Confessions of an online biodiesel retailer.

This month I will celebrate the year mark for starting my business.
Whew! What an incredible year it's been too!

How It All Started

I first started learning about biodiesel due to my father purchasing a diesel chevette w/ an Isuzu Diesel engine in it. From there I researched the thing on the net, dug around deeper & found biodiesel.

More on that here:
http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/blog/2006/01/me-biodiesel-how-it-all-started.html

From there I began my saga of building a biodiesel processor.

You can see pics of the first one I built (w/ my dad) here:
http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/photogalleries.php#firsprocessor

I based it roughly on a processor build by my good friend Jack Jones.

His unit is here:
http://www.riverstonesbiodiesel.com/appleseed

As I was building it I began making lot's & lots of trips to the local hardware store.

I couldn't believe the high number of trips I spent going back & forth & figured, "Ya know, I bet there's a better way!" And then the business idea came to be.

I figured that if I was starting to get annoyed by all those trips, several people out there were too. So, w/ a little luck & a little guts (ok, a lot of gus), I started Utah Biodiesel Supply.

My first product (if I remember right) was a 1/2" thermometer.


I had done some researching and found a good source for these & threw the thing up on a cheesy website.

Well, from there things just grew & grew until you see what I have today.
At last count I have well over 100+ products, all biodiesel related and all stuff I've either used or have tested with other biodiesel friends.

It's amazing! When I started I thought maybe it'd bring in a few extra dollars to pay for my hobby, but what's occurred is an incredible phenomenon of demand. Because of the business, I've made friends I never would've ever known before. I think I'm still the only Biodiesel Supplies Retailer selling Appleseed Style stuff that'll sell internationally so I've made friends all over the world.

It's a lot of fun.

Just Some Interesting, Useless Facts
1- Canada is by far the hardest "international" place to ship to.
Don't ask me why. I can't explain it. It just is.

You see, I can get a package to the England, Australia, Ireland, or some other countries QUICKER than I can get it to Canada. Seriously! I can get something to Ireland in 3-5 days, yet it STILL takes 10-15 day's to get anything across that damned Canadian/US border.

I don't know if it's the border guards being overzealous or what, but it literally takes an eternity to ship stuff up there. Even if I ship it expedited. That damn border slows stuff down incredibly!

Whenever I see a Canadian order come through I just grit my teeth & pray it gets to it's destination in a reasonable amount of time. I pretty much take what the postal service estimates and add a good 10 day's to it.

2- Australia Must Like Thermometers
My most common "international order" is usually to Australia or to the UK and it's for my 1/2" Thermometer. I've sold several to those two countries and get rave reviews on them from folks there. I don't know if they just can't get them there or what, but they sure sell well for me to there.

3- I LOVE the US Postal Service!
I know that UPS, DHL, & Fed-Ex are king in other peoples books for shipping stuff, but the United States Postal Service is my best friend! I can ship so easily using Priority Mail that it still amazes me. My customer's just love it too.

I can get an order in, pack the thing up US Priority, and have it on someone's doorstep within 2 days. It just floors people. I just love the ability to be able to do it. It keeps people coming back for more and keeps me busy shipping.

4- There's a heck of a lot of "homemade processors" being built out there
I sell an amazing amount of plumbing fittings.
http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/plumbingfittings.php

When I first started the site it was my full intention to get a kit that folks could order. As I kept getting side-tracked and delayed (still don't have the kit up on the site yet---yes, it's still coming) I had collected a ton of plumbing fittings and figured, "Well, since I've got these, I may as well try to sell em!"

They've been a raving success! Because I don't "pre-fit" the fittings into a certain setup, it allows folks incredible flexibility in the processors they make using my supplies. And, it gives them a one-stop shopping experience.

5- Shipping is a pain in the butt
Talk to any of the other biodiesel retailers online and get deep into their heads and they'll all tell you that the most tedious part of the business is shipping. Getting all those orders into boxes, packed right, and out the door in a timely manner can be a logistical nightmare sometimes. Especially when you're unsure what you just put in a box and sealed it with tape.

When I first started the business, it was kind of a disorganized mess, but now I've got everything in "pick stations" in boxed setups and can pretty much pull an order fairly quickly and extremely accurately and still get it out the door on time.

6- Orbit's Arizona Misting Kits Rock!
I sell these things like crazy! Every now & then one comes back because Orbit screwed up on their assembly line, but for the most part these things are just incredible!

