|
|
|
 |
Thursday, 28 January 2010 Psst...want to make some money? I have been concentrating this week on implementing the next phase of our business plan, and part of this involves recruiting and developing more sales avenues for WarbyGK Goalkeeper Gloves. This is always a very tricky area as there are an awful lot of chancers out there, who are no more interested in selling WarbyGK than they are to snare a cheap pair of goalie gloves at wholesale prices! We concentrate on the due diligence process for each applicant to ensure that we get people with the interest of the brand firmly in place as they will be representing the hard work that we in the office have put in over the last two years. We are currently recruiting dropshippers, however we must ensure that we get the right people in place any interested parties must send their details, along with all relevant details to info@warbygk.com and we will contact only the very best options as we are searching for quality and not quantity of dropshippers please. Over at my coaching site, www.pilgrimgoalkeepercoaching.co.uk I have added 5 more drills to the Training Ground pages which cover the topics of Basic Handling, Distribution, Crosses, One on Ones and Shot Stopping. Hopefully the drills are self explanatory and you find them fun and educational too as I enjoy thinking of new ways to work the goalkeeper. I am hoping to be able to release my long awaited coaching manual very soon and rest assured that when I do, I'll be shouting about it! It's all proof read and ready to go but we're now simply negotiating over the contracts and then we're good to go! I have had some of my articles at Ezine Articles picked up by other coaching sites recently which gives me a buzz when I se the links on Twitter or Facebook! See I'm not just a pretty face......
|
|
Monday, 25 January 2010 25 January 2010 Hooray, finally a weekend of football for the majority of the UK and I bet there's several Sunday morning footballers that are reluctant to get out of bed this morning after nearly 6 weeks of inactivity! Who says we don't need a Christmas break in England? We are still beavering away behind the scenes in preparation for next season, not only in terms of goalkeeper gloves development but also with regards to contacts and ensuring that we maintain the momentum harnessed to deliver our WarbyGK business plan. My business partner has been costing himself a fortune by texting me continuously while he's away at the factories with messages varying from "You've gotta see this" to "Can you google how much this converts to or translate this please?". It's great as he believes everything I'm telling him so I've no idea what he's been eating that I've told him is chicken!! We had a clash of the endorsees in the return fixture to my "gutted" blog, and Salisbury ran out 3-0 winners over Histon, and I received a message from Bitts saying Nezzy had shown him the new goalkeeper gloves he's trialling and he was really impressed. Adam Collin's Carlisle United featured on BBC 1's Football League Show with a cracking shot of the gloves as Adam enters the tunnel when Clem is talking to the camera, and it's with images like these that make us realise just how strong the design for the Portiere Pro range is, which is among the reasons why this design will be retained and also among the reasons why we are working so hard on creating the new gloves...... |
 |
 |
Thursday, 21 January 2010 Well, that was good, wasn't it?! As many of the regular WarbyGK goalkeeper blog readers will know I was told a while back that I'll never play football again since the operation on my PCL and ACL back in June 09. It gets better, as when I visited the Physio this week her words were "You can see your knees not right" and "You'll never be comfortable back at work".........fantastic! I loved my coaching, and I was very good and had worked my nuts off to create the reputation that I had and now, because of some nugget that couldn't drive clattering into the back of my stationary vehicle, my coaching career's took a huge nosedive!! I have been working stupidly hard in my gym over recent weeks as I've been determined to get back into it, and luckily having a gym in your back garden helps with the motivation, but to hear these words from a medical professional is a proper kick in the teeth. Normally I'd fight against it, but I suspect that she may be right as I can't strike a football still, and often hobble when walking (my missus tells me this as I don't realise!). You wouldn't believe the heartbreak this causes, especially when I step off the treadmill and my knee seizes up so bad that I walk like a pirate! Still I'm going to carry on pushing it as some wonderful person invented a wicked pain killer called cocodomol, and keep my fingers crossed that at some point in the future I can return to the training grounds again...... This enforced time off has allowed me to fully concentrate on the goalkeeper gloves business, and also given me valuable time to learn new skills so every cloud and all that! We have several plans waiting to be implemented at WarbyGK which should help to sustain the business and to generate the growth necessary to succeed in our crowded market place and at least with my enforced time away from football these plans can have my full attention and I'm not as reliant on the others involved in the business as I was a few months back, so it's not all bad I suppose........
