I thought I would post about Brands and some information on them. For a while now I have been throwing the idea around of starting a brand i.e. shirts, hats,hoodies etc… but it turns out it is a lot harder then I thought. I have made a few shirts and a couple of them turned out quite well, while others were a waste of time and materials. That is only the start to the problem, coming up with a name is one of the hardest things to do unless you use your last name or a nickname, next is making sure nobody else already had registered the name you have picked. After that is sorted out trying to get your brand established (after of course finding a supplier for the shirts/hats/sweaters and a printing company to print all your products) is one of the toughest things unless a famous person decides to wear it or show it off it can take months if not years to get your brand out in the public. Lots of terrible brands have come and gone but only the smartest ones adapt to style changes and stay fresh and make people want to buy,wear the product.
The next thing to think about is are you good enough to make your own designs or do you have to hire somebody to design your Brand. Most people can come up with a few dozen design idea’s but you literally need thousands of ideas to keep your brand moving forward and stay on top of the latest trends and fashions.
I read an article recently that stated now is the hardest time for a new company to come into any market and sell a product, 20 years ago we didn’t have the internet to flood the market with Chinese knock-offs as well as all the traditional media’s were still in place. Meaning 30 second TV commercials on only a hand full of channels, magazine ad’s, and radio ads, now a days we have over 500 channels to chose so most likely they will not watch your commercial. Back then we didn’t have niche specific magazines only a hand full of magazines for large audiences so advertising in a sports magazine was simple, but now with thousands of magazines to choose from how do you know which one is the best for you. With the introduction of satellite radio many people don’t even have to listen to commercials since it is now commercial free radio. So it is definitely a difficult barrier to pass.
That is just a few of the hurdles someone would have to overcome in order to get their product into the market place. The best thing to do is make a few of them show your friends wear the product and just self promote, create a website to sell the product and start low key, don’t go out and rent retail space buecause most likely you will be closed within a few months.
Hopefully this is helpful information and might inform you about branding. Keep checking back and within a few weeks I should have a few pictures of the shirts I have made in the past as well as some of the new ones I am currently working on.
I am not sure if everyone felt the Earthquake that Canada had Yesterday afternoon, I personally did not feel it but I did hear it (sounded like a train) while I was at work. A few other people also heard it and said stuff was shaking back and forth. Earthquakes are not uncommon in Canada we typically see 300-400 a year but the majority of them are less then 5.0 so we don’t normally feel them. a few geologists are predicting the next 5.0 or greater will be in 5 – 10 years.
I thought this video was fitting for the recent Earthquake we had, *note this video may get deleted from Youtube as the second video will explain.
Since the first video has been removed from Youtube and a few others as well, “Frankie” has posted this video to please ask everyone to remove the earthquake warning video.
I have read that “Frankie” wants to / is an actor and was just acting out an earthquake warning but I guess he does not want it posted around the internet.
So remember in case of earthquake “Have your everything ready”
Hows it going?
This hot weather we have been getting recently has been amazing for spring. I have a home built thermal solar heated spa in the backyard that uses 1/2″ black tubing ran on the top of our shed to heat the spa on sunny days. Since we have had such nice weather I built a insulated cover and have the pump set on an automatic timer to run during peak sun hours. The hottest the spa/hot tub has been so far this year has been 107 degree’s. it has reached that a few days now. Today alone it was at 104 degree’s and it was only 26 degree’s with some wind, I have noticed when it is cool at night and the we are using the spa it will drop 2-3 degree’s in an hours time. To me that is not a huge heat loss since 107 is to hot to sit in anyway.
Also with this nice weather we have opened our pool which is a great way to cool off during this early summer heat. it stays around 80 degree’s and is heated with gas. When we first opened our pool this year it was only 64 after a few days, lets just say that you do not want to swim in that cold water for to long (lucky for me the spa was up around 100 so it was a nice and fast way to warm back up)
I will hopefully have a video up soon of the whole entire backyard/spa,with how the spa is heated using the thermal solar heater and the home built cover. It has taken around 2.5 years to get the spa to where it is today. It was definitely worth the time and money as we have already used it at least 10 times and it is only May.
Stay tuned for more updates on the spa and other warm weather fun that I will be having during the up coming summer months.
-Chris
I haven’t posted to much in the past little while, but now I have lots to post about. I recently went to a friends cottage and got to go out riding, it was a lot of fun. Most of the trails were fairly easy not to muddy or rocky, easy hills not to challenging but when we ended up at my friends farm that was a different story. It was two buddies & (brother) and myself on a dirt bike, ATV and a side by side ( golf cart on steroids) we decided to go through a creek about 1-2 feet deep by 5-7 feet wide.
I didn’t quite make it across the first time I had to get winched out, the second time across I thought if I got a run at it I would make it through the creek, well going faster just made it worse. I ended up stopping dead in the creek and almost flipping over the handle bars, it wasn’t very fun. I was stuck again, my buddy pulled me out of the mud, and as they were all laughing at me, the side by side also got stuck. It took us a good 10-15 minutes to get it unstuck as it was up to the floor boards in mud and water.
It was a fun cottage weekend and hopefully we can go up again so I can get some more great videos and pictures.
I still can not post pictures for some reason on wordpress, otherwise I would post a few pictures of the quading we did.
