Title: Re: what is uglyman up to?
Post by uglyman on Mar 1st, 2010, 5:41pm
Ok, its been a while, so I thought I would make some time to post. I wrote half of one the other day and then we got really busy here and eventually I forgot about that tab and closed my browser.
Things are getting busier all the time here. We still might have the occasional slow day, but we have the occasional above average day too. We boot camped around 50 people in the last month. All of the boot camps have gone pretty smoothly I think. We have some new members now. To name just a few: Soto, Justice, TheJaxx, Krhonos, there are a bunch of other people really close now.
Feb sales were better than January, easily covering March expenses, and knocked a couple of nagging things off the todo list leftover from opening this place. Not bad for our second official month of business, and the shortest month of the year. Now that the probowl/superbowl/valentine's day/olympics... (admit it, you have all been watching a lot of TV lately) are over I think we will see some people we haven't seen in a while.
Our ad went out in hometown values magazine, and we saw some new faces because of that. We even sold a party because of it.
I still insist on doing all of this without putting anything on credit, that slows us down on some of the projects around here, but puts us on a stronger financial foundation. I can continue to work long hours as long as it takes to make sure we have pods in Seattle for years to come. I am getting closer to pulling the trigger on the phone/internet/credit card processing problem, which had to be shelved for about 10 reasons too uninteresting to type.
I was sick last week with a sinus infection, I didn't miss work but I may have been a little grumpier than usual. As soon as I had any sign of it, I got on some antibiotics I have never heard of, which are working great but leave me a little lightheaded. These illnesses tend to be a big deal for me due to my allergies to all the standard antibiotics, and my skull's apparent design flaws.
Friday was our best day yet, no special event, but we had a good crowd here playing. It was extra fun due to a visit from a Denver pilot. He arrived known as Harborbomber, but due to his ill-fated name challenge he will be known as KelticPrincess for the next 30 days... perhaps longer knowing those guys in Denver...
We are working on selling some corporate events which will likely shut us down for an odd day here and there. I would like to ask that everybody makes it a habit to check the calendar on the website before heading out. These days will be rare, but I hate to turn anyone away. I will make every effort I can to get the word out on myspace, facebook and twitter as well when I finalize any dates.
continues below:
Title: Re: what is uglyman up to?
Post by uglyman on Mar 1st, 2010, 5:42pm
Continued from above:
Please also keep us in mind for any kind of events you can send our way. If you need more space the comedy club is available next door with a lot of added food and drink options. If you know anybody with kids on a sports team, please let them know we can have their end of season parties here. We can order in pizza, or you can bring in any type of food you like, and get all of the kids some game time in the pods. We have had some great kids birthday parties here, and a few office events.
People always ask me what they can do to help, and they always think in terms of technical stuff, usually citing some particular problem which is likely on hold until we can afford replacement parts. This month is likely to be a very expensive month for us, Washington state will get its filthy paws on its insane "use tax" a one time tax that applies to the pod purchase made out of state. Anybody who has poked around the forums here much has probably heard rumors of new software to be released for Tesla II soon. This will be another substantial expense. Don't get me wrong, it is nothing we aren't prepared for, but a little bit of help from the players will go a looooong way this month.
So here are some things you can do to help.
1. we are currently out of fliers, but soon we will get more. Some of the best advertising we have had was people hanging these in the breakroom at work, or at a game store they know... anything like this is really appreciated.
2. Just come down here and play! Seriously, it is always better to have a few extra bodies around, it helps us pull in more of the comedy clubbers that are headed next door, and every dollar spent here makes it more likely we can keep the pods in Seattle. If you have read much in the other subforums you have probably seen the news that RedPlanet is likely to return to the pods at some point in the near future. There will be substantial cost for this, so if you want RP, please support Firestorm for the time being!
3. If you are thinking of purchasing a large package of games, go ahead and do it! The package pricing available to members is a great deal, games as cheap as $2.00 each are available if you buy a large enough package. If you aren't yet a member we have our fast track membership package $150 gets you 50 games and we will throw in the boot camp entry fees. If you just don't want to carry the cash we can take a check for the very large packages, and we will likely have credit card processing by the end of this month anyway (fingers crossed!).
4. This one is huge.... bring friends. Many of the players that are hanging out here never knew about the pods until a friend brought them here.
Thanks to everybody who has already put a lot of time and energy into this. It has been a lot of fun getting people back in the pods after all these years.
--ugh
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