#i actually tried using a retainer to fix it for a while. but sensory issues made me give it up practically within a day

[ciicadidae]

🥺🥺🥺 my brother in arms....

I love you people with crooked teeth I'm so sorry about the world

[endless-whump]

Simon/Oliver: Rescued

CW: torture aftermath, dissoci@tion, mild self harm mention (brought on by panic) suicidal behavior mention, references to creepy and sadistic whumper, box boy whump,

Masterlist

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“How long did they have him like that?”

The voices were quiet but they were so loud, too loud. Everything was too loud, the fabric of the blanket and the voices and the sound of the house’s heater. It was all just noise.

“I don’t know...I think it’s safe to assume it was a while, though.”

“It was a while.”  Another voice confirmed quietly.  “He was only this bad when they kept him alone for more than a week.”

“You’ll stay like this until you’re begging me to touch you,”

Oliver scratched at his arms, rocking slightly. Even with all the lights dimmed, everything was too bright. Too loud. He could feel the ghost of fingers trailing across his skin, all so unwanted and yet needed, needed to the point he felt like he was dying without it.

He needed it, he needed it, he needed it. Nobody wanted to touch him because they thought he was scared.

He was, but he needed this, and everyone refused to see that.

Simon was supposed to see that. Simon knew Oliver needed touch, but for some reason he was holding back.  

Simon had touched him, had held him when they came back for him. But after that, nothing. Silence. He hadn’t even spoken a word directly to Oliver since they got back.

He dug his nails harder until his skin, wanting to disappear. Every little thing was just noise and noise and noiseand-

Oliver flinched at the feeling of a hand on his, then melted into it. The hand pried his away from his arm, murmuring something about not wanting him to hurt himself.  It was all just noise to him.

As quick as the touch arrived, it was gone. It felt like he’d been burned, nerves alight with the pure sensation of someone else’s skin against him. It hurt so bad, but he wanted it. Craved it.

He didn’t dare chase the hand, though. No, he learned not to do that that hard way. He wasn’t sure how long it had been when they first came back, but what he did remember was the cold, solid hit from the baton when he’d tried to reach out and touch the man, desperate for something other than the complete lack of sensory input happening.

Someone kneeled in front of him, and Oliver recognized it as Sandy.  She smiled, moving slowly so as to not startle him.

“What are you doing?”  Someone behind her asked.

“He looked like he was in pain when he talked, I’m checking for damage.  Oliver, is it ok if I touch you?”

Oliver nodded slowly, eyes still unfocused.  He wanted her to touch him so bad, but also wanted her far, far away from him.  Better to let her choose for him, it was easier like that.  He wasn’t made to make decisions.

Gentle fingers pressed against the side of his neck, and he had to refrain from pulling away at the soft pain.  Sandy seemed to notice his discomfort, frowning and feeling along his neck a little softer.

“I think he might have damaged his vocal chords, and maybe even his windpipe. There’s bruising that’s faded, and he’s got some swelling.”

There was silence after that, as if there was something unspoken they all knew but refused to admit. Simon was the one to break the silence with what they were all thinking.

“From screaming, probably.” He said quietly, crossing his arms. Oliver wanted to be held by those familiar arms so badly. “Cedr- he..he choked Oliver a lot, before. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened, he was gone for over a week.”

“Was there ever significant damage during initial captivity that would make him more vulnerable to throat injuries?” Sandy asked, her hands leaving Oliver’s neck. She leaned back but didn’t quite move away yet, observing him.

“Nothing that ever needed emergency attention but..I’m guessing it could’ve caused lasting damage. He’s... got some issues from it. Neurological ones, at least.”

The look in the woman’s eyes was an angry kind of grief Oliver vaguely recognized, one of restrained fury and pity.

“I see. Anything in particular?”

Oliver could see Simon from here, leaning against the doorframe. His face was dark, expression pained but distant, which Oliver hated.

“Memory issues.” He murmured. “Granted some of that is probably just the facility fucking up his head, but he’s got problems..retaining things, sometimes. Forgets things a lot.”

Sandy pressed her lips together, nodding. “Part of that might just be trauma. I’d monitor it alongside the suicidal behavior, but I don’t have any concerns about it pertaining to anything underlying right now. It might just have to improve with time.”

