Since everyone on Facebook seemed to enjoy the Joe Rogan/Earl Strickland video so much, I’ve decided to do a video of the week thing. Some will be funny, some will be amazing shots or trick shots, some will feature pool in the mainstream, but all will be about pool and billiards.
To start out, we’ll be completely self-serving. Here’s trick shot master Dr. Cue Tom Rossman doing a trick shot with an assist from our brave and loyal mascot, Frank T. Dawg. Enjoy.
I swear, sometimes it feels like Vegas is our second home. Between Keven and myself, we’ve spent the equivalent of about 6 weeks of our lives in Sin City. This trip however is the first of the year where we’re both going for something other than pool. It’s time for Pubcon.
Now before anyone gets too excited, Pubcon doesn’t have anything to do with the bar and pub business. Think Comic-Con, except instead of comic books and superheros, it’s online marketing geeks talking about how to get more people to come to their respective websites. Instead of stalking Kevin Smith, Joss Whedon and John Favreau, the attendees hang on every word of this guy:
Normally, this is something I go to alone, but this year I’m taking Keven to raise my personal cool factor. Since he’s young and hip while I’m old and bald, I figure he’ll be able to get us past the velvet rope for some of the swank Pubcon parties.
Some in the office have referred to this annual trek as a boondoggle, but I don’t really think that’s fair. A boondoggle is generally defined as “a wasteful or impracticable project or activity” and this is anything but. Sure, there will be some after hours networking opportunities and it is Vegas, but we’ll be solely focused on the learning and stuff. I swear.
So, while we’re gone next week, please be kind to Alexis and Mariya, as the office will be a bit short staffed.
Yeah, technically it’s not a pool trick shot, but if Florian Kohler (the guy in the Venom Trick Shot DVD) was a bowler, I imagine his game would look something like this:
I know, I know kinda silly, but it’s a grey, gloomy day here in Colorado so I wanted to go lighthearted this week.
A couple weeks ago I asked for some suggestions on blog topics. One person responded (thank you Poolriah!) asking me to talk about how we go about picking new products to add for our website. Since he was nice enough to ask, I’m more than happy to share.
Step 1: Let us know that you have new products coming out
Since there’s really only one B to B industry show and we rarely attend it, finding new products is always challenging. Most of the time, we get calls, catalogs, emails, etc from manufacturers and distributors letting us know that new product is coming.
Step 2: Provide us with free samples
Nothing makes it easier to decide whether or not to carry something than a sample of the product. If we get samples, we can pass it around the office and get opinions on it. Pictures in catalogs or on websites are fine for pool cues, but if it’s a new tool, we’re going to need to try it out ourselves.
Step 3: Show us you’re supporting your product
If I’m going to pick up a product, I want to know that the manufacturer is out there drumming up interest for it (especially if we’re warehousing the item). Products don’t sell themselves and when you consider the fact that it will be on the virtual shelf with 3,000 other items, if people don’t know about the product, they’re not likely to buy it.
Step 4: Keep it in stock
There’s nothing worse than a product that’s perpetually out of stock. Some might tell you that it creates pent of demand for the product, but the reality is it just irritates customers and makes us look bad. When there’s something a customer wants and we don’t have it in stock, we get the brunt of the anger even though we have no control over the manufacturing process. If we can’t get a consistent flow of product, I don’t want to carry it.
Got other questions? Just ask and I’ll see what I can do to shine a light!
Here at PoolDawg, we feel that you should know something about the folks who work here. Since there are only a few of us and I need to fill my weekly self-imposed quota for blog posts, I’ve decided to force everyone here to answer some questions about themselves. We’ll start with Keven.
1. You’ve been at PoolDawg for a long time, but this wasn’t your first job. What else have you done for money?
My financial endeavors began at a very young age. I started by performing pretty basic tasks such as having birthdays, celebrating Christmas and losing teeth and that has been working out pretty good for me to this point although the tooth market has been flat of late. As I grew older found more stable income through an allowance program. I still to this day do some of the same tasks but it’s all pro bono now.
When I got old enough to get a work permit I worked at the local Pick-n-Save in the Dairy Frozen Section. It was pretty cool, pun intended. I mowed some rich people’s lawns for awhile. There I also learned how to curse in Spanish! During the winter months I taught people how to snowboard and was honored as the Snowboard Instructor of the Year 2000. My sister won the award the following year so we are pretty much like the Mannings of Wisconsin snowboard instructing. Then after High School, I joined the Wisconsin Laborers Union and we built roads, driveways, sidewalks and even the Airport runway that I land on every time I fly back home. That was just a summer gig since I was attending UW-Madison although on a couple of occasions I did get to go to the job after the crew was done working to watch concrete dry. That was the best job I ever had! During school we would buy kegs of beer and then charge people $5 bucks but that mostly just covered costs… good times though.
After Madtown I moved to Boulder and started slanging pool cues. I also made some money from Fantasy Football last year. That pretty much covers it.
2. What exactly do you do at PoolDawg?
I am involved in the top secret behind the scenes activities which facilitate the exchange of currency for pool cues and billiard accessories.
3. PoolDawg’s website claims that the employees actually play pool. Do you play and if so, what do you shoot with?
I do play pool on a regular basis but currently I am not in any leagues. We have a pool table in my pad in Downtown Denver which is where I play the most. Sometimes I’ll go down to Sancho’s to “think” and I will shoot some stick while I’m at it. I like to shoot with a OB2 shaft (Action butt) and the Scorpion Break Cue.
4. You seem to go up to the mountains a lot during the winter months. Is that to take care of your pet Yeti or what?.
First of all, Yeti’s make horrible pets… they will rip your leg off, take a bite out of it and then proceed to beat you to death with it so we just let the Yeti’s be. I usually go up to Vail on the weekends to hang out with friends and do some snowboarding. It’s tough sometimes with the traffic and lift lines so I will also do some laps on the Loveland Pass which involves hitch hiking, regular hiking and PBR.
5. Bratwurst, Polish, Italian, Hotdog or Chorizo?
Yes please…. Onions and Extra Kraut!
Yeah, I know the title is corny, hackneyed and generally uninspired. Sometimes though, you just end up going with the first title that comes to mind. It’s not that bad, is it?
Annnnyhow, if you get our weekly emails, follow us on Twitter or “like” us on Facebook, you know this already, but I’m super pumped about it, so I figured I’d mention it again. We have a new instructional writer and her name is Jennifer Barretta.
I know some of you are wondering why an ecommerce site would bother having not one, not two but three writers churning out instructional articles. That’s for content sites, right? Well, yes and no. It is true that typically you’d find these sorts of articles on a content site, but for us it’s all about keeping our customers happy and giving them what they want.
Our customers have told us over and over how much they enjoy the free instructional articles and we’re all about making our customers happy, so rather than just sit back and be satisfied with two columns, we added a third.
As to why we chose Jen, not only is she one of the top female pool players in the US, but she’s also a solid writer and pretty damn funny. Since we now have 3 writers, we’re going to be releasing a new article every week (assuming everyone hits their deadlines of course). Jen’s article “Thoughts from the Electric Chair” was today’s article, next week Samm will be publishing her new article, Liz Ford the following week, you get the picture.
So as long as you all keep telling us you like the articles, we’ll keep them coming. Just like this blog though, we need your feedback. Tell us what you like about the articles. Tell us what you want Samm, Liz and Jen to write about. Your feedback is what
