Headed for the Highway

Tomorrow we're hitting the road again bound for Indio, California.  Instead of preparing for a meriad of trade shows, this trip is for a family event but of course we managed to squeeze some business into the mix or at least are trying to. 

Ryan's grandmother Wilma passed away in June and Saturday her friends are celebrating her life down in California.  We had the service up here in Portland at the tail end of June and this will be the first time we've seen Ryan's grandfather since then.  Even though his entire working career was at the phone company, Ben doesn't really do telephones.  We've tried to outfit his home with amplified models to improve the sound quality so he can hear us but still he seems to be having a difficult time with it. Plus, since he is from a generation that didn't really use computers, he isn't into email either. Needless to say it's been difficult to keep in touch on a regular basis.  So this trip will be nice to check in on him and take care of some odds and ends he might need done around the house.

The original plan for the trip was for Ryan's Uncle to drive with us early tomorrow morning.  He has his own house painting business so time and funds are really tight for him.  Couple that with Oregon's unpredicatable weather and the poor guy never really knows what he is or isn't going to be able to do on any given day.  With the fall weather rapidly changing he was concerned that he wouldn't have time to complete some of the outdoor gigs he had already started and really only felt as though he had enough time to drive up Friday, visit Saturday for the event and drive back home on Sunday.  But after talking with him last night he came to the conclusion that still wasn't a safe bet and he decided that this wasn't a trip he would be able to make.  It was really too bad because I know Ben was eager to have some quality time with him, but in that short amount of time any visit they would have been able to have would be very brief.  I hope he is able to find a better gap in his schedule to make a longer trip down south and spend some bonding time soon.

Not having another passenger makes our schedule a little more flexible, allowing us to complete the new RocLok for Shorty Rossi and bring it down with us.  We are trying to get together with him on Monday sometime.  The tricky part is that Monday is his first day of filming Season 3 of Pit Boss and he doesn't really know when he'll be available.  We really only need to get a couple quick pictures with him and the Dolomite for the website, but even then, who knows what time he will be able to dedicate. The cool part is we may get a chance to see some filming done which would be very fun.  I definately don't want to impose on his time though, good thing he's near the beach we can go enjoy some sun when he's unavailable :)

Normally preparing for a trip can be flustering especially when you run your own business. Not only do you have to pack all the usual clothes, tolietries and alike but as a business owner you have to prepare the office for your absence too.  Thankfully we are living in the digital age.  It really makes life so much more fluid.  We used to bring RocLok inventory with us so that we could ship out online orders when they came in but now that Bert is helping us we can email him the shipping label and he'll drop them off at FedEx for us! Still it is harder to sneek in working hours when your on the road.  I for one get car sick if I'm not driving so I do that while Ryan Tweets and/or Facebooks on the Android.  The bummer is that I'll have a great thought about something to Tweet just as he falls asleep and since I'm driving I can't do anything about it! Oh, well such is life.

We'll both try to update this blog over the next few days away from home, but as we learned at the beach, it's hard to blog without internet! Wish us luck.

Everyone Wants Their Slice of the Pie

Everyone wants their cut of the profits.  However making it in America increases the cost of production and in turn lessens the amount of profit for everyone.  This can make negotiating wholesale prices tricky for us. 

The most important thing to always consider is what consumers can and are willing to pay for the product.  We have to make sure that we keep the cost low enough to be affordable but high enough to cover expenses.  Simple economics yes, but when you factor in the higher prices for goods and services stateside it leaves little wiggle room and can kill potential deals.

When we started selling the St. Helens model in 2008 we thought $49.95 was a fair price.  Originally we thought $39.95 but after factoring all the elements realized that we couldn't afford to operate at that price.  The $49.95 price did not include shipping which runs upwards of $15.  That alone inflated the final sales price to $64.95.  So in May of 2010 I decided we'd try to include the shipping into the price and make all RocLok's an easy $64.95.

The change not only helped our customers feel better about their purchases but it allowed us to offer "keystone" pricing to our vendors.  Keystone as we learned early on is 50% margin or greater.  With our prior prices there as no way of accomplishing this goal.  Some catalog companies required Keystone plus 20% which definitely wasn't going to happen.  Needless to say we weren't sure what we where going to do to get some traction in the marketplace.

From day one we knew we wanted to try and keep as much of the production and raw material sourcing as local as possible.  This meant and continues to mean higher prices on everything from the plastic we use in the injection molding to the tape we use on our packages. However instead of taking the greedy way and having our product mass produced overseas for pennies on the dollar and pocketing the proceeds, we have remained stead fast in our resolve whether that be to the detriment of our financial state or not.

Recently requests have increased from vendors throughout the United States and Internationally wanting to offer our product to their customers. Of course we love this new attention but sometimes it is disheartening to get excited about starting a new business relationship and finding out that we can't make a deal because of margins.  For example our margins are such that we can not afford to bring on a Manufacturer Representatives. 

A Manufacturer Representatives aids as the go between person, introducing your products to large big box chains like The Home Depot for example.  The theory is that they have established a good working relationship with buyers in these chains and have pull as to which products get noticed and ultimately sold in the store.  Obviously they want to be paid for their services as well they should be.  However if the margin is not big enough to begin with bringing a third cut into the mix just won't work.  Thus we haven't had the luxury of having a Manufacturer Rep on team RocLok.

Thankfully with some strategic placement at various trade shows and a lot of luck, our product has garnered the attention of  some large vendors and we have been able to nurture our own relationships.  It definitely wasn't a quick process but doing it ourselves allowed us to learn which has to count for something. I think that grow slowly will prove beneficial to the longevity of the business in the end but it is awfully painful on our bank account so far. They say "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," so if we keep putting one foot in front of the other someday we're bound to get there... right?

Giving Profit to Charity Instead of Google

Yesterday we started try #2 on the rubber mold for the Dolomite RocLok.  The goal is to have that rubber done tomorrow so we can have a completed piece before we leave for Southern California early Friday morning.  Then if the stars align we'll be able to meet up with Shorty Rossi in Venice Beach so that he can take a photo with the new product, after all we're making the Dolomite to support his Pit Bull Rescue.

We received the custom stamps we had made especially for this project on Saturday. They turned out great! I'm always happy when a new online vendor works out well.  Within 24 hours of approving and paying for the stamps the company based out of Massachusetts had them cut and in the mail to us back here in Oregon. It's always a little nerve wrecking trying a new online place especially if you're ordering a custom piece, but if you are ever in the market for stamps I would highly suggest SimonStamp.com as they did a great job and are a US based company to boot! Once the stamp was glued onto the rock we choose for the Dolomite, Ryan was able to get started on the rubber.

We're both excited to see how much money this new RocLok will raise for this charity.  Both Ryan and I feel strongly about trying to give back to the community any way we can but it's really hard to donate money when you can't pay yourself a salary.  So we're thankful that Shorty agreed to work with us on this and fingers crossed it will prove beneficial for us both.  In the past we've tried to raise money for the Cat Adoption Team here in Portland through various sales events. But unfortunately we haven't had a huge amount of success with that... yet.  I am stubbornly clinging to the thought that our fundraising efforts will not be in vain and will help the causes we are trying so desperately to make some money for.

I've been designing printed material for CAT for about 3 years now and in that time have come to really appreciate the work they do for all of the feral cats in need. Also familiar with their financial blight in this recession, I've been keen on the idea of getting them some much needed funds and thought that their supporters would be happy to support the cause and make sure Fluffy was well cared for in their absence.  However, the concept must not have fully sunken in yet. 

Our first attempt to fund raise for CAT was at a Pet Expo a couple years back.  At that time we were selling only one style, the St. Helens, at only $49.95 or $40 since it was a show.  Our profit margin wasn't very good as it was so we really could only afford to donate $5 back on each sale.  Even though it was more than 10% the reception was chilly and one CAT supporter told me he'd rather give the $5 to CAT himself, which I understand completely still it was a bummer.  Attempt #2 was by attending CAT's annual CATnip 5K and Mouse Miler, a bust.  Next we were given a space for an advertisement on the backside of their 2011 annual calendar, yet again a failure. Finally at this years 5K we found success! Sure it was only one sale bringing CAT a mere $15 but it was a sale! My only hope is that with all our attempts we build some synergy and with a couple more attempts CAT supporters will realize that we are seriously trying to fund raise not use the charity as a marketing ploy. 

