Tag Archives: food

June 19th – June 24th 2012

Posted on by

I haven’t quite figured out how comprehensive to be on this blog. This post has some silly things like an outing to Dollar Tree and Walmart (but to be fair the kids are so cute when they push a shopping cart). After some experimenting I’ve decided to do most of the text as captions. I’ve also opted to write everything from a third person point of view (to keep things consistent when other start adding posts).

Gabe celebrated his 5th birthday! In the morning he opened his presents. He got a bunch of cool stuff from his parents, siblings, grandparents and greatgrandma! In the afternoon he had a party with his friends. Gabe really likes being five.

On Friday Cam went to Premier Performance to dyno test his car in preparation for his upcoming Corvette adventures. 635rwhp- less than expected. But there’s nowhere to go but up!

Cam went to Bubs’ LAN party on Friday evening (Bubs works with Cam at Blade HQ). Now that a lot of the guys have wives there was a wonderful assortment of food! Cam was sad he had to leave early, but he had a Father and son activity that night.

Instead of going on a Father & Son camping trip Michael & Cam decided to go see Avengers at 9:45!  (Gabe got to go too, but didn’t make it through the movie).

Meanwhile the girls were at home having a teas party with real tea & desserts.

A couple times a month the Hughes Family goes to the Asian Buffet in American Fork. Who gets fries at a Chinese restaurant? Our kids!

Cam got out his special markers and spent some time drawing with Claire. What a nice flamingo! Maybe Claire will grow up and become an artist.

Later Cam set up a Mini LAN game of Quake 3 and taught Michael how to play. A creative  way to combat the withdrawal from earlier in the week, but Mike will need some extra practice to beat Dad.

Shopping with kids is always some weird kind of adorable nightmare. How can so much junk be so important? To be fair, some of the junk in the second picture is Mom’s.

The end of the week also brought some sickness- everyone came down with a cold. But there were still things to do! Ian Watson got back from his mission and had his homecoming today. We went to his church to hear him speak & then went to his family’s house afterwards to catch up. Welcome back Ian!

Ever the fighters Dad and the kids used what remained of their energy to play a few rounds of Bomberman (on a TurboGrafx 16 Emulator- Nerdy!)

Hopefully next week will be a little slower- we could all use some rest!

 

Date Night

Posted on by

Sometimes our kids get mad when we go out. We try and explain that when mommy and daddy are friends the odds are much better that the family will be happier. Since summer is nearly here and school is out, our babysitter can stay extra late. So, we decided to cram in as much date as possible tonight.

First we hit up Gold’S Gym to play some racquetball. Fran’s getting better- right now we’re working on not being afraid of the ball.

Next we swung over to the Lehi legacy center to use their indoor track. If you’re looking for a nice indoor place to run I think their track is great. We were short on time (and slightly starving) so we only did about a mile and half.

We ate at Burger King. Our eyes might have been bigger than our stomachs. To our credit we did eat most of the food.

Then it was off to Men in Black III. I read some reviews that made me apprehensive about the movie butt I thought it was really good! I liked it better than the first two- I’d probably even go see it again (sometimes you have to watch time travel movies twice).

We made it home around midnight (having left at around 6:45). All in all an excellent action packed date!

Posted by Cam

Terrible Short Stories for Children

Posted on by

I’ve always thought the idea of adult themes presented in a children’s book format was amusing. These are some awful little tidbits that I’ve written here and there over the years. Most are pretty bad, but there are some gems. I present to you Terrible Short Stories for Children

The Little Boy with too Much to Do.

Adam had too much to do! He couldn’t finish everything so he flung himself from a cliff.

The Little lost Girl

Gretchen was lost in the mall. She had wandered away from her mother. She cried and cried until a nice man said, “Come with me, I’ll drive you home to your house.” Gretchen went with the man and no one ever saw her again.

The Bad Little Dog

Pepper was a bad little dog. He would not sit, he would not roll over and he begged at the dinner table. “I will take Pepper on a trip, and when we come back he will be a good dog.” Later, Father came home but no one saw Pepper. The next night at dinner Father said, “Will someone please pass me Pepper?”