|
|
Monday, 18 January 2010 18 January 2010 First mention this week must go to the competition to win an exclusive pair of goalkeeper gloves from our 2010 range, that we ran on Facebook for our 1250+ members across the two groups. Thank you for all the entries (mostly wrongly naming me in the 13!), and we have drawn the winner from the hat (lovely beanie hat!), drum roll please.................Well done to...............Brian Pope! Correct answers were: 1. Joe Welch 2. James Bittner 3. Glyn Thompson 4. Leigh Overton 5. Chris Wright 6. Paul Farman 7. Nick Liversedge 8. Ryan Clarke 9. Aaron Butcher 10. Danny Naisbitt 11. Adam Collin 12. Ian Dunbvin 13. Simon Rayner The response we received to this competition was fantastic so thank you all for taking the time to enter, and maybe we'll run a reward offer when the group reaches 1200 members on it's own..... My business partner is now abroad, after we hastily re-arranged a ferry across as opposed to a direct flight, so he should be updating us soon on the new latex developments and materials available to use as well as bringing back a load of samples. Happy Days! We spent last week developing design ideas for the new range of goalie gloves and I'm really, really tempted to show them but I've been banned by the others as there seems to be a lot of plagiarism going on recently and it frustrates me that this is the case (even copying phrases from these blogs!) but it is very flattering though and remember that it is their fault that you can't see the new developments - not mine, honest! The Portiere Pro range has been a success in it's own right and we are looking to build on this with these developments and increase the choice that we offer for goalkeepers, watch this space and you'll not be left disappointed! |
 |
 |
Thursday, 14 January 2010 If a job's worth doing....... As mentioned in Mondays blog, yesterday should have seen my business partner embark on his overseas trip to one of the factories involved with WarbyGK goalkeeper gloves however the snow put an initial end to the trip. "Is the airport still open?" I asked before commencing the journey, "Yeah, yeah course" he replied so we jumped into the Jag, set the Sat Nav and off we went........ If I have learned just one thing since starting the gloves, it's to never take anything at face value and I deeply wish that I'd checked myself rather than believing him! Pillock! 325 mile round trip..... We are flying with the designing aspect of the new range of goalkeeper gloves to be added this year, and along with the range will also see another implementation of our business plan as we have invested heavily in research and development of different latex and materials used within our gloves, that we will be able again to step up to the next level and having studied the course that we have chartered since the beginning I think it's fair to say that we have certainly been heading in the right direction. Don't forget that for your chance to WIN a pair of gloves from the 2010 samples, just enter our Facebook competition (clue: I am NOT one of the goalkeepers!). There are currently over 860 members in the group and I am still blown away at how these numbers have exploded over the last few weeks! Other than the fact that I didn't get home until gone midnight (see first paragraph! Still fuming!), today is a really exciting day for me personally as the wife and I are attending the Hospital to get our 12 week scan, and then as the kids are at school I'll no doubt end up being dragged shopping with the missus. The first bit is fantastic, the shopping bit not so good as it'll also mean that I'll no doubt have a late night again just tidying up the tasks that I've been left in my absence from the office! Still can't have my cake and eat it though, and am really looking forward to seeing the new addition to the Warby family.
