Thursday, November 30, 2006

Rummagemonkey.com And my 8 Year old daughter!

My 8 year old daughter is one of Rummagemonkey.com's biggest cheerleaders, as a matter of fact she asks me all the time if she can be 5% investigated (means invested) in the company! Ahh truly my kid!

The other day she wore her Rummagemonkey.com T Shirt to School, and another little girl spoke up right away about the cute monkey, and was like Rummagemonkey.com what is that!

My daughter shot back it is my Dad's new company!

Not bated or given any preconceived notions about what Rummagemonkey.com is or is going to be another little girl who is always in competition and trying to one up my daughter quipped back....Oh yeah...My dad owns eBay!

That makes me Smile!

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Rummagemonkey.com Its getting close!

We are getting close to the launch of http://www.Rummagemonkey.com We are going over the beta and will be launching in some form....LOL on Friday. We are real picky and are really trying hard to bring a good product to the table. Further once we contact our interested vendors and help them through the upload process, we will run our first Ad Campaign a Paid Banner on Myspace right on the log in page for every user! Hopefully all of you myspacers will not be able to avoid clicking on the cute little monkey!

One part of the Monkey we want to explore with our Vendors is specific PPC Marketing Through Adwords, and Yahoo, If you want more exposure to Your specific products on our site, or your products on your site, or a combination of both we have the expertise and know how to provide you with a campaign to increase visits to your products from people actually looking for them.....Email info@Rummagemonkey.com for further details!

A while back we blogged that the average American has $2500 worth of unused items in their homes.....If this sounds like you please break out the digital camera and get ready to make some Jingle on your collection of dust! Remember One Mans Junk is Another Mans Treasure! And we want your junk er ah treasure on the Monkey!

We've also begun auditioning (Through our Ad agency) the voice talent for our Radio Commercial, (Look for it to initially air on XM in January!)

We hope to see you register with us just as soon as we launch!

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Thanksgiving in the woods in my RV, Peaceful, Serene.........And then I tried to get internet access!

Usually I use jaunts to the Beach or out to the woods in our family RV as a way to unwind, and relax and just hangout by a campfire, read ghost stories to the kids and go on hikes, bike rides etc.

So with that in mind on Wednesday night we headed out for a few days of RVing over thanksgiving weekend!

We are currently testing the beta site and getting ready for the upcoming launch of http://www.Rummagemonkey.com So along came the laptop with my Cingular aircard attached, Normally this thing chugs along great and has allowed me to check email , surf a web page or two at a relative decent speed.

Anyway we get to our site, and my first mission is to get satellite reception through the trees so we can watch Thanksgiving day Football the Macy's parade etc. It had been a few months since we had used the receiver in the RV so after the dish on the roof verified a lock on the satellites, and I still had no reception I knew I had to call DIshnetwork and have them reset the box!

Call one on the cell phone....Welcome to click..........Dropped call

Call two........Got to a live person who could not hear me

Call Three...Get to Cust. Service menu Dropped call

Call Four.....Get a rep on phone and he says I can't make out enough words I'm gonna hang up now...Click Your gonna do what???$%^&* AAAAAAAGGGGH!

So I set off on a series of attempts trying to get through to the powers that be at Dishnetwork, After about 50 attempts, posing in various positions in order to try to get one more bar out Cingular, With Visions of their commercials promising more coverage than any other network, I give up.........Good god roughing it is brutal!

finally I walk outside down to a campsite of people we know and the bars appear! I call Dishnetwork they beam down on my box and when I check it again later, I have all my channels!

(And for those of you thinking this doesn't sound like roughing it, At home we watch TV on either 105 inch screen or a 42 so to have to tough it out on a pair of 21 inchers is brutal...LOL)

So now I get down to the serious task of relaxing, We have a fire sit around with the kids, The site had a great rope swing that we watched our girls have a great time using all weekend!, everyone eventually goes to bed....I think Good time to fire up the laptop, and check in on what's going on with the site! I hook up my super duper booster antennae to my Aircard and fireup, first go is pretty good, then a drop, I move the antennae to try and get another bar, I lose a bar........aaaaaaaggggghhh anyway this goes on and on and on, Finally on Saturday I surrender the weekend is one day from being over and I give up.

