Believe me, I don't want this to sound like I'm not happy for other companies who have garnered exposure for their products and are cashing in on the fruits of their labor. Still its hard not to think "why them and not us?"
Over the course of these difficult 3 years trying to introduce a new product to the world, products like The Snuggie continue to frustrate me! I mean, what does a blanket with sleeves have that a locking rock doesn't? In fact, I'd argue that while the Snuggie can keep you warm after a long day at work, it's more important to be able to get out of the cold in the first place.
To add insult to injury all you have to do is tune into a show like Anthony Sullivan's Pitchman and see all the crap that is churned out of a factory in China and gobbled up by American consumers. Its beyond frustrating, it's down right infuriating! Case in point, on Wednesday of this week ABC News ran a story on a Facebook about a guy in New York who is raking in the dough selling perfumes that smell like Roast Beef! Not only is the thought of smelling like I just worked a 10 hour shift at Arby's completely revolting, but the fact that people are paying 1,000's of dollars (yes 1,000's) for this is beyond comprehension and made exponentially worse because it was featured on national news!!!
After pouring 1,000's and giving up everything we own to give the RocLok a go, its so disheartening that we haven't made our mark yet. I'm not really sure what is going to make that page turn in our favor or if it ever will.
Until then we'll continue to do what we feel is right. Continue to make our little product right here in the USA forsaking a quick buck to build something we can be proud of. We'll continue donating profit to help save animals lives even if it means we have to tough out another Top Ramen dinner and someday, God willing we'll be able to say Take that Snuggie! Until then, I'll continue to vent, thank you for listening!
Showing posts with label hide a key. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hide a key. Show all posts
Friday, November 18, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Finding the Perfect Fit
Over the last couple weeks, I've noticed an increasing amount of stories about US companies finding great new employees from our military veteran community. As one such company I can attest that hiring a veteran was the best decision we have made in business thus far.
Neither Ryan or I had experience hiring an employee. And with a string of bad hires on construction projects over the years, we were scared that we would make the wrong decision when it can time to bring someone on board. In turn it took us 3 years to take a leap of faith.
The tricky part was that the business is not cash positive yet. It pays for rent, utilities, raw goods and marketing every month, but that is all it pays for. Still we felt that bringing on an extra hand made sense to allow Ryan to do what he does best by selling. So we decided to place an advertisement on Craigslist in the gigs section because that section is free. Unfortunately you get what you pay for and we had a series of relatively unmotivated unemployed workers who seemed to feel entitled to having their cake and eating it to. After a few face to face interviews we started to doubt that there was anyone out there who would be able to work for what we could afford and who would have a passion for what we do.
Determined to find someone I convinced Ryan that we should place a formal job posting on Craigslist at a price of $20 for the month. The investment was well worth it. Within a matter of minutes applications were pinging my inbox and continued to for 3 straight days! Of the applicants I'd say that 75% stated some form of military background. Most had been discharged without deployment. Of those 90% were from the Marine Corps. Coming from a strong military family background, I was immediately excited by the possibility of hiring one of these candidates.
However when some of these applicants arrived for the interview it was painfully clear why they were relieved of their duties. Most had served their terms and now lived their life without a future goal and no idea what they wanted out of their lives. Some had family issues which would have proven difficult in our fluctuating schedule and others really needed a structured work environment we knew were couldn't provide.
The economic downturn also left many technologically qualified workers without employment especially with Oregon's high amount of technology fields. Even though we knew that someone with a degree in engineering and or computer aided drafting would likely tire of making rocks quickly we invited a couple into the shop for a sit down. One gentlemen in particular seemed as though he might actually be a good fit. He was determined, focused and sounded like he had his feet on the ground. But once it came time to have him in for the second interview he never responded to our requests and completely fell off the face of the planet.