|
|
Monday, 11 January 2010 11 January 2010 I'm going to start this weeks blog by not mentioning goalkeeper gloves, but by simply saying just one word.............."ouch!". This is in reference to my stupid knee, which is now nearly 7 months post op and yet still remains a long, long way off where it should be! To say I'm gutted is an understatement and I deeply wish that I had not undergone the operation in the first place! I haven't kicked a ball properly since June, and the couple of times that I have tried have crippled me and forced me to hobble around for the next couple of days! Even simple activities like jogging for more than 5 minutes are out at the minute.......... Anyway, enough whinging and back to the goalie gloves I suppose! We are cracking out the Photoshop in the office this week, to play with the colourways for this years goalkeeper gloves range. My business partner is taking a trip away on Wednesday to source Latex and visit the factory that has been developing our proposal into reality and hopefully to return with good news! We have been trialling this new development in secret (i.e the goalkeepers didn't know what type of latex they were given) and the results have been very good, so fingers crossed that he can return with a big smile on his face when he's back in the office two weeks today! Developing the colours is a really enjoyable task, and I'll be watching the developments closely as I am really hopeless with Photoshop though Google is my friend and I am desperately trying to learn it, but for now I'll stick to my Crayola's! The only upside of being office bound since June is the learning that I've done, and the Tech Guys in the office have been a great assistance for me (as has Google and YouTube!), so much so that I feel I have learned great new skills. I've even personally updated www.bobwarby.co.uk in the optimistic hope of being able to return to coaching some time soon (and to show off my new found abilities!). Maybe I'll ditch the football and move into web design..... |
 |
 |
Thursday, 07 January 2010 Born in the USA (and Oz)! As I have mentioned in earlier posts, WarbyGK have been negotiating with a contact in the States who wishes to distribute our goalkeeper gloves. We are really proud to have reached an agreement with Johnny Pummill, who is also a key figure for AC Desoto from Mississippi, and his contact details are: Telephone: (662) 796-0236 Website: www.warbygkusa.com "Coach" Johnny as he is affectionately known in the WarbyGK office, has been a customer since the Goleiro Pro goalkeeper gloves days and has received several bulk consignments to date, so it's simply a logical step to incorporate his huge personality into the business! Speaking of BIG personalities.... Roy Hunter from Premier Football Tuition is our distributor for Australia. PFT are arguably the best goalkeeper coaching school in Melbourne and, headed by the infectious personality of Roy, are rapidly expanding into the city's suburbs and beyond. PFT have visited the UK recently, where Roy caught up with his huge network of professional goalkeepers and coaches, and now that we have reached an agreement for Roy to distribute WarbyGK goalie gloves, there really is no better place to go if you're a goalkeeper from down under! PFT's contact details are: Telephone: 0424 058 147 Website: www.premierfootballtuition.com
|
|
Monday, 04 January 2010 04 January 2010 Welcome to the start of a brand new year in the world of WarbyGK goalkeeper gloves blog. I've really enjoyed updating these and I'm hopeful that you've enjoyed reading them. I'll begin by passing mention to Adam Collin's magnificent Carlisle United who sadly lost to Everton in this weekends FA Cup clash. Carlisle were unlucky by all accounts, and are looking to mount a serious promotion challenge on League One this season and with watching the highlights on ITV this Saturday night I have to say that I think Adam clearly demonstrated why he is being scouted by higher level clubs as I was really impressed with his technique and performance (no bias at all because of the goalie gloves he was wearing, honest!). I can't see Adam staying in League One for much longer given his recent performances and progression, and we'll keep everything crossed for him in the office. I am absolutely bowled over that our Facebook group has currently swelled to over 770 members! Wow! And as promised in this very blog we have launched a competition to win an exclusive pair of WarbyGK 2010 sample goalkeeper gloves, all you have to do is name the thirteen goalkeepers pictured and send your answers in. It goes without saying that you must also be a member of either the WarbyGK group or fanpage too, but that's just a couple of clicks and you could be the proud owner of a pair of goalie gloves that NO-ONE else will own (including me!). As the festive season has now ended, I can end on a moan (sorry!). Why are some people downright ungrateful? Just because our gift wasn't as expensive or impressive (perhaps) as the others they received, surely a thank you is courteous? We've bought them gifts for every special event this year, and the others have only bothered for Christmas but still we don't get a thanks! Grr! Anyways we know not to bother next year.......
|
|
| September October November December January | |
| © WarbyGK 2010 |
 |
Terms and Conditions | -Vacancies | -Contact |