CindiD Duehmig

I see a credit card charge on my cc via PayPal but don't see a link at this time...could someone take a peek and let me know what's cooking?  thanks!  (also is this the thread to post this q or where would be better?)

I am thinking that if you're working for a bit of coin to get you by, and not worried about NEW eyes, then you'd show a lot of the video from the new builds.    

If you want to jolt people into digging further, then the focus and content of the video would be quite different.  And it would likely be much shorter.  

Hi Beau.  

I agree with your assessment.

The question I asked myself when I looked at the teaser is:  who is *really* going to buy the video? Even more, who will buy it in great quantities?     I watched most of the other RMH videos, and they are VERY interesting to me, but they are self-limiting as to sales/views because they are neither technical/instructional (how-to) nor empirical (benefits) nor emotional.   Kind of like the videos of your kid's dance recital; interesting but only to a limited audience.   edit:  the existing videos are not instructional in terms of step-by-step for folks like me, not that they aren't instructional/technical for folks who "get it."

So I asked myself a different question:  what would generate a lot of interest/demand for RMH?   A lot of interest/demand for RMH in general will have a trickle-down effect and therefore generate demand for content.    

Full marketing program: yes a LOT of work, needs an expert.
Not-for-profit:  whooeee yes a lot of work, needs an expert.
Short video: The optimist in me thinks time to produce a single short video with a laser-focused marketing objective would theoretically entice someone to THEN purchase the video the kickstarter currently proposes.

a) what this might look like.    Short answer: A much shorter version of The Game Changers movie (which advocates veganism; I think it's on Netflix if someone on the team subscribes).  If you watch the first couple of minutes and then skip into the middle to a couple of spots you'll get a really good feel for what I propose.       Long answer: if I were to write an equivalent position paper that didn't have the emotional/marketing stuff in it, it would be something along the lines of "Examples and evidence of RMH usage to reduce heating consumption up to 90% in residential applications, including sample build instructions."  or "Critical analysis of RMH in retrofit residential applications to heat homes using yard waste."          

a.5) Is anyone doing any academic-type papers on RMH?  

b) setting this stuff up: Ha.  I have (like many many people) taken a tax deduction in a prior year by setting up $$ in a charitable Donor Advised Fund.  It no longer "belongs" to me, but I can direct its use.  Therefore, as long as there is a legit nonprofit to which I can direct the $$, I would be making a donation using dollars I already "donated" to the fund.        Regarding setting up a non-profit, I have zero experience in that area, but as I mentioned could be persuaded to support an effort.

a) I *think* (subject to other folks' input on this thread) that for 3rd party re-selling purposes, an emotional video yet with a clear focus on RMH empirical benefits incl. real life in situ examples and overcoming housing code challenges would be very useful, vs. an experiential, experimental-type video currently proposed.   As has been pointed out many times before, people simply do.not.believe the reduction in cost.

b) broken record here:  get a non profit started to suck up monies and pay for someone to develop a shamwow type program with associated packaged products.    To that end, I will commit $5,000 to a non-profit once it is set up, as I already have $$ set aside in a Donor Advised Fund.   Would even put in some time to achieve that end, but as you know harder to find time during spring/summer planting season.

-C

Hi Taylor.  

I'm curious, are you still mulling over your decision?      

Here are my observations, trying to look at items not yet covered by other posts:

-My 2 cents is in framing this in terms of your personal risk for income (i.e. this is your full time job and income), or your health. If something goes south with your relationship, what happens to you?   If this is part-time or volunteer on your part, this risk is minimized.   Is this a formal position with job responsibilities?  

-If you get hurt (or crash the tractor), do the farm owners have insurance that covers these?   Or are you an individual worker that the risk is yours?

-Things like the tractor require regular maintenance (greasing every xx hours), will this be your responsibility and do you know which things you are responsible for?     If, for instance, there is a mower that the owners also use for their lawn (I'm imagining they have a house on the property), then if you use the mower for the farm who is responsible for the maintenance schedule?

-What *are* their priorities? If it's so they can post a social media post every xx days, then knowing that might reduce the see-saw of decision making --- after all, any project on the farm that takes longer than they expect might require you to QUICK find another thing they can post on (which would in this scenario explain some see-saw decisions, and would also help you propose projects or steps that support their schedule).

-Assuming they are paying you, will they pay you for the time to do the research? If they keep changing their mind after you've started research on a project, this could be very time consuming on your part.   Are they paying you for successful outcomes?  For instance, I pay the plumber to fix the toilet, not to learn how to fix the toilet or to fix it only to have it not work again shortly thereafter.  Think about how you set their expectations for outcomes when it's something you're also learning...

-If you decide to go ahead with it, there's a possible way of managing expectations -- and I believe it's in use at Wheaton labs --which is a "Kanban" style of prioritization that clearly shows what's in progress.   This *might* be a good way of keeping up with their shifting priorities, since they can easily shift the priority of anything that's unstarted with no impact, but if it's something you've started they at least see what other tasks they are impacting.  

 

I just listened to this podcast and I propose revising the summary to include a paragraph covering establishing a 5013c nonprofit.   I particularly think this is relevant so non pod-people can be directed to this excellent discussion, AND the general call for volunteers/people on a couple of items.   Here are my suggestions for adding to the summary:

Kickstarter campaigns provide all funding for Wheaton Labs, and Kickstarter takes 10% of the amount raised.  So this year the entire operation was funded for about $80,000.    Paul and Alan agree that a 5013c nonprofit could generate a significant (6-8x) increase in operating funds, perhaps to do more "science-y" research.   Paul pointed out that there's only one of him and he'd rather do anything other than do this sort of thing, so someone else would be needed to set up and then manage such a nonprofit. Alan has a lot of experience setting up 5013c nonprofits, and pointed out a Director of Development would be needed, following typical nonprofit compensation-for-fundraising-results patterns.    Alan also generously offered to provide initial counseling/advice to anyone taking on this task.

Folks who are interested in spearheading this sort of effort to establish a nonprofit are welcome to reach out/raise their hands.   This may or may not have a paid outcome for time spent, people qualified for a Director of Development role would be fantastic.

Folks who are interested in being a master gardener for the proposed experiments are welcome to also reach out.   Ideally this would have some sort of paid outcome for time spent.

Finally, folks who are interested in doing the "market-y" type things such as getting Paul's books into a lot more hands, should also raise their hands, although this is less likely to be a paid-for-time spent.  Maybe for retirees?

Hi.  Jordan mentioned this already, but my grandparents also simply tossed the walnuts into the driveway and drove over them to pull get the outer shells off.     I'm a big fan of that approach due to low effort.

Also, my dad reported that shelling walnuts was one of the things they did winter nights in the 40's and 50's, and he also reported that if you hit it juuuuust right it comes apart along the seam.    I'm not certain I'll achieve that level of proficiency any time soon.  

-C

Hi, Matt.
I'll certainly think about it...First I need to get one under my belt, then I should be able to better suss out difficulty.   I suspect that water-circulated heating will be more complex and might not be the first iteration.   I like the idea of being able to warm up ~40' of bottoms using an 8" RMH.

-C

Hi Thomas.  

Yes we certainly could do a grandstand-type, multi row approach.     After I posted I looked more at the J tube construction inside some of the greenhouses.  

Attached is photo of area.