From the beginning of the process, I felt that a person younger than us, possibly in school would make a good addition to our team. The thought was that younger people can be more open to learning and with little financial burdens they can be a bit more flexible on pay and hours. Going on this theory we talked with 3 candidates who might fit the bill. All three were in their early 20's, high school graduates or GED holders and had experience in a wide range of labor jobs. The first candidate had a young family to support as well as a prior arrest yet we thought he might have the drive we were looking for and we invited him to the 2nd interview. The second candidate had graduated for Ryan and my alma mater and was attending college part time while also raising a small daughter and living with his parents. Again we thought he might be a good fit and we invited him to the 2nd interview. Finally there was a young man who had taken a 1:30 hour bus ride from the other side of town to meet with us. He insisted that the mother of his child with whom he was estranged would allow him to crash at her apartment on the days we needed his help. He was also a recovering alcoholic with only 60 days sobriety under his belt - needless to say a little too much to handle for us.
Two hours before we were going to stop interviewing completely we received an application from a young man with a background in the Marines, who lived very close by, attended part-time classes and held a second job. At that point we'd narrowed our search down to 5 candidates and where pretty decided on one of them but thought we'd give the guy a chance. That decision was the best one we could have ever made.
Bert walked in as our last interview. He had been relieved of duty because of a kidney problem military medics discovered. Having undergone the riggers of basic training his discharge earned him full military benefits including grants to help him continue his education in his chosen field of Geology. He had no priors, no history of addiction and no family drama back home. Really he almost seemed too good to be true. So we asked him to join the other 5 candidates for a walk through of the shop and briefing of the job requirements. He was the first to arrive, the last to leave and the only one who took us up on our offering of Krispy Creme donuts and coffee. As soon as everyone took their leave it was obvious to both Ryan and I that he was the person for the job.
Excited to share the news we offered him the job that afternoon and I made the mistake of announcing it on our Facebook fan page soon after. The reason I say that it was a mistake is because I hadn't thanked all the other 2nd interview candidates yet and one of them was following the page. When he saw that he had not made the cut, he was angry and blasted us publicly for being unprofessional. Really it made him look like a sore looser and once Ryan called to explain he deleted his rant but that incident showed us how close we were to making a very bad decision, we were thankful we dodged that bullet!
One thing this process taught us was that you should never settle for less than we need. Both Ryan and I had decided that our little position was only going to attract someone with little motivation or who had no other means of getting work. We were open to hiring someone who needed to be given a second chance at the expense of our own ethics. I'm glad that someone out there was watching over us and didn't let us settle for less than we needed or deserved.
Neither Ryan or I had experience hiring an employee. And with a string of bad hires on construction projects over the years, we were scared that we would make the wrong decision when it can time to bring someone on board. In turn it took us 3 years to take a leap of faith.
The tricky part was that the business is not cash positive yet. It pays for rent, utilities, raw goods and marketing every month, but that is all it pays for. Still we felt that bringing on an extra hand made sense to allow Ryan to do what he does best by selling. So we decided to place an advertisement on Craigslist in the gigs section because that section is free. Unfortunately you get what you pay for and we had a series of relatively unmotivated unemployed workers who seemed to feel entitled to having their cake and eating it to. After a few face to face interviews we started to doubt that there was anyone out there who would be able to work for what we could afford and who would have a passion for what we do.
Determined to find someone I convinced Ryan that we should place a formal job posting on Craigslist at a price of $20 for the month. The investment was well worth it. Within a matter of minutes applications were pinging my inbox and continued to for 3 straight days! Of the applicants I'd say that 75% stated some form of military background. Most had been discharged without deployment. Of those 90% were from the Marine Corps. Coming from a strong military family background, I was immediately excited by the possibility of hiring one of these candidates.
However when some of these applicants arrived for the interview it was painfully clear why they were relieved of their duties. Most had served their terms and now lived their life without a future goal and no idea what they wanted out of their lives. Some had family issues which would have proven difficult in our fluctuating schedule and others really needed a structured work environment we knew were couldn't provide.
The economic downturn also left many technologically qualified workers without employment especially with Oregon's high amount of technology fields. Even though we knew that someone with a degree in engineering and or computer aided drafting would likely tire of making rocks quickly we invited a couple into the shop for a sit down. One gentlemen in particular seemed as though he might actually be a good fit. He was determined, focused and sounded like he had his feet on the ground. But once it came time to have him in for the second interview he never responded to our requests and completely fell off the face of the planet.
