Groove protection

Hi, let me start by introducing myself, my name is Guy and by day I am the proud owner of Groove Protection and by night I am one of Ireland's hottest wrestling talents, wrestling under the alias of Theta Dragon. Why don't you head over and check out Theta's Homepage.

However, enough about me, what you really are here for is to hear my short story on the life of Groove Protection.

It all started about a year or so ago. One morning while sitting in front of the old PC I received an email that read something like this,
"For just $1.00 I can teach you how to start your own Internet business!!!"

Curiosity got the better of me and I willingly handed over my $1.00. If you haven't guessed by now, this was to be an affiliate program.

This was a daunting time as I had no experience with web design and what it entailed, in fact I had no previous knowledge of any of the tasks I was about to undertake however I knew what I needed to do through spending my $1.00. It was Google time and after a lot of learning,research and seeing so many affiliate sites that looked the same, I had my game plan together and Ground a pound was born.

I decided to be more of an online community than just an affiliate site. My site offered something for everyone, money saving tips, free recipes, gossip, quizzes and links that were relevant to my content. To be fair, we enjoyed moderate success, with some good feed back but quickly realised that the work verses reward factor in affiliate marketing was a little off-putting, to say the least. Now, I am not giving affiliate marketing a knock here, it just was not for me.

So, where from here?? This is where the next phase of Ground a pound comes in to play. In a complete u-turn on my original idea, I decided that I wanted my own product.

I started looking through wholesale sites and directories trying to find products which complimented the essence of my site. These actions soon lead me to buying my first bulk order of men's, ladies and kids clothing. To anyone reading this and are thinking along these lines, there are too many pitfalls to list, but one thing to remember, do your homework!!!

Offline, we did supply but this was to be short lived. Trying to get yourself noted on Google is a very tedious task.

A new problem arose at Ground a pound. Fashion changes so quickly and by the time I maximised my search engine potential my stock would be out of date. It was at this point that I discovered Cafepress. No longer did I have to worry about my clothing being out of date because now I could set the trend. By this stage Ground a pound became GP Clothing.

Now what do I know about design? On paper, not a lot but I have taught myself a lot in my 4 years of wrestling. Making promo pictures, posters and other wresting merchandise, even designing my new ring attire!! I like to think of it as the first product designed and made by GP Clothing. (Later to become Groove Protection.)

So, where did that eye catching logo come from? I had Ground a pound and it had been abbreviated to GP Clothing, I started with just a "G" and "P" in front of me. I started to manipulatel on Corell Paint Shop Pro and slowly this design started to appear. Just as Matt Groening does with with the "G" and "M" on the side of Homer's head in The Simpson's, I incorporate my life as Theta Dragon to the "G" and "P" logo. Now you know this have another look to see what I mean.

But what about Fashion Hurts, where did that come from? If you haven't guessed by now it came from my first encounter with wholesale. My idea was not a bad one or a wrong one, it was just the pace of the clothing world that caught me out, basically Fashion Hurts!!

So with all this behind us and our discovery of Cafepress the name Ground a pound did not suit our new found life we had found our groove and now we had to protect it!!!

Groove protection was born.

Thank you for taking your time to read my first ever blog. If you have any advice or questions about anything i have talked about then feel free to reply. An remember what ever your Groove Protect it!!!

PS Did we mention our cool squidoo lens???