- TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

Re: [TheThinkTank] sales out of control.
by Bruce Lien 22 Jan '09

22 Jan '09

The problem with this sell,sell,sell approach is that it can put you in clear "competition" with bike shops. We want/must be friendly with the local bike shops. Additionally, unless you have a large account with the wholesalers, your account will be shut down. (I know, mine was under this sell philosphy.) --- On Tue, 1/20/09, BovineOaks(a)aol.com <BovineOaks(a)aol.com> wrote: From: BovineOaks(a)aol.com <BovineOaks(a)aol.com> Subject: [TheThinkTank] sales out of control. To: thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 4:45 PM Mechanics will fight this note tooth and nail. They do not believe that the knowledge they have earned makes them worthy of professional benefits. Sell sell sell if you are afraid of selling hire a sales person, Sell bikes, sell classes, sell parts, so you can afford rent, healthcare, salaries, and afford to give back to the community more than you take from it. You are not in business to get broke, you are there to give the community a resource. Earning a Bike is different than undervaluing your bike building/ repair services. If someone is give you their time you can give them a discount on your professional services. Sell your service for top dollar, give back to your volunteers and pay your employees. YOU ARE IN BUSINESS Non for Profit is not a go broke fast scheme. If you are broke all the time how can you give to the community when you are sick or injured? How can you afford to get the tools or the training you need for your staff? How can you afford to take your youth or adults on events or programs outside the shop? You are Worth a lot, charge for it, respect those that volunteer and promote volunteerism for its discounts if you feel the need to give away cheap bikes. SELL SELL SELL you are worth it. Christopher Wallace Chicago P.S. I love selling classes, it is a great way to find inspired volunteers. Adult students can become Mechanics, educators, promoters, lawyers, mentors, shippers, government liaisons, and more than you can even dream of. SELL Classes Inauguration '09: Get complete coverage from the nation's capital. -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave(a)bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.…

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sales out of control.
by BovineOaks＠aol.com 21 Jan '09

21 Jan '09

Mechanics will fight this note tooth and nail. They do not believe that the knowledge they have earned makes them worthy of professional benefits. Sell sell sell if you are afraid of selling hire a sales person, Sell bikes, sell classes, sell parts, so you can afford rent, healthcare, salaries, and afford to give back to the community more than you take from it. You are not in business to get broke, you are there to give the community a resource. Earning a Bike is different than undervaluing your bike building/ repair services. If someone is give you their time you can give them a discount on your professional services. Sell your service for top dollar, give back to your volunteers and pay your employees. YOU ARE IN BUSINESS Non for Profit is not a go broke fast scheme. If you are broke all the time how can you give to the community when you are sick or injured? How can you afford to get the tools or the training you need for your staff? How can you afford to take your youth or adults on events or programs outside the shop? You are Worth a lot, charge for it, respect those that volunteer and promote volunteerism for its discounts if you feel the need to give away cheap bikes. SELL SELL SELL you are worth it. Christopher Wallace Chicago P.S. I love selling classes, it is a great way to find inspired volunteers. Adult students can become Mechanics, educators, promoters, lawyers, mentors, shippers, government liaisons, and more than you can even dream of. SELL Classes **************Inauguration '09: Get complete coverage from the nation's capital. (http://news.aol.com/main/politics/inauguration?ncid=emlcntusnews00000003)

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What to do about kids' bikes
by Carl Voss 20 Jan '09

20 Jan '09

Here in chilly Iowa, we're nine months into our first year of operating the Des Moines Bicycle Collective. It seems that every time we turn around, we're tripping over another stack of heavy, Magna-quality kids' bikes (12 and 16" wheels; some 24"). Most are in such pathetic shape (neglect or abuse) that the scrap yard appears to be the only solution. Our board can't seem to reach consensus on the best way to get our arms around this and still be the good guys that keep bikes out of the land fill. I'm confident several of you will offer some first-hand solutions so we can be more productive. *It seems a shame to waste volunteer time stripping the bikes of rubber so we can take them to the scrapyard. We got $10 for our last truckload of 20 bikes. *It doesn't make sense to spend much effort tuning up a kids' bike for a $10 used sale when Walmart sells a new bike for $25-$30. *Some of us are of the mind that any decent kids' bike should be given away through Boys and Girls Clubs or similar. We currently aren't suggesting a donation to drop off any bike (youth or adult), although that may change soon if we can get a policy passed for a $10 suggested donation. Carl carlvoss(a)mac.com Mobile: 515-210-0237

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You're Invited!
by Jonathan Morrison 20 Jan '09