Keep posted for some videos and pictures in the next few days.
Last Month I posted a blog about going to Blue Mountain, well that came and went, while we were at Blue I saw a contest called Love Winter Turn Blue. I brought my Flip camera and filmed us over the weekend and submitted a video to the contest. The contest was running for a few weeks prior to us entering it, There was only a week left so I told everyone I knew to watch and vote for it.
The contest ended and a few weeks went by and I never heard anything, then just last week I received an e-mail. The e-mail was from Blue Mountain saying we Won the Contest, I couldn’t believe it.
Our Prize For winning the contest is a 2 bedroom Village Suite for 2 nights 3 days, 4 two day lift tickets for the mountain and a dinner for 4 at the Pottery Restaurant. Basically it means we get to go to Blue Mountain for two nights for free other then a few meals here and there. We are all pumped and can’t believe we won.
Here is the website for where you can watch the winning video. Love Winter Turn Blue
I received the vouchers today in the mail and I was planning on uploading a picture of them, but Wordpress is failing to upload the picture for some reason.
All in all it was a great trip to Blue Mountain not one got hurt ( my legs were killing me after 6-8 hours of boarding guess I should of worked my legs out) So stay tuned as I am sure to update my blog with all the exciting adventures we are sure to go on while on the Trip that we won from this contest.
I have recently started using the website www.Chatroulette.com If you have never gone to chatroulette.com, you are missing out it is a great deal of fun. Chatroulette is more of a novelty then anything. After 30 min of using it, it tends to get repetitive and boring. I see the same thing over and over, some guy starring at the camera just waiting for a girl or something. Another thing that is not so good about Chatroulette is that for every 10 people you see one of them will be some guy jerking off or showing his wiener. I am sure once the website gets established it will set some sort of rules to stop/ban people from doing that, but for now anything goes.
To see some of the best of Chatroulette go to youtube.com and type in chatroulette, they have videos from piano improv to a fake hangings even lady gaga dance videos. I have seen alot of the videos and everytime they keep getting better and better.
Here is a video of myself wearing a football helmet while on chatroulette. I blocked out the girls face as best I could. She asked me why I was wearing a mask and then called me a freak. I found it quite funny since I put the helmet on for a laugh anyway.
Chatroulette would be great for a party setting, where large groups of people are on both ends of the camera and can interact with each other. When it is one on one it tends to be less exciting. If you have yet to try it I encourage you to check it out at least once.
My parents recently went to Florida, and while they were down there they picked me up a Air intake for my truck. It is not a true Cold air intake but it is basically the same thing. It is a Airaid intake for a Ford F150, it says it will give around 18HP increase. It has been installed for 1 day and I do notice it is definitely louder then the stock one. There might be a slight increase in power from 40 km/h through 70 km/h.
Here are a few videos and pictures of the intake installed. The installation only took 45 min, with help from a friend.
Before Video.
After Video
Picture of my intake installed on my 2000 F150
Airaid installed on my 2000 F150
It is hard to tell right now if It was a good purchase or not as I have only had it installed for 24 hrs. I think next time I fill my truck with gas I will know if I got any mileage improvement or not. I like the sound it makes, my truck does not sound like a leaf blower anymore so overall I am happy with it.
It will be a blast, I went last year and had a great time, so I think this year will be even better. I have been on the slopes a few times already this year, and I just got my board waxed and Sharpened. I am ready to go.
I have a Salomon Pulse Board with new Ride LX- Series Bindings. The board and bindings are a great combo that Make snowboarding a great time for me.
Here are a few pictures of my board right after I put on the new Bindings.
Here is my Snowboard - Salomon Pulse with Ride bindings
Back of my Snowboard
I am going up Friday morning and plan on snowboarding all day/night then relax and party after. I will post pictures and videos of the trip when I get back. Be sure to check back regularly.
I am posting a blog about my other website Prostar99.com and how I am getting ready for a Doritos Contest. The contest is basically one about creating a video for the masses and hope that many people will want to watch it. That is the hardest part about this contest. So I am stuck trying to figure out a way to make a Prank/Funny/Real/Fake/Awesome video that people will want to watch and comment on.
Here is a link the contest Doritos Viralocity for all your contest rules and details please visit the website.
Look for this bag at your local store for your chance to enter.
Unidentified_Chips
I will be posting regular updates about this contest on my other website so if you want to see how I am doing just go on over to prostar99.com and check it out.
Here is my first of many to come “Random Blogs” which is a blog about something random I am thinking or that has happened.
Socks, which type of sock is the proper folded sock?
4 different ways to put away socks.
I was doing my Laundry today and I was putting my socks away, when I thought what is the best way to put socks away. I like to do the first one, I roll them up and flip the elastic over the socks and it makes a nice small ball and does not ruin the elastic. Lately I have just been putting the socks in my draw as singles and I will search until I find a pair.
To me it looks like each person folds socks a different way, some people prefer the log or the ball but some like only the tops together. Other people do not like the socks together at all, they will just leave them apart. I find it interesting that each person says “this is the correct way to fold socks” but in reality socks can be folded anyway.
This was the first thought that came to my mind when I was going to write a blog about something random. Stay tuned for the next “Random blog”