From the beginning of the process, I felt that a person younger than us, possibly in school would make a good addition to our team. The thought was that younger people can be more open to learning and with little financial burdens they can be a bit more flexible on pay and hours. Going on this theory we talked with 3 candidates who might fit the bill. All three were in their early 20's, high school graduates or GED holders and had experience in a wide range of labor jobs. The first candidate had a young family to support as well as a prior arrest yet we thought he might have the drive we were looking for and we invited him to the 2nd interview. The second candidate had graduated for Ryan and my alma mater and was attending college part time while also raising a small daughter and living with his parents. Again we thought he might be a good fit and we invited him to the 2nd interview. Finally there was a young man who had taken a 1:30 hour bus ride from the other side of town to meet with us. He insisted that the mother of his child with whom he was estranged would allow him to crash at her apartment on the days we needed his help. He was also a recovering alcoholic with only 60 days sobriety under his belt - needless to say a little too much to handle for us.
Bert walked in as our last interview. He had been relieved of duty because of a kidney problem military medics discovered. Having undergone the riggers of basic training his discharge earned him full military benefits including grants to help him continue his education in his chosen field of Geology. He had no priors, no history of addiction and no family drama back home. Really he almost seemed too good to be true. So we asked him to join the other 5 candidates for a walk through of the shop and briefing of the job requirements. He was the first to arrive, the last to leave and the only one who took us up on our offering of Krispy Creme donuts and coffee. As soon as everyone took their leave it was obvious to both Ryan and I that he was the person for the job.
Excited to share the news we offered him the job that afternoon and I made the mistake of announcing it on our Facebook fan page soon after. The reason I say that it was a mistake is because I hadn't thanked all the other 2nd interview candidates yet and one of them was following the page. When he saw that he had not made the cut, he was angry and blasted us publicly for being unprofessional. Really it made him look like a sore looser and once Ryan called to explain he deleted his rant but that incident showed us how close we were to making a very bad decision, we were thankful we dodged that bullet!
One thing this process taught us was that you should never settle for less than we need. Both Ryan and I had decided that our little position was only going to attract someone with little motivation or who had no other means of getting work. We were open to hiring someone who needed to be given a second chance at the expense of our own ethics. I'm glad that someone out there was watching over us and didn't let us settle for less than we needed or deserved.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Friends for Life
Life is precious and fragile. It's easy to forget that amongst the daily noise. Spending time in Indio always reminds me of that.
This morning we received a phone call that a good friend of Ryan's grandfather had passed away last night. He was in his 80's, had been fighting disabilities due to Polio most of his adult life and was brought down with a bout of Pneumonia a little while ago. His wife Carol had graciously opened their home to celebrate Ryan's grandmothers life just the day before, despite Bill still being hospitalized.
When Wilma passed back in June, it was Carol and Bill who welcomed weary family members to crash in their guest house and brought over meals during a very difficult time. Their warming presence made things a little less bleak for everyone especially Ryan's grandfather Ben.
With all the busyness of everyday life, friends have not been a large part of my life. I enjoy their company but have been disappointed so many times in the past I guess I've come to the conclusion that the investment is wasted energy. That sounds so horrible when I write it out. I guess my problem with making friends has been much like someone who hasn't found the right life partner. I'm always "dating" the wrong type of person.
Over my lifetime I've had a few friends but none that really stuck if that makes sense. My very first friend Breonna was introduced to my life when we were both toddlers. The daughter of my parents friends, we were "forced" friends and that friendship lasted through our 20's. Breonna was even the Maid of Honor in my wedding. Despite my family moving 1000's of miles away we kept contact through letters and when her dad moved up to Washington we had the opportunity to spend time together on her visits. In essence she was like the sister I never had.
