SecondMoonshot

  Amazing moon and cloud phenomenon that I only noticed after zooming on on our Surf City day trip pictures. Learning some photo editing tools.  This is me in January of 2017. A before and after…this is what COVID does to you. Looks like it ages you 20 years.  Some fun while learning about photo editing: Cat tattoo, nothing better than a cat that supports the brand. Branded flag flying high. John

  https://www.facebook.com/SecondMoonshot I find Facebook to be counterintuitive most of the time, but muscle memory is kicking in and getting the hang of it via repetition. Even have my first follower! John

Decided to take a drive up to Brevard where my wife and daughter are doing a girls week getaway in Brevard, NC. Also meeting a friend on Sunday to go do a few hours of driving around. I had one SecondMoonshot sticker left in my wallet, so added it to the wall. Cool place. Guess I should be prepared for a spike in sales on Sunday! John

I just ordered new business cards from GotPrint.com.  They have a business card sized sticker which I can use as a business card or as a sticker for applying to back of my framing work. I have been using Avery labels but those won’t stand the test of time and the new ones are glossy UV coated. Should get them in in a week or two. Got them in and used the first on on my first paying framing job (well, I assume they will pay). John

Every time I see my kids, it’s special….this was no exception. Carrianne is my oldest and well known for her impeccable choice of fashion as you will agree with the one-of-a-kind t-shirt (well, 6 of-a-kind technically). She just moved into a new house (rental for now while she saves and invests at a mammoth pace for a home to call her own). She was on the hunt for vintage (I.e. free) furniture and acquired a nice wood veneer computer desk, dining room table and 2 dressers.  She is the one that created the SecondMoonshot current logo and created its own font! How cool is that. Her second job is VP of Branding for SecondMoonshot…honorary title as it comes with no pay, but she earned it. John

Today sometime between 2am and 8a EST, SecondMoonshot crossed the threshold and has 100 followers on our eBay store. It took almost exactly a year. I am still enjoying this as much as when we first started. To celebrate, I ordered T-shirts for all the family members. The logo was designed by my daughter, Carrianne using the Adobe set of graphics tools. A small refresh on the logo: John

Zabrina trying her hand at some handmade candles. First batch came out very nice and professional. Will use as gifts for now but may list in near future. Thoughts welcome.  Zabrina is wants to keep the candles as natural as possible, using organic and safe oils and use recycled canisters where possible. She is using a high quality all-natural soy wax. She is experimenting with wood wicks although finding that they need to be primed in wax prior to adding the wax in the candle holder. John

Update 01/10/2022: Update 10/25/2021: The final logo. Got a T-Shirt made through Zazzle and it came out awesome. My daughter, Carrianne, helped clean it up with some professional graphic tools and some drawing skills (she works for Adobe). My first stab at coming up with a non-photo logo. I want a hand drawn look, but maybe better than mine as I have zero artistic skills. The idea was the 2 vertices rectangles loosely are Roman numeral II and the inverted moon, best I got and it’s simple. Open to better ideas, this is about all me, my finger, and my iPad could muster.  This is Zabrina’s version of the logo: Latest version: The latest branded shirts. Got one for the entire family. Thats a model in the pics as my belly wouldn’t fit in the frame. John

I thought I would discuss a little about my brand philosophy and some product examples and rationale that support the brand. When I started this, and I mean really started it vs. just selling my comic collection and McD Happy Meal toys in the attic, I put some thought into what was important to me to make it worthwhile. It really wasn’t about the money, but not lying that it wasn’t a component, but the money without some other form of ‘do the right thing’ mentality puts me back into the same state which pushed me into this to begin with. So I felt there should be no (or little) compromises on a few key core value statements: * If I am not happy, I will stop this. Non-negotiable. * I don’t want someone to pay for something they don’t want.  Non-negotiable. If someone doesn’t want what I sold them, then either I missed the boat or they did, but either way the right thing will always be to take it back and refund their money (all of it, including shipping and return postage if I want it