“We don’t have time,he doesn’t have time!”  Simon snapped, making Oliver flinch where he sat curled up on the couch.  “They’ve already taken so much fucking time from him. What if we can never get it back, huh? At what point is he gonna be just another washed up rescue that can’t be fixed?  What then?”

“Come on, Simon, don't say that.  He-”

“No!”  He yelled, turning away.  To leave.  “This is myfault, and I can’t even help fix it. He’s better off with people who can actually help him, not me.  All I do is put him in danger and keep him going in circles inside his head with his conditioning.  I can’t solve this anymore.”

“S,Simon.”  Oliver called weakly, forcing himself to focus.  He had to pull himself out of the fog inside his mind, the thing keeping him tethered down.  It was heavy, suffocating, burning. But he could push through it for this. Simon froze but didn’t turn around, hands clenched into fists.

Oliver pushed the blanket aside, standing shakily.  Sandy moved to stop him but Mia held out a hand, eyeing him warily.

“Let him go,” She murmured sadly.  “They need to work this out.  This was going to happen eventually.”

It hurt, but Oliver ignored it as he stumbled forward.  He set a hand on Simons shoulder, only earning a flinch, the other moving away.  Oliver whimpered, moving to follow as Simon turned a corner and disappeared down the hall

“Simon!” Oliver called out, following him. He braced himself against the wall, wincing with the effort it took to stay standing.

“Stay away from me, Oliver.” Simon warned lowly, still walking away. “I’m nothing but a danger to you, and we both know that. It’s better for us both if we just try to learn how to live without each other.”

The statement hit Oliver like a punch, icy terror running through his veins. He was being left, abandoned, he wasn’t wanted anymore. This was what Cedric was talking about. He was too broken for anyone, and people always came to the conclusion things were better off without him

“S,Simon, Simon please.” Oliver begged, stumbling after him down the hallway. “Don’t leave, Simon please don’t leave.”  

He couldn’t lose him. Simon was the one person he had left that he’d thought would always be by his side, no matter what.  He didn’t know what he did wrong or how to fix it, maybe he wasn’t good enough or-

Simon spun around abruptly, startling Oliver a little as he stopped in his tracks. He watched the tears start, the flash of anger and hatred he knew wasn’t directed at him filling Simon’s eyes.

“I, I hurt you, Oliver!” He shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “I dragged you down the fucking stairs and, and I was..I was willing to.. I just- I failed you!” Simon insisted, shaking his head as tears streamed down his face. “I-“

Oliver took the step foreword, flinging his arms around Simon to hug him tightly. It was a terrifying step, one full of doubt in himself and fear and uncertainty, but under it all was a layer of trust. Trust he needed to bring back to the surface.

The touch burned but he wanted it so bad, it was its own kind of loud that drowned out everything else.  It was something he could latch onto and focus on.  There was a hesitation, Simon tense, before arms wrapped around him in turn, and all the noise seemed to disappear.

It was quiet, now

Oliver sobbed against Simon’s chest, clinging to him as if his life depended on it. He was so scared and part of him knew this was wrong and dangerous but he didn’t care. He just wanted Simon. He just wanted his family.

He didn’t want Cedric to be able to take that from him. He’d taken a lot of things from Oliver, but he refused to let Simon be one of them.

“I don’t care!” Oliver wailed, throat burning from the pain. “I, I, I don’t c,care. I forgive you, Simon, p,please don’t go.”

He was being lowered, hugged close to Simon’s chest as they both slumped to the ground. Simon made everything so quiet again, Oliver thought to himself.

“I’m so sorry, Ollie.” Simon sobbed, rocking and holding the other tightly. “I, I’m so sorry, I thought I lost you, a,and it was my fault.”

“No.” Oliver insisted, shaking his head.  “It's, it’s not your fault.  C,Cedric broke you l,like he broke me.  If it's not..if its not my fault, it's not yours either.”

Simon cried into Oliver's hair, embracing him.  “W,why, why would you forgive me, Ollie.  I, I hurt you, and I could still hurt you- I don’t deserveit!”

Oliver looked up, skin burning with the touch as he reached up to hold Simon’s face, looking over him.  Tears ran down his tan skin, dark eyes full of guilt and grief and hatred. The soft, dim light of the hallway illuminated the faint freckles dotting in an odd pattern along his nose and cheekbone, and Oliver traced it idly.