Breonnna and I were very similar in many ways and that similarity caused some rivalry from time to time. I remember one day when we were about 7 years old my parents had purchased me a new Barbie Doll. Excited I immediately boasted about my new treasure to Breonna as soon as she arrived but to my surprise instead of being happy for me she attacked me for being a bragger! I'll never forget the hair pulling brawl that ensued. Funny how something so trivial sticks around and that an innocent word can change your entire perception of yourself. After that day I never bragged about a gift again, in fact I think that is the reason I have a hard time spending money on myself at all. Funny how that one little word made me feel eternally guilty about every personal purchase I've made since.
I was always a shy kid and I think that made some invisible mark on my forehead that told the more assertive kids that I was easy prey. Thankfully for me I come from stubborn, feisty stock that allowed me to dish whatever they through my way back at them. That doesn't mean it did really hurt at the same time. Since I felt like an outcast I gravitated to making friends with the "broken" kids. Mind you they all were great people and like me didn't feel as though they belonged so from that aspect it was a perfect match. Unfortunately being a junior problem solving fanatic, I tended to focus on their problems and less on my own. Great for them, not so good for me. You see when you are the caregiver sometime you get walked all over. That whole survivor of the fittest thing I guess. At some point the person you try desperately to help figures out that you will do anything for them and decides to use that to their advantage. I don't think it's a conscience decision and I don't think it is out of any malice but just that they have adapted to having to fight for themselves and manipulation is an easy way to get what you want.
Unfortunately it took me most of my adult life to realize that issue and a couple of years ago both Ryan and I decided to rid our lives of those kinds of friends and try to make new lasting connections. With the long hours working on growing the business we haven't had many opportunities to get out and meet anyone. We tried that networking group in hopes that we would find some new comradery but again it felt as though we would be in the role of helping to "fix" their businesses instead of learning on how to grow ours.
Over the last couple days I've come to realize that friendships are an important part of life. If you are fortunate to meet those people who will love and support you unconditionally hold onto them. Hopefully someday Ryan and I will find our life friends and we will be as fortunate as his grandparents to have support when we need it the most. For now the hunt continues.
This morning we received a phone call that a good friend of Ryan's grandfather had passed away last night. He was in his 80's, had been fighting disabilities due to Polio most of his adult life and was brought down with a bout of Pneumonia a little while ago. His wife Carol had graciously opened their home to celebrate Ryan's grandmothers life just the day before, despite Bill still being hospitalized.
When Wilma passed back in June, it was Carol and Bill who welcomed weary family members to crash in their guest house and brought over meals during a very difficult time. Their warming presence made things a little less bleak for everyone especially Ryan's grandfather Ben.
With all the busyness of everyday life, friends have not been a large part of my life. I enjoy their company but have been disappointed so many times in the past I guess I've come to the conclusion that the investment is wasted energy. That sounds so horrible when I write it out. I guess my problem with making friends has been much like someone who hasn't found the right life partner. I'm always "dating" the wrong type of person.
Over my lifetime I've had a few friends but none that really stuck if that makes sense. My very first friend Breonna was introduced to my life when we were both toddlers. The daughter of my parents friends, we were "forced" friends and that friendship lasted through our 20's. Breonna was even the Maid of Honor in my wedding. Despite my family moving 1000's of miles away we kept contact through letters and when her dad moved up to Washington we had the opportunity to spend time together on her visits. In essence she was like the sister I never had. Breonnna and I were very similar in many ways and that similarity caused some rivalry from time to time. I remember one day when we were about 7 years old my parents had purchased me a new Barbie Doll. Excited I immediately boasted about my new treasure to Breonna as soon as she arrived but to my surprise instead of being happy for me she attacked me for being a bragger! I'll never forget the hair pulling brawl that ensued. Funny how something so trivial sticks around and that an innocent word can change your entire perception of yourself. After that day I never bragged about a gift again, in fact I think that is the reason I have a hard time spending money on myself at all. Funny how that one little word made me feel eternally guilty about every personal purchase I've made since.