And now for more useless trivia!

The history behind where some of the products came from.

As I said earlier, I won't sell something unless I feel confident about it. Some of the stuff I sell though have interesting stories on how they came to be listed on my site.

1- The Thermometer's.


http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/thermometer.php
When I built my first processor, my dad had an idea for a thermometer. His idea was to find a thermometer that could be directly mounted to the plumbing instead of having the auto water temp gauges (I never did like those things). So, he ran across this really cool thermometer somewhere (I don't remember where) that had this "sink" that it set in. The thing had to be "sweat fitted" into the plumbing, but it was really cool.

Well, I thought the thing was just awesome so with some digging I sourced out a reliable source for these things. And, the 1/2" Thermomter for Biodiesel Processors was born!

2- The Orbit Arizona Misting Kits


http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/washingsupplies.php#orbit
One day on my visit out to Jack Jones place (the guy that got me started in Biodiesel), I noticed a really cool misting kit he had. He showed it to me and I thought it was just the coolest thing in the world.

I asked him where he got it & he said Home Depot. So, off to my local Home Depot I went. I picked one up & just HAD to try it out.

I installed it on our processor and it did an incredible job!



From there I decided I wanted to build a portable wash tank so I built one and incorporated a set of misters into it.

It worked REALLY well! Well, one thing led to another, Rick of B100 Supply beat me to the punch in offering them as a product, but eventually I got them listed and they've done well since.

3- The "Got Biodiesel" Decal

http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/biodieseldecals.php#gotbiodiesel

Somewhere in the back of my head I got an idea one day to make a Got Biodiesel decal using the same font as the Got Milk campaign.

I already was carrying my circular Got Biodiesel? decal

but I really wanted one that matched the font of the Got Milk.

Well, all I can say is Damn I Love Google!
With a bit of deep searching I found the font and together, with my awesome decal vendor, we created the Got Biodiesel? decal in the famous font.

4- All The Other Decals
"A long long time ago, I can still remember...."
Ahh....good song (Billy Joel's Piano Man).
Anyway, as the song say's, a long time ago Jack Jones and I did a Live Green festival

For the festival, Jack bought a bunch of biodiesel related decals from a guy out of Canada. Well, they didn't sell so well at the festival (it was our own fault, we didn't display them right) and he got stuck w/ a bunch of them. I offered to buy the rest of them from him and got permission from the guy he bought them from to sell them and my decal section was born!

I've since created several custom decals that are exclusive to my site only and offer a variety of way's for folks to brag about biodiesel.

5- The Cafe Press Bumper Sticker Store
http://www.cafepress.com/utahbdsupply
Shortly after I got into biodiesel, I became involved with a group of fellow biodieseler's in Utah (including Jack Jones). Together we decided to form a Biodiesel Cooperative and with enough blood, sweat, & tears, the Utah Biodiesel Cooperative was born!

Jack & I helped develop much of the content that still lives on their website.
(You'll see my name plastered all over the thing...what can I say? I'm big into Biodiesel!)

Anyway, as part of a way to raise funds for the coop, Jack ran across this thing called Cafe Press online. It allowed you to create your own image files and upload them to a customized store for a small fee and sell your designs really quickly!
We started with the idea but it never really went anywhere with the coop.

We even created a store there but never did much with it.
http://www.cafepress.com/utahbiodiesel

Well, I decided I'd give it a try w/ my online business and so I started one up.
With a little help from the Biodiesel & SVO Bumper Sticker Contest I started over an Infopop and a little creativity on my side, I created a few bumper stickers & threw em up.

Well, out of that start, I've now got well over 100+ bumper stickers and am now expanding into T-Shirts, Hats, License Surrounds, and I just started a new section devoted to SVO Bumper Stickers.

6- The Biodiesel Samples

http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/biodieselsamples.php

As part of the Live Green festival I participated in, Jack Jones made a bunch of samples of Biodiesel from various oils for the event. We had a bunch left over, so I offered to throw them up on my site. They didnt' sell to quickly, but over time I sold all of the different varieties we created and now just sell straight biodiesel made from waste veggie oil (it was expensive to make all the other styles).

Well, that's a bit of the corny history behind some of the products I carry.

The rest of them have similar stories too. If you REALLY want to know, just email me about any of them & I'll tell you their history.

So, that's all for now...it's late & I probably ought to go hit the hay...gotta head to "The Day Job" tomorrow.

-Graydon
The Rabid Biodiesel Nut