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View Full Version : RonPaulbeads.com Official post for our Super Tuesday Grassroots project!




xflashjr
01-08-2008, 12:39 PM
Hey Everyone,

Let me introduce myself real quick and I will let Brett Introduce hmself in the next few minutes. My name is Stephen Gordon, I was born and raised in New Orleans and have been a die hard ron paul supporter since July. My friends and family have also become converted but are getting tired of constant Ron Paul chatter lol!

I have been working with a few companies making Mardi Gras styled beads for the past few years. We make them for Fraternity, Sororties and for corporations. At our local meetup I recieved an email asking for possibilities for making a Ron Paul bead. This Idea has subsequently snowballed within the last 48 hours into a full fledge website, marketing promotion as well as a completed prototype! Please remember this has yet to be painted as all of these units are hand painted!

I have never seen a bead gone from Idea to prototype so quickly! The Manufacter made it from one of the images we sent him and has told us with the time frame we are looking at it can be done, but we have to give him an answer in the next 24-48 hours! I intially thought raising $6000.00 in 48 hours to be impossible but then I remembered we are Ron Paul Supporters!

You can check out our intial post here

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=80447

We have quickly established a website, with a chip in as well as an entire overview of what we are tring to accomplish.

You can check out the website at www.ronpaulbeads.com (http://www.ronpaulbeads.com)

You can also check out the letter I wrote explaining everthing at

LETTER (http://www.ronpaulbeads.com/letter.html)

The prototype of the bead can be found below
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/btwilli1/rpbeadmockup.jpg


I also copied and pasted the letter below which explains everything about what we are trying to accomplish with this project! I hope we can make this happens as I am sure it will be a success!

Thanks
Stephen


Hey Everyone!
I have always loved the Grassroots efforts by the diehard Ron Paul supporters on the forums, and as I have donated to many of them I now Find myself, with Brett, right in the thick of one. Like most good ideas we wish we would have come up with this sooner but because of production time and the quickly approaching FEB 5th Primaries we would need to know an answer within the next 36-48 hours!

As most would say raising enough money to make this happen would be almost impossible in this time frame, I did not flinch! I know if the market wants this and think it would have a positive impact then we could raise 10 times that in 48 hours if need be. With that said I am going to detail what would need to happen in order to have this get off the ground and hopefully we can band together to pull it off.

First off I know a lot of people would be skeptical about giving money so quickly to a project. In order to try and put peace of mind out there my personal cell number is 504 452 8824 (please do not harass me lol) I am here to try and promote Ron Paul's message just like everyone else and am not trying to scam anyone out of their money!

I sent the Ron Paul T-shirt image to my designer last night and as a favor to me his company has already created a prototype of what the bead would look like. Remember each one of these are hand painted and obviously this piece has not been yet.

In order for the beads to have the highest impact I was looking to do this.
1) Ship a bead or two with a press release and facts about Ron Paul to hundreds of news outlets nation wide by FEB 5th. Since Mardi Gras and Super Tuesday are the same day this year the media impact will be much greater and hopefully would get some Ron Paul airtime because of it

2) Since The Louisiana primary is FEB 9th, local news coverage about DR. Paul will be of great benefit as well!

3) Meetup groups nationwide would have the ability to buy these beads in bulk quantity in order to help fund the sending of beads to media outlets as well as distribute beads during Mardi Gras for Ron Paul. They would have these in time for FEB 5th and could distribute them to potential voters to get them to vote!

I am getting the beads for my cost. They would normally be cheaper but because of the rush process and the extremely high air shipping cost for 2500 beads the price comes out to roughly $2.25 a bead including bulk shipping to me.

This comes out to $5625.00. In order to help cover the individual shipping cost of the beads to media outlets We were hoping for a round figure of $6000.00. Believe me any excess money there is left over will be donated back to the individuals, or the campaign or any other way that they see fit.

There are a few ways to try and raise this amount of money in such a short time frame. Here are a few options

1) We are selling individual beads for $15.00 a piece. We would need at least 400 people to each put up $15.00 in order to have enough funds for the beads. Each one of these individuals would receive a bead sent to them. In order to cover this shipping cost we would possibly need about 420 people totally.

2) Meetup groups or individuals can buy beads in a gross (144 beads) for $450.00 dollars. This comes out to roughly $3.00 dollars a bead. You could pass these out to your meetup or if you wanted to sell them on ebay. As long as we can raise enough money to make this project happen you could even use this as a money making venture if your heart desires!

