No More Bots

The robots are sold out!

I started the 100 robots project in early February. Today, I sold the very last one. Had I known that this crazy idea of mine would have been so popular, I would have considered making it 200 robots! But then again, that might have been enough to drive me a little mad.

Measuring Success

It’s interesting to note that nearly half of the orders received were for multiple robots. And at least half of those were return orders from people who were so happy with their robot that they had to have another one. This, to me, is one of the highest compliments I could have ever gotten.

The icing on the cake though, is when people began to spread the word about the robots, telling everyone on networks beyond my own about their little purchase. This generated an exponential amount of interest. When web-maven Jeremy Keith mentioned it on his blog, it was if the floodgates had suddenly burst open, causing at least 30 of my bots to be sold within a matter of days. I do believe that the effect was quite profound on my bowels.

A Job To Do

Right now, I still have a lot of robots to illustrate and deliver. My intention is to have all of them done and sent out to their owners by the end of this Month (we shall see how that goes). I might not be a Cylon, but I do have a plan and am moving forward, one bot at a time. There is a wee bit of light at the end of this tunnel.

The slowest and most difficult part (the inspiration phase), I have been able to work around by deciding ahead of time what each person will be getting. This is accomplished with an extra column in my spreadsheet. I then sketch an idea of what it will be, and the rest just happens so much more smoothly.

A Winning Robot

I am also happy that all 100 adoptions are eligible to win the 101st super-duper robot illustration on 16"x20" quality watercolor acid-free board. Yes, the odds are to the advantage of whoever adopted the most robots, like a raffle ticket prize. I will be announcing the winner during AEA Boston (with as many witnesses as I can manage).

Final Thoughts

I mentioned having a spreadsheet above. I could not have accomplished this without a working document. With it, I was able to track: Drawn Status, completed status, shipped status, date ordered, who ordered it, and various notes. Because some people requested specific numbers in the series, I was able to sort the spreadsheet by the date ordered so that I could take care of those who had waited the longest first. It was a system from the beginning, and it works because I stick to it. For every order that was made, I would stop what I was doing for five minutes, and add the name to a new row and send them a quick email.

This leads into customer service: I personally replied to every order with a thank you, and with a note letting them know that their bot had shipped. I also do as much research as I can about the person adopting each robot, and attempt to custom-tailor the bot to the personality of the owner. Sometimes this works, sometimes I just have to take my best shot and hope that they are happy. I’m happy to note that there have been zero complaints or refund requests (yet).

One of the most critical components of my success with this project has been my wife. Julie has shown extreme patience as I blabber on about robots (which I’m sure can be trying at times) and has been an invaluable resource in by shipping them out to their owners. Thank you, my dear sweet wife!

Finally, this project has had me thinking about what the future holds. When I finish with all of the robots, I am going to get some quotes on having books or posters printed. As much as I wish I could say that these are going to happen, I am not entirely sure that it’s within my budget. Plus, it’s uncertain at this point how big of a run I should get. Regardless, I shall keep you posted on this matter. Also, I have one word to leave you with as we reach the end of my post…

Monsters.

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