Good Morning,
I hope you all are doing well this Sunday morning.
As I previously indicated, we're putting a hold on custom orders for the foreseeable future, as my time and energies are being redirected. My goal is to work through the existing list, and once completed make a determination then as to whether we open back up customs again. The current list will probably take me +/- 1 month to complete, and I'll still be slipping some non-custom sticks into the shop as time permits.
We can't express enough how thankful we are for all of your support over the years, you've brought us here. I have no idea how this next chapter is going to play out, Lord knows I've been down quite a few rabbit holes over the years. We'll know in pretty short order whether our new "Tree of Life" will bear fruit, as I've pretty much bet the farm on it. We're doing a product launch on the 4th of July, and we'll have a good feel for things then. Just so there's no confusion, there is absolutely zero intersection between sticks and the new project, and I'm going to keep it that way for as long as I can.
TT isn't gone, we're still here, we're just kind of taking a break for awhile. Like I said in my previous posting, at the end of the day, I'd rather just make a stick.
Thanks
Doug
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Thursday, June 23, 2016
TT Update
Good Morning,
I hope you all are doing well this morning.
I have a confession to make, as I haven't been completely forthright with you over the past 2 years. I've been in the process of starting a new business, the details of which I can't disclose at this time. It's quite a departure from making hairsticks, and I suspect the overall impression that you all will collectively have is "... Wow, didn't see that one coming".
This is the reason that the hairstick production has slowed down recently. The new business is requiring a great deal of my time, and is only going to consume more of my time going forward.
In terms of custom orders, I've drawn a line across the page indicating those customers still eligible for the 10% discount that we offered after my job interview. I knew going in to the interview that it was only going to be "X" amount of time before I gave my notice, it would have been at best a temporary financial band aid. As it turns out, this is about the time I would be giving my notice to the employer for the job which I didn't get. Hey, I knew it was a lousy thing to do at the time, but you've got to do what you've got to do when it comes to eating and paying the bills... we somehow managed to survive.
For now I'm going to continue accepting custom orders but no longer offering the 10% discount. I'm going to have to play it by ear in terms of customs going forward, as the wait times are going to increase also.
My ultimate goal is to get the business up and running, and hopefully be able to pass off the majority of work to other shareholders in the company, and then ultimately on to employees. It's becoming an exciting venture finally, but at the end of the day, I'd rather just make a hairstick.
So there you have it, the cat is a little bit out of the bag.
Have a great week!
Doug
I hope you all are doing well this morning.
I have a confession to make, as I haven't been completely forthright with you over the past 2 years. I've been in the process of starting a new business, the details of which I can't disclose at this time. It's quite a departure from making hairsticks, and I suspect the overall impression that you all will collectively have is "... Wow, didn't see that one coming".
This is the reason that the hairstick production has slowed down recently. The new business is requiring a great deal of my time, and is only going to consume more of my time going forward.
In terms of custom orders, I've drawn a line across the page indicating those customers still eligible for the 10% discount that we offered after my job interview. I knew going in to the interview that it was only going to be "X" amount of time before I gave my notice, it would have been at best a temporary financial band aid. As it turns out, this is about the time I would be giving my notice to the employer for the job which I didn't get. Hey, I knew it was a lousy thing to do at the time, but you've got to do what you've got to do when it comes to eating and paying the bills... we somehow managed to survive.
For now I'm going to continue accepting custom orders but no longer offering the 10% discount. I'm going to have to play it by ear in terms of customs going forward, as the wait times are going to increase also.
My ultimate goal is to get the business up and running, and hopefully be able to pass off the majority of work to other shareholders in the company, and then ultimately on to employees. It's becoming an exciting venture finally, but at the end of the day, I'd rather just make a hairstick.
So there you have it, the cat is a little bit out of the bag.
Have a great week!
Doug
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
What a week!
Hi Everyone,
It's been a rough week here at the Royer homestead, if it's not one thing it's another. Starting last Saturday, the laser died once again, followed immediately by the untimely demise of our washing machine. Since we know that problems generally come in 3's, yesterday it was the garage door opener that bit the dust, thus rounding out the triple crown, I hope!