3) Some incredibly NICE person could front all or part of this AWESOME project and in turn could have beads distributed any way they would like to recoup their cost. Because the time frame is so short if someone would front the money then as individual and group beads are sold they money collected would go solely back to this person!

I am trying to cover any and all ways to try accomplish this goal as quickly as possible. Brett is handling the money aspect with a paypal chip in and google checkout later today. IF this project becomes a go we will also have a website up detailing the entire process and having the ability to purchase more beads as well.

I know from my standpoint if any money is raised outside of our cost I will make sure it is donated back to the official campaign or another grassroots project that will be dictated by the masses.

Sincerely,
Stephen and Brett Williams

btwilli1
01-08-2008, 12:51 PM
I am Brett Williams, and yes I did recently just sign up to ronpaulforums. I have been a dailypauler up until recently. You guys have some great grassroots efforts, and Stephen and I came up with this idea to add a unique creative flare to Super Tuesday. If we can get the initial funding we are going to send Super Tuesday press kits, with a nice press release and a bead. We are also allowing people to buy individual beads for $15, $5 goes to bead/shipping/packaging and $10 goes towards the media blitz. The second priority will be to order more beads for our mardi gras canvassing effort on the parade routes. The next thing we will add is the meet-up option to buy a gross of beads for their meet-up to hand out and canvas with on Super Tuesday.

I have an internet addiction, and Ron Paul has contributed to that. I can't get enough of spreading his message, digging videos, and getting my entire family on board. The local New Orleans meet-up hopes to add something special to Super Tuesday and I hope you will support us, and order a bead or chipin.

btwilli1
01-08-2008, 01:17 PM
bump

xflashjr
01-08-2008, 03:10 PM
BLuMP!

btwilli1
01-08-2008, 03:35 PM
Where else you guys think we should post this?

maeqFREEDOMfree
01-08-2008, 03:38 PM
dailypaul, michigan4ronpaul.com, i would say email the campaign but they're pretty busy and tend not to do as well as pure grass roots....hrrmmm maybe send one to trevor at ron paul blimp? that's all the ideas i got haha hope it helps

maeqFREEDOMfree
01-08-2008, 03:40 PM
before i buy...

if the 6000 isn't raised, what happens to my money?

maeqFREEDOMfree
01-08-2008, 03:48 PM
post here (http://studentsforpaul.org/) too....

btwilli1
01-08-2008, 04:34 PM
Well I could either refund your money minus the paypal processing fee or we can donate it to a particular grassroots cause.

btwilli1
01-08-2008, 05:12 PM
Here is what will be passed around to all the meet-up organizers hopefully. I think it gets the message across with less reading. Hopefully this thing takes off!

Fellow Grassrooters,

The New Orleans meet-up #200 is trying to get a uniquely New Orleans idea off the ground. Super Tuesday coincides with Mardi Gras day, a huge celebration in Louisiana. We want to Ron Paul Super Tuesday with custom Ron Paul Mardi Gras Beads. In my experience, everybody loves mardi gras and the beads, join us in our grassroots effort. Their are 3 parts to our effort.

1. Raise $6000 to purchase 2500 mardi gras beads and send them out to as many Super Tuesday state's media outlets as possible. The envelope would include the collectible Mardi Gras bead and a press release mentioning all the things New Orleans grassroots will be doing and other state's meetup groups on that day. Every news station will probably cover Mardi Gras, and a great tie-in would be the Ron Paul bead to go along with their Mardi Gras coverage and leading into their Super Tuesday coverage. It's an excellent opportunity to once again prove how creative and unique Ron Paul's run for president is.

2. Sell individual beads for $15 as a collectible. $5 covers overhead at cost, and $10 goes to buying more beads for the media blitz and also our meetup canvassing mardi gras parade routes.

3. Your meet-up group can enjoy the Ron Paul Mardi Gras by getting together $450 for a gross of beads (12 dozen). I think it would leave the McCain/Romney/Huckabee supporters saying "where is my custom bead?" The beads come out to about $3 a bead. Contact me if you have any further questions.

Again these will make great collectibles. I don't think we'll have more than 10,000 beads made. If you would like more information, sample pictures of the type of bead we are ordering visit our website http://www.ronpaulbeads.com. This is sure to be a unique effort to get out the Paul name on Super Tuesday. Let the good times roll! Just a reminder everything is being done at cost from the manufacturer. Of course, good ideas usually come late, so time is of the essence. We need at least $6000 to get things moving for 2500 beads, and then anything extra within a week or so we can increase the order.

btwilli1
01-08-2008, 06:12 PM
Is the site broken =P or nobody is interested?