Unfortunately I think that a lot of businesses exploit charity as a way to get marketing out there.  And while admittedly we are hoping our philanthropic gestures will raise our product awareness and in turn sales, we truly want to help the charities we are dedicating our time and profit share to. In reality it would probably be easier to team up with Home Depot and give them all the profit share, but we want that money to help others not line big businesses pockets. Yeah, you could say that our selling through Walmart or Lowes could create jobs at those retail stores, but does it really?  I personally like knowing where that money is going and what it is helping.

We still depend on Google Adwords and teaming up with larger companies to be able to compete in the marketplace, but I continue to hope that creating a product that stands for something from the beginning will bring us more than monetary riches in the future. A little good Karma has to count for something right?

Does Anyone Really Buy This Junk?

Yesterday was day two of the family get together at the Oregon Coast.  True to form, the day started gloomy and wet.  Since most of the family was occupied with building up the family tree and looking through photos, Ryan and I decided to take a trip in the car to see some of the Antique shops in the area. 

The weather isn't really predictable at Oregon beaches and the water isn't warm enough to swim so most of the little towns offer a series of gift and antique shops to entice visitors and sightseers. Neither Ryan or I had been to this area of the coastline in many years so we drove south from Manzanita Beach to the one street town of Nehalem Bay about 10 mins away. 

The first shop we stopped into was called Hal's Emporium.  It was about 3 blocks long and a block deep, the largest of the 3 shops in town.  Upon entering we found ourselves in a place that was crammed full of souvenirs, and nick knacks.  99% of these "treasures" were mass produced somewhere overseas and marked up way over the value they were worth.  From plastic crabs and brass plates to 'The Head' to The Redneck Beer-o-Meter, the shop had everything you never knew you needed.

All these goodies got my brain going.  My first thought was, does anyone ever buy this junk? Followed by, Why?

I've been a longtime fan of the beach and enjoy browsing the shops on rainy days but over the years I can count on one hand the swag I've brought back from the shore.  4 out of 5 of the items I've ever purchased were tee-shirts.  I get the want to bring back a personalized tee-shirt of the places I've visited.  It's functional.  The occasional magnet, also functional but never have I said to myself, Gee I could really use a plastic pirate skull that doubles as a wine holder.  So back to my first question... Does anyone buy this stuff?

If I was a vendor on the Oregon Coast I would offer products that were handmade locally and were something that you could only find at the beach.  But it seems that most shops spend all their money stocking their shelves with crap that no one needs and every other store along Oregon's 363 miles of shoreline is also offering. 

The shops that do offer crafts from local artisans have dubbed themselves galleries which in my mind spells dollar signs and most of the time disways me from even bothering to leave the car.  9 out of 10 times although the work is gorgeous it is very cost prohibitive and I guess that is why cruising Made in China junk has become a boardwalk standard. 

I do however wonder how these little shops make enough money to keep their doors open year after year. I also wonder if there is some magical catalog of crap that all of these vendors source goods from.  Over my last dozen trips to the coast I don't think I've found anything truly unique at any store unless it was truly an Antique shop.  But even those are being filled with trinket junk.  Couple this with the now standard Outlet Malls and the coast has become less about celebrating the beauty of this natural wonder and more about filling your house with needless clutter.

It's really a sad state of affairs for all of us American product manufacturers whose wares would be lost in a sea of plastic nick knacks if we even attempted to sell in one of these small coastal shops.  If I could speak directly to these shops I would encourage them to branch out and offer the public quality American and/ or locally made products that people can really feel good about bringing back as souvenirs.  The profit may not be as great at first, but once people start to realize that shopping at the coast is worth the extra drive, I think it will increase sales and beach shop traffic.

After our disappointing shopping experience Ryan and I decided to make a trip to the Tillamook Creamery.  Many Americans know them for their cheese but North Westerners also know they make a mean ice cream too. The ice cream was our motivation for the 45 min drive down from Nehalem. Even on a rainy day the place was swamped with visitors buying locally made cheese and filling their faces with ice cream. Sure this is a nationally known product, but I firmly believe that it is the quality of this locally owned and operated product that drew all these people in. The bummer about our trip to the creamy however was that beyond their gift shop once again was filled with junk! However they did have some interesting unique products that were made locally including "Poo Paper," a series of stationary made out of recycled cow patties.  Gross, but I had to commend them on the creativity of that particular product line.  The other product that stood out to me was a bird house crafted by an artist in Tillamook.  You could instantly tell just by looking at it that these bird houses were quality and it wasn't surprising that they were made in town.  The disappointment on this item was that the shop had stuffed it in a low lying shelf amongst other junk instead of displaying it in the window that looked out to the entrance of the building or somewhere else that would give it the presence it deserved. Instead the window display was a clutter of foreign pottery and resin garden art. Totally a bummer. I think that I will write them and give them some feedback.  I'll let you know what they say...

Saturday, September 24, 2011

You know, it’s hard to update a blog without internet.  Since we had missed 2 days I thought I would be able to spend some time updating you on our adventures these last couple days while out with family on the Oregon Coast, but I was wrong.  Apparently Wi-Fi is not as widely available out here, something about relaxing, blah, blah… Well at least I still have Word so I can write down my thoughts and post when internet becomes available again. 

So yesterday we spent the day running around the house frantically unpacking the remaining boxes from the fire and getting our house ready to host a party of 12.  Ryan’s extended family came into town for the first time in years.  His grandparents flew in from Alaska and his aunt, uncle, 2 cousins and their family all came from Nova Scotia, Canada.   This is the first time I’ve met his two cousins Emily and Katherine and Ryan is seeing them for the first time since they were kids.  Needless to say we wanted our house to be in top notch shape.  After several hours and much muscular pain we accomplished our goal and for the first time in a year we have an organized house to come home to.  In preparation for their arrival, Ryan and I made 6 trays of enchilada’s the night before which turned out to be a blessing with all the house work .  After everyone had enjoyed their meals and retired for the night we were both in too much pain to sleep.  Seems making 100 RocLok’s on top of all the cleaning had finally caught up to our bodies.  All I can say is OUCH!

Thursday was our first day of “relaxing” after shipping off our large shipment to Ireland.  It was also day 3 of the networking group.  We had thought we were scheduled to speak to the group.  After my realization last week that this probably wasn’t the right group for us, I felt bad about “pitching” our product to the group without intending on joining.  But we had put our name on the presentation list and it was our day so because we are good about doing what we’ve committed to, both Ryan and I headed over to the pizza place to make our presentation. 

Armed with our trusty rock we came in prepared to stand in front of the group and talk about our product for 10 mins.  The usual suspects started rolling in. Most introduced themselves to us as if it were the first time we had met.  Ryan is much more of the social butterfly then I am so he did most of the talking which was good with me.  Once the meeting commenced we learned that we were off the hook.  For some reason we had been passed over to talk for the day.  That was ok with me since I wasn’t sold on joining the group and didn’t want to come off as those people who just came in to sell something to us.  After all,­­ the group isn’t for selling to others but to make business relationships.  Awkwardness avoided!   Ryan presented his elevator speech and received a great response. 

Still, despite the positive reception I don’t think that this group of people is the right place for us.  It would be fantastic if Ryan was still a Realtor and I was still doing Graphic Design as 99% of the attendees are in the service provider arena.  But selling a product is a different animal all together.  Ideally we’d find an intimate group of other small business professionals to grab a couple of drinks with once a month because when you are trying to make it in America time is at a premium.  I know that we have very few hours in the day to unwind and often find ourselves “working” when the rest of the world is fast asleep.  Heck, I’m supposed to be relaxing right now but I’m writing my blog post because it’s been neglected too long.   It seems that my best attempts of relaxing are always interrupted by my brain these days.  Inspiration comes when you least expect it, and I’ve found that I have to grab it when it comes my way.    

Surviving the Learning Curve

Welcome to my first entry on my new laptop! When my Sony Viao's monitor hinges broke off I was so upset that we had to invest in a new machine.  It's kind of like having to buy a washing machine because it broke rather than because you have the money to get a better model.  Luckily we found this new machine for $399 this afternoon which made both of us very happy. 