In hind sight the family was saying what a great weekend we had, We went down to a horse stable to check out a bunch of horses, they had some lasso ropes for the kids to play with, so we had my two Daughters and two of our Friends Daughters Run between me and our other friend while we practiced our roping skills! The first Horse caught was my 5 year old I lassoed her right around the waist and dragged her in! After the crying ceased we continued, Our Friends two Daughters were next to be roped, Then my 8 year old, the lasso flew beautifully through the air settling on her neck, ker plunk game over! We walked back to Camp laughing! Not bad for a City Boy!

Good Food, Great times with Friends and Family.....Not that I'll ever stop messing around with Technology but sometimes 4 days can put it all in perspective!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Dec. 1st Launch of Rummagemonkey.com , Did any one watch the American Music Awards?

We have decided to forego Black Friday and Push our Launch back to Dec. 1st. We are working hard on providing a custom bulk upload solution for our vendors and are just not willing to release the site for your eyes until the quality level is up to our corporate standard!

Its funny last night I was sitting at the laptop going through our beta, and my wife started watching the American Music Awards, I was pretty engrossed in what I was doing, but her hemming and hawing about how ridiculous the show was , got me to take a break and watch it!

The first time I can ever remember watching an awards show!

Jimmy Kimmel.....Yawn His delivery and jokes are dreadful I listen to Howard Stern Regularly and have heard Kimmel on the show before and tend to normally like this kind of Humor , as a host for this his delivery and jokes were dreadful......With that said it is exactly what kept my eyes glued to the show, it was like can this get any worse? Did they stick Kimmel in last minute because Michael Richards was busy?

I will also confess right here that I watch Pants off Dance Off, where normal (I use this term loosely) people strip to music, do a search on your guide if you have not seen this, it is possibly the worst excuse ever for a TV show and once you start watching you can't stop! It is between this show and Dog the Bounty Hunter, For the most riveting garbage!

The songs at the AMA were a complete Train Wreck and again you couldn't stop watching, I left a few dollar bills folded at the top of my television after the Pussycat Dolls did their number......I enjoyed it, it made my wife Squirm, and I was happy my seven and five year old were asleep....LOL

I happen to like a lot of No Doubt, Gwen Stefani stuff......But what the hell was that number? I must be getting old.

JZ...I think that's who it was, My wife was like Jesus Honey you could do that!

Red hot Chili's acceptance speech........Again great band love their stuff, acceptance speech was asinine! If your gonna stay in England, than spare us the schtick

The outfits were so over the top they should have held this a few nights before Halloween not Thanksgiving! Give me Carrie Underwood in Jeans and Straight Blonde Hair, She is hard to buy all done up, what was with that hair!, and the breakaway skirt

Bangs are back...Hopefully not for long, is it any wonder Dateline has to Run a pedophile show every other week......

Jamie Fox great actor not a bad singer, but does he always need to sound like a puppet at these award shows?

Paris Hilton, They should of put a bag over her head and let her dance with the pussy cat dolls, stop letting this person speak!

Anyway the show was terrific, I will definently be a viewer next year!

Have a great holiday and look for the Monkey http://www.Rummagemonkey.com

Launching Dec. 1st

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Yey Fox....Good Move, But lets get onto something serious

Wow, the power of the Monkey.....Lol One day after my OJ rant its over Fox has pulled the Losers TV Show and book deal........(Side note: For those who can't see the Sarcasm we know that our 50 readers were not why the plug got pulled on this) It is nice to see that the outrage and voice of the American people can still get things done!

So now I ask for your support on something we absolutely must rally behind! Are you ready?

STARBUCKS and their coffee lid from Solo......How many stains on clothing has this brutal combination caused?

Every morning about a mile from my home I stop at Starbucks for a Venti Coffee Room for Cream (P.S. If I lived in Northern California I would go to Peet's which has a superior product and is a public company, look for it to sweep the nation soon! However I think they use a similar lid combo)
I take every precaution, I step over to the prep counter wipe down the lid in case the "Barista" got sloppy, I even take a napkin and make sure there are no drops hanging around the rim of the cup, I then add my Non Fat Milk (I like to save my Fat for my Lunch spots, In and Out, Hooters, Rubios, or any combination of greasy burgers.....Shit I wish I liked vegetables) And off I go, Usually I make it about half way to my office (About 3 miles) before the first little drop forms and cascades down onto my pants..........AAAAGGGH It got me again!

