Shoulder Rehab device heads to St. Louis and Upgrade your Blog with the WPAU Plugin
I’ve been busy, busy, busy (this is my very weak attempt to excuse my lack of posting here at soupornuts.com).
The Rotater is attracting international attention. Two highly respected physicians from the U.K. have contacted us about our shoulder rehab and stretching device and have expressed an interest in distributing the Rotater in the U.K. One of theses physicians ( a distinguished orthopedic surgeon who specializes in shoulder injuries ) has ordered a Rotater for testing and evaluation. We are very excited.
The Rotater Guys go to the NATA conference in St. Louis
(photo used courtesy of merfam)
Scott Kay and I will be in St. Louis ( June 17–21 ) at the America’s Center Convention Center (booth #2242) for the National Athletic Trainer’s Association’s annual convention to demonstrate and answer questions about our shoulder rehab and stretching device – the Rotater. This should be another great opportunity for us to make the sporting world aware of the benefits of stretching your shoulder with the Rotater.
Scott unveiled a very crude prototype of the Rotater at the 2006 NATA annual conference in Atlanta. This initial showing was a viability test for the Rotater. The response of these sports professionals was beyond our wildest dreams and provided the motivation for refining the design, producing a mold and proceeding to mass production.
If you’re coming to the NATA convention or live in the St. Louis area, then please stop by booth #2242 and say hi. I’d love to meet you.
(this is me and Scott at the ACSM conference in Indianapolis)
WordPress Automatic Uprgrade Plugin Saves “Shoulder Performance & Rehab”
After returning from Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago, I started having problems with Blogjet / Wordpress – but only on our blog – Shoulder Performance & Rehab. I sent an inquiry to the support staff at Blogjet ( I love Blogjet and they have very good customer service ) and was informed that I needed to upgrade my WordPress software. Sadly, I was running version 2.02 and had been putting off this dreaded task.
I have done some research into the WordPress Automatic Upgrade Plugin in the past, but was never really convinced that something terrible wouldn’t go wrong and cause me to lose everything. Now I had no choice.
- I down-loaded the WPAU
- I uploaded it to my plugins folder as directed
- I activated the plugin
- WPAU walked me through the entire procedure
- Everything worked perfectly
Ten minutes and I’m done. It was simple, filled with instructions and explanations. If you’ve been putting off a badly needed upgrade, don’t wait any longer. Down-load the plugin and get it over with.
Soupornuts.com is next on the upgrade agenda – if I can just make time to do it.
Joint Mechanix to Demo Shoulder Rehab Tool in Indianapolis
(photo courtesy of saschapohflepp)
Our Shoulder Rehab Device will be at the ACSM Annual Conference
The Rotater and I will be in Indianapolis this week (May 28–31) at the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual conference. The ACSM is the world’s premier sports medicine and exercise science organization.
The ACSM mission statement:
The American College of Sports Medicine promotes and integrates scientific research, education, and practical applications of sports medicine and exercise science to maintain and enhance physical performance, fitness, health, and quality of life.
If you’re anywhere near Indianapolis this week, then please stop at the Rotater booth and say hi. I’d love to hear from you.
Surviving cancer ignites passion for helping others
Passion: feeling very strongly about a subject or person, usually referring to feelings of intense desire and attraction (source: Wikipedia)
Passion can be stirred by a number of different things:
- your beliefs
- your desires
- your dreams
- your experiences
This post is about three women that I’ve had the privilege to come to know since starting this blog. Women whose passion for helping others was ignited by their battle with breast cancer.
(photo courtesy of Andreia)
Cancer is ugly and terrifying – but it can be beaten. Modern medicine has proved that cancer can be beaten by driving the mortality rates of most cancers down. However, those same treatments are severe and take a huge toll on the body and mind.
These three cancer survivors have dedicated their lives to helping others. Here’s how:
Jane Ali and SurvivorCelebration.com
I met Jane at the House of Blues in the Madalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas during a mixer for the participants of the fall PGA expo, this past September (2007). Jane gave a short presentation detailing her then up-coming nation-wide bus tour to promote breast cancer awareness.
