Understanding Twitter

For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to understand the importance of Twitter in running my own business, and while the results are still to come, some things have become obvious.

I read an article (and even tweeted about it) last week that talked about tweeting as "building relationships and building business". It talked about how you can not just tweet "10% off" or "this months special" but how tweeting is just like dealing with people in the real world. Sure you talk business, but you also talk about the nature of your business, tips and tricks and even your personal interests

So by building relationships on twitter, by replying to tweets, by re-tweeting and by tweeting myself, I do see my number of followers slowly increasing. Where these new followers come from I'm not sure but I definitely can see it more clearly as building relationships. For example, I replied to a tweet from some magazine, and actually got an @mention thanking me for a great comment (building a relationship). Well now my name is spread out to an even bigger audience, so maybe someone else agrees about what a great comment that is and decides to visit my twitter page and likes what I'm sending out in the form of tweets, then suddenly I've got a new follower.

Now I try to keep the business end, specials or announcements, to a minimum, but it's obvious I'm a graphic designer for print and web, but maybe, just maybe one of these new followers will need me someday, and that's when the time spent on tweeting and building relationships pay off. Additionally with the more followers I have, the better the chance one of them is going to say "I need a web designer" and there I am, waiting to serve them. This is of course all speculation at the moment, but I think it has some merit and as I continue this experiment, time will tell.

Secondly what I like about twitter is following people, I like reading about Apple news, I like reading about the automotive industry news, Sharks hockey news and local news, so I make sure these are the people and companies I follow. So now instead of having to go hit up different sites for all of this information, it is all sent to me on my computer or on my iPhone. I get the headlines and if I want to know more, I click the link and read the full story.

So these are my thoughts on twitter, not the strange new technology that was mis-understood, but a friend that can help me in the long run.

Shop truck is officially a rolling chasis

Well I finally made it over a giant hurdle, the camaro clip is done, it's been welded on, and it's square. I have pulled all the front end components and am in the process of rebuilding the front end and front brakes, which after what I've been through on the front clip seems pretty easy.

I'll post some pictures of the completed frame soon. All I can say now is that Daniel did an outstanding job of joining the two pieces together, it looks great, and looks strong. Now we can get back to the business of putting this thing back together again, adding parts, instead of taking parts off.

At Long Last - An Update

Well, since I've last been on, I got married, hence the pause in production. Well, tired of waiting for other people to do my work for me, last Sunday I finally went back down to Turlock to work on Mator. So first thing I did, cut off the front of the Ford frame, then Frank and I spent most of the day measuring, checking our measures and cutting. While we're not there yet, it should be just one more day then we'll be ready to weld the Camaro clip onto the truck. So far I must say I'm pleased with how it's going. I know there is a lot that can go wrong, and many different ways we can screw this up, but we're taking our time, talking lots of measurements, talking a lot about what we want to do, then proceeding. Hopefully next week I'll feel as confident about the whole procedure.

My Kingdom for some wheels!

So with the new Camaro clip, I needed to locate some Chevy rims to fit on the front end. My first thought was that I would just run down to Pick N Pull and find some, but before I could go down there, I told my brother, some friends and my soon to be father-in-law. Well my father-in-law says he has a set of 4 Chevy rims in his garage that he would love to give to me, the only problem was he wouldn't be down for two weeks. Well, I'll wait for two weeks for some free rims I figure.

Well two weeks goes by and he drops the rims off last Wednesday, I'm as happy as a clam, I'll get to get some real work done this weekend. The first thing I wanted to do was take two of the rims with the worse tires down to the used tire place to have them replaced with tires the size I want (215/75-15) for the front. So on Thursday I run them out to Riverbank and talk to the owner, and he says he knows he has one tire in the size I'm looking for, but if I come back in the afternoon, he's sure the can find a second one.

So later in the afternoon I drive back out to Riverbank and find the owner, and he of course didn't have time to look, but he would do it right then, so he disappears for about 10 minutes, then comes back with more bad luck, he doesn't have another tire in my size, but then looking at the rim, he says, "you know those are Chevy truck rims, right?" What? So he measures the rim and sure enough, it's a 5 on 5.5", Chevy truck!

Dang it! Now I four wheels in my backyard that I have no use for, plus I still need two wheels for that Camaro front end. BTW, Chevy car is 5 on 4.75". So I ask the guy and he says he can look around, give him a call tomorrow (Friday). Well Friday shows up and I end up having a couple of free hours so I drive down to Turlock, because I've been told of a great used tire place that could help me out. When I get down there and I talk to the guy, he has no steel rims, the city told him to get rid of all his extra's so he through them all out two weeks ago. Dang it! Plus if I did have the rims, he doesn't have the tire size I'm looking for anyways. So hmmmm...

I decide I'll go to a junk yard and see if they have some rims. Once there I tell the guy I want some plain stock steel rims that'll fit a '77 Camaro. "Camaro?" he says, "No, I don't have anything like that" and I tell him it doesn't have to come from a Camaro, just need to fit a Camaro, so without looking or doing a thing he decides he has NOTHING in his yard that will work for me. So I go to another junk yard, and I get the same response. I figure that they are just being lazy because they won't get enough money to spend their time finding the rims I want.

So I head back up to Riverbank to see if the first guy had any luck and no, no luck there either. So time is ticking away, I have other things I need to do, so I decide I'll run over to Pick N Pull real quick and see what they have... And sure enough, a '78 Monte Carlo with 15" steel rims AND 215/75-15 tires on them. $30 for both. Should have gone there before I talked to anyone I guess.

Shop Truck Update, #5

So this past weekend I blocked up the frame of the '57 Ford to my desired ride height and threw the sheet metal on to see if I'd be happy with the height. Oh yeah, I'm happy now. I've blocked up the rear tires and then I'll pull the sheetmetal off and mark up all of the important locations currently, front cab mounts, axle center line, radiator supports locations and other various spots so that when I start mocking up the Camaro front clip, I'll know where everything needs to line-up. Talking to people it sounds like the front axle is just more of an eyeball adjustment. It seems when lowering these trucks, the front wheel will look as if it sits back in the wheel well because of the angled rear in the opening. So after all is said and done, I'll probably be stretching the wheelbase by 1-2". Good to know.

Let's see, I also picked up a 351w from a guy in Turlock. The motor ran when he pulled it, but it has been sitting for a couple of years. As long as I can get a year or two out of it, I'll be happy. After I get the truck on the road, I'll start collecting parts for its rebuild, but would rather not get hit by all of it at this time.

Shop Truck Update, #4

OK, I got the Camaro clip and cleaned it up yesterday. Looks be be in fairly good shape for have been sitting outside for the last couple of years. It's from a '77 Camaro and has disc brakes up front and a beefy looking anti-sway bar. I still need to talk to some people about installing it, I'm really looking for it to sit a certain way so we'll have to really figure out how it should be installed. More to come...

Shop Truck Update, #3

Talked to Tim last night, a guy I met last Fall at the Autumn Swap Meet, and nothing is in stone yet, but it looks like I may be doing a trade, my drop axle and springs for a Camaro clip. This is very exciting news since I didn't get the stance I wanted with the axle, the Camaro clip will give it to me, as well as independent front suspension, disc brakes and power steering. A few months ago I met a guy named Dennis and he had done the Camaro clip and loves it, his truck has the perfect stance and he says it drives like a new truck. The truck I posted yesterday, the '58 has a Camaro clip as well, with the perfect stance.

So I guess I'm hoping for the best, I should know more this afternoon.javascript:void(0)