The Bird who Could Not Fly.

Little Bobbie Robin sat in his nest. He could not fly. He decided he must learn, so he hopped out of his nest and jumped. Little Bobbie Robin could not fly.

The Seed that could not Grow

Once there was a little seed. A bird ate it and pooped it out on some rocks. It could not grow.

The Fat Little Cow

There was a farmer who had a fat little cow. Each day he went to see the cow and told her how beautiful she was. He said, “You are the fattest most beautiful cow there ever was!” The cow felt very good and ate as much as she could so she would become even fatter for the farmer. Soon the little cow was so fat she could not walk. The Farmer said, “You are the most amazing cow I have ever seen!” The cow was very happy. Until the Farmer killed and ate her.

The Bad Teacher

Barney’s teacher was bad. She made Barney learn to add and subtract, divide and multiply. She made Barney learn the alphabet and she forced him to read and write. Barney grew up and became a successful business man. When he was rich enough he hired high powered lawyers to sue his bad teacher for ruining his life.

The Little Fish

There lived a little fish in a little pond. He had just learned to swim. One day he was caught by a hook. A boy-scout pulled him from his warm home and danced about gleefully. The boy-scouts ate the little fish.

The Race

Paul ran as hard as he could. He finished last. His father came over to him and said, “It is okay that you did not win. Your brothers are better than you and they will win.”

Three Wishes

Bob found a magic lamp while he was on vacation. The Genie inside said I will give you three wishes. Bob said, “I wish I knew what to wish for! And I wish I was home so I could show my friends. No, I wish I hadn’t wished that.” The Genie slapped Bob.

The Boy Who Cried Turtle

The Wade Family went to the Beach. “Turtle!” said little Timmy Wade. No one looked because Timmy saw Turtles everywhere. The Turtle climbed out of the sea and ate Timmy.

Healthy

Mr. Riggs worked out every day. He ran five miles, he lifted weights for hours and he swam and swam. He only ate healthy foods- never anything he liked. He never had time for anything fun. But he always said, “I’m taking care of myself now so I can enjoy my family when I’m old!” The doctor said Mr. Riggs was in perfect health. A truck hitMr.Riggs and he died.

Ice Cream

Mommy brought home ice cream for dessert. She said if we ate all our vegetables we could have some. Dad ate ice cream before he ate his vegetables. Dad said, “When you are a Dad you can eat what you want.” When I am a Dad I will eat kittens and  bunnies.

Baby Lewis Learns to Talk

Baby Lewis was learning to talk. “Come on! You can do it” said Mommy. “Come on! You can do it!” said Daddy. They practiced long and hard, every day for months. Baby Lewis learned how to talk! “Quiet!” said Mommy. “Shhhh!!” said Daddy.

The Bike Story

John had a brand new bike. He had worked hard and saved his money for two years to buy it. Each day he washed and waxed his new bike. He rode it around the neighborhood each afternoon. Every night John carefully put his bike under the porch and locked it to a post. John’s bike was his favorite thing in the whole world. One day John was hungry and he traded his bike for a cookie.

The Lonely Tree

Billy was an oak tree. He was all alone. One day a forest elf said he could have a wish. Billy clapped his branches together. “I wish for a friend!” The forest elf said he would grant the wish. The next day a man came into the woods and walked up to Billy. “I am your friend!” he said. He took out his ax and chopped Billy down.

Best Friends

Pete and Joe were best friends. Where Pete went Joe went. Where Joe went Pete went. They played tag, hide and seek, they ran and laughed. Later that day Pete found a new best friend named Dave.

