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When I went to the Sheriff’s Department and showed them the version that I had made especially for them, many of them told me that they really liked it and appreciated something a bit enhanced just for them. I made a bracelet on the same theme of the “Thin Blue Line”, but I added a brown stripe woven in. I called it the “Sheriff’s Edition” and it was really well received. A few of the deputies still desired to have the more traditional version, but I bet 75% wanted the unique one.
It’s funny. When I first put that design together earlier in the year, I initially made a bracelet with just the brown line on a black bracelet. It looked a little mundane, so I chose not to go that route. It looked much better in conjunction with the blue line. I also had a time coming up with the name. I’ve always felt the deputy sheriff is most definitely a part of the thin blue line, so it didn’t seem right to isolate them and push them away from that rich tradition. I wanted to include them, but in a slightly different way. I also wondered what to call it. I thought of the “Thin Brown Line”. That didn’t sound too good. I’ll let you pause for a moment and think of what comes to mind with a thin brown line. I even thought about calling it the “Skidmark”. I thought that would be disparaging and that is not what I wanted to do. Then it hit me. Keep it simple and called it just what it is.
When I first presented the bracelet to the deputies at the jail, one gentleman in particular raved about the unique design and commented that Sheriff’s around the country may be interested in this. He asked me if I had a website. Crickets. All I could tell him was that I was working on it. Actually I was. The site that you are reading this on is what I was creating, but I hadn’t finished it yet. I wanted so badly be able to tell him to check out my site at…fill in the blank. This was good though. It sparked a fire in me and reminded me if I truly want to do something with this endeavor, playing the game lightly would not work. I have to approach it with a reckless abandon, even if that means learning many things that I don’t know or have never done. I talked to this deputy I believe on a Thursday. By Sunday, my site was up and running. My wife Amy really helped me fine tune some of the more visual details.
On my next entry, Constant Reader, I will let you know more detail of the “Sheriff’s Edition” and how it panned out. See you then.
Along with commemorating a significant event in this endeavor, I had an idea, that maybe some of the very positive comments I got from people that bought paracord items, was that maybe I could transform them into testimonials for an upcoming website. I made up this real nice letter and bought envelopes and went down my list of customers and sent out about 50 to 70 letters. I asked everyone to email me their story of their purchase or feelings about the bracelet or other item or write it down on the letter and return it to me. I sent those letters out and then it happened. Wait for it…wait. BAMMM. Nothing. Not one. NADA. Goose Egg. No one sent or emailed me anything. At first I was quite bummed, then I realized I better get back to work if I want this business to do something.
I want to make sure to put this information out along with the positive. There is no way that all plans will be linear and work perfectly. I expect that and try to look at every setback as a learning experience. This was definitely one. It wasn’t the worst thing that could happen, but it is one of those things that can be humbling and remind me that I have a lot to learn. On the other side, it still was a good idea. The fact that it didn’t work out doesn’t mean I made a mistake. Perhaps I should have followed up with some of the people that spoke so highly of the bracelets. I will continue to listen and learn from all the aspects of this endeavor.
I’ll see you next time, Constant Reader.
I forgot to tell a funny part to the story. When I made up the letters to give to both the, let’s call them firsters, I gave the first officer one. He began reading it and I start to wonder why is it taking him so long. Then he asks is this your daughter? What? I mixed up the letters and her, the other firster was at the top of the page. Dooooh!! I blamed it on my invisible staff and ran to get the real one. Double Dooooh!
When I presented them with there packages, they loved them. They were surprised of the extras that were included. I told them that I thanked and appreciated them for giving me my start and I thought they were worth it. A couple days later, several people tell me they saw them wearing their items, proudly. That…made me smile. That also brings me to what I have enjoyed the most in this endeavor. Seeing so many people wearing and enjoying them. I didn’t expect how much that would mean to me. It made me think about how a designer must feel when someone wears their items, but even better. Because this was a jewelry type item, people were wearing them everyday. It’s so difficult to describe how much joy comes from going into a room and seeing perhaps 75% of the people wearing your item. I feel honored each and every time I see someone sporting something that I made.
OK, back to what happened when I got a call from the sheriff’s deputies. Well as you can guess I went by to see my guy. He pointed me to a couple deputies that wanted the bracelets. I took a small bag of them out and WOOMP. It was like flies on honey. All of a sudden a bunch of other deputies came around wanting to look at them. Several of them were throwing money on the counter and trying on different bracelets as I had a lot of sizes. It was hard to keep track of everything, but I managed. A few of them didn’t have any cash and asked if I could stop by then next day. It was overwhelming but I loved it.