“You do.”  He choked out, staring deep into those eyes.  “Because..because you’re my family, and I love you.  I trust you.”

Simon looked stunned for a moment before he let out a noise that half sounded like a sob and half like a chuckle, kissing the top of Oliver’s curls.

“I love you too, Ollie.”  He murmured, closing his eyes.  “I know you trust me, which is half the problem.  I need to be able to trust myself again.  Then I can let you trust me.”

Oliver nodded, letting his head be guided back to Simon’s chest.  He took a shuddering breath, relaxing as the tingling under his skin from the touch calmed. They could work through this. They could build that trust again, for both of them.  

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Taglist

@insanitywishes @18-toe-beans @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @spiffythespook@simplygrimly @cinnamonflavoredhugs @finder-of-rings @deluxewhump @ashintheairlikesnow @briars7 @albino-whumpee @thatsthewhump

[uualkerbait-blog]

⊰ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴ ⊱ ◦ 001. ↳ surviving ❛ the hit ❜

A/N: Despite all the research I’ve done on brain injuries, the brain itself, and mental illnesses that can develop from brain damage, I’m not a medical professional. There’s a possibility I may have gotten something wrong, even though I’m trying to be as thorough as possible with all of this. I’m 1000% open to taking any input from people in medical school or who are actually in the field! Most of this stuff is taken straight from various medical websites, but there’s always the chance that some of the info isn’t entirely accurate. Under the cut covers in detail the short-term and long-term damage from the attack. In short, he survived both hits—one to the parietal lobe, one to the frontal lobe—and has two scars, a misshapen skull, and has lost his left eye completely. The mental illnesses he developed are PTSD, depression, and Gerstmann’s syndrome.  * ORIGINALLY POSTED ON AUG. 5, 2017 // RE-POSTED FOR BLOG RE-VAMP *

