Juggling Knives and Loose Change
Here's some quick reviews and thoughts about how to improve
your business.
First, I finally received a new set of Juggling Knives.
Ever since I saw Penn juggle them with the Asparagus
Cultural Society, I knew I wanted to learn how to do this
feat. I already know basic club juggling, so this should be
relatively easy to master once I get past the fear of large
metal pointy objects falling all around me.
Unfortunately, the first set I purchased for $69.00 on eBay
arrived with cracked wooden handles. I asked for a
replacement and the vendor quickly agreed to do so if I
would return the initial set for examination. I did, they
apologized and credited me for my return postage, and then
they sent me a new set. These were perfect and came with a
carrying case.
After practicing for a few minutes I quickly realized that
the handles hurt when I caught them. They were hard. I
started talking to my 9 year old son about my problem and
he suggested we visit the local tennis store his Mom frequents
to pick up some foam tape they use on tennis rackets.
After taking my knives out of the bag, and seeing the shock
on the tennis store owner's face, he settled down and made
some suggestions. We bought the tape and off we went.
Then I realized these cheaper knives needed some type of
rubber bumper on the bottom to avoid splitting the handles
when they hit the ground. I knew what I was looking for,
but did not know where to begin. We wound up in Home Depot
searching in vein for some type of rubber washer we could
screw into the base of the handle. Finally, a Home Depot
employee led me to a rack and pulled out these little tiny
once inch gaskets.
A few minutes later, I was home, taping and screwing in the
rubber gaskets. Bingo! For the extra $14.00 I spent, I had a
set of juggling knives that looked great and felt great. And
I still saved a ton of money over buying the more expensive
$138.00 set of professional knives also available on eBay.
Now to practice without taking an eye out.
I also received my new Loose Change Chop Cup from Colin
Rose in the UK. I bought mine off eBay for $75.00 because
it promised you could produce a stack of loose coins at the
conclusion of the routine.
Well, the cup arrived and it is a thing of beauty. It's
smaller than I expected -- maybe 2.5 - 3 inches high. It
comes with two balls and a sack and that extra gimmick
required to produce the stack of coins.
Unfortunately, the gimmick comes in multiple sizes and the
seller was not sure this was for U.S. coins and frankly
neither am I. I contacted Colin Rose directly for
assistance and he promised to make sure it works fine if I
send him 20 pounds to cover postage and his time. I want to
make sure I have a working effect and will probably do this
next week. But it kind of bugs me.
When I tried to produce the coins, I found it would not
work with a stack of 18 nickels without the gimmick
dropping from the cup. Nice production. And when I was able
to dislodge the coins, I had to use a lot of force, and that
kind of destroys the effect for me. So the jury is still out
on this one.
The materials I ordered for my Frame Fantastique idea
arrived, but I am having a difficult time putting the
pieces together to make this work. I'll let you know how
far I get next time.
On the sales and marketing side, I've begun to hear from a
bunch of you about your web sites and your questions about
sales letters, email communications, and promotion.
One thing I will continue to hammer through your head is
the need to put your email follow-up on auto-pilot. To do
this, you need to write a series of email messages and
schedule them for delivery through an autoresponder
service.
If you can't afford to hire me to write your email series,
go buy this product to help you right now:
Email Follow-up Creator Pro
Some of you have asked about the best way to use Google
AdWords or Yahoo Ads to compete in your local marketplace.
Here is the best ebook on the topic and the one I make all
of my clients read:
Agency AdWords Revealed
And lastly, if you can't hire me to write your sales letter
or improve your web site content or marketing collateral,
please consider this tool:
Push Button Sales Letters
Until next time,
Steven
your business.
First, I finally received a new set of Juggling Knives.
Ever since I saw Penn juggle them with the Asparagus
Cultural Society, I knew I wanted to learn how to do this
feat. I already know basic club juggling, so this should be
relatively easy to master once I get past the fear of large
metal pointy objects falling all around me.
Unfortunately, the first set I purchased for $69.00 on eBay
arrived with cracked wooden handles. I asked for a
replacement and the vendor quickly agreed to do so if I
would return the initial set for examination. I did, they
apologized and credited me for my return postage, and then
they sent me a new set. These were perfect and came with a
carrying case.
After practicing for a few minutes I quickly realized that
the handles hurt when I caught them. They were hard. I
started talking to my 9 year old son about my problem and
he suggested we visit the local tennis store his Mom frequents
to pick up some foam tape they use on tennis rackets.
After taking my knives out of the bag, and seeing the shock
on the tennis store owner's face, he settled down and made
some suggestions. We bought the tape and off we went.
Then I realized these cheaper knives needed some type of
rubber bumper on the bottom to avoid splitting the handles
when they hit the ground. I knew what I was looking for,
but did not know where to begin. We wound up in Home Depot
searching in vein for some type of rubber washer we could
screw into the base of the handle. Finally, a Home Depot
employee led me to a rack and pulled out these little tiny
once inch gaskets.
A few minutes later, I was home, taping and screwing in the
rubber gaskets. Bingo! For the extra $14.00 I spent, I had a
set of juggling knives that looked great and felt great. And
I still saved a ton of money over buying the more expensive
$138.00 set of professional knives also available on eBay.
Now to practice without taking an eye out.
I also received my new Loose Change Chop Cup from Colin
Rose in the UK. I bought mine off eBay for $75.00 because
it promised you could produce a stack of loose coins at the
conclusion of the routine.
Well, the cup arrived and it is a thing of beauty. It's
smaller than I expected -- maybe 2.5 - 3 inches high. It
comes with two balls and a sack and that extra gimmick
required to produce the stack of coins.
Unfortunately, the gimmick comes in multiple sizes and the
seller was not sure this was for U.S. coins and frankly
neither am I. I contacted Colin Rose directly for
assistance and he promised to make sure it works fine if I
send him 20 pounds to cover postage and his time. I want to
make sure I have a working effect and will probably do this
next week. But it kind of bugs me.
When I tried to produce the coins, I found it would not
work with a stack of 18 nickels without the gimmick
dropping from the cup. Nice production. And when I was able
to dislodge the coins, I had to use a lot of force, and that
kind of destroys the effect for me. So the jury is still out
on this one.
The materials I ordered for my Frame Fantastique idea
arrived, but I am having a difficult time putting the
pieces together to make this work. I'll let you know how
far I get next time.
On the sales and marketing side, I've begun to hear from a
bunch of you about your web sites and your questions about
sales letters, email communications, and promotion.
One thing I will continue to hammer through your head is
the need to put your email follow-up on auto-pilot. To do
this, you need to write a series of email messages and
schedule them for delivery through an autoresponder
service.
If you can't afford to hire me to write your email series,
go buy this product to help you right now:
Email Follow-up Creator Pro
Some of you have asked about the best way to use Google
AdWords or Yahoo Ads to compete in your local marketplace.
Here is the best ebook on the topic and the one I make all
of my clients read:
Agency AdWords Revealed
And lastly, if you can't hire me to write your sales letter
or improve your web site content or marketing collateral,
please consider this tool:
Push Button Sales Letters
Until next time,
Steven
posted by Steven at
10:30 AM
