I wanted to write a quick email about the benefit of asking. Over the last two years we have had need for different resources than would be the norm. I am of a belief that you should find the best way to do something and then find the company who does it the best - or at least does it very well.
Case Study #1: With the Red Stick Rumble coming in August, I wanted to make sure that we had a flexible yet easy solution for team registration. I quickly found the WordPress Plugin called Event Espresso. The cost, unfortunately, was $85.00. I couldn’t see purchasing the software for that amount. To be quite honest, I only had $55.00 well in hand. So, I found the contact information for the creator and asked if they had a non-profit discount. They said yes and quoted me a price of $65.00. I responded and told them who we were and what we did and asked if they could lower the price to $55.00. They agreed because they thought it would be extra cool to see their logo on a t-shirt for a robotics competition. Lesson Learned: Even if something is not free - a bit of conversation and asking can lower the price. We got a very robust solution that allows for many types of payments and easy databases for storage. It even has automatic emails, coupon codes. . . you name it, Event Espresso has it.
Case Study #2: I have been searching recently for a robust project management software that was open ended enough not to be complicated but robust enough that we could access it from all platforms simultaneously. I am also a fan of task management software and mind-mapping. After some reviews, I found MindJet. The problem is that the cost of one license is $15.00. I wanted to be able to work with multiple individuals. I contacted them and after talking to their marketing director agreed to work on a Case Study for them discussing how their software worked in improving our team structure and culture. The price? Free.
I could list the free checking software that we got last year, the 4 purple Italian suits we got for $100.00 total cost, our free phone consultation and resources that we got with CultureSync (The consulting firm of David Logan, author of Tribal Leadership). . .
Why did we get any of this? Because we asked. So in short - be willing to ask for things that no one else does. Get a leadership consultant for your team. Find software that is expensive for corporations but for you is free because - heck - you’re a robotics team and that’s just cool. You have not because you ask not.
When have you gotten something cool for your team? I’d love to hear your stories.
Our handout at events this year were custom mini-frisbees with our logo on it.
One of the dads on our team is an avid Ultimate Frisbee player. He walked into his favorite store with a few team members and asked if they might be able to help out. The shop set up a custom die with our logo and custom-stamped 500 frisbees in red, white, and blue. They were a huge hit at events and we’ve held back a couple hundred for demos and outreach for the rest of the year. We wouldn’t have even thought to get these (and they would have been beyond our PR budget) but it just worked out!
This year, we needed a push chain (made by serapid) that would have been perfect for our robot. However, the piece we needed cost several hundred dollars- making it both illegal (cost over $400) and way outside our budget. However, one of our mentors emailed them, telling them who we were, and why we needed it. We asked them if they had any scrap pieces that had about the same specs that they could either sell to us at a lower price or give to us for free. As it turned out, they did. They quoted the piece at around $300 (forget the exact numbers), and then gave it to us for free!
Over the years, 1551 has gotten many things just for the asking. Not counting the incredible material support we get from Bausch + Lomb and PTC Corp, nor those random robotty things we’ve gotten from other teams (in particular 340 and 1511, who have both been absolutely awesome to us since our inception), things we’ve gotten locally because we asked include, but are not limited to:
Raw materials (1/8" aluminum plate, square stock, C channel);
CnC laser jet capability (just this year!) – and oh, yeah, they gave us the metal to cut, too;
Bosch Rexroth product – not only extruded aluminum but also sliders and slide carriages, corner connectors, T-bolts, etc, etc);
an arbor press;
had to turn down a Bridgeport Mill and a nice huge lathe because we had nowhere to put them;
half a field of carpet (currently in my barn for lack of a home);
a lifetime supply of 1.5" round delrin rod (Something like two dozen eight-foot pieces!);
gas money for the Buckeye Regional;
food not only from parents but also from local restaurants (especially Subway!);
12 gauge wire;
whatever small hardware we want from the local hardware store (nuts, bolts, rivets, clasps, grommets, small springs, etc.);
Lowes sold us $450 worth of tools for $150;
we buy all of our polycarbonate at cost from a glass company one town over;
a 12 x 12 tent for fundraising/demos outside;
a free place to store our crate (which one of these days we hope to need again!);
a robot crate;
booth space at local and not-so-local events (with waived booth fees);
pneumatic connectors;
laptops;
tool boxes;
tools…
I’m sure there’s more, but that’s off the top of my head.
Exploding Bacon has a habit of being homeless. Because we are not based out of a school we are constantly searching for places to build. This has been mentors homes, a horse barn, an abandoned production building, Lockheed Martin and this past year we built in an empty space that 3D Perception (a simulation company based in Norway with an office in Orlando) wasn’t using.
We love all of our sponsors and are immensely grateful that they step up to the plate every time we’ve needed them. It really is amazing how willing some companies are to help support teams, and we do our best to support our sponsors in return. We’ve helped out at volunteer events, PR functions, presentations and we host our sponsors at a dinner every year to thank them and let them see what their support has allowed the team to do.
There will be plenty of companies who don’t offer such support, the trick is to keep looking until you find one that does.
This year I took some students out after school to try to raise money to purchase a 4 slot CRIO. After being just able to hand out the sponsorship letter to most businesses, 1 business made our day. They immediately agreed to cover half a large portion of the cost and told us if no one else responded to let them know and they would help with the rest.
In 2008 when we got our bid to Atlanta we searched high and low for the best way for our large team(we took 40 people between students, parents, and the principal’s family and secretary) to travel there. One of our students got in contact with the owner of a bus company and he agreed to let us use one of their buses for only the cost of gas and the drivers expenses. Although we were unable to use his business because the principal covered the cost for us to fly down out of the schools auction funds.
If you don’t ask, you’ll never know what could have been. The worst thing that can happen is them saying no.
