Life Aint Nothing if you don't put it all on the line a few times in your life

Life is more exciting if you put it all on the line every once in a while. If you play it safe, you get safety, but you will never get the big rewards or the big failures.

I just put it on the line once again. I did a Kickstarter Project.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1921317116/dr-solstice-solar-cookers-a-size-to-fit-every-need

And at the same time did an Indiegogo campaign.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/solar-cookers-innovation-coming-to-light-camping/x/8272667#/

I have spent the last year refining and improving a solar cooker until it was kick ass and amazing. Now I am ready to share with the world. I am hoping and aiming for $500,000 in funding from the two campaigns.  I am not going to do it via a bunch of paid ads.  I am hoping to do it organically. Win lose or fail I am still a success no matter how you look at it because I completed something I started. I have done about 15 campaigns before but never had the gumption to pull the trigger and launch it.  I did not want to put myself out there or did not think my product was up to par.  Whatever excuse I could come up I had it.  Now my excuses are over. I pushed launch on both campaigns.  So far no success on Indiegogo. Not a single backer even at the $9.00 level. Just launched Kickstarter so I don't know if I got a sale in the first 30 seconds I doubt it. (correction I just got my first backer) So stoked.

But why am I so happy?

Because I did it and now I have 60 days on each campaign to spread the word and hopefully get backers.  If I get one backer it is a success. That is one more person who believes in me and my product.  I know this Solar cooker is a life changer and  fits all the right specs to become a dominant product on the worldwide stage.

Is my product and my video perfect:  Not by a long mile. The product is 99% and the video is of my own creation.  I did it myself and learned alot. But I did it about 2 months ago assuming I would take two months to refine it and life got in the way. I almost did not hit launch, but then I thought launch it anyways. Win lose or draw my butt is on the line.

Here is I feel my product is amazing.

IT'S JUST RIGHT:     

Many sizes to fit the need. If you want to cook a smor'e we have a cooker for you. If you cook for larger groups or want to make an amazing solar cooked turkey we have the product for you.

IT WORKS:

Simple to set up and use. Set it up, adjust it to the sun and come back every hour to adjust it. Cooks from first sun up to when the sun goes down.

PACKS UP EASILY:

Easy on the mail. Packs up to a small footprint and deploys to a wide solar cooker. Make it easier to ship and to pack keeping costs down and you don't need  closet to store it.

Made to last:  We guarantee the Duo and the Quattro til the end of the earth.  2 mil coroplast material and high grade silver poly laminated to the surface will provide one excellent cooker for years and decades to come. Buy it once and cook on it forever.

WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION:  These cookers can be shipped flat on pallets ready for easy deployment in areas in the world that need these cookers. NGO's and entreprenuers will find this product and know it can be made and shipped to them so they donate or sell at a profit in their country. We are willing to help anyone who needs it and we will meet them where they are at in their current level of Solar Cooking Understanding.

I have put myself on the line a few other times in my life and those were the most scary and most exciting:

Our son was born at 1lb 11 oz 10 years ago.  It was 4 months in the NICU and 2 years on oxygen. It was  a scary time and his mom and I were by his side 24/7 for a long time. Today he went to camp and is having the time of his life. 

I got fired, from a job and started my company on January 8th 2001. All Source. Getting fired was not fun, but putting my ass on the line and starting the company was the most exciting thing I have ever done. It was the bridges are burned and you can't look back. Head down work on!

So hopefully this lil blog post about me and my risks and rewards will help you get off your butt and put it all  on the line.

What's next for me? Future ass on the line goals:

Hike the Pacific Crest Trail - All 2650 miles of it.  I will do it with a solar cooker on my back. No this one, but you get the idea.

Build a Solar Cooker Company called Dr. Solstice and sell the product in retail like an REI - It is about time  a solar cooker sits right next to a Coleman Stove on their shelves.  I am the guy to take up that cause. Here are a few of my logos and Marks. I have always liked the Burts Bee's logo and I met and amazing artist named Tess Lackey online in Onward Creatives Facebook Group and she made me these great logos.  Here contact info is:  tess@tesslackeystudios.com. I am a creative at heart and the Onward Creatives Podcast has helped me get off being stuck and start just going for it. Thanks Jack Fussell for your help in getting me off the dime.  You have no idea how many you have helped.