The Lamp Lie

Lucy was scared. She had broken her mom’s favorite lamp. When mommy saw the lamp she was very sad. Mommy asked Lucy, “Do you know who broke my lamp?” Lucy shook her head. She felt bad inside. When Daddy came home he said, “Do you know who broke mommy’s lamp?” Lucy shook her head. She felt bad inside again. Lucy lied more and more and eventually the bad feeling went away

Mark’s Teeth

Mark would not brush his teeth. His mom told him they would rot and turn green. Mark would not brush his teeth. His Dad told him they would smell bad and turn yellow. Mark would not brush his teeth. His Brother told him they would get cavities and turn gray. . Mark would not brush his teeth. His sister said they would decay and turn brown.. Mark would not brush his teeth. And nothing anyone said came true. Mark’s teeth turned black and fell out.

The Newspaper

Mr. Fuller was not happy. Each day his newspaper was thrown into his grass. Mr. Fuller stopped the paper boy and yelled at him. He told the paperboy to stop throwing the newspaper in the grass. Mr. Fuller was not happy. Each day the newspaper was thrown through his window.

 Marvin’s TV

Marvin liked to watch TV. And the TV liked to watch Marvin. One day Marvin went to turn the TV off and the TV turned Marvin off.

Eggs and Jesus. Easter 2012.

Posted on by

Easter rocks. No, Easter eggs. Some holidays I really love and Easter is somewhere near the top for me. Maybe it’s the rascally rabbit that lays multicolored eggs. Maybe it’s the Hershey milk chocolate eggs that you can only buy this time of year (which is good, because I eat so many I get sick). Or maybe it’s the mad dash to find hidden eggs and the delighted screams of my children. It probably also has something to do with the resurrection of Christ (yeah for resurrection!).

This year we used food coloring instead of a egg dying kit (those pellets suck). Water, 5-10 drops of food coloring, a tablespoon of vinegar and we were in business. I think the eggs turned out really nice this year- super bright and very consistent. Egg dying is one of those things that your kids “help” with and it makes it about one hundred times harder. But nothing makes those little munchkins smile like checking to see if the egg is actually changing color. And then when the eggs are done it’s critical to mix all the colors together to “see what happens” (Maybe it will make gold! Oh… no, no gold).

One the dying festivities were complete we headed off to church for some Easter goodness. We should think about our savior each day, but that’s really hard (especially for me). Easter is a great reminder of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection. It’s a chance for us to focus on the real meaning of Easter and  feast on something that we won’t regret (like those dang eggs).  I believe in Christ, his sacrifice and in God’s plan for us and I publicly accept Christ as my savior. Oh, hey- sorry! Did I make you uncomfortable or offend you? You non-religious reading types who despise this kind of stuff can go to hell (that is funny on so many levels!).

After the spiritual nourishment we headed home for the hunt. I wish I could say that there was some profound meaning behind hiding eggs that related to the real meaning of Easter but I’m at a total loss. Still it’s a blast. We hid the colored eggs and about a million chocolate eggs too. Intoxicated by the hunt, the kids scrambled all over often missing what was right in front of them. Laughter, tears and a few fights later I was certain we had done Easter just about right.

Cam Hughes

Healthcare Reform – August 2011

Posted on by

With regards to weight loss things are going really well. As I write this I’m currently south of 220 and I actually weigh less than when I got married. I’m wearing XL shirts again, my shorts have a 36″ waist and I fit perfectly into my old mission suit. Plus I can run further and faster than ever before.

This journey hasn’t been quick or easy and there’s still a ways to go (probably another 20 pounds or so) but this has been an adventure I will never forget. Mental torture, physical injuries, unyeliding temptation and “impossible” obstables that slowly gave way to adaptive strategies, discovered courage, practiced discipline, clarity, focus, relentless perseverance and unrelenting dedication. In losing myself I have found myself.

Here are some of my personal insights and thoughts about my weight loss experience.

The “Secret” : Super simple-  Change your behavior, hold yourself accountable and don’t stop. Obviously whatever I had been doing had gotten me to the point where I was nearly 300 pounds. Looking back it’s easy to see what it was. 70 and 80 hour work weeks, neglecting any form of physical activity, an extra meal each night at McDonald’s and copious amounts of candy, ice cream and donuts. I was probably eating about 4000+ calories each day.

