Post Boot Camp Interview With Peter Massey From TheAfternoon.com

Over the course of the most recent Solid Cactus Boot Camp we enjoyed many activities, from the presentations to the nightlife. Boot Campers went home with plenty of fresh e-commerce knowledge and funny stories to hold them over until our next Boot Camp.

As Solid Cactus team members, we don’t have as many opportunities as we’d like to hear what the attendees liked best about Boot Camp. We find ourselves happily and busily rushing about, fielding questions, and getting to know our clients on a more personal level.

I decided to take one of the opportunities I did have to talk to one attendee who attended our most recent Boot Camp. After a week of trying to find a free moment in the busy calendar of Peter Massey, owner of TheAfternoon.com, I was able to gain some insight into what he thought of his experience.

Peter said he enjoyed all aspects of Boot Camp from meeting the team of people who work hard every day on his store, to the infamous Karaoke Night, presentations, and Magic Show at the closing of the Boot Camp Festivities. There was no time wasted in making face-to-face introductions. Peter said that “face time is important”, and having the chance to meet and “get into each other’s heads” really is beneficial when moving forward with either Store Development or Marketing projects on the horizon.

This was true with the 2 hour strategy session where Shana Cavuto, George Sisco, Kevin Baranowski and I hammered out future plans for TheAfternoon.com, as well as the aside that Kurt Illian and Peter got to have. Kurt was one of Peter’s first contacts here at Solid Cactus, and Peter said it was nice to see that Kurt “still takes interest in my site” after all this time.

When it came to presentations, Peter found most of the presentations very helpful and is using the design, marketing, and optimization tips he picked to make improvements to TheAfternoon.com. He says his favorite part of the presentations is Site Deconstruction because it allows “Solid Cactus to be Solid Cactus,” really breaking everything down to “show what works best and being constructive in their advice.”

When it came to the social events, Peter thought the food was delicious and the restaurants picked for the events were “wonderful.” He also noted that there wasn’t a shortage of entertainment either. He was happy to be able to catch the magic show at the end of the festivities, but the moment that will be forever stuck in his head is when “the Emperor had no clothes.” I’ll let you ask him about that one.