My business partner, Scott Kay, and I had been trying to become involved with breast cancer rehabilitation, but really didn’t how or where to start. Thankfully, Jane and her husband A.J. took the time to talk with us and provide us with some direction and suggestions. They also made us aware of their website, SurviviorCelebration.com and encouraged us to create our Pink Rotater.
Since then, A.J. has taken SurvivorCelebration.com and transformed in into an interactive social networking site that provides all the tools a person needs to:
- meet other cancer survivors and patients
- learn from others
- inspire
- be inspired
SurvivorCelebration.com is in its infancy and needs you. Take the time to visit and put up your own page and then tell your friends about it. There is no cost – here’s my page. If you’ve always wanted to get involved, but didn’t know how, then here’s your chance. SurvivorCelebration.com is not just about breast cancer, but about dealing with all forms of cancer. There are a multitude of groups for everyone – take a look and then join today.
Christine Clifford Beckwith and The Cancer Club
I met Christine vicariously through a book that she had co-authored with her husband Harry Beckwith entitled “You, Inc.” While reading this book, I learned of Christine’s battle with breast cancer and more importantly her passion to inspire others through her talent of using comedy to create cartoons that just force you to laugh.
Christine has created The Cancer Club to help cancer patients cope with their situation, inspire others and use laughter to help relieve the constant stress associated with cancer. This website is filled with hope, inspiration, gifts, encouragement, laughter and much more.
Christine provides a monthly newsletter that I subscribe to and encourage you to do so as well. I always learn something new and her cartoons always make me laugh.
(This is one of Christine’s hilarious cartoons.)
Carol Cauthen and Touching You
I had the pleasure of meeting Carol when she read an article about the Rotater in the Birmingham News and contacted me via email. Since then, she has begun to carry the Rotater in her breast cancer boutique on a consignment basis.
Carol is a 21–year survivor of breast cancer. Her passion led to the creation of first her boutique, Touching You and then her website, TouchingYou.com. Touching You is dedicated to the breast cancer survivor and offers a huge variety of products that have been created to deal with their special needs.
Everyone who works for Carol is a breast cancer survivor and therefore knows how to help.
Passion not taken lightly
Many people use the word “passion” carelessly. When you are passionate about something, then you DO something – not discuss it. These three women have used their battle with cancer to become passionate about helping others who face cancer.
What are you that passionate about?
Success is in the little details
I am a detail guy – they are important to me. Maybe it’s because I used to restore, build and paint custom cars. People (especially relatives) would see the car that I happened to be working on at the time and ask me how much I would charge them to paint their cars. They were always “surprised” by what seemed to them, to be an exorbitant amount. The reality is that I was probably a little low.
(photo by starmist1)
Your attention to “little” details is revealing
People think that a great paint job is in how well you apply the paint – they are wrong. Don’t misunderstand me, applying the paint is important, but it’s only important if all the preceding steps to having a great paint job have been properly done.
It doesn’t matter how well you apply the paint if:
- all the dents and dings have not been removed
- the underlying primer coats have not been sanded to “baby butt” smoothness
- you have used chemicals that are not compatible
My point is that people judge you by your attention to the details.
Crappy customer service is the result of poor attention to detail
The Rotater is rolling. On February 11, the Birmingham News ran an article entitled “Industrial Mechanic invents tool to improve shoulder mobility, finds niche in athletics”. This article drove massive traffic to the Rotater website and our blog, Shoulder Performance & Rehab and resulted in a huge number of orders for the Rotater.
Great – right? Yes and no! The traffic and orders were great – our blog crashing was not. I wrote about it in “The Good Stuff, the Bad Stuff and the Other Stuff”. Well, guess what? It happened again, twice this week. At least this time, I did not spend two days trying to figure out what the problem was.
I called customer service and waited on hold for about an hour. I didn’t get too worked up, because I put the phone on speaker and spent the time searching for a new host.