The laser issue is why you've seen a run of paua sticks recently. So, now that I'm opening and closing the extremely heavy garage door for Erin so she can run her daily errands (it shall remain un-fixed for now), the new washing machine and laser parts have been delivered and we're now back up and running.
With the foregoing in mind, the next Friday Night Sale is this Friday 6/10, beginning at 1:00 PM CST (US), 8:00 PM Munich time.
Just a reminder on custom orders, we're still offering the 10% discount on all customs, and have changed the 2 stick rule, as we've had a number of requests recently for 3 sticks. For those that may not already know, we only ship a maximum of 2 sticks in one box to minimize the loss in the event that a shipment goes missing. In the majority of instances, the customers usually opt for a 4th stick in order to save a little on shipping, since 3 is obviously an odd number. Right now I'd estimate that I'm running 2-3 weeks behind on custom orders so feel free to send me a note if you'd like to get on the list.
So here's been TT's story for the past week or so, I hope you all have a great rest of your week!
Doug
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Is it Good news or Bad news... Who knows, at this point it's just news.
Good Afternoon,
I guess it all just depends upon your perspective.... I didn't get the job.
Honestly, I've been on the fence all along as to whether I actually wanted to get back into the 9-5 routine to begin with. You all know that I truly love what I do, especially the freedom that comes from being self employed. While I wasn't real psyched about the daily commute, I did however like the bank, the position, and the guy I interviewed with, he was a good guy and was completely "wide open". So, this can mean only one thing for now...
I really do appreciate the custom orders that we've been receiving, you all have been fun to work with. As a thank you, we're going to keep offering the 10% discount until further notice, as I've come to appreciate that it's a good deal for both of us. You get exactly what you want, and we've got a guaranteed sale... it's a win/win scenario as far as I'm concerned.
... again, while it is just news, I kind of think that it was good news.
Have a great afternoon!
Doug
I guess it all just depends upon your perspective.... I didn't get the job.
Honestly, I've been on the fence all along as to whether I actually wanted to get back into the 9-5 routine to begin with. You all know that I truly love what I do, especially the freedom that comes from being self employed. While I wasn't real psyched about the daily commute, I did however like the bank, the position, and the guy I interviewed with, he was a good guy and was completely "wide open". So, this can mean only one thing for now...
You all are stuck with me.
I really do appreciate the custom orders that we've been receiving, you all have been fun to work with. As a thank you, we're going to keep offering the 10% discount until further notice, as I've come to appreciate that it's a good deal for both of us. You get exactly what you want, and we've got a guaranteed sale... it's a win/win scenario as far as I'm concerned.
... again, while it is just news, I kind of think that it was good news.
Have a great afternoon!
Doug
Monday, April 25, 2016
The Job Prospects Update
Hi Everyone,
I just re-read my prior post, and I agree with most of what I said. In retrospect however, I think the only thing that I would have changed is the 3 back and forth conversation part... I really don't care how many it takes, especially when it comes to the personal interaction... I love you gals, and many of you know it. I didn't mean to be rude or abrupt, it was just a reactionary response to our financial outlook, and I apologize if I once again offended anyone, it wasn't my intent.
I want to thank all of you that have sent us supportive notes, we really do appreciate them, and thank you for the recent custom orders, they are greatly appreciated.
We've heard rumors that this is some kind of marketing stunt, and I only wish that I was clever enough to hatch such a scheme. Sadly, I'm not, but the good news (at least for our long term checkbook purposes), is that I have a 2nd and hopefully final interview on Wednesday, the day after tomorrow. The big dogs are flying to KC for one on one interviews with myself and a few others. Hopefully my next update won't be on how I managed to screw that up, I tend to be good at those kind of things.
So, I said that I'd keep you updated, and now you are. Plus, we've updated Erin's resume, she's looking for some part time work also.
I hope you all have a good week.
