How The Stampede Went

 In so many ways it was a smashing success, but I lost money.  It's a lot harder to sell hula hoops to cowboys than I thought it would be.  Go figure!  

For ten days I worked from sunup till sundown setting up my shop, teaching free workshops and giving lessons to anyone willing to give it a try.  This was incredibly good for my leadership, sales, and entrepreneurial skills.  I put my whole heart into the project and even when I knew I wasn't going to break even, I didn't let that drain my enthusiasm for promoting the geometric revolution.  It stopped being about money for me.  If paid in smiles I became a millionaire that week.  

So many people are afraid to try something new, especially with strangers watching.  I made it my mission to change as many minds as possible as I interacted with passers by.  "Oh, I could never do that" turned into amazed laughter and smiles as I helped people understand again and again that you can do anything, if you let yourself try.  What other people think doesn't matter.  In fact, your willingness to attempt something that might be uncomfortable has a ripple effect on others in a crowd.  You never know who you might be inspiring with your bravery. 

At times I had thirty people hula hooping in the street, with hundreds of people watching.  There was applause when someone I was coaching picked up waist hooping or another trick.  Parents were grateful for the free activities their children enjoyed.  I gave away a few hoops to children who were obsessed but whose parents wouldn't buy them one, due to financial inability or ignorance of value.

 I'll never forget the two siblings whose parents brought them by every day of the Stampede to get a free lesson from me, promising to purchase some hoops on their payday.  When those kids got to pick out their beautiful new hoops, their gratitude was beautiful to behold.  Another little girl came by with her parents for a free lesson.  She had only one leg.  We taught that little one legged girl how to hula hoop and there wasn't a dry eye on the street.  Moments like these are priceless.

I moved to Calgary after the Stampede was over.  I did sell almost two thousand dollars worth of hoops in ten days, so I know there is a market for them here in this vibrant and large city.  If the cost to rent my official Stampede tent hadn't been two grand, I would have made a profit.  On one of the days, I tried street vending without the tent at a different location and made just as many sales.  I could not have known in advance that street vending with no fee is feasible.  I thought maybe the cops would get me in trouble.  The Stampede however is such a large and alcohol-fueled event that the police were quite occupied with real crimes. 

Since the Stampede I have gained some recognition for my educational work and made important contacts to further my career as a hoop maker and teacher.    Calgary is a wonderful city full of opportunities, and I am happy to have completed this event as an official vendor and learned so much.  

Day 60

My signs are printed!!!

When I got back from my last event and only had 178 hoops, I panicked.  I procrastinated on updating this blog.  I realized fairly early into June that I was not going to be able to maintain the frenetic hoop making pace I displayed in May.  There were various factors, the most significant being the cost of the supplies.  So I made as many as I could.  I forgave myself for not meeting my goal of 400.  I am leaving tomorrow with 250 completed hoops and that's enough, that's my best.  If I had set my goal for 200, I would have smoked it!  

I just finished collapsing and packing about 200 of the hoops and that took all night.  I intend to continue making hoops at the Stampede if it looks like I'm going to sell out.  This is going to be an epic ten days of working the Geometric Revolution!  One thing I can say is that I have been hooping a TON to get ready for public demonstrations!  I'm looking forward to seeing my amazing Calgary friends who really pulled through for me - Nikki, Jaz and Geoff I am so grateful for your help.

 I am also linking the people who buy my beginner's hoops to a local Calgary instructor, Kelly Janes.

 

250/400

Day 35

Some of my favorite new hoops in the sun <3

I'm getting ready to go vend the hoops at the Invermere Valley Entrepreneurs Fair.   Invermere is about twice as big as Golden, and an hour and a half away.  It's also close to my favorite place of all time, White Swan Hot Springs, so after the fair I'm going solo camping with my dogs.  

I'm way behind on the hoop quota.  It took some time to get all my supplies together.  I'm playing catch up now!  I'm taking the whole hoop making shop on the road with me and hope to get some finished hoops taped while I'm camping.  We'll see :P  

 

Jack is ready to go!

202/400

Day 27

This is what a month's worth of rent looks like, in hula hoop tape!

I am fast approaching the end of the month, and not too far behind!  I'm feeling a lot more confident that I can do this high production now that I'm halfway through, and have this epic box of tape to create beautiful hoops from.  My hands are feeling strong and I am now used to making hoops every single day. I am listening to linguistics lectures and the same five songs on repeat.  

This is what my house looked like when I was sorting and counting them yesterday.  My dog was like "there's nowhere to sit".  

