Freedom via Double Parkers: How I'm Pursuing the 4HWW

[KindOfRude.com]

Dear Everyone,

I'm new to the forum here, delighted to remember that this even exists. My name is Steve, I own and operate an eCommerce site named KindOfRude.com.

We sell quippy, semi-rude vehicle flyers that users can hang on other people's parked cars, notably our original best-seller "Park Correctly" flyer that targets people who park "over the line", occupying two spaces or more. The product is built like a door hanger advertisement banner, allowing one to hang the flyer over the door handle of a car door – something one doesn't see very often and is hard to ignore when you are the owner (victim) of the offending vehicle.

I have two sections of this post I'd like to share. One – explanation of this experiment and how it's going so-far. And Two – a list of questions for the readers of this forum to ask how I can improve upon my methods and strategy.

Thus-Far: The Dream, The Duration, The Results

My wife and I live in a small suburb of the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex, working as a talented musician and teacher (her) and myself as a graphic designer, web developer and visual artist (myself). Upon reading the 4HWW book, we both agreed to do several things...

(1) Make myself available. Taking the advice from Tim's book, I acted upon the calculated risk of completely leaving a solid, stable job at a marketing firm where I worked as a creative director. It was a ballsy move, but we figured that (a) I could easily step back into that marketplace if my experiment went sour, (b) I could easily continue to freelance my own work through a variety of connections, and (c) I would finally have the TIME to develop, plan and execute a low-maintenance business plan that would afford my blossoming family the ability to be a part of The New Rich.

(2) Dream, define and develop our own muse. Coming from a graphic design and web authoring background, I figured I could easily create and upkeep a web-based business that would be molded to take very LITTLE time to develop and maintain. All we would need to do is decide on the product, service or information that we would sell...

(3) Decide. I came up with the idea of taking advantage of other's road rage habits and turning it into an avenue of income. As a self-professed road rage addict, I developed the idea of the flyers and molded the product, messaging and delivery system how I felt would be the most appropriate avenue possible for the experiment (read: make it as easy as possible for me).

The product is designed to follow several main points that Tim brings up in his book:

Automate the process as much as possible. The flyers are mass-produced by a local printer in bulk, allowing for me to never EVER produce these by hand. In shipping, all I have to do is address, stamp and mail each order via USPS first class mail (as these parking flyers fit nicely into a large business envelope).

Effectively price the product to limit returns while maximizing profit. Tim does recommend developing a product priced between $20 and $200 to achieve this, but from the people I asked (my, ahem, "focus group") agreed that paying for any novelty item would never ever render them popping open their wallet to grab an entire 20-dollar bill. I still figured that I would offer two options for buying the flyers at low-and-high enough of a price: $9 for a pack of 8, $14 for a pack of 16.

Limit Options to Increase Sales. I have one (1, uno, solo) consistent product, the "Park Correctly" flyers, and one diversified "Monthly Special" item that has a seasonal or occasional message different from the consistent product (examples: April 2011's flyer makes fun of people who pimp out their ride yet fail to realize they drive the same car as my grandmother, or May's 2011 flyer that tells your neighbor to finally learn how to mow their own yard).

Other items that I would add in addition to what Tim recommends:

Take advantage of the world-wide marketplace. Not only are the flyers set up to be ordered from other countries, but I am also pursuing to have them translated into various languages. Mexico, Canada, the UK/AUS (queen's english) and the Middle East could all really use these products.

Develop a product that makes a statement. This is a slight spin on Tim's recommendation to sell INFORMATION rather than a product or service for various reasons, but the primary reason for these flyers is to let someone know that you think a certain way about them or their actions ... and absolutely nothing else.

Make your product self-marketing. Each flyer entices the recipient to visit the website to get their own flyers and asks them to vent their frustrations on the KindOfRude facebook page if they feel they received the flyer wrongfully. I'm determined to spend as LITTLE as possible on any marketing what-so-ever.


So what have the results been like? And how long has it taken?

Guess what: I'm only a mere ONE MONTH into this experiment and have generated a fair amount of additional startup cash from the sales. The numbers aren't astronomical, but it's been exciting none the less and still find that people are interested in the product.

News-worthy advertising is the key.

The majority of the interest drummed-up about KindOfRude.com was through online media outlets, believe it or not. A friend of mine sent a tip to AutoBlog.com, one of the most highly-read automotive industry blogs in the world (with a world-wide affiliate network), and they ran a short story on it on a Monday in April 2011. From there, outlets from Autoline Detroit, AOL Autos Canada, NPR and the New York Times picked up the story and found it NEWSWORTHY to place on their sites. All the publicity (including taped radio interviews) helped me conclude that this is big enough of a gag to convince me to keep pursuing it! My cost for all of this was, you guessed it, ZERO.

Selling Venues

Right now, the rude flyers are only available on the PayPal-powered ecommerce site, but I'm currently investigating other venues that I could sell the flyers from, if possible:

– Automotive Dealers, Parts Stores, Repair Shops (anywhere that is vehicle-related)

– Race Events, Fairs, Sports Games, Concerts (anywhere with large parking situations where people might find the flyers useful)

– Gift Shops, Gag Stores, Novelty Stores (anywhere with a line of products specifically marketed toward the cynical minded or for anyone who wants to provide a fun gift for a friend).


Questions for you readers out there:

Upon investigating the flyers at KindOfRude.com, what other ideas for the "Monthly Special" flyers do you have?

What would be other great venues to sell these flyers at? Who would you recommend I contact?

What other alternate delivery methods can you think of that would be a departure from the norm? (such is why I chose to offer these with a circular hanging cut instead of just a simple card ... or would adding the option for a simple card every once in a while be a good choice?)

Would it be wise to seek rights contracts that allow international resellers to sell language variations of these to other countries, producing and delivering them independently, instead of sell them directly from my website?

I appreciate your interest and willingness to help! Please visit KindOfRude.com and send the links (www, Facebook and Twitter) to your friends, family and coworkers!

– Steve @ KindOfRude.com

[adam.sn]

Love love love the idea... tried to order and said I can't b/c I don't have a U.S. paypal account... I wonder how many sales that's cost you :P Ouch


P.S. I'm in Canada so not some faway land nobody has ever heard of

Cheers
- Adam

[LifestyleDesign]

Well made, attractive, simple site. Very funny idea, really loving it.

[KindOfRude.com]

Thanks for reading, everyone!

The site now offers international shipping, with an emphasis on Canada, UK and Australia (english speaking countries). If you are located internationally, please tell your friends family and coworkers.

I would love to hear more feedback from you guys if you choose to purchase it and try it out!

S

[csmith501]

Great site design. And very cool concept.
I am in the Dallas area, looking for 4hww people to make friends with.
Maybe we can meetup sometime for coffee, or lunch?

[liam75005]

Idea for new product : what do you think of making pdf cuttable sheets that would be cheaper ?

[officer_dibble]

Excellent idea. Very well executed too.

In terms of ideas for specials:

Do you really need to block the school gates with your car
Something around ecofriendliness (or not) of monster cars/trucks
Poorly loaded eg stuff poorly strapped to roof
Pet in hot car?
Child left alone in car?
Car that looks like your mum's car is pimped too much?
Annoying bass sound coming from car?

The buy PDF and print your own could be a great way of making this viral.