Captain David’s 35% Rule
Last week was a bit of a rough go in the shipyard.
We went to step our masts, only to find that super-special, never-been-used-on-a-certificated-vessel-before rigging was made too short. The source of the error was quickly uncovered, the rigger’s mistake, and new shrouds were fabricated over the weekend and should be here Tuesday. But the misadventure was unwelcome delay and stress.
We have also had a bit of an adventure establishing an OEM account with Honda Marine. We don’t even want a line of credit with them; cash on the barrelhead. None-the-less, there has been a blizzard of paperwork (more than it took to refinance our house!) that has had to work it’s way through Honda’s considerable bureaucracy. More stress and delay.
But tonight I’ll lay my head down having finished the day with good news.
Our Honda rep called today to say our motors will ship this week. As mentioned above, the rigging is remade, and lastly, on Friday I was interviewed by a reporter from Dan’s Papers, the East End’s leading lifestyle weekly; which brings me to the above photo and my 35% rule.
About 20 years ago I read Harvey Weinstein quoted as saying “Even if I get a film for a dollar, I still have to spend $20 million marketing it.”
Harvey’s point was that celebration of many indie films’ low production budgets was misplaced, and proved nothing about what could be done on how ever little money.
My own experience as an independent producer/distributor is concordant with Harvey’s maxim. No matter how good your mouse-trap, marketing costs have to be factored into any endeavor, whether it be the sweat-equity of guerilla efforts, paying a publicity firm, or running ads in the paper.
And my maxim is that, in this noisy, media saturated world we live in, if you peg your marketing effort at anything less than 35%, you’re fooling yourself. (In my estimation, a number closer to 65% would be prudent for low-budget films, and something close to 85% for writing or music.)
Which is why we picked a design that makes an easy subject for distinctive photographs; and is also why I was down at the shipyard this evening, answering Dan’s Paper’s request for a couple of photos to run with their upcoming story by shooting them myself. (Another part of our “business-plan” is that my skills as a writer and image-maker could be turned from the collapsing world of independent media to the marketing of MON TIKI. Think “writing a book to make money on the lecture circuit”, only instead of TSA check-points and Motel 6, I get to stay home with my family and sail.)
Masts up, engines mounted, and we can splash. Everything else can be done when she’s afloat!
Dude, this beats my home improvement project pictures and stories all hollow.
So cool.Report
Back in the Summer of ’03 my family and I were auto-touring the Canadian Maritimes. On CBC2 radio was a audio-documentary about the founders of AA, and in the course of the program I heard an AA aphorism that hit home:
“Don’t judge your insides by other people’s outsides.”
The don’t-be-so-hard-on-yourself aspect of 12-step culture grates on me, and yet I recognize within myself the damage that that little nagging voice can cause, the undermining false comparison, the corrosive misframing, the internal monologue of doubt and shame.
I’m not saying that’s how I take your comment. I take it as (welcome) praise, and perhaps even a little admiration. But I do think the comparison needs some context.
Like yourself, my wife and I do our own home improvement. Save the furnace instalation and re-roofing, every other fix on this fixer up has been done by the two of us, with occasional help from family and friends.
Building MON TIKI is a whole ‘nuther scale of endeavor. It is not a whim, or a lark, or even frugal-minded DIY. It’s my best guess on how to pivot my person and our familial resources away from what I’ve done all my life to make my way (professional artist & writer) towards something that best takes advantage of what we have, what we know how to do, and what cannot easily be taken from us.
Though undertaken with good cheer and a sense of gratitude, at it’s core, building MON TIKI is a desperate gambit, undertaken in the hopes that if successfully accomplished, my children will continue to be able to live in the community they’ve called home their entire lives, with parents who are present full-time.
Faced with a similar crisis, I have no doubt you’d rise to the occasion, and the result of your efforts would be no less impressive!Report
This statement …towards something that best takes advantage of what we have, what we know how to do, and what cannot easily be taken from us.” is pretty damn powerful. You’ve just articulated something I’ve been wrestling with for the last year or more. Here’s to it all turning out well for you! *raises glass of whisky*
She’s a beauty. Very nice work.
Also, your statement of needing at least 35% on marketing is a true one. I was at a startup where our board and rest of management only put ~10% of our budget into marketing (for a service organization!). I told them it would be equally cost effective to burn pallets of cash. Needless to say, we burned through the start up money and went under just as a we were starting to get real traction.Report
Patrick, I’m still proud of your accomplishment this weekend. Of course I have similar projects staring me in the face.
David, Impressive, even with your small set backs I can’t imagine undertaking a project of this scope.Report
Looks great! Any chance of more pictures?Report
There is a small gallery of other shots from last night here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.521521644540127.95359224.203325579693070&type=1Report
Oh, look. Im envious.
Question: Did they force you to have a line of credit even though you did not want it? Or you simply had to barrel through the exact same paperwork withouth the benefits?Report
The answer is: yes.
Same amount of paperwork, regardless of the terms, and you have to establish a line of credit for your parts account, and you have to have a parts account to be a dealer, even an OEM dealer.
Honda has two concerns; they don’t want to poach from their existing dealers and they don’t want a financially shaky or shifty operation making off with their goods (a few years back my wife sat on a bust-out scam trial.)
In our case the money savings isn’t even the biggest issue. The motors we need are only available to dealers and have a dealer installation requirement. We have to do the install (who else would understand Wharram’s novel approach) so we have to become dealers.
Supposedly this is all taken care of (next call) and I just keep reminding myself that organizations set up systems to accommodate and facilitate normative circumstance, which I am not, so of course this is more trouble that it seems like it should be.Report
So, biggest problem was the you are a non-standard.
But then, is there such thing as a standard consumer when you are dealing with boats and motors?
By the way, the boat looks really, really nice. I wish you would post some more pictures of it.Report
… And i just realized you posted the link to a gallery of photos…Report