New Hawkstopper puts the Freedom back into Free-Range!

As an entrepreneur, my mind is working non stop on developing new and useful products. The long winter months in Maine give me plenty of time to think. Well, the calendar says its Spring and I have a brand new product to introduce! HawkStopper . . .

When you and your chickens go free range, it gets noticed! Especially by Mr. Hawk. Hawks, while soaring high above, use their keen eyesight to locate chickens and then dive-bomb at near super-sonic speed to attack the unsuspecting flock. Well, we have found a way to use that keen eyesight to fool Mr. Hawk into thinking the chickens are protected by an impenetrable barrier.

How does HawkStopper work? When you call someone eagle eye, it’s because they have sharp eyesight. But in reality, no human’s eyesight comes even close to the visual capabilities of predatory raptores like hawks, eagles and falcons. These birds see about 8 times better than humans – they see things sharper and from a greater distance than anything we can imagine. HawkStopper uses the hawks’ eyesight to turn an easy-to-handle, inexpensive, lightweight 1500 square foot mesh into a formidable shield. The HawkStopper net looks almost invisible to us, but to a hawk it looks like a steel grate! To a hawk, the HawkStopper looks 8 times bigger and 8 times stronger than it is and they can see 8 times farther away than we can!

This concept was first used to protect salt-water salmon farms in the Gulf of Maine from predatory sea birds. HawkStopper now uses the same principles of visual deflection to protect free-range chickens, turkeys and ducks as well as koi, catfish and other inland pond or farm-raised fish. If you need hawk protection, HawkStopper is worth checking out. HawkStopper is made in the USA.

See our ad in the latest edition of Backyard Poultry Magazine

Just another in a line of useful products designed by PredatorPee to help keep predators and pests away!

Until I find more words(or products). . .The PeeMan

PeeMan Discovers New Business Language Disorder

I must not have been paying attention. Somewhere along in my business career, I seem to have suffered some sort of loss of ability to understand the language of business. My Business Language Deficit Disorder or, BLDD for short, manifests itself when I interact with business people who use words that don’t seem to fit into the sentences they are a part of.

It started with small things, like when I would say “thank you” to a store clerk for their assistance. Instead of the customary “You’re welcome” response; the answer today is “no problem.” What in the world was there no problem with? Was the problem that I asked for assistance? Or was I thanking them because it wasn’t a problem for them to do what they were being paid for? Or was I thanking them because I wasn’t as much of a problem as I could have been? Next time, maybe I should be more of a problem so that their answer will be more logical.

inigo-montoya But it gets worse. The other day, when I contacted a company to get some information on their product, a nice sales associate thanked me for “reaching out to her”. Well, somewhat flustered, I said “you are welcome” because that is what I learned to say when someone thanks me. But, “reaching out” to this woman is something I did not recall or even comprehend. The last thing I remember reaching out for was the ladder that slipped away from me when I was painting the house last summer – and I missed. And not to mention that the idea that I go around reaching out to random women might not sit well with the wife of the PeeMan. Maybe, I should have just said “no problem.”

Then, after I told the nice sales associate what information I was looking for, she told me that once she had gathered the info she would “circle back”. This time I did say “no problem.” But that was a lie. Now, I knew I had a full-blown case of BLDD. My mind was receiving the signals but was unable to convert them into words I could understand. I can remember the Lone Ranger and Tonto “circling back” to find the trail again or to get behind the bad guys, but what was this nice lady planning to do. I felt like I needed to be looking over my shoulder even though I knew she and her company were 2000 miles away. No problem, I guess I’ll know what it means when it happens.

So, I had lunch with a businessman friend the other day and he was telling me he needed to hire a new marketing person, but was having trouble finding someone with enough “bandwidth” to handle the job. It sounded like it had something to do with being fat, maybe like a “fat cat marketing guy”. That sort of made sense, but I realized through the fog of my BLDD that it probably wasn’t what my friend had in mind. I had heard the word before, but it always had something to do with computer or internet stuff. So maybe he’s looking for a fat marketing guy who is good with computers. I told him I’d keep my eyes open, no problem.

And just today, I have been chasing a quote from a supplier and this is what the company representative told me word for word:

“I am still waiting to hear from our production team. I will revert as soon as we have an update.”

Uh oh. Now what have I gotten into. All I wanted was a quote. I wonder what she is going to revert into? No problem.

Until I find more words(that I can understand). . .The PeeMan

5 Qualities of an Entrepreneur

As a long time entrepreneur, I often get asked what it takes to start your own business. Here’s what I’ve got:

I once saw a cartoon that gave the following definition of an Entrepreneur:

“Someone who will do almost anything to avoid working for someone else”

That about sums it up – even though it defies logic. When you work for yourself you risk everything you have despite the fact that you know 80-90% of new businesses fail. You work longer hours than anyone else and sweat bullets over how to meet payroll every week. Every decision you make can have life-changing consequences for you, your family, your employees and their families. Vacations are something other people talk about. Yet despite all of this you will tell everyone you meet that working for yourself is the best thing you have ever done. think-entrepreneur

If you recognize these qualities, there might be a new businessbusiness in your future:

Ability to defy gravity – So the first quality an Entrepreneur must have is a strong dose of healthy self-delusion that will enable him or her to persevere against all odds. Almost every friend and family member will tell you all the reasons you shouldn’t start your own business – and every one of them is absolutely right! 80-90% of all new businesses fail so what makes you think you can make it? Good question, but to you, the entrepreneur, it makes absolutely no difference at all. You know you can do this. The 80-90% that fail do not clutter up your vision – they are invisible to you – your vision is fully focused on the field where the 10-20% of successful ones play. You can’t figure out why anyone would think any other way.

Unshackled from conventional wisdom – One of your friends finds out you are thinking of starting a business so they give you a business book to help you out. At least that is what they tell you. In reality, they are giving you the book to prove to you how utterly ill-equipped you are to be an entrepreneur. The book will tell you the degrees you should have, the financing you should have in place, the number of years of experience in the field you should have, the team of advisors, accountants, lawyers you should have in place etc. But you know in your heart, that by the time you did all that stuff, the window of opportunity for your business idea would be long gone. You are ready to open the doors and get started. Bring it on.

Ability to create something out of nothing – A friend of mine once told me that he was astonished by the way I could seemingly create something out of nothing. I asked him to explain. He said he would see me one day on the ropes after suffering a business setback and a few weeks later fully engaged in a new product or project that was once again generating revenue. To him it was astonishing, to the entrepreneur it is as natural as breathing. Business is subject to constantly changing circumstances. The entrepreneur never sees obstacles as barriers – he sees them as launching platforms.

Ability to embrace failure – Failure is a fact of life for an Entrepreneur. You might have small failures or colossal failures – but for certain, you will have failures. Embrace them, learn from them and just try to make sure you fail at something new each time! Do not fear failure. Failure is one of the greatest teachers there is. Remember – the only people who never fail are the ones who never try anything new!

Faith – this is the one quality that I did not find until I was nearly through my first decade of entrepreneurial activity. The understanding that we are not in this alone and that we are accountable to God for everything we do adds a dimension to working for yourself that fully completes the package. It provides the ethical and motivational foundation for all that we do. We don’t do it perfectly, but with God’s help an entrepreneur with faith and an understanding of Biblical teaching can build a business that serves its customers well and honors God in the process.

If these qualities ring true with you, you look like an entrepreneur. What are you waiting for?

Until I find more words . . . The PeeMan