I was also happy that many of them loved the coloration/design I made especially for the Sheriff’s Deputy. Next time I’ll discuss that a bit further.
Stay tuned Constant Reader.
Between my co-workers and friends, close and distant family, I sold 100 paracord items in about 2 months. It’s so hard to describe the gratitude I’ve felt in this endeavor. I thought to commemorate a significant occasion I would recognize and honor the two people that gave me my start. I approached the very first customer and the very first officer with a letter. I told them that I was acknowledging, 100 paracord items being sold, by offering both of them a bracelet, made especially for them at no cost. They could pick any color combinations they wanted. Once I gave them the letter, I told them both I would give them a few days to think about what they wanted.
When I got back with them, they both made some great choices of color combinations. I told them that I would need a few days time to make their items. Unbeknownst to them I had a surprise in store. I had been experimenting with making a braided necklace and a key fob. I ordered some barrel connectors for the necklaces because I was worried that they would be a choking hazard with the standard buckle. After making the bracelets, I included matching necklaces and key fobs. They really turned out great. A picture of her set is on my Facebook page. You can like me when you are there, wink wink. ;). Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of his before I gave it to him. It was the opposite of the “Thin Blue Line”, colonial blue with a black stripe. I like how they turned out so well, I couldn’t wait to give them their packages. More on this later.
I even asked one of the Sheriff’s deputies that I work closely with, if he would mind putting up one of my flyers in their break area. He said that he would. Within hours, many of them were asking to see the bracelets. Once they saw them, I’m pleased to say they liked the quality and wanted to purchase one. A few days later, that same deputy I approached, called me and said he was dropping a copy of my flyer off at the County Jail and their were a couple guys that wanted one.
Tune in next time, Constant Reader, to see where this goes and what the reaction was when I presented the 100th commemoration packages.
As the title says the flyers are up. About 5 or 6 in total. The response is fairly lukewarm to start. When I checked my flyers, there were a couple comments written on them. One I initially took offense to and I’ll admit, I replaced that flyer with a new one. It had a comment about there isn’t any pride in the profession. It was eluding to a passage on the flyer where I encourage officers to show the pride in their profession.
At times my police people have bad days. Sometimes those bad days can run into weeks, or months or longer. Law Enforcement is for the most part a thankless job and many officers aren’t exactly loved by the masses. Some of that is going on in my department. We are about 33% of the force we were around 10 years ago. Most of that has been budget cuts, through lay-offs and attrition. Though I didn’t like the comment, I can relate to it. It wasn’t negative towards me anyway. You can call be crazy but there is a little part of me that hopes some morale might have gotten even the slightest boost by my bracelets. I won’t belabor this point so I’ll move on.
Although I described the above comment scribbled on the flyer, for the most part there hasn’t been any comments placed on the flyers. I really appreciate that and take it as a sign of respect from my colleagues. This is nothing I take for granted and is actually indicative of the person I’ve always been at work: me. I don’t try to impress and I always make every effort to be positive. I believe it has all has been meant for good.
As I said the response was pretty lukewarm in the beginning, and then something happened. I’m not sure if it was one of the first people that bought them or something else, but it seemed like everyone wanted to buy one. I mean everyone. Every evening I would go home to make more bracelets and the next day, I would sell most of what I had and then get a few more orders for sizes that I ran out of. I was at times overwhelmed, but this was a good thing. So many people were giving me tips and suggestions and referring people to me. Within a month or so I had gone from selling those very first ones to passing a milestone of my 100th bracelet.
Tune in next time and I’ll explain what I did to commemorate this event. Take care Constant Reader.
When I bought the large quantity of paracord, I knew I had to do something with it. If I bought that much cord and enough buckles to match, I would consider myself a fool for not doing something with it. This played in the back of my mind over and over.
One day I came home and looked over the flyer that I had been working on. I thought the flyer looked pretty good, but I had to fight that self doubt that wanted so badly to creep in. After I tweaked it all it needed, I recall sitting in front of my computer and looking at it over and over. I then pushed the buttons to print out a few copies. I figured what did I have to loose. If no one was interested in the bracelet, it would hurt, but at least I would know. If I didn’t put up the flyer, I would always be angry with myself for not doing what I knew I should do. So up on the walls they go.
Now let me explain a small dynamic at my job that I have seen occur several times over the 25+ years I have been working here. Whenever someone puts up a flyer for something they are either selling or for a union position they are running for, if the person isn’t well respected, there will be all sorts of comments written on the flyer. The comments could be derogatory or supportive, but it is definitely a non-scientific way of getting a general opinion about someone’s reputation from the masses so to speak. I went back and forth on whether or not I should laminate the flyers. I decided not to and let the flyers “fly”.