So I chose to change. It was a simple change at first ( “eat less”). I tried to cut out the extra meals and the snacking. Then I figured out how many calories I was actually eating and how many calories I should be eating. Next I started eating less than I needed (to create a calorie deficit- that’s how you lose weight). I began to count calories to hold myself accountable. Eventually I added simple exercises (walking) to burn more calories and improve my overall health.  I kept track of all my exercise (again to hold myself accountable). Overtime I increased the duration and intensity of my exercise while maintaining my dietary changes. If I had a bad day, I tried again. I never quit. And slowly but surely the weight fell off.

Physical Limitations : One of the things I really struggled with was my body’s inability to do what I felt like it should be doing. Walking gave me blisters, severe chaffing  and hurt my back. Running caused incredibly painful shin splints and ankle issues. Lifting weights caused me joint problems. The discomfort made me want to quit frequently.

In retrospect, I feel like there will always be some initial discomfort, but it would have been better to slow things way down. If you can’t run after a month then you can’t run after a month!  I shouldn’t have tried to run so fast, lift so much and push so hard- it’s not a race. Do I regret the way I did it? Ultimately no, because it worked for me. But I think I made it harder than it needed to be. But that’s kind of my style. [Incidentally most of the physical discomfort is gone at this point].

Also, regarding physical limitations- when I started I don’t think I understood what kind of shape I was in. When I was overweight I had a skewed mental image of myself. Looking at back at pictures of myself from 2007  (I’ll show a few below) I can honestly say that I didn’t know I looked like that. Now when I look at 2007 Cam I think, “Well duh! Of course you couldn’t run an 8 minute mile!” Over time I have learned my limitations- when to push and when to ease up.

Mental Health : The very hardest part of changing was the mental anguish.  Food has always been emotionally satisfying for me. In the past when I was sad I ate. When I was stressed out I ate. And when I was happy- you guessed it- I ate.  And I loved to stuff my face in general. That was satisfying too. I would get the largest sandwich or the biggest ice cream and eat it all- whether I was full or not didn’t matter. When that lifestyle ended my mind reeled with dissatisfaction. I felt deprived and unhappy when I coudn’t have the food I craved.  I felt like I was being robbed of what was mine.

A  healthy relationship with food was critical to my success. I found balance by creating a mentally satisfying challenge. I allotted myself 2000 calories a day (some to meals and some to treats). The gratification of winning the challenge of sticking to a sub 2000 calories a day diet offset my feelings of deprivation. Slowly (it took many months) I overcame my emotional addiction to eating. When I was stressed out or feeling bad I started to exercise instead and it always made me feel better and there was never any guilt afterward.  Over time I learned that I could eat smaller portions and still feel satisfied. I also learned that a balanced diet can include some treats (although some days I don’t even feel like one).

Another thing that I initially struggled with were feelings of failure. Everyone who starts a diet or exercise program begins with the thought, “I can do this.” But the reality for me was that I failed a lot. And it’s mentally challenging to keep trying after repeated failures. But no matter how bad I felt, or how far I fell I kept trying and never quit. Eventually I realized that there would always be failures and set backs, but if I never gave up and set reasonable goals I would come out ahead in the end. Even now I slip up (eat too much, miss a day or exercise, etc) but I never beat myself up because, overall, I’m doing great.

Another issue for me was self image. The brain is a tricky thing! Like I mentioned before, when I look back at the 2007 pictures of myself I’m shocked. When I look at myself in the mirror now I honestly see the same guy I remember seeing when I looked in the mirror back in 2007.  I’m pretty sure my brain was trying to protect me, “You’re fine! You look good! No need to worry!” it told me. As I made progress it was important to keep track of my weight and use photos so I could see my progress. That made it real and positively reinforced my efforts. Additionally, up until recently, I was pretty sure I felt the same now as I had then. But an honest analysis led me to conclude I’m more energetic, happier, friendly, helpful, mobile and confident. It’s still difficult to shift my mental self image!

