(To get the right feel for this script, imagine the cadence of an infomercial.)
When I need something quickly, I contact My Personal Internet Valet.  When I just absolutely have to have it, I contact My Personal Internet Valet.  When I need someone to talk to, I contact My Personal Internet Valet.  Oh me, oh My Personal Internet Valet, how did I survive without you?  You are a life saver.

Let's go to the studio audience and hear what they have to say about My Personal Internet Valet:

Audience Shill Person #1: I never used to shop online.  But now with My Personal Internet Valet, 
                                        I can't imagine doing it any other way.

Audience Shill Person #2: My daughter needed to buy a particular book for school.  I had no idea
                                        where to get it and I just didn't have the time to shop.  No problem,
                                        thanks to My Personal Internet Valet.  We had the book in no time and 
                                        and my daughter got an A+ on her book report.  My Personal
                                        Internet Valet has changed my life.  I love it.

Audience Shill Person #3: I wasn't feeling so good the other night; it was a rough week.  My dog
                                        ate a consulting report that I had produced for a billion dollar company;
                                        I got locked out of my house on, perhaps, the rainiest night of the year;
                                        and I forgot to tape my favorite television show.  Well, those days are
                                        gone thanks to My Personal Internet Valet.  We emailed and talked
                                        about everything, and now I am the President of my very own company.

Audience Shill Person #4: A few of us wanted to get together and watch the big game on the
                                        wide-screen.  Just one problem, no brewskies.  Then someone
                                        said something about this Internet Valet thing.  I'm kind of a "do it
                                        yourselfer" type, but the idea sounded decent, so I figured "what the
                                        hay" and decided to try it.  Let's just say, the brewskies were flowing
                                        in no time thanks to My Personal Internet Valet.  In fact, My
                                        Personal Internet Valet even hung out with us and watched the
                                        game.  Hey, My Personal Internet Valet, what are you doing next
                                        weekend?

There you have it.  No matter who you are or what you need, My Personal Internet Valet is there to serve you and make your life better.  We don't know of anyone else selling a product like this.  If it were available elsewhere, we could imagine it costing several hundred thousand dollars.  Our price is nothing like that.  $150,000?  No.  $50,000?  No.  $5,000?  Uh-uh.  We can do better than that.  For only $39.95, My Personal Internet Valet is ready to step into your life and unlock the secrets to great living.  But wait, there's more....
(end of infomercial script)

I have a lot to say about the concept of My Personal Internet Valet, so please bear with me.  The concept came about from my dissatisfaction with the online alternatives that I was aware of for buying a mattress for Sam's bed (for the complete history, see May 4, May 5, May 6, May 7, May 9, May 10, and May 11).

My diary entry will touch on the concepts of bricks and clicks, becoming an Internet Consumer Entrepreneur (iCE), really understanding the needs and wants of your relationship entity (i.e., your customer), and some differences between a relationship-based and a transaction-based life fulfillment process.

Some brief background notes
About two years ago, I purchased for Ben (the elder of the two boys) a Simmons mattress and boxspring twin set at Costco for about $180.  It is a great set and it continues to perform well.  At that time, Costco also sold a Sealy "mattress only" in twin size for about $90.  It was a fine firm grade, though I was in the market for a mattress and boxspring set.  A friend of ours did purchase this Sealy mattress -- also about two years ago as one of her sons is the same age as Ben -- and she has been delighted with it.

Some mattress exploration
Ben and Sam's beds have drawers underneath and, therefore require a mattress only.  I visited several online furniture and mattress sites in search of a mattress (e.g., furniture.com, living.com, Sit'nSleep, Mattress Discounters).  For all sites that I visited, either the time to delivery was too long or the price was unreasonable to me -- please note that Costco's price for the Sealy mattress and my friend's satisfaction with this mattress were sitting in the back of my mind (i.e., fine quality for $95 with tax excluding delivery).  Costco does sell mattress and boxspring sets online; it does not sell online the mattress only.  The best value that I could find was at Mattress Discounters (you know the jingle: for a good nights sleep on us, it's Mattress Discounters).  For a mattress that was comparable in quality to the one available at Costco (this is my estimation as, perhaps, one is better than the other) and with same day delivery, the final price with delivery and tax would have been $205.95.  I would have perceived this to be somewhat reasonable had I not been aware of the Costco bricks offering.

My mind spins
I thought to myself, "gee, I could pay someone $50-$70 to go to Costco for me and I would still come out way ahead."  And thus was planted the seed for the concept of My Personal Internet Valet.  I then set sail to find someone who would be My Personal Internet Valet.  I did find some people who worked for courier services and as general helpers who were willing to do it for about $70-$90 (my sense was that they felt I was just a bit weird).  I rejected all of them as I learned that I was looking for something more than someone to both receive my electronic order and go fetch the mattress at Costco.  I wanted a venturing partner; someone with the soul and spirit of an entrepreneur who was willing to have a dialogue about and participate in my creation of a new business concept.  In addition, My Personal Internet Valet had to be willing to serve me on a regular basis should I decide to use it.