Next time I’ll tell you how the flying flyers went. See you then Constant Reader.
After I sold the first two, the very next day, a couple other co-workers, said they saw them and wanted one. Of course I was happy to help them out.
Around this time one of my co-workers, another police officer, asked me about my “Thin Blue Line” bracelet. I told him that I made them and was considering selling them. He asked to buy one right away. The next day when I saw him again, he said he needed another one for his wife and maybe one for his daughter. Once again after they got their bracelets, I see him another day and he says he needs one for his sister-in-law, father-in-law, and I think his mother-in-law. Within one week he needed about six of them. He also told me that a lot of other officers were asking about his bracelet and he was telling them to contact me. Now this is all before I put up one flyer.
Now around this time, I decide to make a purchase of 2000′ of paracord from my supplier and a bunch of buckles. Back to that talk about the flyer…this was a heck of an incentive to get off my arse [sic] and walk outside of that box and do something different. At least different for me. Come by next time and see what I did.
Talk to you soon, Constant Reader.
Now onto the first day I delivered a paracord item. I was quite nervous.
You know I’ve had three children with my wife, Amy. I’ve been in the delivery or birthing room when each of them took their first gander in this world of ours. Now I don’t liken having children to making a custom bracelet but it does have a few similarities.
- Each has it’s own personality. Well sort of. Actually none are exactly alike. I digress.
- You take your positive energy and enfuse it into the end product. Well I guess children aren’t products. Once again…I digress.
- I had no idea how the new owner will like or dislike their item. I guess I have to digress again, because we don’t own children. Hmmmmm, moving on.
I guess all this ‘similar to the kids’ stuff is a bit strange, but if you’ve ever made something for someone else, you know what I mean. It’s just a little like a child being born.
I dropped off the bracelets. Well let me back up. I wanted to package it in some sort of way that would be better than re-using a plastic grocery bag. Solution=paper lunch sack. It’s crude and extremely Blue Collar, but I grew up in a Blue Collar General Motors town, so forgive me. The bag was a good size and I could write a short thank you not on the bag. I thought it gave a bit of a personal touch.
She really like them. She picked a red and black one to match her sister’s school colors and a neon pink color. I thought they looked nice and it was great that she agreed.
I’ll see you in the next entry, Constant Reader.
Now once I get to my design studio. Actually that sounds impressive right? My “Design Studio”, is actually a desk in my basement. OK, focus. Once I get to the studio, I go about the task of making the bracelets. Now this is a culmination of all the work and research that I did over the winter of 2011/2012. I wonder will the bracelet be good enough for her. Will she appreciate the quality and the time put in?
These are all questions that were rolling through my mind that evening as I made those first bracelets. I had to remind myself that I have always been a person that appreciates high quality in product and high quality in customer service. I’ve had experience with both in the past, so I had no reason to think that I wouldn’t be able to do the same with this.
The one thing I love about this hobby that is slowly turning into a business, is how I can take plain raw cord and twist and tie it a certain way. Add a buckle and have a really nice looking piece of jewelry that has the added bonus of a utility factor with the paracord itself.
The title of this post…the question of whether or not it will be good enough, is really personal self doubt rolling in. I always do my best to be optimistic and with this endeavor, I’ve pledged to do just that. If I put my heart into whatever I’m making, it will be good enough.
Up next…delivery.
See you next time, Constant Reader.
Picking up after the last entry.
After we talked for a few minutes more, she said that she would buy two (2) for her sister. This had caught me off guard so much, I now had to figure how much to charge. That wasn’t too difficult as I had been researching prices and wanted to come somewhere near the middle. I knew I could produce a quality item that was carefully braided from the best materials, but it is also important to be mindful of the time and expense put in.
Hoping that someone would one day want to buy a bracelet, I began carrying a small bag of samples that I could show people to allow them to customize the coloration in their bracelet. At the time I think I had 4 colors or so.
When I left her office, I was so proud of how things happened. Not so much that I made a sale, but that I resisted the temptation to not say anything to her. This was my leap.
As people who know me can attest, I am a fairly quiet and reserved person. I have my chatty moments, but I have always been more contemplative nature. I am quickly finding in this endeavor, I’ve gotta break waaaaaay out of that box and get better at talking and selling. This is important. I enjoy doing it and I will improve.
See you on the next entry, Constant Reader.
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