I got them all contained, though!  

175/400

Day 22

Wow!   I went to the farm party in Cherryville (4 hours away) last weekend and did a dry run on my hoop vending.  It was so much fun!  I had my best friend Becky Paynter with me to help demo the hoops.  She learned how to chest hoop while we were doing that!  Seeing somebody go from "I can't do that" to "omg I'm doing it" never gets old.  It is one of the most uplifting things I witness on a regular basis, and why I do what I do. 

I did my kid's class last Friday before leaving town, and got my first ever adult to try the free lesson!  There were six kids at my class and I sold hoops to two of them (thanks, parents)!  so it was just the boost I needed to get me to Cherryville.  I have been extremely broke, spending all my money on tape and tubing.

At Cherryville, there was a much larger market down the road this year which lured most of the customers away.  I think there were only about 50 people shopping throughout the morning.  So the fact that I managed to sell 8 hoops was actually pretty good.  If I can keep that high of a percentage going at the Stampede, I will sell out really quick!  I would have liked to have sold 20 hoops but I won't get discouraged.  By the time I was done trading with the other vendors and giving a few away as gifts and donating one to charity, I am way behind on my quota now so it's probably a good thing.  I have also taken three whole days off from making hoops on account of not having enough money and also, having too much fun in the sun and not wanting to work while I'm camping. The hoops paid for my entire weekend, all the gas and food and associated costs so I will be grateful and happy with that.  Plus it was really neat to identify where certain people were camped in the morning, based on the hoops I sold/traded them being among their outdoor possessions!

I am really stoked about having this frame to display the hoops on.  What a great way to repurpose this piece of equipment.  I'm going to cover it in hoop tape. 

130/400

Day 11

I woke up the other day and instead of getting right to the hoop making I went for a good hooping session myself.  I reason that it is important to make time for my hooping and maintain my relationship with it, lest I forget why I'm putting myself through this rigorous hoop making schedule.  It's for spreading the revolution of circles, introducing new people to the hoop, and supporting existing hoopers. 

I did some budgeting and after buying the tape, I have enough money left over to purchase food for my dogs - and that's it.  I don't have any more money to feed myself or pay my phone bill or, more importantly, buy more tubing to keep the project rolling forwards. That money will have to come from hoop sales.  I have to sell more hoops.  I am also out of push buttons and have been making non collapsible hoops. I slowed my hoop making pace to 5 per day for a couple days, to conserve supplies and money.  It also felt really good, a much needed break for my hands. 


Anyway I took that little prismatic hoop to the park, where I ran into my new friend Shelby.  Shelby was the recipient of one of the original GeoRev website hoops, because her boyfriend Matty modeled mini hoops for me and I paid all the models with hoops.  She had that original 30" color shifting polypro with her, as well as a slackline, which she is really good at walking on.  I tried slacklining for the first time, briefly.  I enjoyed playing with both of the hoops more.  It was actually a really good session.  And it was Shelby's birthday, so I gifted her that prismatic hoop.  I can always make another one.  Besides, I'm crushing on the rainbow hoops I have been making now. 

I broke a hundred hoops today!  Not bad for 11 days work.  My average is 9.2 per day, even with the low count days :) 

102/400

Day Seven

I'm thinking of keeping this 32" prismatic deco hoop for myself!

The stack is growing, but today was tough!  Having a non-negotiable daily quota of 6-8 hoops is definitely a challenge.  When I woke up (late) my hands were aching.  The ability to tape a hoop smoothly comes with a price on the body when exercised excessively.  I would be wise to spread my hoop making out over the whole year instead of two months.  ;/  

With all the other requirements of life - food needs to be shopped for, and made!  The dogs need a walk!  The dishes need doing!  The garbage must be taken out!  The lawn needs to be mowed!  There's laundry to do!  The battery in my truck is dead and I need a jump!  I used to have a social life! - it's no wonder I didn't get any of the hoops made before work today.  I taped all 8 of them during my shift again, but I shouldn't keep doing that. I've been rushing through the five or six hours of work they want me to do in a frenzied few hours and spend the rest of the night taping hoops and listening to podcasts.  If I get fired before the end of June I will have to go waitress on the highway and I would rather apply a cheese grater to my elbow, with tension.  

So that's where I'm at with the GeoRev Project today.  I want a day off from production but I'm only a week into this and don't think I deserve one until I can complete double my quota: 16-20 hoops in a day.  The thought of what that might do to my hands is a bit scary.  I will work through the fear and have faith that my hands will get stronger.  Thankfully I am still very much enjoying the satisfaction of making a beautiful new hoop for someone I don't know yet to dance with.  That's what's keeping me going, dear reader.  That and the abject terror of failure. 