Doug
I just re-read my prior post, and I agree with most of what I said. In retrospect however, I think the only thing that I would have changed is the 3 back and forth conversation part... I really don't care how many it takes, especially when it comes to the personal interaction... I love you gals, and many of you know it. I didn't mean to be rude or abrupt, it was just a reactionary response to our financial outlook, and I apologize if I once again offended anyone, it wasn't my intent.
I want to thank all of you that have sent us supportive notes, we really do appreciate them, and thank you for the recent custom orders, they are greatly appreciated.
We've heard rumors that this is some kind of marketing stunt, and I only wish that I was clever enough to hatch such a scheme. Sadly, I'm not, but the good news (at least for our long term checkbook purposes), is that I have a 2nd and hopefully final interview on Wednesday, the day after tomorrow. The big dogs are flying to KC for one on one interviews with myself and a few others. Hopefully my next update won't be on how I managed to screw that up, I tend to be good at those kind of things.
So, I said that I'd keep you updated, and now you are. Plus, we've updated Erin's resume, she's looking for some part time work also.
I hope you all have a good week.
Doug
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
So Here's the Deal...
Good Evening,
I hope everyone is doing well this evening, or tomorrow morning, or whenever...
I asked the question a few weeks ago as to why it seemed that all of a sudden our business just virtually dropped off to nothing, and the answer has become clear. We've hit our saturation point.
I mean, let's face it, in the whole scheme of things, this is really a pretty thin market we've been catering to over the years, as there are only "X" number of ladies with long hair that actually use hairsticks and the fact is you only need "Y" number of sticks. While we're not particularly thrilled with the prospects, it is what it is, and we have to face the music. We simply can't survive on FNS's at 20 - 40% discounts, it's an unsustainable path.
Over the past few weeks I've been interviewing with different lending institutions with the hope of getting back into finance. As many of you know, the interview process is painfully slow, but we've determined that it's time for us to re-enter the actual 9-5 workforce. Ideally we'll return to me working a full time job and making sticks on the side as it was for the first 5 years.
In the interim however we still have to eat and pay the bills, and we can't just live for Fridays. With that said, here's the deal, I'll split the difference with you if you are at all interested in a custom order. Our typical FNS is priced at a 20% discount, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the individual stick, but 20% overall. Until such time as we determine the time value of new employment vs. self employment, we will offer a 10% discount on any custom orders (existing designs only with wood and gemstone changes being ok, I won't be making any create it from scratch designs until somewhere down the line). If it requires anything more than 3 back and forth conversations, I'll decline the request as I simply don't have the allowable time. All I need is a link to the stick that you'd like along with the length and any gemstone or wood changes, nothing more, other than pleasantries of course.
Should the job come through before I've completed the custom list, I'll have to ask for your understanding if I'm unable to complete your order. While I'll do my best, I don't want to start a new job with the concern of an unfulfilled custom list, the distraction wouldn't be fair to my new employer.
So for all of you that have said "someday" I want to order a particular stick, the next few hours, days, or weeks or whatever timeframe we determine, you may consider this as being your "someday". The job I'm hoping to land is a 1 hour drive each way, and I'm confident in saying that I won't be doing very many custom orders on top of an 8 hour workday coupled with 2 hours of travel time.
Sorry, but it is what it is, we're not upset in the least, it's just a reality. You all have been wonderful to work with over the years and we've made some tremendous friendships that will no doubt continue into the next chapter. I'll keep you posted on the progress as we move forward.
Have a good night.
I hope everyone is doing well this evening, or tomorrow morning, or whenever...
I asked the question a few weeks ago as to why it seemed that all of a sudden our business just virtually dropped off to nothing, and the answer has become clear. We've hit our saturation point.
I mean, let's face it, in the whole scheme of things, this is really a pretty thin market we've been catering to over the years, as there are only "X" number of ladies with long hair that actually use hairsticks and the fact is you only need "Y" number of sticks. While we're not particularly thrilled with the prospects, it is what it is, and we have to face the music. We simply can't survive on FNS's at 20 - 40% discounts, it's an unsustainable path.