Today was a really good day all the way around.  Having boxed up all the RocLok's for Ireland's order yesterday, we were able to spend today getting the pallet together and driving it out to the shipping terminal.  Being our first time shipping a large quantity overseas both Ryan and I were concerned that we would mistakenly miss a step in the process. 

Yesterday I worked on getting the paperwork together for customs.  A total novice, I felt like a fish out of water and started to panic that I was missing something.  Ryan had arraigned all the shipping quotes and since I was tasked with getting the packing slip, commercial invoice and bill of lading together, had to get back up to speed.  I'm sure that was frustrating for the shipping as I kept asking questions that I'm sure they thought were redundant.  Thankfully if they thought that I was annoying they didn't show it at all and were very accommodating and patient.  That made me feel better today even though I'm still a little fearful that I missed something!

While I floundered on the shipping paperwork, Ryan and Bert had to build a crate on top of the pallet to hold all 100 RocLok's.  In a miscalculation of size this pallet load ended up 3 boxes (2 RocLok's and a box of extra lids) too large so the perfect pallet that the guys built had a slight bowed top to it.  Not a problem according to the shipping crew who promised to wrap some plastic around the open areas to keep everything dry.  I think we decided that we'll just use plastic wrap as the "crating" next time around.  Now we know that a pallet will hold 98 RocLok's snugly. 

Loading all the rocks onto the pallet in the back of our old Dodge pick up took a couple hours then Ryan and I headed to the shipper.  Of course by the time we hit the freeway traffic hour(s) was underway and the travel time that should have only been 20 to 30 minutes turned into more like 45 to an hour.  But we made it in time and rewarded our efforts with a couple of soft serve cones at Ikea.

Earlier this evening the shipping company let us know that delivery to Ireland would be sometime in early November.  A lot longer than any of us had expected or hoped for.  But on the bright side it will give me a little more breathing room to get RocLok.ie up and running so we can promote and hopefully pre-sale before the order arrives.  Thankfully we'll be hitting Europe in time for the holiday season which hopefully will drive some gifting sales! 

It feels great to officially be able to say we sell a product internationally! I never imagined that would ever happen and frankly until now it was kind of a scary thought because it seemed like a huge learning curve.  Knock on wood we did everything we needed to correctly and this is the start of great things to come.

Hurry Up and Wait

I had so much I wanted to blog about earlier today and now that the day is over and my body has had time to decompress it's all gone out of my head.  It seems like that has been the way things are going this week for me. That old feeling of being overwhelmed and relaxed at the same time.

After yesterday's manic Monday, I decided to make a list of to do's this morning to guide me through the day.  It was working great until my ADD kicked in and my brain decided to get side tracked again.  All and all the list was very helpful and made me feel more accomplished at the end of the day but still I wish I had been able to cross more off that list today.

I think the really frustrating thing for me today was patience.  Nothing gets to me more than when I have to wait on a response from someone in order to accomplish my goal for the day.  Today seemed to have a lot of waiting.  As hard as I tried it seemed like everytime I tried to start something today the end result was a wait for a reply.  This gets me to another pet peeve of mine, delayed response to emails.

I pride myself on being extremely punctual on emails.  Sure, sometimes I get busy and forget or don't have an answer at the time, but all and all I try to get back to people as quickly as possible even if it's just to say I'm working on it.  So for me it is extremely annoying when someone fails to type out a quick acknowledgment that they received my message.  I guess that gets back to the whole waiting thing which really is the same problem.

While waiting was able to help the guys get the Ireland order boxed up and we were able to get all 100 pieces ready to be put onto the pallet tomorrow morning so that Ryan and I can drive it out to the port.  It will be so nice to have that order done but it's also scary because sales have really sucked this month! I can't explain what the problem is but we only had 10 visits to our website on Friday which is as bad as it gets.  I don't even remember the last time we had so few.  So after we get the order out my goal is going to be to get that traffic back up which is going to be harder now that my laptop has bit the dust.  On top of that I still have to build the new website for RocLok Ireland, man I'm going to be busy!

Hopefully I'll have time earlier tomorrow to write my post here so that all my great ideas don't fall out of my head.  Until then, sleep well everyone!

What A Day

Ok, well the day was interesting to say the least.

It started well by catching the delivery guy with the last of the chemicals we needed for out Foam In Place Machine for packaging.  We thought we would have everything last Friday, but it did not arrive.  I called to check on the status of the delivery but did not hear back, happened to be driving through the complex, the driver saw our truck and whistled. 

A few hours later the technicians came over to revise the settings on our machine so it could run the new material that is better for the environment.  Because this is a new product and it turns out we were the first order in the region the techs did not know how to set it up.  An hour of messing with it, then an hour to wait for the guy who knew more to arrive, then a little more time and we were all set to go. 

I ended up having to tear down one of the pumps, clean it up before switching to the new stuff.  That took a few hours because the stuff had crystalized and was very hard.  So now that most of the day was burned we called it a day around 4:30Pm.  Hopefully we will be able to package all 100 units tomorrow.

The other thing that we found this morning was that the 50 RocLoks we stained yesterday looked a little purple or blue.  We had just purchased more stain and apparently it was not mixed perfect...  so we had to fix the mix, then touch up 50 then stain the remaining 50. 

Overall we made some good progress at work today but it seemed like two steps forward and a step back all day.

The real kicker was when we got home, I noticed that someone had stolen the fenders and exhaust from my donor truck (for the 39 build).  Melanie went inside while I was looking around to see what else was stolen.  Our dog had puked on the floor and she cleaned it up (what a way to end the day).  She grabbed her laptop to finish her blog post and the hinges snapped off, the screen fell back on her lap.  It was not a cheap laptop, it was a Sony Viao and was over $2,000 when we got it.  Well my opinion was that Sony had great marketing and ok products...  I guess I was right their products are not as good as many others on the market they just make everyone think they are better.

There were loads of other fun moments throughout the day, including a terrible experience with the Fed/Ex Kinkos near our office...  Melanie will tell you all about that when she has access to a computer again.  I will just say that at least with that office of Kinkos customer care is dead, buried and has maggots running through it.

Well thanks for following another day in the life of us, trying to Make It In America

-Ryan

Bring On Tomorrow

As I was staining RocLok's this morning I started to reflect on how far we've come over the last 3 years.  When we started the business we were making rocks out back in our 800 square foot pull shed. 

Even though it was insulated at one time, the pull shed had suffered damage during an ice storm a year or so before we started RocLok.  The damage made the shop humid and hot in the summers and bone chillingly cold in the winter time.  As an added "feature" turning on the heaters in the winter time caused the metal walls to condensate and as a result it "rained" inside! Because we work with powdered materials (cement for example) the heater was never turned on making for a very cold day.  

In addition to the freezing air temperature, the water faucet in the shed only provided cold water, this made molding rocks that much more uncomfortable.  For more than 2 years we layered up, trudged through the muddy backyard to the musty shop and made rocks. 

If the glamour of the job wasn't fulfilling enough, during this time we were also enjoying a serious downturn in funds.  Coming from a job that is classified as self-employment (Realtor) to starting a new business, unemployment benefits were never an option for us.  Coupled with the lack of jobs and we found ourselves between a rock and a hard place, literally.  We had no savings, a $3,000/month house payment and no fast way to make any money.  The design clients I had were predominately in the Real Estate industry and didn't have any money to invest in branding so Ryan and I were up a creek without a paddle. Getting RocLok to float was the only option.

I don't care what economists label this time in history, it felt (sometimes still does feel) like the depression to me.  I've never experienced more sleepless nights, heartburn and ever present since of doom as I did those first two years.  Sometimes to make myself feel better I'd Google "The Great Depression" and read about all the trials and tribulations people endured, the strength they gained and the better life the enjoyed once prosperity returned.  Knowing that others had lived through tough times and survived made the hopelessness feel a little more bearable. Dreaming that someday our little business would be as successful as some ot the big business of today that was founded during the Depression era, gave me the drive to continue researching and trying new ways to get the RocLok out to the public.

Even though things are still far from stable in our lives, stubbornly holding onto the idea that tomorrow is going to bring great things continues to help me get up every morning with excitement and determination.  I know that learning from the difficulties of yesterday is only going to further our success in the future. Bring on tomorrow!