76/400

Day Five

I just finished my shift at my night auditing job.  I decided to take this job after the ski hill closed because it's the only kind of job where you might be able to make a few hula hoops while getting paid.  I constructed 40 collapsible hoops before work which took about 4 hours.  I was lucky I found the time at work tonight to tape all 8 of my daily hoops, or I would have been behind. 

I am not behind yet, though!  Pushing as hard as I can, creating hoops like a one woman factory, I have completed a staggering 60 hoops in five days!  My personal best is 15 hoops in a day.  Yep, that's how I spent my days off, plying my trade, creating these beautiful circles.  Perfect. 

I like to listen to audiobooks sometimes, while I tape the hoops.  So far I have listened to a 25 hour history lecture on the French Revolution, The Year 1000 (which is so, so good, I can't believe I haven't heard it before this), and I'm currently listening to The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. 

60/400

Off to a Strong Start

I just finished my second day in a row of kicking ass on this hoop making.  I have to make an average of six per day every single day for the next sixty days to produce 400 hoops.  (It used to be 500, but I lowered the bar in a panic.  500 is 8 per day)!  Yesterday I made ten, and today I made eleven!  I'm trying to get ahead of the game.  I'm going to feel so good if I can meet or exceed my goal!

It's hard, there's no denying that.  My hands hurt. My entire back is aching and I cut myself twice.  I'm pretty happy with the way it feels, though.  I found myself falling into a natural rhythm of breathing with the taping.  It can be very meditative, and a form of color therapy, to make ten hoops in a row. 

Plus, it takes a hundred foot roll of tubing to make ten hoops, and those cost $30-$35.  So just about every day I gotta go buy one of these things.  That's the most stressful part, coming up with that money.  The tubing is a daily expense and pretty soon here I'm going to have to drop $$$ on tape and that will likely happen several times over the next sixty days.  It's scary.  Originally I wanted to quit my job at the end of May but now I think I will have to work into June to be able to afford supplies. 
I'm feeling pretty good though, after two days of this new lifestyle where I make as many hoops per day as I can.  Tomorrow I'm going to buy two hundred foot rolls and see if I can make more than 11.  :D

There were only two kids at my class today.  I will have to market that more heavily this week.  I did however sell a beginner adult hoop.  I also got an order for two more hoops so that will help with the tubing purchasing.  Keep this train going! 

I have been enjoying making so many different color combinations.   With as many tapes as I have, the number of ways I can combine them is almost infinite!  I have been playing with new patterns that aren't strictly tape or time efficient but they sure are pretty.  The feeling of finishing a hoop, and seeing the beautiful circle, so flashy and colorful, is a wonderful feeling.  I play with each one before adding it to the stack!

26/400

The GeoRev Project - You Can Achieve Anything You Want in Life, and I'm Actually Going To

JAN 30, 2015

Besides starting my own company and being amongst only a handful of entrepreneurs providing polypro hoops to people in Canada, my involvement with the Snow King Festival has escalated and I will now be directing The A Muse Troupe in a 9 LED hoop alien themed performance!  I am trying to hoop as much as I can in my fourth year to gain skill not only for my smart hoop solo in February's performance but directly after as I will be going to Costa Rica for two weeks to intensively study hoopdance at Envision festival (self guided program.) When I get back, I am gearing up to take my company on the road for the summer! 

I have had so many wonderful and amazing discoveries since I started hooping.  The rate of acceleration in my life seems to be increasing exponentially, especially since the spiritual awakening I experienced 13 months ago and which of course, hoops led me to. Simply put, CIRCLE WORSHIP.  I am discovering my life purpose as I continue upward on the spiral of truth and knowledge.  Part of it is learning that you can indeed shape reality using the sacred knowledge of geometry and quantum physics. 

I named my company GEOMETRIC REVOLUTION because it is my duty to go to places with lots of foot traffic and try to connect with as many people as I can about hoops.  It requires me to put myself out there.  It's scary.  I will be street vending my awesome fully collapsible push button beginner and kids hoops as well as busking to earn an income this summer.  I live in a tiny remote town in BC (Golden) and there is such limited income opportunity here.  My heart tells me if I work really hard and give it my best, my idea could work. 