After the Saviors left, Glenn was immediately taken to the Hilltop by Sasha and Maggie. Despite Dr. Carson being an obstetrician, he tried as best he could with what little knowledge he knew to save Glenn’s life by focusing on trying to stop the bleeding and swelling of the brain, keeping vigilant watch to make sure infection or clotting didn’t begin. He was immediately given antibiotics and medicine that could help reduce the chance of blood clotting. Short-term effects of head trauma began almost immediately, such as: — intense swelling and distorted head shape — fluid leaking from his eyes, nose, and ears — loss of consciousness — intense head pain — strong bouts of nausea, dizziness, vomiting, and fainting — the inability to remain awake and alert — drastic changes in his mood and personality; becomes easily irritable, anxious, and withdrawn — changes in cognition, intelligence, and his ability to understand speech; usually has to ask repeatedly to understand new information, causing him to further become angry and annoyed with himself and others — difficulty with motor skills, especially walking — strange or involuntary movements;twitching Long-term effects of head trauma began to develop or became more prominent throughout the physical healing process, such as: — two massive scars lay over the top and back of Glenn’s head; hair growth can eventually cover them — skull/head shape is slightly distorted at the top; hair growth can eventually cover it — left eye could not be salvaged and had to be fully removed; wears an eyepatch — increased vulnerability to infections, stroke, and other health problems — changes in motor skills, including loss of some motor skills; has trouble with balance and lifting self up, though with therapy it could improve — permanent alterations in cognition, intelligence, spatial reasoning, language, and other basic functions; still has to repeatedly ask for information, and has trouble piecing things together; another thing that can improve with therapy — changes in mood, personality, and mental health; still irritable, anxious, and withdrawn, and has developed various mental issues from the damage While Glenn can’t ever fully know what parts of his brain received the most damage or the names of some of his disabilities (unless he gets proper medical treatment when the world has fixed itself), it should be noted that the frontal lobe and left parietal lobe were both damaged. The parietal lobe is concerned with sensory info, such as spatial sense, navigation, and major sensor inputs from skin (touch, pressure, temperature, and pain). Damage to left side is what develops Gerstmann’s syndrome, which entails: — right-left confusion; Glenn is frequently frustrated with this, and it’s one of the harder things for him to overcome with therapy; he’s not allowed to break off from anyone if/when he eventually is able to go out on runs again — difficulty with writing — difficulty with mathematics — loss of ability to understand or express speech; something that Glenn is constantly working on with the help of Maggie, Dr. Carson, and anyone else in the group who’s patient enough to work with him — inability to process sensory information;loss of ability to recognize objects, people, sounds, shapes, or smells even though his senses are fine and there hasn’t been any significant memory loss; causes intense frustration and is something that needs to be worked on — can affect verbal memory and the ability to recall strings of digits; usually Glenn has to repeatedly ask for something to stick, and he’s taken up repeating the words to himself after realizing this is an issue The frontal lobe deals with behavior, learning, personality, and voluntary movement. All the side-effects that Glenn goes through from frontal lobe damage are: — impaired judgement, attention span, and organizational ability — impulsive; even though Glenn has had issues with acting without thinking in the past, it’s heightened after the hit and on the verge of being reckless and dangerous — adopts risky behavior — reduced fluency of speech; again, something that is worked on by continuously talking with Maggie, Dr. Carson, and other members of the group — apathy — difficulty processing and retaining new info; mentioned above under long-term effects of brain damage — difficulty expressing self in words; Glenn tends to stutter and fumble with his words because he’ll sometimes forget the proper words he wants to use to express himself, which leads to frustration and unintentionally lashing out at the other person or very suddenly becoming withdrawn — intolerance for frustration and easily provoked aggressive behavior — lethargy — changes in emotional control, initiation, motivation, and inhibition — inability to plan a sequence of complex movements needed to complete multi-stepped tasks (e.g. making coffee, cleaning and taking apart a gun, etc.) Glenn also develops PTSD and depression after surviving Negan’s attack, and it’s currently unknown whether they will affect him for months, years, or for the rest of his life. Nightmares and flashbacks are common, and only heighten his physical pain during the recovery process from his injuries. Both his physical and emotional reactions are intense, and after calming down he usually feels embarrassed and inadequate to the group. Glenn’s triggers aren’t constant; seeing a trigger one day may produce a heightened sense of panic and fear, while the next day it may make him irate, and the next he may not have much of a reaction at all due to being heavily focused on something else at the time. His triggers include: — barbed wire, regardless of where it is — anything that can be used as a club-like weapon (e.g. wooden posts, baseball bats, crowbars, nightsticks, etc.) — seeing someone or a walker being hit over the head — being touched on the head by surprise — having his hair pulled, even if gently — hearing the ❛ eeny, meeny, miny, moe ❜ rhyme — seeing a walker with its eyes missing, though mostly if it only has one eye A/N: Any further information may be added later. This post will be reblogged if anything new is added.

[behindthebridgeblog]

The Young Brain: Tone and Dynamics

By Julie Lyonn Lieberman, Artistic Director, Strings Without Boundaries.

Brought to you by the new Ascentè Violin Strings

Young students’ brains struggle to organize a relatively blank mental canvas to master and record a number of complex processes. Meanwhile, musical components like tone and dynamics often take a back seat to these core essentials.

Researchers define the brain’s ability to learn as limited to a specific number of units of attention. For instance, the conscious brain can only process 15 - 50 bits / second whereas the sensory system can process 11 million bits / second. That’s a ratio of 1 to 200,000 and explains why kinesthetically oriented tools that help maintain form in each hand are so successful.

Brain research also states that it takes three hours of repetition for the motor cortex to lock in a new movement pattern and two new patterns learned simultaneously can dilute this process and add minutes and even hours, weeks, or months to each undertaking.

Let’s look at our opening statement more closely in this context. Classroom learning encourages children to turn off sensory feedback and think in a left-brain, linear, sequential modality. During a music lesson, the child must switch cognitive processes in order to receive sufficient sensory feedback required to maintain correct form while simultaneously juggling tuning issues, sense memory, and the translation of symbols on a page into muscle moves. Even a straightforward task, like mastering a G major scale, demands right-brain thinking (mapping spatial relationships) and auditory memory (locking in the sound of the scale), as both motor cortices pump extremely different streams of information to the right and left hands. All this while trying to retain new rhythmic information. Most pedagogical systems, even before we understood the workings of the brain to the extent we now do, have wisely built skills in step-by-step single-focus routines to accommodate these complex processes.