When someone finally answered the phone, I told her the problem expecting it to be corrected right away – I was in for a fight. This company’s situation is so bad, that they have resorted to having a “front line” person screen technical support issues. Essentially her job was to find out what I wanted and then she would prioritize and have technical support get back in touch with me.
I told her that this solution was not acceptable.
- She stalled – I didn’t budge.
- I asked to speak to her boss. He/she was not there.
- I asked to speak with technical support – they were busy.
- I asked to speak to “anyone” other than her – she put me on hold.
- I threatened to change hosts – technical support came on the phone.
The Rotater article is picked up on the newswire
The article that I mentioned above, was picked up by the Ann Arbor News and ran this week under a different title – “Rotater Cuff Injuries Inspire Invention”. (I have not been able to find a link to the article, but I have seen a copy of the article.)
The result – more traffic, more orders and more down-time for the blog. My problem is that I don’t want to alert our current hosting service to this third assault on our blog, because they informed me when I had it reset the second time, that if it happened a third time – they would suspend our account. Because we are exclusively a web-based business, this would put us “out of business”.
Solution: Pay attention to the “little” details
I have found a new host and am in the process of moving our website and blog. It is slow, tedious, time-consuming and scary, but hopefully all will be finished by this weekend.
I started this post talking about “attention to detail”. People noticed my paint jobs as a result of my attention to the details. Your success or lack of success is the result of your attention to the details. Let me try to explain.
The Rotater is a marvelous shoulder rehabilitation and stretching device – invented by an industrial mechanic – with a very southern accent. Not exactly where you would expect a revolutionary piece of medical / athletic training equipment to come from. But when people come to our website, they don’t see a bunch of hype.
- We tell them what the Rotater does
- We show a video demonstrating how the Rotater works
- We provide links to exercises that they can down-load and show to their doctors and therapists
- We provide real testimonials of real people, real doctors, real athletes / trainers and real physical therapists
- We include links to publications who are noticing the Rotater ( we’ve been in business since August 2007 and have been published eight times – and more is to come)
People who visit the Rotater website don’t know me or Scott, so we’re very careful to pay attention to the details:
- We answer every email – as quickly as possible
- We return phone calls – every time
- We deal with any issues – right away
- We don’t try to sell to every person – the Rotater won’t help everyone
- If someone is not happy – we refund their money (out of thousands, we have had two Rotaters returned)
People learn about you because of your attention to detail. Here is the take home message – There are no small details, everything counts and someone is paying attention to how you handle every situation.
It’s the small stuff that has the greatest return on you investment. Make it a point to pay attention to the details – Hey it works for Nordstrom (they are legendary for customer service) and it’ll work for you.
The Good Stuff, The Bad Stuff and Other Stuff
To all the soupornuts.com subscribers, I apologize for my lack of posting for the past week. I hope that after you read this article you will understand why.
The Good Stuff
1. Daddy – Daughter Date Night
My two girls and I attended Daddy – Daughter Date Night sponsored and hosted by a local church this past Sunday night. It was an event that my girls had been looking forward to for weeks.
Yes, this is a picture of me painting the nails of my youngest daughter. I also:
- blow-dry hair
- help brush teeth
- give piggy-back rides
- play dolls, on occasion
- and I also put on corsages, as I am doing for my oldest daughter (on the right)
Because I wanted each of my girls to feel particularly special, I enlisted the help of my father to double-date with us. With his help, each of my girls had someone’s full attention all night.
We all had a wonder time. I’ll never forget it and I hope that my girls don’t either.
Thanks Pop for all your help.
2. The Rotater Continues to Impress
We saw the guys from 1StopForGolf.com in Orlando at the PGA expo. They have been using the Rotater since September and have featured it as their Golf Product of the Month (November 2007). Every time that they came by the booth to see us, we were busy demonstrating the Rotater.
A couple of days ago, I discovered that they had posted “The Rotater Continues to Impress” on their blog.
3. The Birmingham News runs a feature article on the Rotater
About three weeks ago Anna Velasco, a writer from the Birmingham News traveled about 150 miles to meet Scott and myself so that she could interview us about the Rotater. She was especially intrigued as to how an industrial mechanic could have created a shoulder device that is so effective for so many people across so many different markets.