There are a few general “mental health” benefits that have come from my journey, as well. I feel a great deal of clarity and balance these days. Sure I’m still a little moody (always have been), but I think less so than before. Additionally I feel like I have more mental discipline and focus. And hey, with more blood going to my brain I may actually be smarter than before  too.

Nutrition : I confess that I haven’t put a great deal of effort into the nutritional aspects of my diet, but I have gained some insights. My primary rule was 2000 calories a day and sometimes I used them all on junk (always a mistake). Other days I used them all on healthy and balanced carbs and proteins (never a mistake). What worked best for me was eating things I enjoyed and making sure that I felt full.

Here are a few other things that I’ve learned. 1) Hydration is essential- you never skip water because you’re afraid to gain weight! If you run for ten miles sometimes you need more than water. 2) You need some fats. Don’t be afraid of them! 3) Watch out for foods with a lot of sodium- it can make you bloated and sluggish. 4) Proteins will make you feel full the longest. You can get protein from sources other than meat. 5) Vegetables are low calorie, high fiber, nutritional super foods. Find a way to cook them so they you enjoy them! Add some butter, it’s okay!  6) Eat carbs before exercise and proteins after exercise. 7) Avoid things like hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, etc. Even if you don’t think they’ll hurt you avoiding things that have them will improve your diet. 8 ) You can eat treats (aka “junk food”) as long as you don’t overeat to consume them or burn off the extra calories with additional exercise. 9) Eating at home is healthier than eating out. You can control portions better and you know what you’re eating.  10) Who you hang out with (family, friends) impacts your nutrition.  11) Listen to your body. It can actually tell you what it needs. If you think you’re missing something it’s okay to take a multi-viamin.

Exercise :  I feel like I touched on this a bit in “physical limitations” but I wanted to mention a few other things I learned 1) You never “work through the pain.” If something hurts (I mean really hurts) then back off and find an exercise that doesn’t cause you discomfort.  2) You can’t target an area on the body for weight loss. Weight comes off like it goes on. My stomach was the first thing that got fat and it will be the last thing to get thin! C’est la vie!  3) Exercise is important when you’re loosing weight because you don’t want the weight you lose to be muscle. 4) Never be discouraged by what you can’t do. Set realistic goals and find programs online to follow and you’ll be surprised by what you can do. 5) You really don’t need to join a gym to exercise. Start at home. Start with nothing. Once you get serious upgrade your equipment.

Sustainability : What I didn’t realize initially is that I wasn’t just trying to “diet.” In other words, my goal wasn’t just to lose weight; I wanted to change my life. I didn’t want to gain back the weight I lost. And what I learned to do was make changes that I could live with for the rest of my life. If you make changes that you can’t live with you’ll start to fail more often than you succeed.

Some examples of lifestyle changes: 1) I used to sit in my chair and eat ice cream while I watched TV but now I exercise while I watch my shows. 2) I used to get combo meals at burger joints but now I always skip the fries. 3) Instead of playing video games with my kids we jump on the trampoline. 4) When I start to feel full I simply stop eating and save the rest of the food. 5)  I switched out “bad” comfort foods for healthier alternatives:

A) SoBe Lifewater (0 calories, I drink this instead of soda). B) Arctic Zero (150 calorie one pint protein shake in ice cream form). C) Tofo Shirataki noodles (40 calories in a bag, great in stir-fry!).

Support: One other thing that’s critical to successful change is support. In my case my wife was a huge support. She encouraged me to keep going when I was discouraged, cooked me special meals, cleared my schedule so I had time to exercise and always tried to stay positive. So a huge “thank you!” to my wonderful wife. If you want your lifestyle change to stick then you have to be around people who share the same lifestyle or who willingly accommodate and support yours.

My Next Goal : As I mentioned before I have about another 20 pounds I’d like to lose. That weight will be the hardest- it’s my midsection and moobs and my body doesn’t want to give that weight up without a fight. But it’s going to get a fight alright!  I’m planning to start packing on some muscle in the next month or so and I’m working toward my 6 minute mile. I also want to focus some time on learning more about nutrition and human physiology. And then I’m going to run 21 back to back marathons (No, not really).