Then it dawned on me; I knew of someone who just might be right for this.  He is an independent taxi driver who is considering hanging up his medallion in the near future and has a great business sense.  His name is Sam.  We talked for a couple of hours about the concept for My Personal Internet Valet.  He was convinced that it would never make money.  Nevertheless, he was game to test out the concept with me.

Incidentally, much less time and effort would have been involved in getting the mattress through Mattress Discounters.  Using the existing set of online services, I could have had the mattress purchase done in a matter of minutes (or perhaps one hour if one considers all of my online search that was related to obtaining a mattress).  I was aware of this and I did consider buying from Mattress Discounters when the effort involved in creating and implementing My Personal Internet Valet became more time consuming than I had imagined.  In the end, however, something inside me kept saying "you have to do this" and I committed myself to seeing it through no matter how much more complicated, time consuming and involving the process of trying it out.  Getting the mattress became more of an entrepreneurial exercise for spawning new ways of delivering customer satisfaction which might, as a result, advance e-commerce.  I had stepped beyond the bounds of consumer as buyer only.  I was acting as both a consumer who believed he had seen a potentially better way to be served and as a researcher who was curious and wanted to try it out.

The rest is straight forward.  I emailed my request to My Personal Internet Valet.  He went to Costco and obtained the mattress.  Sam slept in his bed for the first time on the evening of May 12, 2000.  I took pictures of the entire process in action (except for the part that took place inside the store, i.e., I did not enter the store) and I will post them when they are developed -- I used my trusty film-based 35mm camera as I have not yet obtained my digital camera, though I am close.  I have also created a new business for getting my digital camera.  I'm not sure whether I will purchase it using this business.  Given the length of this diary entry and that I have a bit more to write about My Personal Internet Valet, I will describe this business when I finally purchase my digital camera.

About My Personal Internet Valet
It is not a delivery service.  At first, that's what I thought it was and then I realized that it is much more than a delivery service; it is about taking caring of someone (i.e., my definition of great service) and having a relationship with someone, granted, with a primary focus on commerce.  My Personal Internet Valet, as I have executed in the case of my mattress purchase, is a bricks and clicks model.  This need not be the case.  I believe, however, that it brings out the full value of My Personal Internet Valet.

My Personal Internet Valet is always thinking of my needs, always communicating with me (as much as I or he wants) in order to learn more about me (and for me to learn more about him) and is always ready to make purchases or obtain information on my behalf.  It so happens that My Personal Internet Valet drives around a lot (after all, he is an independent taxi driver).  He could come across great deals or items that interest me in his travels.  For example, My Personal Internet Valet could be in Chelsea and could be in a store or warehouse for his own reasons.  Further, he might see a great deal on Charmin toilet tissue and buy some for me, knowing that I use it.  If My Personal Internet Valet is not sure whether I like a certain product, he could call or email me on his mobile communication device.  It is important to understand that: 1) I do not necessarily ask My Personal Internet Valet to expressly go get something for me (as this would make the delivery charge fairly hefty -- around $30 to $100 -- which would, in most cases, not result in good value), 2) My Personal Internet Valet can get me items while he is out and about on his own (this keeps the delivery charge down as he is out and about anyway -- I merely pay for the incremental time of loading another item into his cart, loading it into his car and stopping by my house when he happens to be passing by some time), 3) My Personal Internet Valet gets to know me very well (through effective communication methods -- not necessarily by tracking and analyzing my online mouse clicks),  4) My Personal Internet Valet is ready to act automatically or on request at most times,  5) I trust My Personal Internet Valet and he trusts me, and 6) we are in a relationship and we will evolve and learn as we go.

My Personal Internet Valet can get me any item that is available locally; this is why I characterize it as a bricks and clicks model with a delivery aspect that is somewhat similar to that of Peapod.  In the case of this mattress purchase, I was able to obtain an item from a local Costco.

E-commerce industry professionals or venture capitalists would probably want to know whether this concept is scalable (i.e., can it make money).  I don't know.  It served me well, so I did it.  It could very well serve me well again, we'll see.  The concept as defined may not be easily scalable.  Perhaps this concept will spark an idea for someone reading this and that will lead to some better life fulfillment processes that will be profitable for everyone.  If this occurs, then I'm a happy camper (i.e., part of my job is done).

My Personal Internet Valet also enabled me to express a growing interest that I have in the fulfillment process.  My Internet Shopping 24/7 Project Report indicates my belief that fulfillment is going to receive the most attention by online retailers this year (and next year).  In addition, I am looking to get engaged in studying this when this current project winds down.  This concept creation and test was a way for me to check it out a bit.

Oh, one other thing, I did place my Mother's Day dinner order with Homeruns.