Over the past few weeks I've been interviewing with different lending institutions with the hope of getting back into finance. As many of you know, the interview process is painfully slow, but we've determined that it's time for us to re-enter the actual 9-5 workforce. Ideally we'll return to me working a full time job and making sticks on the side as it was for the first 5 years.
In the interim however we still have to eat and pay the bills, and we can't just live for Fridays. With that said, here's the deal, I'll split the difference with you if you are at all interested in a custom order. Our typical FNS is priced at a 20% discount, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the individual stick, but 20% overall. Until such time as we determine the time value of new employment vs. self employment, we will offer a 10% discount on any custom orders (existing designs only with wood and gemstone changes being ok, I won't be making any create it from scratch designs until somewhere down the line). If it requires anything more than 3 back and forth conversations, I'll decline the request as I simply don't have the allowable time. All I need is a link to the stick that you'd like along with the length and any gemstone or wood changes, nothing more, other than pleasantries of course.
Should the job come through before I've completed the custom list, I'll have to ask for your understanding if I'm unable to complete your order. While I'll do my best, I don't want to start a new job with the concern of an unfulfilled custom list, the distraction wouldn't be fair to my new employer.
So for all of you that have said "someday" I want to order a particular stick, the next few hours, days, or weeks or whatever timeframe we determine, you may consider this as being your "someday". The job I'm hoping to land is a 1 hour drive each way, and I'm confident in saying that I won't be doing very many custom orders on top of an 8 hour workday coupled with 2 hours of travel time.
Sorry, but it is what it is, we're not upset in the least, it's just a reality. You all have been wonderful to work with over the years and we've made some tremendous friendships that will no doubt continue into the next chapter. I'll keep you posted on the progress as we move forward.
Have a good night.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
The Morning After...
Good Morning All,
And herein lies the reason that Nightblooming suggested I maintain a blog to begin with. It would have been so much easier to answer all of the questions on the forum in a discussion format, but history has taught me that anything I say beyond Good Morning is considered inappropriate by the moderator's and as such deleted. I find it to be a somewhat lopsided set of rules, but I digress.
What's even more surprising to me than the price was to you, is that it took almost 6 hours before the discussion began, I think you all are slipping, typically it would have begun much sooner :)
Just for the record, I would have been sticker shocked also, because as many of you know, I rarely creep north of $200, it's outside of my comfort zone. I only read the thread once, so if I miss something, feel free to ask a follow up question here, I don't have that many secrets, but then again, I'm not wild about the notion of teaching my various techniques to our competitors, as I don't think it wouldn't be prudent.
* Yes, the price was agreed upon well in advance, and although she offered to pay more, I charged less.
* While I will never tell anyone how to spend their money, I don't recommend running a stick through a bandsaw to see the cross section, you're more than welcome to do so, but I think it will largely be a waste of money, and resulting in very few answers. If you should choose to slice it down the middle, please send me pictures, as I'd be curious to see it also.
* If you would like for me to recreate this stick for you, I'll be happy to do so, but the price is $225. No, I will never intentionally rip the original designers head off, and then sell it for less on reproductions, as that would be wrong on way too many levels. Have I ever done so, probably, but it was due to a poor memory, nothing else. Believe it or not, I don't actually remember the individual specifics of 5,000 some odd sticks.
* We began discussing this design on December 29th, and have had ongoing discussions for the past 3 and a half months. While you may not see it, this is what I refer to as a "Create it from scratch" design, and if you look at the custom order guidelines page, the minimum price for said design is $150. I assure you, we haven't raised our prices, in fact, they've gone down if you're looking closely.