Epilogue : Here are a couple pictures of me. First one is 2007 (me & Gabe) and the second one is this past month (also me and Gabe). I have a jawline! [My hair was really falling out back in 2007. I hopped on Propecia in 2008 and it’s really made a difference. Also, in the last four months my hair seems to have thickened up a bit more,  possibly a result of my improved diet. Anyway, that’s why I have more hair now.]

The picture below on the left was also taken in 2007 (I was probably about 290 pounds).  The picture on the right was this past week at the same park (218 pounds). Ideally I would have worn the same shirt…but it doesn’t fit anymore.

Unless you have been on a journey like this you can’t really understand everything that’s involved (it’s very complex). There’s pain and joy, regret but redemption and it’s heartbreaking yet breathtaking. My journey is not over yet, but when I look back I’m so pleased I’ve made it this far. At the onset the path seemed impossible, but now, standing on the path looking back, I feel like I can do anything.

Posted by Cam, August 8, 2011

Update 12/3/2017: I got fat again the year following this post. As far as I can tell I tipped the scales at an impressive 291 almost exactly four years ago. However, I’m pleased to report that I’m back down to about 215 now and feeling good!

Hong Kong Teahouse

Posted on by

I think I’ve eaten at every Chinese, Thai and Sushi restaurant in Utah Valley. When Fran announced that she wanted roast duck and that we had to go to Salt Lake to get it I was delighted. Nothing like expanding one’s culinary horizons. Her quest took us to the  Hong Kong Tea House in downtown Salt Lake. I have to admit that my initial impression wasn’t overly positive, but I’m willing to try any Chinese restaurant. And then I saw the daily special: ribeye steak stir fry. Fran got her duck, an order of bok choy and some shark fin soup.

The food presentation was captivating and the taste was extraordinary. The ribeye stir fry has been, by far, one of the best meals I’ve eaten in years. I asked about the availability and, sadly, it comes and goes (you can call ahead if you’d committed to this particular dish). If anyone is looking for a new Chinese food experience I’d readily recommend Hong Kong Tea House.

Posted April 13, 2011 by Cam Hughes

The Truth About Cooties

Posted on by

The Tuth about Cooties

Freddy Finkerboot’s older brother had warned him about Cooties.
“When girls turn about ten or so they start producing cooties. They’re like termites, but they eat boys, not wood. Get too close to a girl and wham! The cooties will jump onto you and it’s over.”

Those words echoed in Freddy’s mind as he walked into his classroom. Somehow things seemed less care free this year… something was … “Hi Freddy! Good to see you again!” said Samantha. Freddy let out a scream.

“Just stay back! I know all about you. You won’t get me.” Freddy decided the cooties would probably attack through his mouth so he covered it. “Uhm noph gwing thoo ghet coodephs!” he yelled. Samantha rolled her eyes and walked over to talk to Wally.

Didn’t Wally know about cooties? Hadn’t anyone told him? Freddy had to think fast to save him. He picked up a bottle of glue from a desk and threw it toward the infested cootie girl. Whack! That would show cooties that they couldn’t mess with boys!

Apparently principals didn’t understand about cooties. “They’re everywhere, and if we get to close then ba-zing! We’re gonners!” explained Freddy.

Principal Lottahooey sighed. “Freddy, I think you should spend an hour in the Library and do a little research on Cooties.” Freddy thought that would be a good idea. The library seemed like a place cooties would try and avoid.

Ms. Notalottafun, the librarian, was sitting behind her desk looking unhappy. Freddy said, ‘Do you know where I can find a book on cooties?” Ms. Notalottafun scowled at Freddy. “Cooties? Cooties aren’t real. You kids should be worried about hepatitis A, salmonella, e coli and diseases like that!”

“Hepawhat? What are those things you’re talking about?” Freddy asked. Ms. Notalottafun leaned back in your chair. She said, “Freddy, you’re old enough to know that cooties aren’t real. Let me give you some grown up books to look at.”