20 Jan '09

Jonathan Morrison has sent you an invitation to 'Volunteer Bike Mechanics' -- click here to view the invitation and submit your response: http://www.usaservice.org/page/event/detail/4vzt4 --- For more information visit: http://www.slcbikecollective.org/

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Compiling a best practices survey...
by Cycles of Change APC 19 Jan '09

19 Jan '09

Hi all,My name is Barry and I'm the site director for a non-profit bike shop in the city of Alameda in the San Francisco Bay Area. We operate a full service recycled community bike shop that is just over 2.5 years old. I was wondering if you would be willing to contribute some info about your org around strategic development that we can use, and that can be shared by all users of this e-group. Thanks, to Bikes not Bombs for the suggestion to post here! If you can answer any or all of them, that'd be great. And if you have any questions, feel free to email me/us directly at bikeshop(a)apcollaborative.org Take care in these crazy times, Barry www.myspace.com/cyclesapc Here's the questions... > What has been your biggest challenge? > How did you develop a long-term plan? > What do you believe are some of your best practices? > What is your mission statement? > What services do you offer? > What are your plans for growth? > What are your current / prior threats and how did you address them? > How do you balance revenue generation versus services provided? > What are your most successful hours? When are your biggest sales? > What / who is your core market? Where are the best prospects for focusing > growth? > What are your staffing levels? What is your overall budget and staffing > budget? > What was your history of growth (financially and staffing wise) > What was the "critical mass" to become successful? > Do you consider yourself successful? How do you define the success of > your shop? > How do you see the growth of the industry? Where are the biggest > opportunities? > Are you situated to take advantage of these opportunities? > What is your commitment to community involvement? > How much funding is from sales vs other sources and how does that affect > your shop? -- Cycles of Change APC (510) 898-7830 www.apcollaborative.org/cycles.htm www.myspace.com/cyclesapc

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Bike sales out of control.
by an undercover cop 19 Jan '09

19 Jan '09

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 i don't really have a solution for you, other than to shut down sales or limit them to very specific hours. do just enough to meet your needs. if you sell out, you sell out, and so be it. whatever you do, don't get sucked into selling for sales' sake. working bikes in chicago is just now recovering (afaik) from a bunch of years of being overwhelmed by the demand for their bikes. i remember the shop opening at noon and being empty by 2.30 pm. - -ben > On Jan 19, 2009, at 12:08 AM, Patrick VDT wrote: > >> So we have an interesting problem. >> We have become so engrossed with raising money that 95% of our time >> is spent selling off what was donated to us. >> We are seriously putting in 100 hours a week building and selling >> but only 2-4 hours on programs. >> >> Im so fed up with it im going to start giving away all the bikes >> that would have been sold to other charities in town. >> >> Money is not an issue for a at least two years. . . . >> >> Ideas >> >> Please help, we are turning into a real shop that sells only to >> college students with $100 shoes. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkl0Dx4ACgkQSfGaTCxqHXEf2wCdH1LdxrqGlsMqsswVOzl3ardA OnIAn0x5NjdJ+X2WgRipjp8J4BwWBL4z =Zexm -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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A good bike for maintenance classes
by Carl Voss 19 Jan '09

19 Jan '09

We're just about to roll out a 4-part series of bike mechanic classes (two-hour sessions). Do any of you offer a general bike repair book as part of the fee or have a recommended bike repair book that you stock? Suggested soft cover bikes include *Anybody's Bike Book (updated version that includes indexed shifters) *Bicycling magazine's Complete Guide to Bicycle Maintenance and Repair *Park Tool School student manual (140+ pages, spiral bound) Carl carlvoss(a)mac.com Mobile: 515-210-0237

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Exploded Diagrams
by Genevieve Luikart 18 Jan '09

18 Jan '09

Greetings! Bike Saviours in AZ is looking for any good renderings you have of exploded bicycle part diagrams. We've been looking in books on our own, but we figure that many of you have already done the work for us, and if your willing to share, we could help pass on some great information. We're most interested in jpgs and or tiff files that you already have access to, and can either send or link to. Thanks for your time, Genevieve Luikart

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Thethinktank Digest, Vol 29, Issue 13
by Clifford McCarten 18 Jan '09

