February 25, 2014 AsktheBuilder Newsletter & Tips
Are you sick of me in your inbox yet?
I hope not.
This is going to be a regular newsletter, although a little short.
Let me know how you like this change-up.
Baseball is right around the corner. 🙂
A True Story
About fifteen months ago, the Chicago advertising and public-relations firm, Walt Denny Inc., sent me an insertion order. An insertion order is a fancy name for buying advertising on a website or electronic publication.
The order was for me to help build brand and product awareness among my valuable subscribers - that's you - for one of their clients, L.E. Johnson Products, Inc.
If you're a seasoned subscriber of mine, you know several things about L.E. Johnson:
- I've used their exceptional products for over 35 years
- They make, in my opinion, the BEST hanging and suspension hardware on the planet for: (click each link to see)
- Their factory in Elkhart, Indiana is what Made in the USA is all about
I've worked for years with Walt and Mary Lou Denny. The Walt Denny agency is a top-notch firm that specializes in building products.
I asked Walt and Mary Lou if I could be creative with respect to how I introduced you to L. E. Johnson and they said, "Yes, just don't do anything illegal and don't buy the clicks."
L. E. Johnson wanted you coming to their site, not some stranger from the Internet. The folks at L. E. Johnson knew that you, as my subscriber, were a valued future customer.
When I got the insertion order, I had no idea what I was going to do to get you to their site. But a little over a year ago, I decided to play a fun game of Where's Waldo.
That's what last year's Pocket Door Contest was all about. I gave you a small tiny image and you had to go find the page at the L. E. Johnson site where the BIG photograph was.
What happened along the way?
Within 24 hours of the game starting, I discovered you were having a blast.
You might have been one of the countless subscribers emailing me messages like, "Tim, I had NO IDEA so many cool pocket doors were out there." Or maybe you said, "Holy Moly, I found the EXACT door I need for my cramped bathroom!"
Last year's contest was the inspiration for this year's expanded Treasure Hunt. I decided I wanted to share with you as many of the products I love and use at my own home. I want you to be exposed to the remarkable products I know work and work well.
For the past week, I've received over 1,000 emails, yours could be one, that said:
- "I get to learn about new products with minimal effort :-)"
- "It's a FUN way to learn about products and meet new vendors!"
- "It is introducing me to companies I hadn't heard of before."
- etc. etc. etc.
I'm telling you this story for a reason.
If you're NOT participating in my Treasure Hunt this year, you're missing out on:
- the company that supplied me my stunning new fiberglass mahogany front door
- the company that makes amazing German-engineered power tools and accessories
- the company that makes durable concrete and asphalt patching materials I've used for over 40 years
- the company that makes easy-to-use epoxy repair products that work well
- and much much more
Moral of the Story:
If you ignore my Treasure Hunt, you're depriving yourself of great products that could save you THOUSANDS of dollars.
Play Day One of the Treasure Hunt
Play Day Two of the Treasure Hunt
CordLatch Product Review
Have you ever strung together a long line of curse words when your power tool, lawn tool or ??? unplugged from an extension cord?
http://test.askthebuilder.com/
You'll NEVER have that happen again if you use CordLatch.
Behr Paint Tour
Two weeks ago, I was in sunny southern California at the Behr Paint Corporate headquarters in Santa Ana, CA. It was an eye-opening experience to put it mildly. I was there with a select group of editors to discover all the new things about Behr Paints.
That's me in the red shirt in the photo. Something was wrong with the camera as it created a bald spot on my full head of hair. (Kathy says I'm in denial.)
Behr Paint is a huge paint company. They've got eight factories across the USA. We toured the Santa Ana factory and I was awed to see 12,000 gallons of paint being mixed at one time.
SECRET FACTOID #1: Behr Paint is NOT owned by Home Depot. Masco, a giant publicly-traded company, owns Behr.
SECRET FACTOID #2: Behr makes some fantastic paint. You'll not believe the technology behind their paints.
I saw a scrubbability test just six feet from my face at one of the sessions that BLEW MY MIND. I intend to do a video in the near future for you to see what I saw.
I guarantee you'll he hearing MORE from me about Behr Paints.
Types of Wood Video
Do you think you know a bunch about different types of wood and what they're good for?
Watch this video and let me know if you discovered something new.
Pay attention at 50 seconds into the video and be honest.
Did you know that about the wood grain of lumber?
Complete Index of ALL Ask the Builder Videos
Would you be interested in an Easy-to-Use index of all my AsktheBuilder videos?
I thought so. In the future, just click the VIDEO icon you see at the top of any page of my website. I think you'll be amazed.
Okay, that's enough for this week. Next week I should have two new product review videos for you! Watch for those!!!!
Watch for MORE Treasure Hunt announcements. Day THREE is almost here!