Unfortunately, if tone and dynamics are left out of the early learning picture, they can tend to be ignored or added as peripheral and often mechanical skill later on. Those of you who’ve served as judges in your state juries know how we want to jump up and dance and break out the champagne when, after hearing a dozen-plus kids play the same scale, arpeggio and piece of music, one of them actually plays musically rather than just physically correctly.

Here are some fun approaches to tone and dynamics that won’t tax your student’s brains even further.

Photograph by Carey Weiss

Tone

Aside from the obvious — good form in the bow hand coupled with controlled bow motion across the strings—students have no preexisting criteria to compare or even understand the difference between a coarse or nasal sound versus a pleasing one. The shortage of decent-sounding fractional-sized instruments compounds this problem. And, as stated above, students are often too fixed on brain-to-muscle response and pitch to contend with such a complex issue.

There are several approaches you can use to help students focus on tone:

Use Gear. A microphone or a solid-body (electric) violin coupled with a mixer or preamp and an amp can come in handy to assist them. In all three cases, these components offer knobs that can control the amount of bass, mid-range, and treble that cooperatively generate the final tone coming through the amp. Nowadays, this equipment isn’t too expensive or can be bought used on Ebay. To learn more about these pieces of equipment, you can read "Get the Best Tone on Your Electric" on my NS Design blog “Lyonn’s Roar.” This issue includes an interview with D’Addario’s Fan Tao about how to choose strings. It can be a fun game for your students since they live in a world of technology. Invite volunteers to adjust the knobs and turn this exercise into a guessing game: Did Talitha boost the treble or the bass? How much does Sam need to turn up the midrange—2:00? 5:00? 9:45?—before it sounds too bright? What adjectives would the class use to describe the different sounds they hear?

Use Recordings. If you don’t have a budget to buy this equipment, try compiling snippets from various recordings of the same piece of music and invite them to describe the difference in tone between five cellists, violists, or violinists. Or play the same piece of music (preferably one they are presently learning) on several different instruments and ask them to describe the difference between the instruments.

Use Strings. Of course, the right set of strings can elevate a substandard instrument considerably. If your program can’t afford full sets of strings to use for ear training, try buying A strings from three or four different companies so that students can hear the difference on the same instrument. You might throw an old, dead string into the mix. This exercise provides an opportunity to teach them adjectives like shrill, nasal, bright, dark—or whatever other words you would like them to link to sound production—but you can also elicit descriptive words that include colors, feelings, and any other categories you can think of in addition.

Dynamics

We rely on markings on a page to convey the complex range of emotions a more advanced artist is able to incorporate into his or her performance. The range from pianissimo to double forte all too often doesn’t translate into expressive performance, so many string players never make that leap as they mature. Their dynamics sound correct but slightly mechanical.

I began to incorporate the use of imagery in the early 1980s while working on my book, You Are Your Instrument, to help alter mind-to-muscle response as a tool for dealing with unwanted side-effects from the chemistry of nervousness. I was delighted to discover a surprise benefit: greater expressiveness on the part of workshop participants in sessions nationwide. Images can be restricted to the five senses or extend beyond. As a warm-up, challenge students to play a simple phrase or open strings while seeing a specific color in their mind’s eye, smelling a particular scent, pretending they are standing in a pool of cold or hot water, walking in the rain, or any other range of images you care to experiment with.

Then you can experiment with images for either hand:

Imagine your right hand is a piece of flexible rubber

Pretend your left-hand fingers are bouncing on a trampoline

Envision standing barefoot in warm mud while the hair on your head reaches straight up to touch the sky

And so on. Once your students are warmed up, you can invite them to play a piece of music with images embedded into certain phrases. For instance:

Make measure 2 sound like a flock of birds taking off in flight

Start measure 4 as if it’s a train that’s coming around the bend and as you approach the end of the measure, the train will arrive and then head off into the distance

Make the final four measures sound like you can’t wait to get to the playground, etc.

Invite your students to invent images they think appropriate to certain phrases in whatever songs you’re currently rehearsing. You can also invite a number of volunteers to play the piece solo while focused on an image of his or her choosing and see if the class can guess correctly. For instance, a student might choose to focus on tasting lemon while playing, and, based on the experiments I’ve run, you’ll be delighted to find that many students will guess “tart,” “tangy,” “lime,” and other taste sensations that are very close to lemon.

Have you tried any of these techniques? Let us know! Stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We love to see teachers and students achieving their goals.