Saturday Feels Like Wednesday

If you couldn't tell by our lack of posts we are completely exhausted!  Yesterday we fell asleep by 8pm, and it was a Friday! With the shipment to Ireland coming up on Thursday of next week we are working through the weekend to get everything done in time.  Ryan and Bert were able to make the remaining rock models necessary to complete the order today now we have to stain and box up 100 RocLok's so we can pack then up and ship them across the pond. 

On top of the increased production, Ryan's extended family is starting a family reunion this Thursday and we are still frantically unpacking from the fire.  Thankfully his parents dropped by this afternoon and help clean up all the packing paper and bubble wrap.  The best way to describe the mess was a Christmas Morning from Hell.  We literally had enough paper to fill the living room from floor to ceiling twice and now have a pile of flattened boxes that are as tall as I am (5'2").  Starting to have our home back feels so nice. It's taking awhile but I think in the end we'll be more organized than before the event happened.

A month before the fire our dog Kahlua wandered out of the yard in the middle of the night.  When we woke up we couldn't find him and after driving out to the pound we learned he was killed by a car.  The shock of loosing our baby broke our hearts and both feel into a depression.  As a result the house was in bad shape when the fire happened.  Now almost a year later it is painfully apparent how dark that month had been on us.  In a way the fire allowed us to heal away from home and now we can start with a clean slate. I think that having a more positive outlook is going to help us strengthen all the aspects of our lives including the growth of the business.

Well, we have to get over to the shop early again tomorrow, good night all.

Networking: Take Two

Today was my second week attending the new networking meeting.  While Ryan and Bert were slaving away making more inventory for Ireland, I met up with the group at the pizza place. 

Initially I thought that joining a group like this would allow Ryan and I to interact with other business owners, bounce ideas off fresh minds and get out of the office once a week.  Unfortunately after today's meeting I began to wonder whether or not this is the group for us.

Don't get me wrong, the people are all super nice and enthusiast about their businesses and networking, that isn't the problem.  The thing is that over the last 3 years I've forced myself to become a master of my craft.  From designing our website, teaching myself the ins and outs of online marketing and learning the ways of SEO, to having to perfect the art of accounting (well, trying to).  Even with all this knowledge I have a long way to go and I'm always looking to expand and grow.  Here in-lies the problem.

A lot of the business owners in the group are sole proprietorship companies much like we were a couple of years ago.  They focus on referral based leads in the immediate area near their prospective businesses.  We on the other hand have graduated to larger commerce and are working on building relationships with like minded fields and companies in addition to our maintaining and growing our existing client based. Our business and the other businesses in the group are worlds apart.  After talking with a couple group members today this "truth" came into focus and as much as I hate to admit it I think that next weeks meeting will be our last.

Coming to this realization today really disturbed me.  My initial reaction to the thoughts going through my head was, "wow, what a business snob!"  I'm the first to admit that I do not know everything there is to know about how to run a business but I also know that the balance of benefit is not in my favor and now I'm left wondering where we will find the "right" group of people to add our 'Mastermind'.  If you aren't familiar with what a Mastermind is, it was something I picked up from the book Think and Grow Rich.  The philosophy that you surround yourself with success and thus become successful in return.  Basically, you fake it until you make it or assimilate with those you admire and learn from them to grow yourself.  The trouble now is, how do we find these people? Oh, well I'll save that task for another day -  To Be Continued...     

Ramblings From A Tired Brain

Today was supposed to be our halfway mark on the production for our Ireland order. Fortunately we have had some good sales which dwindled our inventory just enough that we will have to do 7 straight days of production, then another 3-4 days of finishing and boxing. I am already tired, I worked out for several hours after working yesterday, it felt great at the time but I guess that was not a good idea.

Fortunately we do have a wonderful employee Burt, he agreed to a 10 day work week. The real impressive thing is that this was supposed to be a part time gig for him so he has another job. I gave him the option of taking a day off this weekend, it would not be great for our timing so I was happy he was willing to stick in there. I guess he was a US Marine, so hard work and perseverance are in his blood. It is one thing for Melanie to work day in and day out for our business, but when you have an employee who shows the same level of commitment you know you have a good worker.

The other thing that set us back is that I had made another round of molds for this weeks production, but the material did not set right and we had to throw it all away. 2 days of work and $200 in materials sitting in the garbage, that was Monday. Fortunately most of the material came off our originals but one did not, and of course it was the one we really needed more molds for.

We ordered more shipping materials this week, and hope they arrive before the end of the week so there is no delays in packaging. There are so many elements to an order like this, we not only have to produce the product but have to plan materials, freight, and everything a week in advance. At the end of production I am tired, dusty, covered in concrete and sweat, by the time I get home and get cleaned up the east coast is already closed for the day.

I was hoping to finalize the molds for the star of Pit Boss, Shorty Rossi next week but it looks like it may be delayed a week due to the mold issues we had and the order we are working on. We are finalizing the imprinted logo for Shorty's Charities for his exclusive model. I am glad that we are able to support several different charities, and support local vendors, suppliers and employees. Business may not be booming but we are still committed to give back.

So there is the day in a nut shell from a tired brain.

Thanks for your interest in our blog!

Tuesday

Only 15 days into it and we already missed an entry, darn it! But we have a good excuse, I promise!!! 

As some of you Facebook friends may know by now we landed our first ever International distributorship in Ireland.  He purchased a pallet of 100 RocLok's, 20 of each style, and now we have the monumental task of producing all of that inventory on top of the everyday orders we get.  As part of the arraignment we're also supplying our new business partner with branded RocLok Ireland materials including a website, brochure, business cards and boxes.  Needless to say as the only designer on staff I'm a very busy lady.

Ryan and Bert of extra busy as well doing hours of mixing, molding, de-molding and staining so that hopefully we can get all the product onto the boat no later than next Thursday. 

Most days we are afforded the luxury of picking our own hours and because none of us are "morning" people we usually agree that later is better.  Unfortunately for our beauty sleep we have been getting up at the crack of dawn to beat the summer heat here at the shop.  For the last couple of weeks working in here past noon was miserable to say the least.  Add to that the physical labor and that mini heater under my desk (the computer) and we are all feeling pretty yucky by the time it's time to throw in the towel.  Thankfully, if we actually believe what the weather man has to say, we can look forward to cooler temperatures the rest of the week! Feeling optimistic that the Meteorologist is on the mark this time we decided that tomorrow will begin at a much more palatable 10am. 

If jamming out 100 rocks in 6 days wasn't busy enough we are also working on a new RocLok model for our friend the Pit Boss, Shorty Rossi.  With the success of his reality show on Animal Planet still ramping up we are so fortunate to be teaming up with him to raise awareness of his cause and our product while also bringing some charitable donations his way.  Not wanting to miss out on every possible aspect that this huge opportunity could provide, my thinking cap has been working overtime on new, creative ways to spark excitement about the launch of the rock we've dubbed "The Dolomite." 

In case your not familiar, The Dolomite Mountain Range is located in Northern Italy.  This has some significance in a couple ways.  Firstly, when studying in Italy Ryan and a classmate hiked up this particular range.  Since he really isn't an avid hiker, this was one adventure that he prides during his stay.  Because we know that Shorty is proud of his Italian heritage we wanted to pay homage to that so again Dolomite seemed fitting.  Our resident rock specialist Bert, (did I mention he was studing to be a geologist?) had some initial concerns about the name and the rock we chose, but once we explained he's good with it :) It's funny that before we started this business I never really paid much attention to rocks but now I'd rather fill my yard with them than plants!

Well it looks like Ryan is ready to call it a night here at the shop and we have to make it over to FedEx before the Ground Shippments go out.  So I guess what I'm saying is until tomorrow world, sleep well!

The Day that Stood Still

It's funny how certain moments in time seem to stay as fresh in our memories as though they only happened yesterday.  Anyone who was alive in America on September 11, 2001 can probably tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing on that day.  For me the day started with a phone call from my mom telling me that we were under attack.  Not really awake I didn't fully grasp what she was talking about, that is until I turned on the television just as another plane flew into the World Trade Center in New York City.

