Strings and Things
Spent the day working on string related projects though I did attend the Gem County Economic Development Association this morning and as it was my third attended meeting they voted me in as a member.
Now back to the string. Found out how to make yo-yo strings and I’m looking into making an automated setup to produce large quantities all at once. I’ll only be making one of these ‘machines’ initial until I iron out the kinks of having no clue what I’m doing. I made two amazing one toned strings and made one two-toned string however it was too coarse for freestyle play.
That’s all I have to say today for business related stuff. I did figure out how to do a square-knot thanks to Kelsey buying hemp strings and a youtube.com video on how to make said knots. They’re coming out pretty good so far, I’ll add a picture to this post later tonight or tomorrow.
Take care!
Community Building
Spent today working on building the TwinePitched.com website which has been taking a bunch of my time. I finished picking a font to use for the logo and have the forums set up. I’ll be adding a chat room soon as well once I find a good one I can embed into the website. I’m considering adding an ecommerce package to TwinePitched in order to fund the project; however I’m worried about it drawing a negative backlash from other stores and their communities.
I know I need a method to raise funds to make the quarterly magazines which TwinePitched.com will ultimately produce. I’m definitely going to be seeking advertisers for the website and the magazine and will be most likely selling subscriptions to the magazine with the ‘pay up front’ incentives to help bring in enough money to print out a run between 250 and 500; depending on the amount of people subscribed, I’ll make 30%-50% more magazines to sell during the quarter leading up to the publication of the next magazine.
That’s what I’ve got so far for today’s daily post. I’m going to try and get a few hours of sleep under my belt; I’m going to the Gem County Economic Development Association meeting today (Thursday) from 8am to 10am to find out more about local projects and get input on a few of my own.
Take care friends and if you have any thoughts on the magazine/community site this post was about please leave them as comments, I could use any suggestions you have to give! 
P.S., Though it’s small today, the first day I promoted the site to anyone we had two people register for the forums. I’d like to have between 35-50 by the end of the month with a 30% increase on the end of the month total each month until we reach about 500 members.
Late Night Post
Was up late working on a t-shirt order for Auto Trim Design of Idaho and finally finished it. Spent some time today working on my ‘hobby site’ http://www.twinepitched.com which I’d like to turn into a community website. The goal of TwinePitched was to produce a magazine quarterly of the yo-yo industry. If you take a glance at that website you’ll see a few different catergories and notice there is a community forum link at the top of the page.
I’m going to be encouraging that the community members of twinepitched.com’s forum write their posts at a higher level, in hopes of being featured in the blog of the website, and ultimately in the quarterly magazine. Those are my thoughts at the moment. Going to be now, considering it’s 3am. Comment with questions, comments, suggestions! Take Care!
Side Project City
Lately it seems the entrepreneur in me is trying to have more fun with my hobbies. I’ve been wanting to put together a yo-yo site for a long time now, mostly as a hobby. One of my friends, the guy who is helping me make the drafting design of my yo-yo, Bradley Raley, is putting together a website called yo-yo power (http://yoyopower.co.nr/) that is the basic idea of the hobby-like site I’d like to have.
So, considering I own TwinePitched.com and have this odd knack for turning my hobbies into websites I think I’m going to follow his inspiration and make a hobby website out of twinepitched just like he’s doing with yo-yo power. I would change a few things to meet my needs; I would have a simple trick catalog available, maybe a chatroom, a weekly blog and a few other fancy wordpress technology applications.
I guess we’ll just see how this develops! 
(I told you guys I would be trying to make the daily post, I didn’t say they would be ‘uber inspiring’! haha)
Have a great Monday! If you have any thoughts on this let me know!
The Social Media Advocate
Lately I consider myself to be the local Advocate and cheerleader for social media in Emmett, ID. There is a lot of potential for it to help the local economy by connecting local businesses to each other and to their customers in a more intimate way than they currently have, which would help people get what they need and want more easily, which would make them more likely to spend their money in our town.
Social Media use in Emmett would also increase the need for our politicians, business owners, and citizens in general to be far more transparent. They wouldn’t be able to lie to a group of people and get away with it as easily, or worse, build a following off of those lies without being corrected. At the very least the use of social media (like twitter and facebook) would speed up the communication between the residents here and the amount of wasted time from inaccurate communications would be cut drastically.
Unfortunately in our town there are a few common misconceptions that 1. social media is too difficult to use 2. that it is only for the younger generations 3. that it will download viruses to your computer and 4. that in general, social media is the devil. The misconceptions are so strongly ingrained into the minds of the adults and families of our town that the virtually limitless potential of social media and it’s positive aspects in our community are wasted before they even get a chance to prove themselves.
