limited production :: hand crafted :: high performance :: rechargeable :: premium flashlights

This is my blog about creating a startup LED flashlight business. I'm a designer, fabricator, and strategist and I'm passionate about making ideas real. I believe that products are about people, that they should be built to last, deliver real value, and that we need to do a better job than we have in the recent past.

Most of my career has been contract or freelance work and I've crafted products and strategies for both big international companies and startups. I also used to work in the "industry" fabricating special effects for film and TV, along with the occasional hot rod. Bottom line, I love making things.

I'm starting this blog so you can follow along, from day one, and see what it's like to start a business, or fail in the process. Only time will tell, but I hope you find this interesting enough to stay tuned, comment, link, like, tweet, and (most importantly) participate in turning this idea into something tangible and valuable.

For a good place to get started with general info about who, what, why, etc., check out the "Stickies" on the left side of the page. Thanks for stopping by and please don't hesitate to ask questions and get involved!

Please sign up for my email list to get updates and notifications for contests and giveaways!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Ask a question, get an answer!

FREE LIGHT GIVEAWAY

Hi folks, I created a sticky on the left side of the page as a place for people to ask questions. Pretty simple really but don't hesitate to fire away. Then I won't have to sit here and wonder what to write for my next post.

Over here.
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Okay, this is a previous post that I'm bumping to the top...and may continue to do so. But I'm sweetening the pot...with a contest! I was listening to this Freakonomics podcast and it gave me an idea. Call it a lottery if you want, cause that's what it is. Here is how this works.
  1. Post a question in the "questions" section.
  2. If it's a good enough question I'll turn it into a stand-alone blog post.
  3. Once I get ten questions that turn into blog posts, I'll randomly choose one of those questions (and its author) out of a hat and they will get a free flashlight + charger + battery. I haven't set pricing yet but you can expect the retail price to be north of $200 bucks. 
  4. This offer will be open for 30 days and will close on March 1, 2011.
  5. If I don't get 10 post-ables in 30 days, then...I'll re-think this whole thing. 
Limitations and exclusions:
  1. You may post multiple questions, but only one question per person is eligible for being post-able (for the purposes of this contest). This means I might take two of your questions and turn them into blog posts, but that will only count as one entry into the free light lottery.  
  2. Remember that quality is more important than quantity because only one post will get used anyway. 
  3. You must be a registered user otherwise there is no way to track the person who posted.
If you need some warming up here are some possible topics: 
  1. business models
  2. design
  3. strategy
  4. manufacturing
  5. machining
  6. marketing 
  7. advertising
  8. social media
  9. sustainability
  10. brand
  11. performance/power
  12. my background
  13. this "business design" thing