Living all the way on the other side of the United States I wasn't afraid for my personal safety, looking back I'd say left in a state of shock was more like it.  From the time I rolled out of bed that morning we were glued to the television.  As events unfolded that day it became even more shocking to watch. 

Ryan and I had only been married for 2 months at this point, and were both working sales jobs to pay the bills as well as finishing up our college degrees.  I remember not wanting to leave for work that evening because the grief I felt for those poor people who had been killed weighed heavily on my mind.  I did force myself out the door, however after a few hours at the deserted department store it was clear no one was in a good place and I went home early. 

Looking back on the last ten years I am amazed at all the change that has occurred in my own life. Marriage, 3 career changes, 3 houses, my parents divorce, the loss of all of my grandparents and Ryan's grandmother. It almost seems as though this last decade defined my entire life as an adult.  With all that I can't even begin to image how the last 10 years has changed the lives of those who lost someone they loved on that faithful day.  Loosing someone is hard enough, but when you loose them unexpectedly, without warning, without closure it's a million times more difficult.  My only hope is that those left behind have had time to heal without regret and that the pain they have felt these last 10 years has transformed into fond remembrance for those they lost.

Murphy's Law

On Wednesday this week I had the perfect blog update figured out in my head. How we are trying to do our part for the environment, choosing vendors who supply good products that are environmentally friendly, and riding the motorcycle to work to save gas.

Well Murphy’s law went into effect on Thursday. Riding the motorcycle into the office because we did not have a lot of orders to ship out, we felt good that we were saving fuel and being earth conscience. Later in the day we ordered new chemicals for our packaging machine, and found out that our supplier now offers a foam with a higher percentage of soy and additional environmentally friendly materials. Although we are still struggling we decided that spending an extra 10% to do our part for the environment and to support companies who are investing in reducing our reliance on petroleum was worth it. Talking with our supplier further, we also found that they make the products we use for the USA in the USA. Additionally they have plants that create zero waste manufacturing; any scraps created are re-ground and used again.

After that I was feeling great about what we are doing to help everyone and the environment. We finished packing up the order put it into a back pack and headed off to Fed/Ex. We were only at the entrance to the business park when we were stopped at a stop sign and a red light came on, on the motorcycle. We have had little issues with it before so I figured it was nothing. When there was finally a break in traffic I started to drive off and the rear end spun out, as I looked down I noticed oil was everywhere. The motorcycle then died and I got to walk back to the shop. On our way back I started to realize what had happened, the Oil Filter bolt snapped off and the plate that holds all of the engine and transmission oil fell out. The oil gushed out of the engine over the next 400 feet before I came to a stop. I am just glad I was stopped when the motorcycle shut it’s self off, and that I did not crash from the oil slick I created. In the end no one was hurt, just another case of bad luck I guess.

After all the good things we had tried to do for the environment that day, a bolt breaks and I spill oil all over the road. I hate Murphy’s law. I have another brand new bolt on order and will keep trying to ride to work on production only days so we can reduce our carbon footprint. Our Employee rides the transit system into work. So we are all trying to do our part and provide the best product possible in the world.

Ding Dong the House is Gone!

If someone had asked me 4 years ago if I would be happy if my house went back to the bank, I would have thought that they were completely insane to even ask.  How could someone be happy that a home they worked so hard to make their own was taken away because they couldn't afford to stay there? 

We bought the house because of the tremendous amount of potential we saw in it.  The 4,200 square foot split level was on a double lot in a quiet neighborhood.  We saw through the green indoor/outdoor carpeting, the dated mirrored  fireplace and the dreadful baby blue and pink walls and invisioned a home that we could live in for a very long time. 

As soon as the papers were signed and the keys handed over we promptly took down the two walls that had boxed in the original 1969 era kitchen.  Ryan was working long hours in Real Estate so progress was slow going on weekends only.  Within a couple months Ryan's parents returned from a 2 year trip overseas and decided to move into our basement to help us expedite the renovations.  While Ryan worked, his dad and I got to work taking down the popcorn ceiling, handing drywall and building "the continent" a massive 11 foot by 6 foot curved island that now stood where the walls used to.  His mom helped by preparing meals and keeping our working area tidy. 

The kitchen took 10 months to complete and in all honesty was not completely done when we departed in November of 2009.  Over the years the multitude of projects continued to grow and none were ever fully completed. For those of you who have seen 1986's The Money Pit you get the picture. It seemed like new "improvements" were constantly popping up over the 5 years we lived there.  We never did ever get a chance to sleep in the master bedroom in all that time. 

We had grand dreams of enlarging the masterbed room, gabling the hipped roof to something less split level etc., etc.  But we were always working to afford the mortgage, the cars and buy the tools needed to get the job done.  We were completely exhausted.  As a result the lawn often went unmowed, the weeds grew uncontrollably and my resentment for this monster house continued to grow.  Still when financial trouble started brewing in early 2008 giving up the house was not an option.  We had too much time and money into it to leave it all behind. I remember one day after struggling to make the mortgage payments for another month I broke down in tears, terrified that we were going to loose our house. It was unfathomable. The stress of it caused me to contract Shingles and sent me in to a deep depression.  When they say that loosing your house is like coping with a loved ones death, they are not joking. Even though Ryan had been in the business of REO properties (homes that have been foreclosed on) for years it was no less devastating.  No one was more surprised than myself when I woke up one Fall morning and decided to hold up the white flag.  There was absolutely no possible way to keep the house, especially not while trying to start a new business at the same time. The $3,500/month payments were out of control. The only responsible thing to do was to pack up, move out and ask the bank to take the house back as a Deed in Lieu.

As we quickly found out the bank was too consumed with other defaulted homes and had no urgency to get our debt off the books. A multitude of phone calls trying to get the issue resolved fell on deaf ears. We maintained the house payment for almost a full year after moving funded by money we barrowed from family.  At one point I called into the mortgage company to try and arrange a resolution and was told that until my account was in default they were unable to help me. That's when we decided to give up all together. Now 2 years later they have finally taken the house to the county steps for auction, at least that is what the latest notice we recieved said. 

I'm not proud to have been foreclosed on.  In my family foreclosure was always viewed as the worst thing that someone could ever do.  You take the responsiblity and live with the consequences. I carried a sense of guilt about my decision for years after we left.  I feared Ryan blammed me for forcing him to leave the house, that he would forever be resentful of that.  But now as time has passed I am relieved that I made that hard decision and thankful that we have a warm place to sleep at night.  I know someday we will have the big house again although I'm working on conviencing Ryan that we only need 2,100!

New Faces

Today was a good day.  A good friend of mine told me about a new networking group early in the week so today Ryan and I decided to check it out.  It has been many years since either of us have participated in a "leads" group but since unlike most this meeting takes place at 11:30 instead of 7am we thought it would be a great way to get out and meet some new people.

If you've ever done a networking group before you are probably familiar with the ins and outs. First the mingling, than introducing yourself and/or business (perfecting your elevator speech), followed by a presentation from one of the members of the group.  Today's speaker was a marketer who spoke about the basics of SEO (search engine optimization) a subject I've become all too familiar with over the years with RocLok's website. Although his talk wasn't new information to me, I could tell that it was informative to most of the other members and I was happy to see so many of them taking the information to heart for the betterment of their businesses. 

Other members included a writing coach, CPA, an independent car salesman, a travel agent, natural path, life insurance salesman, health insurance salesman, a CPR trainer and a water purification specialist.  Unfortunately my friend a Real Estate Broker wasn't able to make it.  As the only 2 people sitting in a pizza parlor with a couple of rocks on the table you can image we made an impression.  It definitely felt awkward walking into a restaurant with rocks in our hands, the employees must have thought we were wackos!  

Since both Ryan and I felt good about the people in the group we decided to sign on for our own "talk" in a couple of weeks.  I'm thinking that we should discuss the reasons why every business owner should be hiding a key outside.  Although I don't hold high hopes of landing any sales from the group, it will be nice to bounce ideas off of them to gage interest levels in various topics we think will help drive awareness and sales.  Hopefully I will have a writers brain tomorrow and can finally piece together the blog I've been working on for weeks about this subject.

Well, it's been hot in Portland for the last couple of days and today was no exception.  I've been diligently working out on the elliptical every night for the last 3 weeks and needless to say the combination has left me exhausted! Because of this tonight's post is going to be shorter than most, hopefully I'll have more energy tomorrow to chat more.  Good night world.

