A little help in realizing a dream

[RogerC]

Hey all,

I know everyone hates to see a post like this as an introduction, but if you can spare about 30 seconds, it would go a long way to helping me realize a dream of opening my own business. I've had a small guitar-building company for a couple years now, and I've got hopes of going full-time with it in the near future.

I was nominated to win a $5k website design/hosting package from a local company, and I'm one of three finalists.

If you would go to www.thejuvogroup.com/vote and vote for Dog Tired Guitars, it would help out a bunch. You can vote 4 times from each IP address, and you won't have to register for anything, so you won't have to worry about spam or anything like that.

The new website will help me reach a larger audience as well as give my retail sales a shot in the arm. As we all know, it's difficult to develop any kind of business without a strong web presence, so I'm hoping the new website, in conjunction with everything else I have going on, will help to get me that much closer to opening a brick and mortar storefront.

Thank you for any support!

RogerC

Dog Tired Guitars

[Prostheta]

I wish you the best of luck. Hopefully that $5k will include more business-focused assistance with an understanding of your business rather than just "a-site-plus-hosting". What kind of price range is their hosting in? A small luthier's site should not cost more than pocket money to host per month. If it goes into the high tens or near three figures, that's a big monthly hit and not one a fledgling business needs as a constant overhead. Certainly, that $5k would soon be recouped.

Apologies if this sounds a little cynical, however it pays to be a realist and watch where the money flows when you need to make your business work. If you win, let them do their work and if needs be take your site elsewhere where it is cheaper to host. I recommend registering your own domain name independently rather than allowing them to do it for you, as they could possibly retain control over it should you want to jump ship. I had much the same problem with Network Solutions when moving two domains to cheaper registrars. Tantamount blackmail in customer retention.

Anyway. Tell us more about what you do, show off some of your work or even enter our Guitar Of The Month contest. It does not exclude small builders, and everybody here likes to see other people's work. Get your name out there!

Oh, and welcome. :-)

[RogerC]

Thank you, Prostheta.

The company hosting the competition is a local place, and I'm actually good friends with one of the account managers. I do currently have a site up, and I've registered my domain name already, so the horror of losing the name shouldn't be a problem. Thank you for pointing that out, though.

A little about me... well, by day, I'm an event planner for a pretty large company. I'm in the 3rd year of owning my guitar business which started after a couple years of building. I got a few under my belt and then I had people start commissioning me to build for them. It wasn't long before I figured I needed to get the business set up. I only do electrics, and primarily T styles. I specialize in using barn wood and other unique materials (like concrete and baseball bats ). I feel like I've found my niche in this market, and I've got loads of ideas in the works, but with a full-time job and a family, I just don't currently have the time or resources to implement them all.

Here are a few of the guitars I've done. I usually build at least 2 or 3 a year for charity, and most of these were all donations:

This one was raffled off to raise money for on-the-grounds needs in Haiti and Honduras

This one was built from a local 100 year old barn and was raffled off by the local high school music program for new band uniforms.

This was my first and only bass so far; a 5 string fretless based off a Fender Starcaster

And these 2 were both for charity as well.

This one was made from Matt Holliday signature baseball bats and sold at auction for $45k. 100% of the money was split between 3 different charities. A few cool details: I hand-stitched the strap with baseball stitching, inlaid Matt's number (7) on the fret board, and I simulated an old, pine tar covered bat on the back of the neck.

[Prostheta]

That bass blew me out of the water! Excellent work. I wish you the best in your endeavours. You've clearly got the drive to make it work, and that's what counts. Winning this competition might not be the big kicker that makes everything fall into place, but it certainly can't and won't hurt. An objective business mentor and advocate is what'll give you the best mileage. Go get em!

[RogerC]

Thank you, Prostheta. I really appreciate the kind words and the help today. We did come up just short, though. It was a hell of a fight, and I gave it my best effort, so in the end, I just have to resign myself to knowing that it wasn't supposed to be for me.

I know what you mean about the mentor, and I'm lucky enough to have several very successful friends who are willing to do just that for me. Losing this competition is nothing more than a scar on my pride, so onward I go .