Anna spent a couple of hours asking questions and picking our brains, which resulted in this article: Industrial Mechanic invents tool to improve shoulder mobility, finds niche in athletics.
4. Huge traffic to the Rotater website
Because of the article in the Birmingham News, we received a massive influx of traffic, which translated into huge sales.
The Bad Stuff
1. The Rotater website crashes!
Huge traffic is cool – if you are prepared for it. Apparently, we were not. I am unsure as to who the real blame lies with:
- I could immediately point a finger at our hosting provider
- or perhaps it is because I did not purchase a plan that provides for such a huge traffic inflow
You can be sure that it is a priority for me now that I realize how vulnerable we are.
Fortunately, we were only down about thirty minutes before the system reset itself and traffic was able to resume. However, there is no way to be able to calculate how many people tried and did not get to see our website nor whether they will ever come back.
2. Our blog crashes – down two days!
Our blog, Shoulder Performance & Rehab crashed a short time later. It did not reset itself, so I set out to determine what the problem was.
When I tried to login to my blog, I kept getting the following message:
WordPress database error: [User 'mydomainname' has exceeded the 'max_questions' resource (current value: 50000)]
The wording of this message led me to believe that there had been some kind of problem in my databases. I was wrong. After doing some research, I discovered that our hosting provider sets a limit of 50,000 requests per hour for this particular plan, regardless of your hosting plan’s advertised total bandwidth allowance.
50,000 requests per hour sounds like a lot. In reality, it is not. Every link, image or widget on a page is considered a request. You can easily have one hundred or more requests per page.
The result: 50 people in one hour hit your blog, each viewing ten different pages – your blog goes down. And it does not come back up without contacting technical support – only after you discover it is a hosting issue and not a database issue.
3. Hosting Suggestions?
I have been doing some research in order to find a hosting provider that:
- offers excellent and dependable service
- responsive customer service
- affordable hosting plans
Do any of you guys out there have any suggestions? Please leave a comment and let me know about your experiences.
The Other Stuff
1. No Baby – Yet
My wife is still pregnant. She is due to deliver our baby any day. We can hardly wait.
2. The Rotater goes to Boston
Scott Kay (my business partner) has traveled to Boston to introduce the Rotater to the golfing public for the first time at the National Golf Expo.
3. Special Thanks
I’d like to thank Albert @ Urban Monk for mentioning soupornuts.com in an article he wrote entitled “The beauty of Impermanency and the Illusion of Ego”. Thanks for your endorsement – you carry quite a bit of clout.
Marketing is easy when your product is good
I am back. I spent most of last week in Orlando at the PGA merchandise expo, where we were:
- demonstrating the Rotater
- giving interviews
- discussing possible distributorships (both local and foreign)
- answering questions
- networking
- and making lots of sales
Marketing the Rotater is easy when you have guys who are willing to step up and tell you how much they believe in your product.
The potential of creating better habits
Daylle Deanna Schwartz doesn’t take any crap – not anymore. She decided to create better habits for herself and has parlayed that decision into a successful writing career. Her blog, lessons from a recovering doormat, is inspiring, motivating and empowering. If you need to kick-start your life, then take a look at some of her articles. You’ll probably want to buy one of her books as well.
Daylle tagged me to participate in her “Creating Better Habits” challenge. I am honored that she asked and the following is my contribution.
The Rut
A little over a year ago (Oct. 14. 2006, to be exact), I decided to create a better life for myself. It’s amazing how a pivotal date can stick in your mind, isn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, I had and still have a good life, but I was wallowing in the rut of a high-paying union job. Great pay, fantastic benefits, okay work, NO CHALLENGE – NO FULFILLMENT. Plants can’t live in a rut and neither will you – you die on the inside.
The “Aha” moment
My good friend, Scott Kay and I were discussing the then-recent purchase of Myspace for an amount in excess of half a billion dollars, when I asked Scott, “Why don’t we do something like that?” He responded, “Okay”. That moment will be burned in my mind forever, because it changed my life.
