Social media is all the rage

Social media is all the rage these days, so I am going to link my website www.rotaire.com to Facebook, Linked In and Twitter just to get the hang of it. As you will have noticed, I have not posted a blog since 2010 - not an auspicious start! The thing is, when I'm busy selling Drylines I do not have time to lay aside for the purpose, and even when I am less busy it isn't top of the agenda of things to do.
I do hope that some people reading this will "like" my Rotaire Dryline page on Facebook, and it gives them a chance to praise or damn the product. I am told that normal sales patter and even testimonials are not adequate for the sophisticated internet user - they want the unvarnished truth.

National exposure at last

I am returning to the blog after a long absence as a result of an article in the Sunday Telegraph praising the Rotaire Dryline for its revolutionary approach to one of the oldest problems in history - how do you dry your clothes outdoors if it's raining? It feels as if at long last the invention is reaching the mainstream. It is incredible that it has taken so long for such a simple idea to come to fruition, and be available to the public at large.

I am also negotiating with a major UK retail supplier for a deal that will get the Dryline into the main retail outlets in connection with an airer tailored to suit it, and with an Australian firm interested in introducing the idea over there. This should be an interesting year!

It is always pleasing to have customers write to me telling me how it has released them from the tyranny of wet washing - a nice result

The Dryline gets recommended by Janey Lee Grace

It's a long time since I have had the free time to post a blog - mea culpa! However, the Rotaire Dryline is recommended in a new book by Janey Lee Grace, the best-selling author and Green celebrity who is regularly on Steve Wright's Radio 2 show amongst other things. Her new book is published on June 1st by Hay House, entitled "How toLook Great - and ditch the lipstick". It's not just about appearances though, or the Dryline washing line rain cover would never get featured! It reflects how all of us have a need to wash and dry clothes, and if we are expending precious resources unnecessarily to do so it is self-defeating, expensive and unethical. Especially if there is a natural carbon free alternative.
Janey uses a Dryline and it was great to meet her at the Eden Project for the Real Nappy International Nappuccino.

Dry lines in dry weather

The phenomenally dry weather through September and into this month has not improved sales! However, they are ticking along at a reasonable pace and I am waiting for a breakthrough in the shape of a media coup. I can't say what it is, but I am sure it will put the Dryline on the mainstream map. There are three irons in the fire at present, and surely one will come to fruition soon, if that is not mixing the metaphor too much.
I am working on an adaptor that will potentially cut my range down to half its present level by allowing all airers to use the preferred Classic version of the Dryline. The drawings will have to be turned into a CAD file that the mould makers can use.
The bureaucracy involved in business these days is in my view excessive; certainly enough to stifle a lot of development that otherwise would have time to be done. The accounts for last year and the VAT return have taken up hours and hours of tedious labour, and getting the right software to deal with the orders is a nightmare that I have yet to be free of. Ordering the amount of stock you think you will need three months in advance is also very trying, and of course impossible...
But it's an interesting game.

A busy summer

It has indeed been a busy summer. A lot of effort has gone into publicising the product by attanding County Shows and Gardening Shows and rather than take a holiday my wife and I have been taking weekends at fairs around the country. Each one has been good for sales, but more importantly it has put the idea into thousands of heads that otherwise would not have seen it. So often a person will remark how annoying it is to get back from work to find the laundry sodden by unecpacted rainfall; if someone has seen the Dryline they can say "I saw a cover for the laundry at as Show; it was called the rota- something." All that needs to happen then is for the person to go to Google or another search engine and find me.
Apart from that I have expanded the range of accessories a little, getting a part manufactured to increase the working height of the airer and so on. Problems due to an early batch of faulty material still return, causing replacements to be sent out at considerable expense and time. However, sales are definitely on an upward track, and the poor weather this summer has been a benefit to the project. However, September has been dry all month, and it is surprising how much this affects sales. I have recently designed an adaptor that could halve the product range, which would be a great help in selling. I am exxcited about this possibility. The website and price list have been overhauled as well, and the results, although it has been slow and time consuming, will set the Dryline on a better footing for the future.
I sometimes feel that my life has been taken over and that I don't get out enough, but after all, life is change, and I'm lucky to have a business that is prospering in the economic recession. A lot of it is fun as well!

Summer is passing!

Is it really two months since I last visited this hallowed page? Yes, I am afraid so.
What have I been doing, you might ask (if anyone ever looked at this meagre blog).
I have been incredibly busy, I am behind with the accounts, my other patent work has gone onto the back burner and the Dryline takes up nearly all of my waking hours. Other wise everything is just tickety boo.
I passed the thousandth sale point last week; over a thousand happy customers are using my invention - and they keep telling me how much they like it! Now to move into the larger market; a new integrated website to take the pain out of processing orders, a new version to sell cheaply enough to enter the retail market, a much-overdue price rise and hire an apprentice to learn the online retail trade. Alan Sugar eat your heart out!

After May Day

Preparations for the Euro and County elections have taken a lot of time lately, and the Malvern Mayday also took its toll. However, it's great to have a prominent role in establishing a great local event like the Mayday parade and party in the park. We have actually created a folk tradition that could (why not?) endure long after we are in the sod.
Straight after that I plunged into the RHS Spring Gardening Show, where for four days I displayed several Rotaire Drylines and handed out leaflets with instructions on how to measure your airer. The best part of the positive feedback that I received was when ladies would come up to me and shake my hand, saying that they had bought a Dryline last year and it had been brilliant; they loved it and wanted to thank me personally! You can't buy that sort of satisfaction.
Anyway, that excuses the lamentable lack of entries to the blog. I now intend to display the Dryline at more shows this summer, as it is the most direct route to engaging people. Public awareness is building up nicely, and I still get a lot of referrals from the Chris Evans Show last year - amazing how important national media is.