The good thing for me is I'm a slob and am usually found in nothing nicer than a pair of shorts and a T shirt or Jeans so the Coffee stain ads an element of character!

But this rant isn't for me its for the Guy and Girl who needs a high test cup of coffee but has to dress up for work........We need to rally and get this cup and lid combination redesigned.......Does this problem occur at Dunkin Donuts, The Au bon pan, Winchell's and other coffee shops across the nation?

Is it part of a sinister plot by Starbucks to Ruin clothes so that people must shop more and keep retail sales figures chugging forward (I'm sure you libs can find a way to blame the Bush Administration for this!)

If you have the solution or an idea lets hear it, And if your solution is to bring my own cup into Starbucks, like I see some people do...then save it, I have tried bringing lunch to the office, in order to eat healthier, I have tried making Coffee at home and bringing it with me, All that lasts for about 2 weeks, I like a lot of us am a creature of convenience! I will get bored with the whole washing routine etc. etc. etc.

Anyway...our site http://www.Rummagemonkey.com is launching, While lots of us might be creatures of convenience, try not to be creatures of habit and continue to stick with your current overpriced marketplace! Please give the Monkey a try, in return we offer, Reasonable (Not Free, LOL) Fees, Lots of Advertising and Marketing, and a reachable customer service department!

Happy Holidays

Monday, November 20, 2006

What the hell is wrong with the Media, Car Chases, O.J. Douche Bag, and Storm Watch If someone spits more than 3 feet in the air!

Living in California I am so sick of watching these damn car chases.....I try to stay awake enough to check out the 10:00 news on fox, and when they lead off with a car chase it irritates the hell out of me, News should not be some crystal meth loady running around the streets in a stolen vehicle!

Fox is clearly the worst at all of this type of sensationalistic journalism......The latest example and one I find absolutely reprehensible is the O.J. Fiasco they are talking about airing! What an incredible piece of crap....Are they so desperate for ratings that they need to give this loser anymore airtime?

EVERY LARGE ADVERTISER SHOULD PULL OUT OF ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH THIS BULLSHIT!

Unfortunately all of this is nothing new, Lets face it everytime more than a drop of rain comes out of the sky in Southern California we are under "Storm Watch 2006", or "Flood Fiasco on the 5 Freeway" Oy vey....Its raining the road is slick for an hour get over it!

If the news was honest it could go something like this.....

Our lead story there isn't shit going on tonight so we've decided to listen to a police scanner and follow a few drunk drivers around hoping one will be stupid enough to let the cops persue him for a while, If we are lucky someone will get hurt!

Oh, that asshole that killed Nicole Brown , and Ron Goldman, He's now doing a tell all of "If he Killed them this is how he would have done it"....We have decided to air this if he is willing to let the guys from Jack Ass perform stunts on him until he either dies , or promises to go deep in a hole and never be heard from again (This I would watch!)

And in Weather its gonna rain today...the roads are gonna get wet, and its gonna screw up my golf game......

I'd like to hear Don Henley write an updated version of his song "Dirty Laundry"

Actually no need for a rewrite here is the last verse of the song! Could not be more the truth!


We can do the innuendo We can dance and singWhen its said and done we havent told you a thing We all know that crap is king Give us dirty laundry!

Friday, November 17, 2006

Elmo TMX, Playstation 3, Ipod, youtube, Britney Spears, Turkey, Myspace, Google

Today lets see what ads we get via our adsense feeds, when we use some of the most popular keywords being searched....Really go ahead study our ads that are right above this blog!

See anything you like....lol

See anything current or popular?

See anything your friends might like?

Tell them about our blog!

Tell them about our soon to launch site http://www.Rummagemonkey.com

Have a great weekend, and a great Holiday season!

Still reading? Free T Shirt for sending us an email to info@Rummagemonkey.com (Good for first 5 responders)

Thursday, November 16, 2006

T Shirts for 10 names and a Promise! (First 10 Responders)

As we have done on past Blogs, We would love to send you your very own ultra cute (The Chicks dig him!) Rummagemonkey.com T Shirt...........

But here is the catch, In order to get the Lovable Monkey on your back, You must CC ten friends on an email info@rummagemonkey.com you write telling them about http://www.rummagemonkey.com and this very blog! include your size and your name and address and we will get the shirt right out to you!

