Happy Friday Everyone,

Hopefully your weeks have been going well.

Today’s blog is about the Liberty Skate website. We’re gathering ideas on what works with the site, and what does not. My team and I feel as though there’s something lacking with the site, and we’re doing our best to remedy it. Since, for all intents and purposes, we’re making the site for all of you, we thought it would be foolish to weigh these pros and cons without the input from the people who will (hopefully) be visiting it.

So, to that end, we’re interested in your feedback.

We’re open to any and all feedback. What features of our site do you like? It could be something as simple as “that photo of the 8′ half pipe” or as involved as “the  font size and paragraph arrangement in the Giving Back section”. What features of the site do you think needs the most attention?

Also, it would be helpful to get an understanding of what else you like that’s out there on the web. What websites do you really like? Which ones are the “prettiest”? Which ones are the easiest to navigate? Which has the best shopping cart experience? What sites do you visit most often?

We really do value your input. You’ve been tremendously helpful in the past when we’ve asked for things on this blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I’m hoping we can lean on you once again. We’re willing to compensate for this help as well. Feedback will be rewarded with some Liberty Skate stickers, cards, and a coupon code for 15% off any product. Please be sure to include your mailing address.

The best way to provide feedback is to shoot us an email: info@libertyskate.com

We appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Why is it a penny for your thoughts, but you have to put in your two cents? Someone’s making a penny!

Jason

Hey Blogees,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Well – at least a better weekend than a buddy of mine…

Yesterday afternoon, my friend called me up and told me that he got a ticket for skateboarding in his town. Grant it, I’m sure he blatantly ignored the “No Skateboarding” signs posted in the downtown area. But nevertheless, it’s frustrating to get fined for hanging out outside, working on your sport.

He was pretty bummed over the fine, and said “man, if I had a Liberty Skate ramp at my house, I would have been able to avoid this all together”. I wholeheartedly agreed with him.

Now, this guy is in his 20′s, and will quickly get over the fine. I got to thinking, though – a lot of the people that buy our product are much younger. I don’t know about all of you, but when I was, say, 15 years old, if I came home with a fine from the police for skateboarding, my Mother would have killed me. She has always been extremely supportive of everything I’m interested in, but she draws the line when it comes to confrontations with the authorities (I know – she’s out of her mind, right? haha).

Maybe some of you can relate. We’d all rather spend money on ourselves than on fines.

There are two guarantees here. 1) Towns are not going to be lifting the ban on skateboarding anytime soon (especially in the downtown areas), and 2) regardless of the threat of fine, if you’re into skateboarding, you’re going to keep skateboarding. It’s practically an addiction…

So if you’re younger, and you’re trying to get your folks to buy a ramp for the house, try to compel them with the above story. What Mother wouldn’t want to have their child hanging out in the backyard instead of bopping around downtown?

OK – that’s all I have for this morning.

Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while, I was a suspect,

Jason

Hey Blogees,

Just after graduating from college, a buddy of mine was involved in the start-up of a whiteboard paint company, IdeaPaint. You apply it like any other type of paint, but when it dries, it has the same characteristics as a whiteboard. His primary customer’s so far have been businesses and academic institutions, but, as of late, he’s been making a push towards end-user retail sales.

A mutual friend of ours was telling me about some of the success his company has been able to realize, and suggested that I think of a cool way use IdeaPaint with Liberty Skate products.

Personally, I think it’s a really cool idea. We could offer it as an accessory for the ramps. While it probably doesn’t make sense to paint the skate surface, there’s still plenty of other “real estate” left on the ramps (particularly the half pipes) for some whiteboard paint. That section could act as a sign up sheet, scoreboard, wall of fame, quote wall, section for notes… Those are just a few of the ideas that I had, but I thought I’d blog about it to open it up to all of you. Feel free to post a comment here on the blog, message me on Facebook or Twitter, or shoot an email my way: info@libertyskate.com

I think the idea is pretty novel, and I thought other people would like it too. If you think the idea is dumb, I welcome that feedback as well. The goal is to make the best product that all of YOU want.

I look forward to reading your feedback.

I’m not crying… It’s just been raining on my face,
Jason

‘Afternoon,

As I’ve written about in prior blog posts, we’ve worked tirelessly on making sure the product designs and quality are top notch. Of course, this doesn’t come without cost. There are many iterations of trial and error. Once we became satisfied with the result, we needed to create samples so we could take photos for the website. I just took a walk around the shop floor, and we have a number of ramps and grind boxes neatly tucked away in the back corner.

One of the byproducts of R&D is that you’re going to have “extras” leftover. In the above paragraph, I purposely used the word “samples” rather than “demos”. These ramps have never been skated on. Their sole purpose in life was to look pretty for camera.

I made mention of this on Facebook and Twitter earlier this week already. We’d be willing to sell these sample models to someone (significantly discounted) if they were willing to drive to our shop to pick it up themselves (we’re ~35 miles northwest of Philly).

When you order a new ramp from us, they are packaged as kits. Kits are much more compact and easier to ship than the assembled product.

So if you’re looking for great quality, “like new” ramps, at a price – please send along your inquiry to info@libertyskate.com. At that time I’ll be happy to discuss what items are left, and the price.

Some of our samples have already been accounted for. Only remaining: 6′ quarter pipe, 8′ quarter pipe, 4′ grind box, 6′ grind box, and an 8′ grind box.

So please feel free to tell your family and friends. Who knows – the stock of samples may go quickly, so you should probably act fast if you’re considering this deal.

I had a psychic girlfriend, but she left me before we met,
Jason