Hello all and welcome to our new Ecos Knives blog. I want to start off by saying this won't be one of those blogs with daily updates, it will just be used on occasion to fill people in on news updates.
This post is divided into several areas (denoted by the bold title) The “about the move” is mostly personal, while the “what does this mean for Ecos Knives” and “what changes will be made” are mostly business related.
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I'm sorry!
First off I owe some of my recent customers an apology for being slow in shipping their order and replying to emails. After the end of my school semester I had planned on getting back to shipping items the same day but I recently moved into a temporary residence and it's been more problematic than anticipated. Mainly I had to switch from my cable internet to mobile broadband and it is a royal pain in the butt. Bad reception, slow transfers, modems dying, poor customer service through Sprint, etc. It's taking me much longer to get my online activities done and I'm very sorry about that. The bright news is after my move (more about that below) my father will be taking over the shipping which will make things speedier and also free up more time for me to do other knife related tasks.
Thank You!
Secondly I want to thank all of you for doing business with us. I know the term “we value you as a customer” is said constantly in business (often repeated over and over when you are stuck on hold for an hour with a company that is screwing you over) but we truly do. You, the customer, is what makes it possible for me to do what I love doing. This isn't a large corporation, this is a small company run by two individuals with the help of family. Almost all of our sales are from repeat customers and word of mouth....we couldn't survive without our loyal customer base and we really do appreciate you all.
About the Move...
Many of you have been asking about my upcoming move to Asia. I just thought I would take the time to fill you all in on the details. The first question people ask is where am I moving to..... the location is the Cebu area of the Philippines.....land of the karambit, barong, bolo, escrima/kali/arnis, etc. The second question is “why?” Well there are a myriad of reasons. This whole idea started around 5yrs ago. It was a cumulation of a few things hitting me at once. I had always been interested in travel, but it seemed like something (usually my job or money situations) were getting in the way so I kept postponing it. Then I started listening to my elders making statements how there are things they wanted to get done in life that they never did. I did not want to one day find myself looking back over my life and regretting not doing the things I wanted to do.
That is what gave me the drive. But where to go? I've lived in Michigan my whole life so there is a lot of world to explore...so I made a list of requirements. I wanted warm weather, sunny skies, nice beaches, affordable, English speaking, and possibly somewhere I might want to retire to someday. The search began. I started researching different countries...Mexico, Panama, Cost Rica, Thailand, Dominica, Belize, etc., etc. Well to make a long story short someone suggested Philippines to me and after researching it, thats where I decided to visit first.
And now the plot thickens... In my online research I made a good friend from Philippines named Hazel(many of you will recognize her name because she helps with the business a lot, responding to emails, etc). We got along good from the very beginning since we share common interests, and the same sense of humor. After months of friendship I started my campaign of trying to talk her into a relationship with me. Fast forward 2yrs later and I finally talked her into meeting me....that was the spring of 08. So I flew over there and stayed for 3 weeks. Two things happened on my 3week stay there. One, I realized I really enjoyed the country, and two I enjoyed my time with Hazel in person even more than online (and she didn't run from me in fear.....much) I also managed to talk her into being in a relationship with me. I returned home where I finished another year of school. During this time we decided we are a good match and will get married.
So after last school semester I planned on going to stay for another month or so. Then I said “screw it” theres no better time than now to start having adventures so I decided to put school on hold (again) while I move over there, concentrate on custom knives, and get married.
I find this situation kind of comical since I used to good naturedly make fun of people getting into online relationships or getting together with someone on the other side of the planet (are they so ugly they have to fly 3,000miles to find someone?). Now I am one of them. Life has a ironic sense of humor.
What this means for Ecos Knives.
This means major changes will be taking place over the next year. In a nutshell Ecos Knives has been “me” for the last few years. I do everything from find suppliers, website design (I'm still learning), responding to emails, shipping, product design, testing, photographing, etc.....not to mention making the knives too. For the last year Hazel has been a major help with the business end but it's still been just me doing the majority of the work. Obviously this does restrict growth of the business.....one person can only do so much(and what happens if that person gets injured?) I found myself at the point where I had to do one of 3 things....start outsourcing my work, raise prices, go with CNC machinery. I do believe in knife collaborations between makers, but I did not wish to outsource my work. CNC is very efficient, and would help keep prices low...but I don't like it for two reasons. #1 I feel doing the work by hand gives the project more “soul” or “personality”, and #2 is I believe people need jobs more than cnc machinery(unless the cnc mill has 7 starving kids to provide for). And lastly I really didn't want to raise my prices. I enjoy offering knives that are affordable enough where the average person won't be scared to use them.
So what changes will be made?
First off I won't be attending school fulltime so that gives me much more time to work on knives. Secondly after the move I will be setting up my workshop and making the knives over there, but I will be shipping them in batches to my father who will then ship them out from Michigan as they are sold....which saves me time, and saves our US customers the hassle of international shipping. Hazel will also be coming to work for Ecos fulltime (right now she also works fulltime as a legal secretary) helping me with the business end and she also wants to try her hand at the actual knifemaking process. I will also have her brother lined up as a fulltime employee and I will start training him in custom knifemaking...starting with the basics. All of which will free up more time for me to concentrate on product development, and growing the business.
I plan on building up inventory of our current designs, develop new designs, and for the first time ever....work on marketing! Marketing will consist of expanding the website quite a bit, perhaps some further online marketing,set up dealer relationships (so if you are a custom knife dealer feel free to contact us), and buy ad space in magazines. Currently our only marketing is occasional pieces on Ebay, and word of mouth through our much appreciated customer base.
When will all of this occur? I am aiming at moving by the 10th of next month....but thats not concrete. I need to get things wrapped up here (bags packed, shop cleaned, items shipped, car sold, etc) But the move will be asap. It will take a month or so to find living/shop space to rent and then things will get started. I expect very noticeable changes by the Christmas shopping season.
Now I need to get in the shop and get some knives made so I will leave you with a few photos I took of the area I am moving to. I hope I didn't bore you and thank you again for your support!
-Jason
www.ecosknives.com
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