Slow Growing Pains

Yesterday was a good day for sales. Definitely made us feel better after a painfully slow sales stint this last long holiday weekend. Our year long relationship with Amazon.com is continuing to grow and they ordered 8 RocLok's of varying styles which we shipped out to 4 of their many hubs throughout the United States.  Our new relationship with a mcuh smaller .com shop is also proving itself producing a new sale every Monday for the last month. To top it all off our partnership with Brookstone.com has finally come to fruition and we are officially available on their site as well.

All of the excitement from yesterday made for a busy day at the shop today.  We were able to have our part time helper come in early and we knocked out the orders in a record 3.5 hours including making another 8 RocLok's which we'll demold tomorrow.  When we hired our very first employee in May we had high hopes of having him work 3 days each and every week.  Unfortunately things aren't growing quite as quickly as we had hoped and for now he is happy to help out whenever we need an extra hand.

We could not have been more fortunate than to find our team member Bert.  When we placed an ad for minimum wage ($8.50/hr) we feared we would never find a responsible, detail oriented person who would be willing to work for such a low wage.  Obviously we'd love to have hired someone for a lot more but it's difficult to pay anyone anything when you can't even pay yourself!  In today's poor economic climate I was shocked that a couple people actually wrote in on the ad angry that we were only willing to pay $8.50/ hour.  We even interviewed a few people who openly admitted that they would rather milk their unemployment benefits over taking a job for such low pay.  Ultimately we received well over 30 applicants for the job, interviewed 16, chose 6 more to participate in a 2nd interview and fortunately decided on our new friend Bert, a former Marine who is studying towards a degree in Geology with the help of his GI Bill.

One of the things that impressed us with Bert is his willingness to stay busy and build his career goals.  I've often wondered what kind of person works twirling a sign on the street corner for business promotion.  Honestly, I always assumed that the people standing on the corner were either high-school drop outs, homeless or people with some criminal record that impeded them from getting any other job.  I was beyond wrong! You see Bert also works as what he calls the "Advertising Specialist" at a local firearms dealer in the area.  He initially took that job to get a foot into the door with the hopes of becoming a salesman at the shop.  So far he has been disappointed by the lack of upward mobility still he diligently shows up for his duties each and every time he is needed. The poor guy often comes back to our place beat red from standing in the blaring heat of the summer all day long.

If all goes well in the next few months, we pray that we can bring Bert in on a more permanent full time basis. To loose such an amazing asset to our company would be a travesty to say the least.  For now we'll continue to play it day by day and shoot for a brighter tomorrow. Good night everyone.

Rock Through the Window

Driving a billboard around town attracts attention.  Sometimes good, sometimes well...

Yesterday we stopped off at the gas station. Here in Oregon we are not allowed by law to pump our our fuel. As usual we let the gentleman know how much we needed and a conversation ensued about what a RocLok was. Here's the interesting part, instead of wanting to know more about our product the attendant's immediate comment was "how about gluing the rock to the top of the car so you don't get locked out of your vehicle?"  Obviously meant as sarcasm I made the mistake of engaging, joking that having a rock on the hood of your car might takes away from the hiding aspect of the product. To which he retorted

"yeah, and they would probably take it off and throw it through the window!" 

The throw it through the window comment seems to be by far the thing we hear the most from people when they first see the RocLok. When people first started coining this phrase I admit it irritated me. Personally I've never had a house window broken out by a rock and don't often hear about cat burglars running around town breaking into homes with rocks. Still this among all other possible comments is the most popular, hands down! So I've come to embrace it and adopted the old if you can't beat them join them theory. 

However, hearing this yesterday I started to think, what does this answer say about people's psyche's? Where does this reluctance to accept something new come from? I'm guilty of it and from the numerous trade show appearances we've made over the years, it seems most people are.  What compels us to want to run away or hide behind sarcasm instead of taking 2 mins to learn about something new?

For me, I think it is that deep fear of being sold to.  I fear that if I learn about something, I might be "tricked" into buying it. So really I guess it's my own fear about lacking  the will power not to purchase an item that drives my reaction. 

Now that the roles are reversed I have to remember that everyone has their own reason to be adverse to learning about a new product.  Perhaps that is why television sales are so successful.  No interaction with another person, no fear of having to say no, or getting into a debate about why you don't need the thing they are trying to sell you. You can make an "informed decision" in your pajamas from the security of your own home. Even better if the sales person on the tube annoys you, just change the channel!

Still it's hard to accept this truth when you are trying to grab attention for your new product  If you push too hard people push back with reasons why they don't need it, if you don't push enough noone knows you exist.  It's really a balancing act and after 3 years of learning what works and what doesn't I've found out first hand what an art form sales and marketing really is. All I know is that instead of getting frustrated when someone suggests our rocks should be shaped like a dog turd, or annoyed every time someone proudly announces "they'll just steal my rock!" I just have to remember that they are just deflecting their discomfort with being sold to and it has nothing to do with the merit of my product.  At least that is what I'll keep telling myself.

Hands

Through my years I am amazed at how lucky I am to have my hands.  My hands have been through a lot, when fairly young I almost shot off my left pointer finger.  The bone was shattered, the finger nail gone, but after a short while it was back to mostly normal.  As life progressed and my desire to always work with my hands with wood working projects, hobbies or whatever I had many cuts and scrapes.

As I grew older I focused more on sales type jobs giving my hands a much needed repreve, signing documents and typing out contracts.  Then in 2001 my wife and I bought our second house, a spacious 4,400 Sf house that was very dated.  The day the house closed we demolished the walls around the kitchen, and took out the kitchen.  Over the next many months we re-built the kitchen, living and dining rooms all into one huge great room all the while I was working over 60 hours per week in Real Estate.  Throughout the next 7 years we continued to remodel that house and we were hooked on remodeling.  We bought and flipped a few other houses, meaning more cuts scrapes and scars on my poor hands.

At times I feel like the Terminator, where he is able to regenerate after seemingly impossible odds.  Yes it happens in the matter of a few seconds while it takes me a month.  But while tearing out our driveway I was pushing a large broken piece of concrete into the Backhoe bucket, unfortunatley I did not move fast enough and the 300 pound piece stopped when my hand hit the bucket of the backhoe.  Again it was my left pointer finger that was laid open by a jagged piece of gravel.  Not one to make a big deal out of it we bandaged it up and got the project done.  There is still a scar 5 years later, but as I said I am amazed at how well it healed.

My hands had no idea what I had in store for them when we decided to launch the RocLok.  From the chemical burns, to the bumps scrapes and cuts I keep stressing out my poor hands.  As time progressed I was able to find better gloves and save them from a little pain.  They still get stuck between a RocLok and a hard place, still get chemical burns and still are cut.  Just a month or two ago while working on a prototype part for the truck I am building, my left hand (again) got caught up in a router while milling some aluminum.  This was one of the more serious injuries I have had, I had to clean it up, get it ready for transport, and drive home because of course I was alone.  I was very lucky that the large vein was not ruptured, but laying just at the surface.  The doctor was able to close up the .5" X 3" hole, and 10 days later the stitches came out and amazingly it was mostly healed.

Having built a condo for people with disabilities, I never imagined I would be living here nor that I would need everything here.  I am still very lucky I know many people with amblitory issues and I could not imagine life without my hands.  No matter what I have done to them, they keep coming back for more and holding on till the end.  When I have a migrane I can release tension in my neck and reduce the pain, I can give Melanie a massage, I am building a truck, and making RocLoks. 

Everyone should be happy for the small miracles each day, be happy for what you have no matter how small and ignore all the bad stuff.  Yeah I have been hit by a car, lost my dog, grandparents, all my life savings, my house, and so much more, but at the end of the day I still am very lucky.  Look for the positive elements in life not the negative, life is a self fulfilling prophicy don't make yourself miserable, get out and enjoy life.  If you have the fortune to have two functional hands look down at them and realize how lucky you really are to be able to have 10 fingers moving independantly allowing you to things so much easier than many other people. 

