Guys we screwed up and as many of you now know we have adjusted.
What is industry needs is sign that we can all work together towards a common goal. Towards that end we have extended our hand to Jim and others in a effort to grow the on-line knife community.
Jim has turned this site around and I applaud his efforts. KFC holds a certain affinity for me and I met many of you right here when for the most part Spark and I ran this site.
I try to do what is right, Spark takes all the heat, we both get caught up in the fight and sometimes only make it worse.
There is no book, no course and no mentor in what we are doing. So we try things first and in some cases we make great strides forward in new territory. In other cases we step on our collective Johnson.
We do admit our mistakes and move on, but we would not know our mistakes without making them first.
We run into problems here and there and the nature of the Internet allows all of you to see how we handle it "LIVE". This makes us really have to work under pressure as ever move we make is scrutinized beyond that which most could imagine. You can't please everyone all the time and for some you can't please them anytime. The over all objective is to move on and forward.
Some people say to not look back. Well that is not smart as sometimes to see where you are going you must remember where you have been. When I drive I always find myself looking in the rear view mirror and when I see someone riding my ass I have a choice, I can slam on the breaks or move to the side and let them buy. But neither are really my nature so I may end up racing them. Right now I have the faster car but that can change overnight if I am not careful.
Am I saying that KFC, or BSF or any other site is a competitor? A year ago I would have said no but based on recent events and copies of emails I have received I now see that I am a target and with that in mind I must view everyone as a competitor. It is up to the management of these site to determine if they want to be friendly competitors or not.
Most net dealers who know me also buy from me and me them. I have shared inventory with 888 Knives R Us, John @ Cumberland and Mark at MJS and others. Most businessmen would think that is pretty darn strange. But that too is my nature. If you view yourself as a competitor, just because I am racing you doesn't mean I am your enemy, only you can decide that.
This will make sense to some and others will view it in a different light. What is important is that the members of all the forum sites feel at home wherever they are. I want everyone to be happy and while that is not possible it can at least be a goal. Whether you post here, at BFC, at BSF, MH, or TF does not matter. What matters is that you are happy.
I am not a religious person so what I am about to say will not make any sense to some and please don't try to convert me. I am 33 years old. I am sterile and can not have kids. I will never experience some of the feelings you all have experienced. I am going through a divorce so if you have been there I now know how that feels. I have about 20-30 years of active life left. I don't believe anything will happen when I die other than I will no longer exist so it is extremely important to me that my time here is well spent and I and those with me enjoy the ride.
I am sure when I was talking to Jim on the phone, while he was negotiating trying to buy KFC, he probably wondered what in the hell I was doing trying to help him. Maybe he felt I had some ulterior motive. Maybe this will help. When I was doing Gun Shows I always found that I did much better in sale when I had at least one other dealer selling the same items there. The other dealer did better too. So in that regard it is important that KFC stay alive too. We both need traffic to justify the ad dollars. No mystery there as all of this, and any business venture, is a numbers game. We need members, hits, unique visits and other stuff to help promote our sites.
At last check BFC gets about 380,000 400,000 hits a day and KFC about 60,000-80,000 and BSF averaged 11,000 this month and 58,000 in the four days after Patrick posted on my site. We were BSF's #1 refferer. I would be foolish to allow that kind of action to continue so I made adjustments.
The business decisions we make are made for a reason. I have the interest of BFC to protect and my goals are different than Jim's or Patrick's. Jim has the interests of this site to protect as well. I am not sure what Patrick's goals are and I will not wait to find out. I must react to situations as they present themselves. He made a tactical business decision to open BSF and he did so at a perfect time. He took advantage of a situation that we left open for him. Is that wrong? No. So why the fuss? It was how he did it that created problems. Just like how we sprung the classifieds on you guys. That presented problems for us.
Life goes on and we will all endure. Spend time where you feel comfortable but most importantly enjoy the short time we have here on this wonderful planet. Life is too short and before you know it you will be that old fart you used to make fun of. Many of you are old farts now
Take care of yourself and the ones you love.