[topicprinter]

Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Robin of Luna Wellness, a brand that sells weighted blanketSome stats:Product: Weighted BlanketRevenue/mo: $250,000Started: December 2017Location: New YorkFounders: 2Employees: 2Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Hi! I’m Robin and I’m one of the co-founders of the Luna weighted blanket which uses the science of deep pressure stimulation to help sensory disorders, anxiety, stress and insomnia.What started out as a passion project in 2017 has now turned into a thriving business where we’ve already tripled our revenue from last year and are averaging $250K in revenue per month. We expect this number to increase 2-3X in the following months.imageWhat's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I’m a Dallas native and came up to the east coast to attend college at Cornell. I got my start in real estate/finance straight out of college, and am currently at a hedge fund in New York City (expected to quit this month).Being in this environment and industry resulted in anxiety in my daily life and began to affect my sleep quality to the point where I would wake up several times a night. I tried meditation, white noise machines, melatonin supplements, you name it.I was about to give up until I came across several studies on weighted blankets dating back to the 90s. There was an overwhelming amount of evidence pointing to the blanket’s effectiveness in reducing the participants levels of anxiety and improving their quality of sleep.I decided to give it a shot and for the first time in a few years I was not only able to fall asleep faster but also able to stay asleep throughout the night. Using it on the couch also made me feel more relaxed.I was hooked.It turns out more than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep, 45 percent report lying awake at night and 3 out of 4 Americans report experiencing at least one stress symptoms.I never imagined myself doing a startup but the market statistics were so compelling, I had to take a shot (we’re a sleepless, stressed out nation). And so, I set on a mission to help people like me sleep better and feel better.Without giving Luna my full and undivided attention, especially in these early stages, I couldn’t maximize and tighten up all aspects of the business. This resulted in poor inventory planning, which meant not getting enough blankets to those in need (I would get tons of emails asking when certain sizes would be back in stock).So while working at a hedge fund has had its perks in terms of compensation, it lacks freedom and personal fulfillment, things I feel can be achieved by working for myself. And it’s a really heartwarming feeling when I get emails from customers saying how the weighted blanket has helped them overcome a serious issue.Having this in the back of my head has made the jump a little easier.Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.At the moment, the only available blankets were poorly stitched, had issues with breathability (would wake up in sweats), used noisy heat plastic beads and came at a steep price of $200-$300. So I sought out to create a higher quality weighted blanket at an affordable price so it would be possible for everyone to access its benefits.I first reached out to a family friend who had connections in the textile manufacturing industry and fortunately they were able to connect us to someone who could create weighted blankets. Since this was a relatively (and still is) new industry, there was no set blueprint on how to create a weighted blanket.So we took the existing designs on the market and broke down what they did right and what needed improvements. The biggest issues were distribution of weight (beads would bunch up in the corner of the squares), breathability, stitching and bead leakage.We went through several variations and ended up fixing these problems by developing a proprietary filling process where the beads would be woven into the fabric so no shifting would occur, using a cool fabric that wicks moisture away to redirect heat from your body, utilizing double stitching to increase durability and sewing 5 layers within the blanket to prevent leaking.imageimageEarly prototypesWe also created our weighted blankets using Oeko-Tex certified materials. This is an even higher designation than organic, and ensures that no harmful chemicals were used at any stage of the manufacturing process so customers can sleep easier knowing their products are free from not-so-pretty additives, such as formaldehyde (which is commonly used as a finishing in wrinkle-free or wrinkle-resistant bedding).The design process took us several months of trial and error, mostly because the shipping times from China to the US were pretty long. Before finalizing the order, we decided that it was important to visit the manufacturers in person and work in real time to come up with the perfect weighted blanket.My experience thus far in my career has made me a firm believer in in-person meetings, whichallows us to put a face to a nameunderstand the intricacies of how the business operates andshow your commitment.Emails and calls just doesn’t offer the same connection and Chinese suppliers want to build actual relationships. During our visit, they drove us for 2 hours to the factory and another 2 hours back to our hotel, gave us extensive tours of the facilities, introduced us to their CEO who decided to have an hour long chat with us on his own time and even offered to take us out to lunch. It just shows the difference we have in terms of business culture in the US vs