Lazy Sunday

Today was one of those rare "lazy" days.  One of those days when you feel really anxious to go out and conquer the world, but have absolutely no drive to do it if that makes any sense. I have consumed myself with work so intensely over the past 3 years that working has become my biggest hobby.  Sometimes I worry that this new found passion has taken over and that I might loose my sense of fun and excitment for other hobbies I used to enjoy.  

I suppose it is great that I enjoy what I do so much.  I love the challenge of trying to problem solve and the creativity it brings out in me.  I think I've become a better writer and have realized some talents I never really knew I had.  Still it is frustrating that I don't draw as much as I used to. Before computers I spent the majority of my free time creating.  Mostly in the form of illustrating or sewing but always working with my hands.  Now a days, I toil away on this black box researching and brainstorming. A while back I implemented a "no-computer weekend" rule for myself hoping that it would refresh my brain and spark new outlets for creativity.  I definately helped my stress level and rekindled my enthusiasm for work once Monday roled along but I also got a little bored.  The silly thing is I have so much to do around the house its amazing that anyone could find themselves bored.  I think that is why I'm bored, who wants to spent their free time doing mindless chores?  At least when I'm working on work related stuff I'm able to expand my horizons, I can't say that about doing the dishes.

Well tomorrow is the last day in a long weekend and while I'm sure there are alot of people out there wishing that it would never end, I can't wait for business to get back to normal. It's been a long 5 days without any sales which is par for the course on these "sudo" holiday weekends. I say sudo because it seems like marketers have tainted the meaning of the holiday's with ads about their HUGE (fill-in the blank) DAY SALES.  Not even Memorial Day or Martin Luther King Day is spared from retailer need to compete for customers.  The sad thing is that small businesses like ours can't even dream about competing with these guys and so every long holiday weekend we take a week with no pay. It makes it hard to want to "celebrate."

I can only hope that our lack of sales is simply because people are out enjoying their last days of fun in the sun.  If we were in the position camping might have been a nice way to spend the last 3 days but with the high price of fuel and limited funds, it wasn't an option this year. With that, here's to a more prosperous week ahead, onward!

Another Day in...

Last night we stayed up late and slept in this morning.  Enjoying coffee and the blueberry pancakes I made, I thought about how nice it was to be able to cook breakfast at home again since we have our house back now.  We both have to lose a fair amount of weight after living in hotels and eating out for every meal for the last 10 months.  Melanie has been much better at getting back into the exercise routine, and has only had a few days off the elliptical machine since we moved back into our house.

Although many of you are out enjoying the holiday weekend, we had to go to the office to take care of some stuff today.  It is nice to be able to work when we want and where we want.  Unfortunately the AC at work is down and it flooded my office last week.  The landlord said it was fixed by week's end, but unfortunately that was not the case and today was another hot day, keeping it around 90 degrees inside the shop.  Due to the heat we cut the day short.

Since I did not have a lot of work stuff to take care of at the office, I was able to complete a little more on the truck I am restoring. For those of you who do not know, I am building a 1939 Dodge 1.5 ton truck.  I started with a mostly complete and fairly good truck, then I took a 1995 Dodge Ram and stripped them both down. I will be using the Cummins Diesel engine from the newer truck, the wiring all to modernize the 1939. I love the look of old cars and trucks, so don’t worry I am keeping the look of the original 1939 truck. I am customizing the original gauges to operate with the new engine and show the speeds that we are more accustomed to today. One good thing is that the 1939 engine and the 1995 both have a similar look, the diesel is mechanical and I will try to maintain a relatively original look under the hood.

Because the axles and springs were about 80 years old I decided to upgrade them to something out of a 1999 GMC Topkick, this also gave me full disc brakes, a ratio in the rear that allows me to go over 35 MPH, and a much greater handling capacity. In the end it should be one amazing truck, and very useful in the business. We will be able to load pallets onto the rear lift gate and roll them onto the truck, and drop them off at the port for our international retailers.

I am sure you can tell the truck is a passion of mine and something I can not wait to finish. But the business comes first, so money and/or time for the project is hard to come by. Luckily we have many of the parts we need for a while, and there is still a lot of welding which is mostly time and very little cost.

Overall today was a good day, we got some work done, we got a little of the truck completed and we took a little break from everything. Fortunately the condo we live in now is very well insulated and unlike the shop it remained a pleasant 72 degrees inside. Until we can get the AC fixed at the shop it looks like we will be doing a lot more work from the house. Part of the reason it gets so hot at the shop is because we have a brewery in the space behind us, their place is always hot and the whole complex is not insulated between units. The good part is that even in the winter we do not need to turn on the heat.

Well thank you for following,

-Ryan

Inventors Point Of View

Yesterday while at the office a person came in and tried (unsuccessfully) to sell me tape...  yes a door to door tapes sales person.  He tried to tell me how it would help my business blah blah but in the end we do not use tape in manufacturing.  We make a rock, and make it solid, no tape holding it together.  In the conversation he asked if I invented it and brought it to market, I did and he was impresses.

Knowing that there would not be a tape sale, he mentioned that he had an invention.  I asked what it was and he replied he could not tell me.  I enjoy helping others realize their dreams so I gave him several realities of starting a business or bringing an invention to market. 

The first misconception is that you have the best idea in the world and that you can not tell anyone about it because they are going to steal it.  The reality is that you may very well have a great idea, but telling people about it allows you to talk with potential customers about what they would want.  And they may save you from wasting years of your life and tons of money on a bad idea. 

Another reality is that it takes a lot of passion time and money to bring something to market.  Most people do not have all of those attributes and many are not as passionate about your idea as you are.  If your idea is so easy to replicate that just by mentioning it they can beat you to market...  there is no barrier to entry and even when you bring it to market you can be quickly and easily taken over by people with more money time or passion. 

So make sure that there is key differentiators to your idea, something that makes it unique, and that there are attributes that are not easily duplicated.  Most of your friends or colleagues will not want to spend $50K on special tooling to make your product so that could be a barrier to entry.  However it would not be wise to tell the industry leaders or companies (that would be your competition) what you are planning.  Again they have more passion (they are already in the market) they have more money, and they have existing market share.  So there is a point where you should keep things close to the chest.  Don't go out telling everyone exactly how you will make it, but telling them the idea, and seeing their reaction is good.  Ask people what they would pay for such a thing.

If your idea is revolutionary and something you need to educate your customers about, it will take longer to get market share.  That means more time marketing spending money and not making any money.  Be prepared to lose everything you have, everything you own to make your idea a reality.  You can say this will not happen to you because I am smart, I have money, I have connections...  but in the end that will just delay the inevitable.  If you talk to most successful inventors, you will hear that they had huge hardship before things got good again.  I was one of those people who said it would not be me, I had a nice 4,400 sf house worth over $750,000 about half of which was equity, I had other Real Estate that added to my equity.  I had savings from years of making over $100,000 per year.  I had two degrees from a good business school, one in Advertising Management and one in Marketing.  I started my first business when I was only 10 years old, and was in sales most of my life.  So I thought I had this thing beat!  Needless to say 2008 was a huge reality check, I gave up my old income to devote the time needed to build my business.  The market crashed and I was not able to sell that house, I lost $400,000 in Real Estate because I no longer had the income to cover the payments.  Our savings went into the tooling, inventory materials and marketing.  We had sales so things seemed like they would pick up and start paying us instead of us paying to keep afloat.  For the first two years we still were growing, and still did not have any debt...  Well the savings was gone so we started to borrow some money to pay for marketing front the materials and pay for some other large expenses.  Today we are still growing, some weeks we make good income but then we have a bust week and it is all gone again.

Unlike most people who can go to work, and be paid for their efforts or time.  Being a business owner or inventor everyday is an expense, leased space, electricity, phone...  all of the stuff needs to be paid.  Even when you make a sale you need to buy more stuff to make another product so you can do it again another day.  Having come from sales it was not far different, but the risk and expenses are a lot more than being a sales person.  A sales person is selling a known product, not trying to carve out a market for their invention.  I remember vacation time, sick pay and benefits, now I offer those to my employees but never have a day off and never get paid for every hour I work.

If your invention is a deviation from something already available you may have an easier time than trying to tell people why they need a $65 rock, but the competition can take you out faster and easier.  So everything is a give and take and should be considered before taking any step.  You always need to look forward, learn from the past and when you make a decision do it.  There should be a good reason to do or not do something so don't waste time and money changing your mind all of the time.  If you receive feedback or evidence that you made the wrong choice (it will happen) then think about everything again and make another choice.  Nothing just happens, you make it happen so don't waste time complaining about what happened.