Some of the books were hard to understand but Freddy did the best he could. Before he left the library, he had the librarian make some copies of a few pages from the books. Freddy had a plan.

During lunch Freddy walked over to Samantha. “I’m really sorry I hit you in the head with glue. My brother told me that girls had cooties and that’s why I acted so strange,” he said.

Samantha nodded her head and said, “Well, it wasn’t very nice. But I accept your apology. Cooties aren’t real, you know.”

“Now I know,” said Freddy.

Freddy found his brother in the cafeteria. “Flibbert, thanks for warning me about cooties.”

“Um yeah, sure man. No problem.” Flibbert said.

Freddy pulled some papers out of his backpack. He said, “I did some research on cooties and found some other stuff out too. Freddy put the papers down on the table by Flibbert. “You need to watch out for salmonella and e coli in your food because, you know, you get it from the cafeteria. These are worse than cooties. And you shouldn’t drink from the water fountain because you can get hepatitis A from it. That’s worse than cooties too. And here’s a list of things you can actually get from girls.”

Flibbert looked through the papers Freddy had brought. He gagged slightly.

Flibbert didn’t eat much lunch that day and wondered if drinking from the toilet was safer than the water fountain. Freddy enjoyed the lunch he’d brought from home and didn’t give cooties a second thought all day.

The Truth about Cooties was originally written August 20th, 2004. I made slight editorial revisions for this posting.

A Bird in the Hand

Posted on by

There are so many things I want to do. Sometimes I lie awake in bed and I can’t shut off my mind. I drive myself crazy because I’m terrified to miss anything that I perceive as an opportunity. I look at the world and see dollar signs on everything. What you say is weighed by how marketable or profitable it could be. Everything is a potential business idea. I need a break from it. I need to take a step back from the world of business because I simply can’t do it all. And because I already have a bird in the hand.

Anyone who knows me is familiar with my company (or companies). I sell knives, self defense products, survival & outdoor gear, emergency preparedness items, watches, even dehydrated food. But all of that is the very tip of the iceberg, ladies and gentlemen. There is so much more we could sell. And so many nights I simply stay up, obsessing over new products, combing the “www” for information. Sometimes I just wish time would stop so I could find everything, learn everything, know everything. But that’s obviously not going to happen. I have to pick my battles.

And so, I present to you some of my findings. Something that I would pursue if I had the time and didn’t have projects that interested me even more. The research I’ve compiled here isn’t complete and obviously there are certain proprietary things that I won’t share, but I think if what I outlined below was initiated (competently) the result would be a viable side business. The methodology for approaching this project is 1) find s product I’m interested in 2) determine market interest 3) review competition 4) find available Internet real estate 5) determine barriers to entry 6) totally up to you.

The product of interest: Laser Pointers

The first step is to do some basic research. I love Wikepedia’s general information. In the case of laser pointers it outlines the various types, uses and even provides some regulatory info. Good stuff. Wikipedia Laser Pointer Article.

The next step is to determine is there’s any market interest. I think Google is a great resource for this (get ready for a life changing tool). Google will actually tell you how many people are searching for a specific thing or things (using keywords). For example, in Google’s keyword tool I have typed in “laser pointer” and a few different variants of pointers I learned about from the Wiki article. Next (on the left of the screen) I checked the “[exact]” box to see how many people typed the exact keywords I have entered. I can instantly gauge the demand for a laser pointer. Roughly 12,000 people search for one each month. I can also see that people type the singular “laser pointer” far more often than the plural “laser pointers.” And people are big into green laser pointers with over 6,000 people Googling them each month. Google also shows you other keyword or keyword strings with high search volumes. More good stuff.

Now we check out the competition. If we google “laser pointer” or “laser pointers” the first website we come to is www.wickedlasers.com. They have a pretty nice looking store and it only take s a few seconds of browsing to see that they take lasers seriously and (more importantly) have built a nice little business around this product. You can generally guesstimate a company’s success by visiting their “about” page, by checking their Facebook account (WickedLasers has over 11,000 fans!) and doing a Google search for the company’s domain name to see how many search results are returned (77,000 in this case). Seems pretty healthy!