China.imageimageOur manufacturing partner’s facilityDescribe the process of launching the business.When I got back from the China trip, we immediately put in a small order of about 500 blankets. We didn’t want to seek out any sort of outside financing just yet, so we used what we had saved up (definitely glad I saved!) We decided that we would start Luna exclusively on Amazon as that seemed to be the fastest way to enter the market. Once we gained enough traction and sales through Amazon we would launch our own website.What’s so amazing about Amazon is the relative ease of bringing a product to the mass market. Storage, fulfillment, returns, and payment processing are handled by Amazon (with a price of course).With these processes already streamlined through Amazon, we spent the bulk of our time focusing on 2 major points, optimizing our listing, (solid SEO descriptions, high quality informational style photos, competitive pricing, customer reviews etc) and managing advertising campaigns on Amazon.At that time, the landscape of the weighted blanket market on Amazon was predominantly made up of Chinese sellers with lackluster listings coupled with broken English and cookie cutter product and lifestyle images.As an American based brand, we saw this as one of the biggest ways we would differentiate Luna.imageCompetitor photo taken from listingWhen our product arrived from China, the weighted blanket craze was in full effect and sales skyrocketed.We complimented this craze through emailing press outlets / bloggers who had already covered weighted blankets and this got us picked up by Healthline, Mens Journal, Man Repeller, Real Simple, POPSUGAR, Yahoo and more. NOTE: We probably emailed over 400 journalists and got a response from less than 10.We found out that if you have something that’s breaking news (groundbreaking invention) you should take that "breaking news" angle with the Entrepreneur, Inc, Fast Co, Forbes types of publications because they'll want to know how you got funded and they'll be more interested in the story of the entrepreneur behind the product.But when you’re pitching lifestyle publications (the ones that reach your target market), you need to really think about what’s in it for the audience and what will make their readers actually click on your story.JOURNALIST TEMPLATE(We tried using a subject line that would draw in the journalist while being relatable to our product. They get thousands of emails a day from people pitching their product so keep it short, relatable and interesting)Subject: Do you have issues sleeping?Subject: When was the last time you were super stressed out?Hi name,interesting fact about person or article etc (Wanted to run this by you and see if it'd be of interest since you're insert subject they’re writing about and how it connects with your product or story.)I’m the creator of (product), and can offer you a quote for an article on the following:Ex: ways to beat insomnia naturallyThis is where you can offer additional ideas for topicsMy advice would be perfect for your audience because I’m (list your expertise/background). (Quick 1-2 sentence about your story or product. KEEP IT SHORT AND INTERESTING!)You can learn more about us here ( link to website ).Will you be covering any (industry/product) stories anytime soon? If so, let me know. I’m also happy to send you a sample for you to try.Appreciate your time!Best,(Name)PS - With (holiday/event/topical thing) around the corner, I know a story relating to (product) would be a hit for your audience.Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?Since launching, Amazon is still our main source of revenue. The majority of our marketing spends goes into Amazon ads where we structure our campaigns into three categories (Automatic, Research and High-performing).When launching a new product, we’ll start off with an automatic campaign to source potential keywords. We started off with a budget of $30 a day and we’ll run this campaign. After this period of time, we’ll take the best performing keywords that have a CTR greater than 6% and an ACOS (adspend / sales attributed to that ad) that’s lower than our product margin and put them into our research campaign.These keywords will be added as a broad search term in order to generate additional long tail keywords and this process helps us narrow down the winning keywords. These are then put into the “High-performing” campaign that contains our best performing keywords.Since launching Luna, we have received an overwhelming amount of warm and heartfelt emails from buyers letting us know how much they love our product and how it has changed their and their loved ones sleep quality. Buyers that suffered tragedies, suffer from an array of anxiety and depression issues have reached out to us letting us know how the Luna blanket has helped them. These emails are single handedly the most rewarding part of Luna.