So, being that I am one of these weird anti-muckrakers, I feel that I will take this little title ‘the social media advocate’ and write a few articles to educate the community on values of social media, the pros and cons, the things to avoid, how to protect yourself, and how our community could benefit from using social media appropriately and safely. I will also be writing articles to the parents of our community encouraging them to get their butts on MySpace and Facebook. There is never something more sobering to a parent than to find out their sons or daughters are posting illegal activities on public websites, and if they are connected to their child’s accounts, this STUPID activity will most likely stop.
These are just some thoughts of mine. I hope I can get the articles into the paper here in town. Even if I have to pay to do it I’d like to get them in the paper. It means that much to me.
If you have any thoughts on topics for other articles please let me know, any help I can get to start to chip away at the conservative, stone wall exterior to the minds of this community I would greatly appreciate!
Post Independence Day
Just got finished with my Independence Day. Went to the Gem County Sports Complex at the Island to watch the first real firework show we’ve had in our town in quite a long time. Thanks to Tim, the owner of Computators we had a great show put together, especially considering the fact that this was the first year we’ve had one in a while.
There are some things about the show that I’d like to have seen fixed that may just happen as it evolves (however I’m going to try and volunteer with the planning next year so it may be sooner). I’d like to see more vending booths at the event; as an entrepreneur I’d like the chance to participate in the event to 1. get my company exposure and 2. raise funds for my various company projects. Unfortunately there aren’t too many venues for this to happen at in Emmett, ID.
I’d like to see a longer show (something that will inevitably happen with time). The show needs to become self sustaining so that the fireworks are the anchor, the vendors pay the bill, and the ‘fund raising piggy banks’ can go away.
There was also surprisingly little exposure for the show online, they had a website but no social media, at all. The organizer Tim has had trouble with social media in the past or, as he owns and runs a computer repair store, sees social networks like Facebook and MySpace to be a source of viruses and problems. Because of this he doesn’t want to promote on social networks. I’ll have to crack them if they want to have a bigger show. They’ll need the necessary exposure that social media offers for FREE.
Ultimately the event was a great success for the first year. According to Tim it was entirely paid for and it ran for a good 20 minutes or more. I was very happy with it and as I love to support my community I’m excited to (hopefully) be able to help out with next year’s event.
See: http://www.celebrateemmett.com/ for more information on the event (though the website is a simple one pager, it can put you into contact with the event organizer.)
Double-Take Industries – New Directions
Well first off I apologies for again having lapsed in making posts on my blog; this is mostly because I’m not sure what I should be writing about, so in an effort to create the habit of posting I am going to at the very least write a short blog every night about what I worked on that day, what I learned, or something interesting I’ve come across.
Now that that’s out of the way, I’ve been working on taking Double-Take Industries into the yo-yoing industry for the last few months, the most major piece was by organizing the Idaho State Yo-Yo Championships (June 20th, 2009) under the DTIndustries title. What I’ve been working on in the wake of the contest are:
1. A Yo-Yo T-Shirt
I have five different concepts ready to be produced but the first one is the Yo-Yo Tree concept, I had Emily Butcher from Talon Tattoo near the Western Idaho Fairgrounds do the art work for me and the results were phenomenal, The shirt will be gray and the art will be printed in black (for that artsy look).
An amazing piece of art thanks to the hard work of Emily Butcher of Talon Tattoo's in Boise, ID. Copyright to Double-Take Industries.
2. A literal yo-yo by DTI
Bradley Raley (@BradleyRALEY on Twitter), an amazing guy (and Yo-Yoer) whom I met in Florida while on the Go-Giver Tour has been helping me make a CAD drawing of my yo-yo concept so I can take it to a machinist or manufacturer to get it produced. This yo-yo will be produced in plastic for the beginner/advanced yo-yoer and in aluminum for the advance/expert yo-yoer. The first run will be made of aluminum and will be called the Base Boost. I’m not sure what it will retail for yet, I’d like to keep the plastic one around $15.00 and the aluminum one under $100.00. We’ll see. I’ll post pictures of the design once either the prototype has been created or I find a way to protect it; I’m really nervous about sharing too much.
3. A Yo-Yo Video Contest
Thanks to Adam Schultz of Threadz Yo-Yo Strings hosting his own yo-yo video contest (which I won with my ‘Trick Machine video: view here) I decided to host one as well and will be continually doing so on a monthly basis. This month I’m giving away a Black DTI Logo shirt. If you’d like to check out the contest information video or see videos that are being submitted by entrants check out the youtube page for the contest here or view the video below.
That’s what I’ve been working on so far this month. I still have to put together the contest DVD for the 2009 Idaho Yo-Yo Championships and I have to start working more on the handbook for the Yo-Yo Contest Organizer but I will be developing that over the next couple of months.
Have a pleasant evening, Please comment with any questions or comments, I love to hear from you guys!