You can also buy laser pointers at places like Amazon, ThinkGeek, RadioShack, Dragonlasers, etc. Well cool, looks like there are some laser pointer stores out there. Why not be part of the action. [As as aside, digging deeper will show you that WickedLasers is Japan based and they actually do some B2B].

Now in order to make your Internet business a reality you’ll need a domain where your website resides. There are two schools of thought on this. 1) You can find a domain and create a brand around it (i.e. WickedLasers) or 2) you can buy up exact match domains (i.e. domains names that are keywords people are typing into search engines such as Google) and try to dominate search engine results. Either will be tough- there are no short cuts to the top.

There are plenty of brand-able laser domains you can pick up from places like GoDaddy for $11.99 a year. Things like AwesomeLasers.com or LaserPointerDeals.com are readily available. But to be clear- these domains are not keywords. People won’t find your website unless you’ve done a good job marketing or advertising.

My personal choice (this time) would be to pick up some more expensive exact match domains and build out information websites that drive traffic to my actual website (maybe something brand-able, maybe an exact match domain, no idea at this point). Looking at my Google keyword search list I can see what people are looking for. So, I head over to one of my favorite places to search for domains. I type in my keyword string, “laserpointer.” Look at that- there are actually two exact match domains for sale! [As another aside- you’ll have to figure out where to go to buy the domains on your own, but it should be pretty simple].

A trip to another place for domains and I find this:

At this point I’m only really missing one color. So I head over to RedLaserPointer.com. And:

If I was pursuing this dream of owning an online laser pointer company (and assuming I had determined the barriers to entry were not insurmountable) I would actually go ahead and make an offer on RedLaserPointer.com. Based on the traffic and sale prices of the other domains I’d offer between $800-$1000. Anyone reasonable would accept it. After getting it I’d buy up the other domains and I’d have a sweet little laser pointer domain portfolio. If red laser guy didn’t want to sell, not a big deal. It would have been a minimal part of my traffic.

At this point I’d be fantasizing about how well my info sites would do. First or second in the search engine results for exact matches. I could reasonably expect about a third of the people searching to click through to my websites if I have the first or second spot (and I’ve got a good chance with my exact match domain and my amazing little content sites that I’ve set up with relevant and unique content). If I’ve got all four sites running I can expect about 3000 visitors each month and targeted traffic is money). Yeah, okay- I got ahead of myself a bit.

The Barriers to entry are an important consideration. They should have probably been carefully assessed prior to making any investments. However, I have not given them too much consideration at this point so I added them here at the end. Here’s what you’re dealing with:
1) Product availability. Can you get the product? Can you sell it for a profit?
2) Competition. How established is your competition? How extensive is their product line? What are you up against?
3) Website. Obviously you’re going to need a place to sell them and websites aren’t free. There are some great websites like WickedLasers, but you’ve also got websites like LaserPointersForSale.com.

If you had this website (or were going to make one like it) I would actually consider it to be a barrier to entry (and by the way, I might think hard about making an offer on this website. It has a lot of exact match searches and the person who built it can’t be too invested in it). You’re going to need a good website to sell your product so determine your ability to provide your customers with a good shopping experience (and consider things like order fulfillment at this time a well).
4) Regulatory issues. Some lasers can’t be imported and other have restrictions on sales. Some states have laws that cover the use of lasers.
5) I’m sure there are plenty more barriers to entry, but that’s about where I gave up. I simply ran out of time to answer these questions and map out a coherent business strategy for this particular product.

Laser pointers are cool. There’s a demand. There are some great domains out there. But I’m not going to do it. And I’m actually scarred not to do it. I feel like I’m missing out. But in an effort to face my fear I’m walking away from this one and leaving it for you, the reader. As I said before, I’ve got a bird in the hand. That’s not going to stop me from going after a few birds in the bush, but the ones I have my eyes on right aren’t laser pointers. Iceberg.

Posted January 26, 2011