We had an idea
Scott and I came up with an idea for an internet business. The strange thing was that neither of us knew anything about the internet. In fact, I had only recently bought a computer and had not even been on the internet in over six years. I guess that we are “intelligently ignorant” as Zig Ziglar would call it. We are like the bumble bee who doesn’t know that he’s not supposed to be able to fly.
The changes
Having a life-altering thought is easy. Changing your life is not. It requires changing yourself, which is something that people naturally avoid. I began by creating better habits, like:
- changing my mind – I spend every spare minute reading. Internet technology, blogs, internet commerce, motivation, business, legal information, SEO, social networking, marketing, promotion, packaging, networking and much more – believe me, YOU CAN TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS
- attempting new things – I had no idea how to create a web site or what a blog was, but I kept reading about how I needed one, so I started a blog on one of the free hosted platforms in order to get the feel of it. It felt good – Yes, I am addicted.
- avoiding negative people – when we started, it was all a big joke to the people that we worked with. We would hear comments like, “How’s that little internet thing coming along?” or “How’s that shoulder thing working out for you?” Now, it’s a different story, we are getting a lot of press and lot more orders. Now, people stop us and ask, “Are you selling stock in your company yet?” or “When you start hiring, remember me”.
- testing myself – it is amazing when you realize how much you can accomplish when you are passionate about something. Sleep is for sissies – at least that is what I keep telling myself. We’ve had so many orders for the Rotater lately that we don’t have the luxury to sleep. That is, if we expect to maintain excellent customer service. And we do!
- not taking “No” personally – some people don’t understand the concept of the Rotater or how it can help them. That’s not a problem for me, because those who reject it are in the minority and I know that it is not an indictment of me or my abilities. I just keep plugging along because I know that we are helping people regain their quality of life.
The result
I am tired, overworked, excited, stressed, stretched, learning, growing – and I absolutely love it. I am having the time of my life. How long will it last? As long as I am willing to maintain good habits.
Thanks
Thanks again, Daylle. I didn’t realize until I began, how much I needed to write this article. What a release.
Tag, your it
I would like to tag:
- Brad Baggett – my good friend and a phenomenal connector. He “knows” people and can put you in touch with people that can help you – a networker “par excellence”.
- Eric Sanders – another good friend with a sense of humor that is so similar to mine, that it is scary. Strong opinions and willing to share as well as defend them. A real “idea” man.
- Tristan Loo – I’ve read some of Tristan’s writings and have been impressed with his style and substance. Recently, I had the pleasure to read “Lucky You!”, an article that he had published in a sweet self-help magazine entitled GOING BONKERS. As usual, it was great.
- Stephen Hopson - a good friend and constant inspiration. He is one of the best networkers that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing
Tell us all how you’ve created better habits. Anyone who feel compelled to share, go to Daylle’s site and check out the rules and join the fun. The more the merrier.
Meet Scott Kay: inventor of the Rotater
While Scott Kay and I were being interviewed by Kym Klass of the Montgomery Advertiser and being photographed by Lloyd Gallman, Shannon Heupel shot about thirty minutes of video as Scott answered questions and demonstrated the Rotater.
Shannon edited the footage and the resulting video is about 2 minutes long. Take a look and meet a brilliant man.
Meet the inventor of the Rotater
The Rotater is in the news with pictures
I am exhausted. We (Joint Mechanix) did our second interview/photo shoot in three days – after working all night. But, you’ve got to ride the media while you are hot.
The Montgomery Advertiser article
Kym Klass, a reporter from the Montgomery Advertiser in Montgomery Alabama, contacted us on Monday about doing a feature article on the Rotater.
On Tuesday, we traveled to Montgomery after working all night to take pictures and answer questions. The whole process took about 4 hours, including drive time, but was worth it.
The article is titled “Pair hope patients in rehab turn to Rotater” and appeared in the paper yesterday. I am not sure how long this link will be good, but it is good right now.
A number of people have contacted me about posting a picture of myself on this site. I am trying to get it done, but right now, it’s not a huge priority. However, there are a number of pictures of me and Scott with this article ( I am the bald guy ).