I have already invested thousands of hard earned dollars into my supplies and the website.  Now it's time to make our revolution happen, and get hundreds more and eventually thousands of beginner hoops into the hands of the general Canadian public.  I will have to travel and sometimes camp.  I will go to places like Banff, Calgary, East Van, and Seattle, where I have connections.  I will have all kinds of affordable hoops for sale and I will show people what hooping is all about by passionately performing for them.  Good signs that say things like "Anybody can hoop - you just need a bigger hoop!" and "No storefront means no markup!" "Free lesson with the purchase of a hoop"!  and such.  I will have a goal to push the revolution from sunup till sundown each time I go to a new place.  All I need is the courage to go where the people are and sell myself and these amazing products.  I have also of course been applying to be an official vendor at all kinds of awesome events like the Calgary Stampede.  Vending successfully at the local Christmas Craft Fair + seeing people street vending in East Van is what gave me this idea.  Yep: my ideal career is passionately selling hula hoops to anyone who shows the slightest bit of interest in what I'm doing.  :D I've saturated the market in Golden and it's time to bring hooping to the people. 

I want there to be another hoop craze like it's 1959, with two or three in every household!  Are you with me?!  

Launch Day

The GeoRev Project is my launch.  It is my attempt to face my fears and work hard to achieve my dream.  My dream is to not only help people get into hooping and support hoopers, but to break the chains binding me to the service industry in the small town I call home.  To prove to myself that we do create our individual realities, and hopefully inspire others to get where they want to be.

There is very little economic opportunity in Golden.  Although I am college educated I have only managed to earn a living wage here by waitressing or doing manual labor.   Neither one of these occupations satisfy my desire to live the kind of life I want to live, although I do enjoy interacting with people and working with my hands. 

Almost one year ago I followed my heart when it told me to pursue my hoop making in a professional capacity, and Geometric Revolution Hooping was born.  It took about four months of saving to gather the resources to invest in the supplies and build the website. I have made many sales by using the website as a reference when I meet people in real life, and am working hard to put georevhooping.com on the map.  I aim to be the #1 resource for hoop purchases in Canada, in due time.  It will take years of consistent work to be able to attract you online Canadian hoop purchasers. 

I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done.  Number one will always be the promotion of hula hooping for fun, dance and fitness.  I will do this in my day to day life, by hooping in public, giving free lessons, and vending the hoops at every opportunity.  I will do this in my online life by building my hoop blog, until it is a valuable body of knowledge that people all over the world can refer to on a variety of subjects related to hooping.  I must live and breathe hula hoops to make this work.

I was elated to receive my acceptance letter as an official vendor for the Calgary Stampede.  This is a major event where I can easily sell hula hoops, because my vending spot is located on a prime thoroughfare.  For 12 hours a day, 10 days in a row, 1,000 - 10,000 people will walk by my hoop store per hour.  I usually sell one hoop per hour when there are a hundred people walking by.  This represents a heretofore unparalleled opportunity in my ability to reach people and get them started hooping.

Then I got the bill.  The rent is $2,000.  That is so much money!  At first, my heart sank because I thought I would have to back out of the whole deal.   Then I realized - the rent is high because the clientele is plentiful.  $2,000 is not unreasonable if you are selling out.  I realized that if I could make 400 hula hoops, it would be feasible to sell hoops at this event.  A profit would be possible.  IF I can make 400 hoops. I decided that this is a life test and one I must score well on to move up to the next level.  Can I make 400 hoops in a matter of months?

There are a couple things conspiring to hold me back: money and time.  It will cost thousands of dollars to purchase the supplies to make that many hoops.  It will take hundreds of hours of labor.  I just had a major surgery in April and have started a new full time job as a night auditor so it has been a slow beginning.  Money has been tight but I have managed to get a good start on acquiring the supplies.  Now it's just a matter of following through, and pushing myself to make this many hoops in such a short time.

Tomorrow is May 1st.  I have exactly 60 days to make the 400 hoops.   So far I have 6 made.  It's not like I haven't been making them.  I have made around 50 in the last two weeks, but I sold them all locally!  The kid's hoop class I have been teaching has sparked a boom in my local sales.  The second week I taught, twenty kids showed up!  It was super hectic and I only collected the $8 from 12 of them, but that was still really good money for 45 minutes of work that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

 This blog is an effort to keep track of my progress and give a report several times a week on where I'm at.  Not only with the 400 hoops, but all my efforts to earn my living from my passion for hooping.  This includes the hooping class I currently teach, performances, and/or busking. 

I will be quitting my job sometime in May or June to focus on vending all these hoops for the rest of the summer.  If all goes well I will be able to rest on what I earn and continue crafting hoops and discovering vending opportunities for the busy holiday season next winter.