big update
been a while and lots of shit going on.
1.
Last Thursday I flew out to Santa Barbara to begin my work with Strong Hearts Baking Company. I was in California for the Natural Foods Expo until Tuesday. It was awesome getting to see people and hang out (Katie and Allan among others), but it was also a pretty busy visit and most of the time was taken up doing work-related stuff.
Thursday I just kind of got in and got settled in a little, did some prep work for the Expo the next day, went to Kinkos and had some printing done (promotional material, business cards, etc.). Then we had a big dinner and I fell asleep watching Lost.
Friday was our first day at the Expo, which entailed driving the 2-3 hours to Anahiem, spending 20 minutes trying to find a place to park, and then walking the mile to the convention center. The convention was HUGE, way bigger than I had expected. All in all I think we got to see about 1/2 of what was there. We hooked up with the We Love Soy guys (Ryan and Dan) who are pretty good friends of mine and just kind of walked around and took it all in, and ate a lot of free samples. The Expo lasted until 6:00 pm, and we left as it was closing down, after like walking another five miles inside the convention center. Ten another 2-3 hour drive back to Santa Barbara.
Got back to SB just in time to see the last 7 Generations song of their set, which was lame, I would have liked to see more, and really I was too tired to enjoy it. It was good to see everyone though, so I hung out for a bit before Allan and I went to grab a burrito and headed to bed.
Saturday was the Expo again. Pretty much more of the same except we actually got a lot accomplished on Saturday. Going to the Expo I had two main goals:
a. talk to people from Mother's Market, a popular retail health-food chain in the Orange County area, and
b. find better sources for raw ingredients for Sally - she had been buying all of her ingredients from retail outlets at slightly discounted case pricing.
We ran into someone from Mother's on Friday and I was determined to get him some samples on Saturday, knowing that would pretty much seal the deal. Finally met up with him and supplied a couple of donuts, donut holes and truffles. I'm pretty confident that we are going to be carried by both Mother's and Native Foods as well as soon as we can get it all worked out.
I also made sure to get samples to other strategic people, including VegNews and a big vegan-products buyer from the UK. Both were very impressed and I can see some really big things happening in the future.
The rest of Saturday was spent talking to ingredients suppliers and I/we pretty much secured ingredients for 1/5 of what she had been paying. which means I pretty much paid for the cost of my trip, and the Expo attendance fees, in one week of savings. Pretty crazy shit.
Along with all of that, everyone loved the design work i did for the Myspace page and the business cards, promotional fliers, etc. Thats always nice to hear.
The next few days are kind of a blur, I did a lot of work and a little hanging out, and left at 6:00 am from SB to fly home. After about 10 hours of traveling I made it back, and realized that I already have more work to do with the baking company than I expected, and that my minimal salary really covers. But I think I can get through the next couple of months and go from there. Basically I'm running the entire business, except for the baking and delivery. Thats a pretty big job, especially with the growth we are already seeing. It also looks like I may be getting part-ownership in the business. And I will probably be spending a decent amount of time in California.
2.
Looks like I will be going to Europe in May. I decided to just go on tour with ANCHOR. I'll be driving and taking some stuff with me to sell, should be awesome. Their new CD is about ready to go to press, so it will be a good tour for us. Its awesome to continue to have hard-working, touring bands on the label.
3.
Risen is doing a West Coast tour in August. Not Risen with the usual members, I decided along with a couple of other people that I just want to tour more and if I have friends that want to fill-in then fuck it, we're gonna do it. Tired of other people holding me back, so I'm not going to let that stop me any more.
4.
We also just confirmed our Japanese tour at the end of August as well. FUCKING STOKED.
There's more, but thats honestly more than enough right now.
Eat some donuts.
1.
Last Thursday I flew out to Santa Barbara to begin my work with Strong Hearts Baking Company. I was in California for the Natural Foods Expo until Tuesday. It was awesome getting to see people and hang out (Katie and Allan among others), but it was also a pretty busy visit and most of the time was taken up doing work-related stuff.
Thursday I just kind of got in and got settled in a little, did some prep work for the Expo the next day, went to Kinkos and had some printing done (promotional material, business cards, etc.). Then we had a big dinner and I fell asleep watching Lost.
Friday was our first day at the Expo, which entailed driving the 2-3 hours to Anahiem, spending 20 minutes trying to find a place to park, and then walking the mile to the convention center. The convention was HUGE, way bigger than I had expected. All in all I think we got to see about 1/2 of what was there. We hooked up with the We Love Soy guys (Ryan and Dan) who are pretty good friends of mine and just kind of walked around and took it all in, and ate a lot of free samples. The Expo lasted until 6:00 pm, and we left as it was closing down, after like walking another five miles inside the convention center. Ten another 2-3 hour drive back to Santa Barbara.
Got back to SB just in time to see the last 7 Generations song of their set, which was lame, I would have liked to see more, and really I was too tired to enjoy it. It was good to see everyone though, so I hung out for a bit before Allan and I went to grab a burrito and headed to bed.
Saturday was the Expo again. Pretty much more of the same except we actually got a lot accomplished on Saturday. Going to the Expo I had two main goals:
a. talk to people from Mother's Market, a popular retail health-food chain in the Orange County area, and
b. find better sources for raw ingredients for Sally - she had been buying all of her ingredients from retail outlets at slightly discounted case pricing.
We ran into someone from Mother's on Friday and I was determined to get him some samples on Saturday, knowing that would pretty much seal the deal. Finally met up with him and supplied a couple of donuts, donut holes and truffles. I'm pretty confident that we are going to be carried by both Mother's and Native Foods as well as soon as we can get it all worked out.
I also made sure to get samples to other strategic people, including VegNews and a big vegan-products buyer from the UK. Both were very impressed and I can see some really big things happening in the future.
The rest of Saturday was spent talking to ingredients suppliers and I/we pretty much secured ingredients for 1/5 of what she had been paying. which means I pretty much paid for the cost of my trip, and the Expo attendance fees, in one week of savings. Pretty crazy shit.
Along with all of that, everyone loved the design work i did for the Myspace page and the business cards, promotional fliers, etc. Thats always nice to hear.
The next few days are kind of a blur, I did a lot of work and a little hanging out, and left at 6:00 am from SB to fly home. After about 10 hours of traveling I made it back, and realized that I already have more work to do with the baking company than I expected, and that my minimal salary really covers. But I think I can get through the next couple of months and go from there. Basically I'm running the entire business, except for the baking and delivery. Thats a pretty big job, especially with the growth we are already seeing. It also looks like I may be getting part-ownership in the business. And I will probably be spending a decent amount of time in California.
2.
Looks like I will be going to Europe in May. I decided to just go on tour with ANCHOR. I'll be driving and taking some stuff with me to sell, should be awesome. Their new CD is about ready to go to press, so it will be a good tour for us. Its awesome to continue to have hard-working, touring bands on the label.
3.
Risen is doing a West Coast tour in August. Not Risen with the usual members, I decided along with a couple of other people that I just want to tour more and if I have friends that want to fill-in then fuck it, we're gonna do it. Tired of other people holding me back, so I'm not going to let that stop me any more.
4.
We also just confirmed our Japanese tour at the end of August as well. FUCKING STOKED.
There's more, but thats honestly more than enough right now.
Eat some donuts.