* Yes, I've made similar style sticks for much less, but it was for 2 insets (holly) typically bordered in a crushed gemstone, but this particular stick has 6 insets, 2 holly and 4 paua insets. This was my 3rd attempt, and as I explained to the customer after the 2nd failure, I can't do it because it's too complex, and she would have paid nothing. Even though I had already purchased 2 new sets of artwork for the dragons. I've never charged, nor will I ever charge a customer for my failures. After thinking about it for a few days, my stubborn persistence kicked in and I thought through a new technique, as I wasn't wild about the idea of losing 3 and a half months of discussions and the expense of new artwork. This was my 3rd and final attempt before I was going to just write it all off as a failure, as I have done several times in the past, it was familiar territory. As Kenny Rogers so eloquently sung, you've got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em... and I was ready to walk away from the table if the 3rd one failed also.
* I know nothing about the decals are that were mentioned, so I can't comment either way on this point. I only have one laser, and it's the old one. Many of you may recall that the new laser never worked, and I ultimately made them take it back. There are literally thousands of settings that I can program and I've just learned to work with the finer intricacies of an old and weak laser, and no, I still can't engrave ebony.
So there you have it, I'm sure I probably missed something, and if so, feel free to ask it again here.
Have a great Sunday!
And herein lies the reason that Nightblooming suggested I maintain a blog to begin with. It would have been so much easier to answer all of the questions on the forum in a discussion format, but history has taught me that anything I say beyond Good Morning is considered inappropriate by the moderator's and as such deleted. I find it to be a somewhat lopsided set of rules, but I digress.
What's even more surprising to me than the price was to you, is that it took almost 6 hours before the discussion began, I think you all are slipping, typically it would have begun much sooner :)
Just for the record, I would have been sticker shocked also, because as many of you know, I rarely creep north of $200, it's outside of my comfort zone. I only read the thread once, so if I miss something, feel free to ask a follow up question here, I don't have that many secrets, but then again, I'm not wild about the notion of teaching my various techniques to our competitors, as I don't think it wouldn't be prudent.
* Yes, the price was agreed upon well in advance, and although she offered to pay more, I charged less.
* While I will never tell anyone how to spend their money, I don't recommend running a stick through a bandsaw to see the cross section, you're more than welcome to do so, but I think it will largely be a waste of money, and resulting in very few answers. If you should choose to slice it down the middle, please send me pictures, as I'd be curious to see it also.
* If you would like for me to recreate this stick for you, I'll be happy to do so, but the price is $225. No, I will never intentionally rip the original designers head off, and then sell it for less on reproductions, as that would be wrong on way too many levels. Have I ever done so, probably, but it was due to a poor memory, nothing else. Believe it or not, I don't actually remember the individual specifics of 5,000 some odd sticks.
* We began discussing this design on December 29th, and have had ongoing discussions for the past 3 and a half months. While you may not see it, this is what I refer to as a "Create it from scratch" design, and if you look at the custom order guidelines page, the minimum price for said design is $150. I assure you, we haven't raised our prices, in fact, they've gone down if you're looking closely.
* Yes, I've made similar style sticks for much less, but it was for 2 insets (holly) typically bordered in a crushed gemstone, but this particular stick has 6 insets, 2 holly and 4 paua insets. This was my 3rd attempt, and as I explained to the customer after the 2nd failure, I can't do it because it's too complex, and she would have paid nothing. Even though I had already purchased 2 new sets of artwork for the dragons. I've never charged, nor will I ever charge a customer for my failures. After thinking about it for a few days, my stubborn persistence kicked in and I thought through a new technique, as I wasn't wild about the idea of losing 3 and a half months of discussions and the expense of new artwork. This was my 3rd and final attempt before I was going to just write it all off as a failure, as I have done several times in the past, it was familiar territory. As Kenny Rogers so eloquently sung, you've got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em... and I was ready to walk away from the table if the 3rd one failed also.
* I know nothing about the decals are that were mentioned, so I can't comment either way on this point. I only have one laser, and it's the old one. Many of you may recall that the new laser never worked, and I ultimately made them take it back. There are literally thousands of settings that I can program and I've just learned to work with the finer intricacies of an old and weak laser, and no, I still can't engrave ebony.
So there you have it, I'm sure I probably missed something, and if so, feel free to ask it again here.
Have a great Sunday!
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