Is this a shameless plug to spread the word about our site? You bet it is! Some call it "Guerilla" marketing, we like to call it "Monkey" marketing!

We are working very hard on the beta and the site should be up and running next week! Please do your part to help us kick off with a bang! If you run a store get in touch with us via email, we will have a representative hand hold you through the sign up and upload process!

If your an individual post all those items laying around the house and get yourself some money for the holidays!

Our advertising budget is strong, and we will include Adwords, Myspace and other Website banners, and after the holidays will launch our first XM radio commercial!

We hope to see you buying and selling with us shortly! Now send that email and get "the Monkey on your back!"

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Tupperware and Beer = Tuppakeg

On my way home from Work yesterday I was listening to a replay of the Howard Stern Show on Sirius and one of their news reporters was inviting everyone to a cookie exchange party.....Of course the guys on the show were canning it , A cookie exchange not very appealing to guys, and It flashed me back to a similar situation I had when I was fresh out of College.

I was working for a company as an inside sales rep, and the office manager was pushing everyone to have a Tupperware party for her! I was the only guy in the office, and needless to say having a Tupperware party sounded about as exciting as watching grass grow!

However being young and wanting to do anything I could to further my career, I told her I'd have a party, but she would have to order the plastic tumblers ahead of time.......With that I organized the party.

When the party goers arrived I made them buy a tumbler at a bit of a markup as entry into the party and free admission to the keg.......The Party was a hit I had the top grossing party of the 4 she had from the office, we sold a bunch of tumblers, and once a few of the gals had a few cocktails they even placed orders for other Tupperware!

I left that company a few months later as they were unable to see my budding sales and marketing brilliance, They were much more concerned that I was unwilling to wear socks with my Topsiders! (Boat Shoes)

Even from early on sales and marketing has been in my blood! As head monkey at Rummagemonkey.com I look forward to the challenge of getting the word out there about your products, be it electronics, cars, motorcycles, computers, antiques, collectibles, and even Tupperware.........Although I am unwilling at this stage to supply the Keg!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Free T Shirt offer For First Ten Responders

Todays blog is nothing more than a shameless plug.......The Good news is there is something in it for you.......Here is all you need to do send info@rummagemonkey.com , an email with your address, and size you would like, in the CC Field attach 10 friends, and ask them to subscribe to our blog, http://rummagemonkey.blogspot.com and to register their email and name at our site so we can keep them informed about our upcoming launch http://www.rummagemonkey.com

Lots of you have asked for an online alternative, and we are confident we are it! So if your a store get ready to upload your inventory!

If your an individual get out the digital camera, dust off what your not using and sell some product and get yourself some cash for the holidays!

OH, and if your a shopper.....By all means surf our site, we have several hundred vendors ready to go, and our inventory will grow daily! We need your support and we need you to keep checking back in order for us to be a success! We have installed several payment options and safety options, so search search search , and Buy Buy Buy!

We look forward to seeing all of you in the coming weeks!

Monday, November 13, 2006

Getting ready For Launch of Rummagemonkey.com

We are one week and a day from the launch of http://www.rummagemonkeycom a nonauction new and used product marketplace! It is getting hectic, but we are having fun, We have had a lot of progress we have added a toll free number, moved into our corporate offices in beautiful Temecula CA., And have been firming up relationships with over a few hundred interested vendors, and adding vendors to our interested list daily! We will have a bulk uploader for large inventories, our fees will be reasonable (in the vicinity of 2.5% at close of sale), Vendors list price and can have it fixed or allow buyers to make an offer! If you sell online currently and want more info I welcome you to contact us at info@rummagemonkey.com or visit the website http://www.rummagemonkey.com

Individuals dust off your unused goods (Everything from Ipods, Mp3's Car Parts, Clothes, Antiques Toys, Collectibles you name it we'll list it! With the exception of Firearms) and sell them on THE Monkey! A previous blog said the Avg. American has $2500 of unused items in their house! WE WANT YOUR ITEMS ON OUR SITE!!!!

Our marketing plan will kick off with Google Adword campaigns, Also for vendors contact us about setting up a detailed SEO/Adwords campaign to drive clicks directly to your items and stores! We will also have paid banners on Myspace, and several other traffic driving Sights........Then hold onto your seat on January 2nd we will broadcast our first Monkey Commercial on XM radio, and will follow it with spots in various other markets!