The Auburn Opelika News
We were contacted by Bob Prater, a features reporter for the Auburn Opelika News yesterday. We met with him today ( again, after working all night) and spent about an hour taking pictures and answering questions.
An article about the us (Joint Mechanix) and the Rotater is supposed to be published in this coming Sunday edition.
UPDATE! 12-7-07 The Auburn Opelika News featured an article about us on the front page today!
“Local inventor revolutionizes rehab”
Hard work is paying dividends
As a personal development writer, I am living what I write. My life is a whirlwind at times, because of the time and effort involved in living the ideas that you espouse. However, it is never dull, boring or uneventful. I’m having a blast.
Juicy tidbit
On top of all this excitement, we were contacted yesterday by someone from the “Big Idea” with Donny Deutsch. She spoke with Scott for about a half hour and said that they would be back in touch with us. Maybe we’ll be on TV.
The joys and frustrations of being an entrepreneur
JOY #1 – Its an adrenaline rush
Being an entrepreneur is like careening down a mountain road at ninety miles per hour with one headlight out. Its both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. You react to circumstances as quickly as you can but still you wonder if your last decision:
- will throw you off the mountain
- will cause you to run headlong into some obstacle
- will allow you to gain even more speed and momentum
It can be a true adrenaline-laced thrill ride. But like an amusement park roller coaster, every peak is followed by a valley. These peaks and valleys represent the joys and frustrations of entrepreneurship.
FRUSTRATION #1 – Not everyone shares your enthusiasm
When you are “moving and shaking”, you tend to assume that everyone around you is interested in your success. They are not. In fact, some are secretly hoping that you fail. Why?
- If you are successful, then others are forced to examine why you achieved your success while they have not.
- If you are successful, then you may move beyond your current environment leaving some friends behind.
JOY #2 – Press Coverage
The Montgomery Advertiser ran an article yesterday about the Rotater and noted that it had been recognized as the “GOLF PRODUCT OF THE MONTH” by 1StopForGolf.com.
JOY #3 – A large spike in traffic to therotater.com
One of the benefits of press coverage is that it creates a natural curiosity in people. They want to see what all the fuss is about, so they travel to our web site to watch the Rotater video and read the testimonials.
This press coverage has increased the awareness of the Rotater and has created a viral “buzz”. More and more people are learning of the benefits that the Rotater provides for post-operative shoulder patients, athletes and breast cancer survivors.
JOY #4 – Increased sales
Increased sales are the quest of every entrepreneur! When you get more eyeballs looking at your product or service plus an unsolicited and unpaid endorsement from a fair and unbiased third party, the result is an increase in the volume of sales.
So, we had a nice increase in sales yesterday.
FRUSTRATION #2 – Learning how to maintain momentum
While I am thrilled by the attention the the Rotater received yesterday, I realize that today means going back to the drawing board.
- Today, we will have to call or email contacts to increase an awareness of the benefits of the Rotater.
- Today, we will have to follow through on our commitment to excellent customer service.
JOY #5 – A powerful telephone call
In the midst of all the excitement yesterday, I received a phone call from a renowned golfer who has been using the Rotater for a couple of months. He told me that he loves his Rotater, keeps it in the trunk of his car and uses it nearly everyday.
That’s a powerful endorsement!
FRUSTRATION #3 – No testimonial
I asked this championship golfer if he would give me a testimonial. He said that he couldn’t give me a testimonial for fear that it would endanger his amateur status with the U.S.G.A.
Even though his testimonial would go a long way toward establishing some verifiable credibility for the Rotater, I completely understand this golfers predicament and I don’t want him to do anything that might lead to eligibility issues.
He believes in the Rotater and has offered to help us in other ways. I believe him.
SUMMARY: JOYS = 5 AND FRUSTRATIONS = 3
All in all, it’s all good! Valleys follow peaks. That’s just the way it is. Just don’t allow yourself to stay in the valley. Start climbing to the top of the mountain and get ready for the next thrill ride down.
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