Life of a Print Man!

Life of A Printman!

I have the most interesting job in the world and so do you. We are the innovators and the doers of the impossible.  We never get to say no and we always have to find a way to make it happen.  I hope to teach you with this short note sheet and video I just made for you how to develop that talent and become the go to person for all of your client’s wild and crazy ideas.  I have never said no to a client request in over 25 years and that has taken me down some interesting roads. Developing this skill will put you and keep you in the million dollar club + and keep you there. It takes you out of the promo sales rep category and puts in the “most valuable vendor and friend category”

This is how I do it and it has worked for me for over 25 years.  I have gotten really good at it over the last few years and I am really enjoying going to work everyday.

First:  Who do you work for?

Answer:  Yourself, your creator or your boss and company.

If it is not for yourself or your creator then you need to change it. If you believe in a creator get up tomorrow and say this day is all for your glory and work like you mean it for your creator.  Then reflect back on your results. I have found working for someone you trust and admire makes you work harder than working for yourself.

Second:  What do you enjoy about your industry? I mean what really is amazing to you?

Go deep in that subject and become an expert. Go to vendors and get to know the process better. Your passion will line up with clients’ needs if you ooze that you love it.

I was scared to sell bags. I had only sold one bag in 25 years. So I went to bag vendor and took a tour and learned as much as I can. I met with a bag broker and he is mentoring me on how to sell bags.  I know have the confidence when the next opportunity to sell a bag comes I will land it.

Always add new items to your bag of tricks. Go to trade shows to learn, go to the seminars.  Free ones are best and Fee ones are good too.  Introduce yourself to a speaker and ask if you can help them at the seminar pass out papers or be their right and person for an hour. That gets you an audience with a pro and it also gets you into the seminar for free.  Wink Wink.

I recently went to a trade show and found a new solution for a box. My client is shipping Fracking Plugs that look like 90lb spark plugs. His client sells them to Frackers who buy in bulk and store on site.  The drilling sites are wet and not clean and the boxes at some point get wet and start to fall apart.  So we are working on new solutions:

1 Make a litho lam box and then have it wax immersed like you see on lettuce boxes.

2.  Use this new box I just found at a trade show.  It is a very thick waterproof chip board than be formed into a box with wood plugs used in the ends.  It is bullet proof almost and will certainly work. When you find those kind of solutions your client will use you and then you are the only supplier. That means  custom projects. That means higher margins. That means you are the only one in this big bad world that sells this item and your client will need you and love you for it.

Go above and beyond:

My client is a broker for a packaging company. The product is chip bag displays for tortilla chips. They made this amazing display and then had to make a video and instruction sheet to get it built.  They called me last week and needed 1130  11 x 17 flyers printed 4/4. They needed 200 Monday a.m.  so they could start the pack out.  On Friday they sent me the wrong sized flyers.  So they had to send then again.  I got the files.  I did 380 sets using a digital print method and a higher cost, but faster. Then I used a gang run process to do 750 of them at a longer lead lower cost method.  My pricing was compared to a local print shop that quoted to do all digital press method at the higher cost. I did the job and delivered on both parts on time and now the client knows I can do great things to keep his processes rolling. He will think of me next time he is in a bind.

Become the expert, be better than any other company you are competing with. You can do that because you love what you do and when you do people will come out the woodwork to help you.  Don’t fret if you have to send the vendor a gift card to get priority. I call it greasing the skids of commerce.  People respond to the extra bits of love you send their way.

I always do what is right for my client to make their date and get their job. That creates loyalty and return business. I have even gone to vendors and sat in their lobbies waiting for a job to be done.  When the boss sees you there and asks you how can he or she help you and you tell him or her you are waiting on the job. It gets done. I call that the Kevin Washington Method. See video.

How can I help you:  You tell me. I am a Patriot Vendor and I am waiting for my big opportunity at American Solutions for Business.  Bring me your crazy, wild, multi component, not easy to write up projects and let me help you find a solution.  I love huge long projects that are super difficult.  I like items that grow and repeat. I have spent 25 years+ learning every industry possible and have lots of knowledge in my bag.   I am ready to share the love and and  help you set yourself apart from the masses.

Cheers!

Scott Rundle

All Source

951 640 3890