better:

“Fantastic seller..excellent product.! Service is outstanding!”

“Excellent deal & quality, superfast shipping for Mother’s day surprize”

“ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW THEY HARDLY FIT IN THE FREEZER WOW “

And I’m thinking, I have finally found my passion. Entrepreneurship brings this emotional high for me. Up until now I have worked a blue collar job that got me by but this.. this is amazing. It was this moment that I knew I made a good decision, I’m definitely on to something.

It actually began a year and a half ago, but I’m just getting around to explaining it. This will be my personal blog, and who am I? Tony, the small town kid from Alaska who runs this joint. I am doing this part of the blog more for personal reference than anything, sometimes this business can feel as if it is going nowhere and times like that I can reflect back to this blog and see how far I have come.

It has been an amazingly long journey and I have only been in this business for 6 months. It took a year to go from concept to a full functional website, and even after a year I’m still working out the kinks.

I’m not really sure where to start, I can go into all of the money and resources I have wasted to get to where I am today but that is all water under the bridge. Every day is a new opportunity, and for me to dwell on the past would be to move in the wrong direction. I will just say I’ve wasted 5 figures on companies who did not deliver as they said they would, I’m spending a fraction of that to fix it.

At this point, I have sold 2 products from my website all year. After 5 months I was faced with a decision, I knew something had to change but I was not sure what. I promoted the site through Google Adwords, I aimed at converting 2% of my targeted traffic but the site was not selling ANYTHING. I began to think maybe I jumped the gun on this business without any chance of it coming together, which is super depressing considering how much time and effort I have put into this.

How could it go wrong? When I did surveys people couldn’t wait for my business to open and now everyone has dissapeared. I gave out samples and people LOVED it, crossed every T and dotted every i.. maybe I was wrong but damnit, I need to know for sure.

I turned to a popular website, where I can put my product on the market and gain exposure. I spent hours setting up the marketing, pictures, prices, everything. Two days went by, nothing.. my head is in my hands coming to the realization that I made a very bad decision, then I get an email..