By now you are wondering why people try to invent things or start new businesses, well the answer is simple for me.  I love what I do, I have learned a lot about what is important and what is not.  In the end hopefully it will all pay off.  The harder I work now the more likely I am to reduce the time when life sucks in the middle.  I am living the American dream, I had an idea, I built it into a product and have been building a market for my product.   I am not anyone special, I was not born with a trust fund, I am just a regular guy like you.  I am building my product in the USA, and make it from US materials, and am creating jobs here.  I not only give income to my suppliers, but as a manufacturer I add another product to my vendors product line and increase their odds of making a sale.  I also have had the fortune to be able to offer a job to an ex US Marine who now assists in manufacturing.  This all makes me feel good, I like knowing that I am keeping money flowing in our economy.  I love having a product that I made, it feels better than when I just shuffled paperwork.  Yeah I made more money but I never had anything to show for it.

One other pitfall I have seen is that people spend too much time and money trying to make prototypes before making sure the product is viable.  Don't spend 5 years perfecting your idea, just go to your garage, shop or whatever and put together something yourself.  It will not be perfect, but you should be able to see the flaws immediately, see the things that increase complexity and therefore add the most to the cost.  You can also think about what makes your invention different and better.  It was after I had made my prototypes that I finally went to a designer to have specific parts designed and made.  I could have wasted all my savings trying to design it first, but by having a functioning prototype the design was fast, it worked and cost a lot less.  I actually went to my first trade show with my prototype, I was into the trade show for over $5,000 I met with the largest industry leaders all with a prototype that I made in my garage.  It was not perfect, but then my potential clients (vendors) could tell me what they cared about, what they wanted different all before I had paid for a design or made it perfect.  This was also good because I could feel out pricing before I fixed the costs to manufacture the product.

After telling the tape sales person all of that he kept saying don't tell me that, and he still refused to tell me the base idea of his invention.  Oh, well not everyone listens.  I know how hard it is to tell people about your invention, I was there myself.  Yes you should be cautions but if you never tell anyone about it you will never sell it.

Another thing to consider is how you manufacture the product, if you ship it overseas to be made, you no longer have control over the process.  Your design may be compromised, leading to your competition duplicating your product.  No matter where you make it this could happen, so just be careful who you get in bed with. 

I congratulate all of you who have ideas, I commend all of those who make the idea into a reality!  Just remember that you are jumping on a crazy roller coaster and in the end it could end up good or bad, enjoy the ride as much as you can.  Don't be scared to give everything up for a dream, if no one took risks life would be boring and technology would not be nearly advanced as it is.  Did the first astronaut think it was the smartest and safest idea to strap himself inside a missile?  Probably not, but look where it has taken us.

If you are already halfway down the roller coaster of life and business, keep your focus on what is important.  Don't get hung up on the fact that your life may have been easier before you started this, just keep plugging away.  Some days will just suck, that is life.  You may think you finally hit bottom, then it gets worse, that is life hang in there and make the best out of it. 

Memories of My Moronic Marketing Mishaps

Days like today make me nervous. It seems like just before any holiday traffic on our website goes down the drain. No matter what I try it just doesn't seem to get people to buy.

Monday was a good sales day, we received 6 orders and things were looking great, then Tuesday came along and now day three of no sales and I get start to get anxious.

The unknown sucks. Sometimes it seems like getting a steady 40 hour 9 to 5 would make life so much easier. But then I remember that everyone is out of work and that even working for someone else doesn't guarantee shelter from the unknown. So I continue to cling to the belief that as long as I put one foot in front of the other and try something new each and every day all of my hard work is worth something and one day it will all come together.... won't it?

Reflecting on everything we've tried over the last three years to get the product noticed makes me wonder if there is anything left. In year one we were pretty green, so I chalk that up to a year of learning the ropes.

There were a couple of rookie moves that really stand out. The first came when I tried to drum up some interest in the RocLok by posting a comment on a bloggers article about being locked outside. What's the big deal right? Well, me in my infinite wisdom thought, "no one wants to be sold to so why not post as a customer who loves the product instead?" FAIL! The blogger researched my email address which wasn't tied to the business but once she figured out my name game over. She was pissed. I tried to explain my thought process but she wasn't having any of it. To her I was just a low life spamming and lying to her audience. I really, deeply did not intend to cause any harm. I just didn't know what the best approach was, I tried and failed. Thankfully the blogger simply deleted my comment rather than lashing out on my actions publicly, I thank my lucky stars for that.

After that crash and burn, I went for the more direct approach and decided to post an article of my own on a local news community board. It was a great article outlining the reasons parents should hide a key for their school aged children. I was very proud of it. As a graphic designer, I wanted to add a photo so I purchased a stock image and submitted both for all of Portland to read.

I'd been following this community page for a while and was well aware that people can get for lack of a better word bitchy. But I'd seen some local vendors post before with good feedback so I thought I'd give it ago. I never expected what was to come. The first poster borated me for spamming on a community page, told me that this was a place for real news. I decided to defend myself, letting her know that it was real news, my life’s news. Her retort, trying to sell fancy rocks is not news, I'd like to throw that rock into the face of the woman in that photo. Enough said. Without haste I wrote the news station to have my posting removed as there was no self post removal button. Probably a cowardly move, but admittedly I'm not one for having the thickest skin in the face of conflict.

After those two extremely humbling experiences I became more cautious on what and where I posted but I never gave up. Instead I read up. Learned everything I could about the good and bad ways to tell the world about my product. I guess the biggest mistake I made was naively thinking that because McDonalds can get away with spamming the world, telling everyone about my little product the same way wouldn't hurt. What I've come to realize is that McDonalds probably gets as much bad feedback from their advertising as I did, but because they are millions of times larger than I am that 1% doesn't affect them. A small business can't afford any negative in the beginning unless that negative is so monumental it sparks a frenzy of media attention which really wasn't the way I wanted to start things off.

It really is hard to draw a line in marketing. Whether it's yourself or a product you created, taking the personal feelings out of the equation is next to impossible. To this day whenever I here a negative comment about the RocLok it hurts. It's like going up to someone and telling them they have an ugly baby. At tradeshows I'm always amazed that more people have something negative to say than positive. Instead of listening to what the vendor has to say we are all programmed to think the worst first. I'm guilty of it too. We don't like to be sold to and companies have sold to us for so long we don't trust anything any of them say anymore. It's kind of sad and it makes it that much harder for us little guys to get a word in.

Ryans Life, day2

Hello World,

Today not much productive happened, we had a appointment with a contractor who was supposed to come out and fix our fridge they damaged over the last 10 months. He came out but the “brand new” door had a huge gouge in it… so another week and maybe we will have that fixed. Throughout the rest of the day I talked with past clients, future clients and a friend from New Hampshire who survived Irene.

I read my friends updates on Facebook and Twitter and no matter how happy I am to see everyone traveling it reminded me of the days when I used to travel. I miss being able to travel, meet new people and see new things. When I proposed to Melanie, I flew her to Italy, a train ride with Prosecco (Italian champagne) ended in Verona Italy, and took her to Juliet’s Balcony and dinner at a place owned by the family the Montague’s were based on. Throughout the rest of her stay we went throughout Spain, France, Italy, Morocco, Greece and many other wonderful places. In total I traveled to 14 European counties by 21, throughout most of the lower 48 states, and a few trips on Cruise liners in the Bahamas. Life was good.

I do not regret the amount of time I spent building my Real Estate career or giving up everything I owned to start a new business in the USA… But at times it is hard and at many times I hope that it will all pay off. I was on my way to retirement by 40 with a nice 4400Sf house and all the toys I could want, but now that is all a distant memory. Living in Hotels for the last 10 months waiting for my condo to be repaired after the fire has given me a interesting perspective. The funniest part to me was that I owned three houses and did not have a place to live. I have learned to live with almost nothing, in small spaces and a life on the road living out of one suitcase. I have literally been able to pack up and move in under fifteen minutes, which is both impressive and sad at the same time.

Well those are my thoughts for the day, welcome to our blog and our lives.