I was always a shy kid and I think that made some invisible mark on my forehead that told the more assertive kids that I was easy prey. Thankfully for me I come from stubborn, feisty stock that allowed me to dish whatever they through my way back at them. That doesn't mean it did really hurt at the same time. Since I felt like an outcast I gravitated to making friends with the "broken" kids. Mind you they all were great people and like me didn't feel as though they belonged so from that aspect it was a perfect match. Unfortunately being a junior problem solving fanatic, I tended to focus on their problems and less on my own. Great for them, not so good for me. You see when you are the caregiver sometime you get walked all over. That whole survivor of the fittest thing I guess. At some point the person you try desperately to help figures out that you will do anything for them and decides to use that to their advantage. I don't think it's a conscience decision and I don't think it is out of any malice but just that they have adapted to having to fight for themselves and manipulation is an easy way to get what you want.
Unfortunately it took me most of my adult life to realize that issue and a couple of years ago both Ryan and I decided to rid our lives of those kinds of friends and try to make new lasting connections. With the long hours working on growing the business we haven't had many opportunities to get out and meet anyone. We tried that networking group in hopes that we would find some new comradery but again it felt as though we would be in the role of helping to "fix" their businesses instead of learning on how to grow ours.
Over the last couple days I've come to realize that friendships are an important part of life. If you are fortunate to meet those people who will love and support you unconditionally hold onto them. Hopefully someday Ryan and I will find our life friends and we will be as fortunate as his grandparents to have support when we need it the most. For now the hunt continues.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, September 19, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
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!
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!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
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
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.
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!"
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.
Monday, September 5, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Welcome to Day 1
Hi World, my name is Melanie and like a lot of us out there, I'm trying to Make It In America. I decided to start this blog as a way to document my trials and tribulations building a business from an obscure product idea my husband came up with back in 2008.
It's been a hard 3 years and sometimes I feel like giving up. But I hopefully by spilling my guts everyday for the next year I will find some clarity and learn a little in the process. It can't hurt... I hope!
So where to start? I guess the best place is at the beginning. Before the Real Estate market tanked in 2007ish, my husband was a prosperous Broker with RE/MAX Equity Group, Inc. in Portland, Oregon. I had just quit a job as the head Graphic Designer for Microsoft and Cisco Systems at a Trade-show Design House and was starting my own gig from home as a freelance Graphic Designer assisting Realtors with there personal branding. We had a large house, several vehicles, 2 dogs and a cat but we never saw each other and when we did it was working on fixing up the house aka the never ending money pit! We are both creative people who don't sit still for very long and with the impending market doom in the air instead of brushing off Ryan's newest invention as a hobby, I decided to try and make it into a business. In 2008 we started investing in The RocLok Hide a Key and now 3 years later we're still trying to scratch and claw our way into the marketplace.
Over the next year both Ryan and I are challenging ourselves to write in this blog about our experiences as business owners struggling in today's market to Make It In America. Some days will be better than others, but hopefully in the end we'll learn more about what we want out of this business and our lives.
Welcome to Day 1.
It's been a hard 3 years and sometimes I feel like giving up. But I hopefully by spilling my guts everyday for the next year I will find some clarity and learn a little in the process. It can't hurt... I hope!
So where to start? I guess the best place is at the beginning. Before the Real Estate market tanked in 2007ish, my husband was a prosperous Broker with RE/MAX Equity Group, Inc. in Portland, Oregon. I had just quit a job as the head Graphic Designer for Microsoft and Cisco Systems at a Trade-show Design House and was starting my own gig from home as a freelance Graphic Designer assisting Realtors with there personal branding. We had a large house, several vehicles, 2 dogs and a cat but we never saw each other and when we did it was working on fixing up the house aka the never ending money pit! We are both creative people who don't sit still for very long and with the impending market doom in the air instead of brushing off Ryan's newest invention as a hobby, I decided to try and make it into a business. In 2008 we started investing in The RocLok Hide a Key and now 3 years later we're still trying to scratch and claw our way into the marketplace.
Over the next year both Ryan and I are challenging ourselves to write in this blog about our experiences as business owners struggling in today's market to Make It In America. Some days will be better than others, but hopefully in the end we'll learn more about what we want out of this business and our lives.
Welcome to Day 1.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)