We hope to see you Selling, buying, and just being part of our community in the near future!

Friday, November 10, 2006

An Ipod for my 8 Year old

My Daughter is eight she has an ipod , I somehow find that scary when I was eight I had a leather Football!

I love technology and have always been a gadget guy so I guess she comes by it honestly....She lives in a world where we pause live TV, Skip through Commercials, and can watch TV Shows at will!

When I was eight friends were starting to get cable boxes with Rotary Dials, We were still 4 years from the Launch of ESPN, And our parents were making decisions on whether to buy VHS or Betamax.......My Mom chose right, our first VCR was VHS with one of those sexy cabled remote controls!

Today my Daughter can choose from over 202 vertical inches of TV at one of 4 Locations in the house! If your family had a 19 inch tube in 1975 you were players!

I've been noticing a lot of commercials on DishNetwork, lately that allow you to push buttons on the Remote for instant ordering, and additional information, Computer Monitors and DLP, LCD'S Are Morphing into one, Storage Capacity has gone through the roof, so it's now poosible to roll around with whole movies on a handheld or smaller device......Cool Stuff

All This leads me to Wonder in 31 Years what kind of Blog will my now 8 year old be writing about her kids? Hopefully about how excited they are that they got a nice new Leather Football!

On a business note with all these great items to sell and buy don't forget to visit our site! We are in Final Beta Testing right now and should be launching the week before Thanksgiving!

http://www.Rummagemonkey.com

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Unused items of the Average American


I heard an interesting figure last week, that the Average American household has $2500 of unused items. Yet all of the current online marketplaces are moving more and more towards selling new product.

At Rummagemonkey.com we have lined up a lot of vendors to sell their wares, both new and used, we know that new product is certainly something we want on our site and we are going to support storefronts full tilt but imagine the variety if we can get a decent percentage of the population to list even a portion of that $2500 unused inventory on our site!

We hope you register with us at our launch later this month!

In the meantime take those mp3's ipods, sporting goods, antiques, computer parts, baby furniture, vintage clothes, snowboards, skiis and any other items you don't currently use and get out the digital camera, and be ready to post, We will be offering extensive marketing, including Adwords, XM Radio Spots, Several Banners including ones paid for on Myspace.....And good old Guerilla (Skip that Monkey) marketing!

We are not an auction, you list the price you want for an item, and a buyer can make you an offer instantly!

So do you have items not being used in your house? $2500 makes for a lot of Christmas Shopping! Which of course can be done at the Monkey! Shopping this Holiday has never been so fun!

http://www.Rummagemonkey.com

If you Build it Will Anyone Come?


If you build it will they come?
When we were doing research on formulating Rummagemonkey.com and trying to determine if there was room for us in what on the surface appears to be a very crowded Arena...We ended up coming to the conclusion that there is indeed room for us!
As I mentioned in a previous post, we had no desire to be a fee pay youpay , who Bids...etc. There is a giant out there that despite their high fees seems to do this area very well!
The majority of the other sites....Well they were built, but in our eyes very few are coming?
Why, it probably runs the gamut from under capitalized and underexposed...Or just plain not very memorable. You couple that with not enough time spent developing both buyers and sellers and in the majority of cases you never get off the launching pad!
The other big thing is the lets give everything away for free strategy....Looks good until you realize that the few adsense banners you are running aren't gonna pay more than the costs of your server, and your idea of advertising is telling your Aunt Sue about the company during Easter Dinner. Without extensive advertising you will never get the word out........We have an extensive plan for Branding and marketing that I am continually preaching if you'd like to hear more just ask...lol
To put this advertising campaign into play costs a lot of money, and therefore our site will have fees...ooohhh ahh gasp, Our pledge however is to keep them reasonable and our goal is to drive buyers to the site through the high level advertising we've talked about!
What about Google base and Yahoo Auctions etc.....Well they certainly have the capabilities of being scary, but aren't they also risking cutting into their own bread and butter?
If googlebase lets me upload a zillion items that now appear in "shopping" searches, what continues to be my incentive to use their cash cow Adwords?
Again, these are random thoughts about the state of ecommerce, I would love to have a fraction of the business of the giants listed! The good thing is I think with our Good Looks (Aka: as brandingThe Monkey) Offering fair pricing, and being available we have the opportunity to do just that! See you in a few weeks!
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