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?We started out with small orders of about $10,000 leaving us with 25% margin, but over the course of these 2 years, we have developed a strong relationship with our manufacturer and upped our order quantity by 10x. Today, we’re seeing close to 40% margins.Believe it or not, we’re still trying to catch up with the demand on Amazon, and are consistently placing much larger orders compared to our previous ones. To accommodate these orders, we’ve turned to financing companies like Kickpay and Clearbanc due to a 2 week lag in the payout schedule on Amazon (and for new sellers they hold a 2 week rolling reserve) which can really hurt a business’s cash flow. That being said, we have plans to launch more blanket sizes as well as additional sleep related products (pillows, regular comforters, mattresses) to expand our product into a brand not just solely focused on Amazon.We only run Amazon sponsored product and brand ads and that currently is about 10% of our monthly revenue. We find product / category targeting as well as retargeting ads to be very expensive. If you have access to AMS (Amazon Marketing Services) I would suggest testing out product display ads as that’s been one of our ads with the lowest ACoS (Advertising cost of sales: Cost spent on ads / sales generated from ads).Our current breakdown of sales is about 90% from Amazon and 10% from our website, and plan on driving more traffic to our website via Google, FB, IG ads, influencers and partnerships with complementary brands. We’re in talks with a subscription box that is doing a dedicated box for sleep and we’re really excited to see that go live!Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?With Luna, the biggest takeaway that we had was the importance of inventory planning and management. It is absolutely a delicate line between ordering too much or too little, and when manufacturing in and shipping from China, there are a lot of issues that you need to take into account when planning lead times. Through trial and error (like missing out on the holiday season...ouch!) we learned to balance our orders and plan out logistically the best process for us. There’s a period of time (usually Q4) when freight costs and amazon storage fees will increase substantially so it’s smart to factor that into your inventory planning. Print out a schedule of Chinese holidays in order to anticipate any delays to your manufacturing schedule as there’s a lot you may not be aware of (Dragon Boat Festival, Tomb Sweeping Festival).Be wary of Chinese manufacturers and keep constant communication. A lot of the time, their best customers are domestic and they’re placing larger quantity orders. This is the reality and the factories revolve around their Chinese customers. When that happens, they may try to improve things or domestic customers might want to change something on their mold or circuits and they’ll go ahead and do that without consulting you first. This can really screws things up when we develop our packaging or product copy. For example, one time our manufacturer changed the size of our packaging without telling us and this place us in an “Oversize” category on Amazon which meant higher fees. So always be on your toes.You get what you pay for. These factories have to turn a profit so don’t squeeze them till the last drop because they will start cutting corners. We visited 10 other manufacturers before settling on ours and were extremely tempted in selecting them solely based on price and because their samples looked great (in retrospect, all the premade samples looked great because they could create them to the highest standard). We realized just looking at samples wouldn’t reflect the true quality of the product so we asked for some of the brands they manufactured and did test orders. As expected, the test orders that we received ended up being really low quality and we learned our lesson.imageTest order from low cost manufacturerTell the factory you are sending an inspector during production. Even if you aren’t, they’ll be producing to the standard where they’re expecting an inspector to come and check out the products. It’s also EXTREMELY important to count the quantity that’s actually shipping out. If your commercial invoice & packing list list 500 cartons, you better make sure that you’re sending 500 cartons to the US. Not 499, not 501, 500.Any shortage or overage will require you to file something called a Manifest Discrepancy Report to re-declare your goods so they can be released. This report takes 7-10 business days (but one time took up to 30 days for us) and failure to do so can result in penalties or seizure of your goods. Our first supplier sent about 6/8 shipments where there was a count discrepancy causing significant delays and lost sales (we called it quits after the 8th shipment). COUNT YOUR GOODS!What platform/tools do you use for your business?Since currently there are only 2 of us at Luna, we look toward outside platforms to plan inventory, process payments, and fulfill our goods. Inventory Planner has been a great tool in ensuring we don’t miss out on the holiday season rush!Shopify, Flexport, Kickpay, and Quickbooks are all easy to use and relatively inexpensive tools to consider if you are a small business.What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. If you’re still on the fence about starting your own business, pick this book up and it will rock your world.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?Make sure you create a product that customers NEED and has SUSTAINABLE, HEALTHY margins so you can compete with your competitors. If you can’t meet these two criteria, then find another product, there’s tons out there.Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?While Luna is still a young company, it is growing at an exponential rate and we definitely see bringing on strategic hires in the next couple years specifically in the design & digital marketing fields.Where can we go to learn more?Instagram: www.instagram.com/luEmail: Robin@lunablanket.comIf you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos, tools, books, and other data.For more interviews, check out r/starter_story - I post new stories there daily.Interested in sharing your own story? Send me a PM