SURFING THE WEB WITH WEB CAPTAIN DREW

       Ten years ago we started a website called RumBullets and eventually the dotcom became Sparrowradio. We worked really hard to build the business and create, fresh new original art, for our tee-shirts. The designs were Pirate Apparel Boat Clothing as far as genere or demographics. 

      Eventually we added some shot glasses, sunglasses and stickers to our growing pallete of designs. We also produced a long running podcast, showcasing myself and basically anyone we could get to do a vlog or pod with us. We made some good connections this way and the followers started showing up, on our analytics over time. Trying different options for promotions, we started an event table showcasing our items as a store. Eventually after this test marketing phase, we sailed on shipping out gift boxes. 

      At first, there wasn't a lot of stress on how much dough we were making because it was fun to be self employed. I did quit my day job right in the beggining after about 6 months of getting the pirate ship off the dock. 

      My surfing pal said to me one day on the beach, "Yah man, I think I wanna start a podcast." Of course 10 years ago, Vlogging was not something everyone and their brothers were doing. I asked him, "What's a podcast?" My friend explained, immediately the wheels were churning up more eager questions. "How do they make money?" He responded, "Oh you know, they sell hats, tee-shirts, you know!" 

      That was how it started, I told my surfy bud, "I just started dating this girl, that worked in cable media, for like 15 years. She can help us record it." That girl was Liz, our co-founder and C.E.O, & Goddesses of the Sea Designer. That is exactly what we did and here I am 10 years later, blogging about it. 

      Surfy Pal, after reluctantly recording 3 or 4 Vlogs, decided he wasn't really wanting to do the "whole podcast thing." I was pretty letdown, one of my best friends, was giving up the ship or quiting, what back then was just a Youtube Channel. 

      One night as Liz and myself were enjoying a show about pirates, I told the Cable Queen, how my surfing, was all related to my fascination with Pirate Ships and "Treasure Island." Growing up, reading was something my mother did as a family hobby, with my little sis and Young Captain Drew. 

      About 3 months had gone by, still crushed we had lost the chance to create a show and a company, with us two surfers, just being silly, chatting on the couch, "Like Wayne and Garth!" It hit me like a tsunami of epic porportions, after the pirate show was over. Feeling compelled, as if by the Jolly Roger himself, I blurted out with excitement, "RumBullets! Since he doesn't want to do the show, I'm going to keep recording the Vlog, without him. Pirates loved rum and black powder pistolas, RumBullets is what we will name our clothing brand!" 

      Three months later, we had a functioning website, and bought a silk screen press. Also, I quit my job toiling in the depressing warehouse around this time also. I was living free as a pirate on a sailboat. I never looked back, never quiting, never giving in to the easier life, of, "working for the man and a consistent paycheck."

      We did everything you could think of in the content media business, we even became a publishing company and published my sci-fi novel, called, "Death to the Earthburners." 

      Recording the Vlog was more work and a lot more storage for the computers we had then, to handle a weekly show. I opted to go for just audio after about a year. That's when, I created the Podcast Island Series, that would be running about 7 or 8 years weekly. "Oh and I almost forgot," I was writing a blog on the website then also. I knew, my blogging wasn't gaining the traction, "Podcast Island" was bringing in way more analytic spikes. In the first year, of starting RumBullets, I would eventually retire that part of the media biznak. Liz would pick up that slack later and still to this day has a "Blog Page, on the Website" called, 'Goddesses of the Sea.' 

      Writing is something I love but have to really feel the desire to take up a project, with pen, pencil or keyboard. It is a thankless task and people honestly just don't read as much as they do watch or listen. "Maybe that's what's wrong with the world." Treasure Island isn't going to read itself to your kids BTW... 

     Recently, vlogging came back into the picture for me, when I came up with a new idea. There was a share link, that popped up, after I posted this 30 minute badboy on a alternate media site. One of the links was "Blogger." So that's exactly, what I clicked on. I couldn't help myself but to publish something in text. It's good to be here, I hope you enjoyed my story. It's all true too, "not fiction." Sea you around, as we say on the island! 

Web Captain Drew