18 Jan '09

This is a great topic, one that we could definitely use advice on. Our shop (like many are, I'm sure) is in a fairly rough section of town. High density, low-income housing=lots of deadbeat parents = lots of surly kids with nothing to do. The kids end up coming down and hanging out, sometimes working on their bikes, sometimes "volunteering"; but more often than not creating... challenges... for the actual volunteers. The other factor is the arrangement of our shop. We're in a 2000 square foot church basement, with only about 1/4 of it taken up with workstations & bike storage. The rest is a wide-open concrete floor - a dreamland for rambunctious kids who run down and grab bikes, covering the floor with skid marks & crashing into things. As a result, our policies undergo trial-by-fire tests & revisions very quickly. Since this is our first year of being formally established, we're still working out how the shop can be a productive space for the kids _without_ it being overrun/taken advantage of/creating unsafe conditions. Some things we've faced: Issue: Kids working on bikes that aren't remotely safe (i.e., they've come in to patch a flat on a majorly dented aluminum frame mountain bike with its brakes _removed_) Resolution: No bikes are allowed to leave the shop until they are safe, even if it means taking a hit on the shop's end to equip them with brakes. Issue: Kids arriving @ the shop who are much too young (10 and under) to care about (or able to torque!) the mechanics of their bike. (i.e., they just want to ride something) Resolution: This is tough -- we don't want to demand that they have a parent/guardian present to come to the shop because, if actually enforced in this neighbourhood, we would never see _any_ of these kids. Most of the time our mechanics are busy helping members & not able to drop everything to supervise, step-by-step, a kid working on overhauling a BB or something. We've suggested that they come with an older sibling or something, but this is still an unsatisfactory situation. The best thing we've been able to come up with is getting the kid (everyone under 16) to have their parent sign the waiver that we get all members to sign. This at least lets the parent know that the kid is out there, and then we (hypothetically) have their phone number for when/if the kid steals tools... Issue: Kids offering to "volunteer"; but really just cause havoc. This was a difficult situation with one kid in particular. He has a good heart & a not-good home life, so he wanted to hang out at the shop and "work" for us. Problem was that he was relentlessly attention seeking (see home life), and wouldn't pay attention or follow through on any tasks we tried to give him. He was really disruptive when new members came down. We had numerous chats with him, but ultimately nothing changed. Eventually I had to come down hard and ask him to leave. Resolution: We've resolved to only allow kids with these kinds of interests to show up _one_ day out of the three that we're open; where they are then allowed to spend time doing some organizational etc tasks we've set up for the day. They are _not_ allowed to work on bikes until they've shown an ongoing commitment to the shop & a legitimate commitment to learning. We also have a "you're only here if you're gonna volunteer" rule; where, if there's nothing to do, they can't just hang out (because this inevitably leads to grabbing random bikes and crashing them into walls/bikes/members etc. ...The big workshop is a blessing & a curse). Issue: Kids stealing & wrecking tools Resolution: Any expensive tools or delicate repairs (i.e., chainbreaks) are ALWAYS used under supervision. We are generally aware of who was using tool X the day it went missing; so we can use the waiver form phone numbers to get them back. Our wednesday nights are a sort of free-for-all, where non-members & kids can come down for free to work on their bikes. This gives us some leverage when we're talking to surly/klepto youth -- I say something like "why bother stealing the tool when you know you can always come down for free on wednesdays? It'll always be here!" Not a comprehensive list, and I really look forward to seeing what others have come up with! Cheers, Clifford McCarten Director, B!ke: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop 400 Wolfe St Peterborough, Ontario (705) 745-2103 http://www.communitybikeshop.org On 16-Jan-09, at 4:09 PM, thethinktank-request(a)bikecollectives.org wrote: > Send Thethinktank mailing list submissions to > thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.… > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > thethinktank-request(a)bikecollectives.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > thethinktank-owner(a)bikecollectives.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Thethinktank digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. your org's policy on working with kids? (veganboyjosh(a)gmail.com) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:22:30 -0700 > From: veganboyjosh(a)gmail.com > Subject: [TheThinkTank] your org's policy on working with kids? > To: The Think Tank <thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org> > Message-ID: > <53e5a1720901152122w1c040b10xcb8e9c8ccc958960(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > we're hard at work on Community Cycles' shop manual, and we're > wondering if > any of you have any formal policies for shop volunteers and/or staff > that > you'd feel like sharing. i'm imagining something to the effect of > "at least > two staff must be present when kids are around..." or something like > that. > > on a somewhat related note, have any of you had any experience with > someone--staff, volunteer, customer, etc--being inappropriate around > kids, > (aside from normal bad language..) that you had to deal with a > parent for? > i'd be interested in hearing about that experience... > > thanks! > > josh. >

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bike talk today--hacked! alternate site
by bike talk 17 Jan '09

17 Jan '09

Hi, if you want to listen today, go to www.killradio.org:8000--we're working on it. we have tandem, Ron Milam, Liz of C.I.C.L.E., Christian of Torelli bikes, and a Jim C interview. listen. -- please let me know if you want to be taken off this list. See Bike Talk! on kpfk: http://www.kpfk.org/programs/170-bike-talk.html

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