RaderStudios Statement

[raderstudios]

Hello all,

I'm sorry to have to write this, but my current situation sort of demands it. Here goes...

I know that I have been pretty absent recently, and I sincerely apologize for that. As most of you are aware, I am a graduate student at the University of Wyoming, studying functional morphology, adaptive radiation, and morphological ecology (all with a paleontological perspective). As a student, my responsibilities include taking classes (obviously), but I also teach classes in vertebrate anatomy and comparative physiology, and I am working on thesis research. For example, the last several weeks have seen me in my campus office from roughly 7:00 am until 11:00 pm, and no time off on weekends. I'm not trying to complain. Quite the contrary, I enjoy what I'm doing, but I do have one regret: the combination of my academic duties has taken a toll on the time that I have available to run my business, and I know that my customer service has suffered recently as a result. I want to humbly ask forgiveness from anyone who I may have offended, and hope that you will understand that I am not doing this intentionally. I simply have to focus on my education at the moment.

That being said, I have still been attempting to make progress on sculptures (especially commissions), and I do intend to try to keep the business open. Please understand that this may not be an easy task, and I am looking into ways to ease some of the burden, and improve customer service. In fact, I may be turning my shipping operations over to an outside party (I think this will go a long way to improve customer service, as I haven't had time to even get to the post office recently). I do hope that you will bear with me through this rough patch, as I sincerely enjoy the sculpture business, and I enjoy being part of the dino model community even more.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns! I'm open to any suggestions as well!

Thanks friends,
Jonathan

[ihatefeathers144]

I completely understand your situation & I can certainly wait for more of your excellent kits. I wish you the best of luck in your academic career & I will look forward to whatever sculptures you will release in the future!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I'm sure Dan would be able to assist is selling the pieces..but actually getting them from your caster to him..would that be difficult ?

[Jeremy]

No worries Jonathan,

I'm sure no one will blame you for trying to concentrate on your studies. Without them, we might not see such amazing and accurate sculptures done by you.

Having been lucky enough to own one of your sculptures, I can say, that any future pieces will be well worth the wait. I'm still trying to fit your 1:10 Triceratops in my budget. ;D

Take care and try not to worry about offending people. Hopefully everyone will understand your situation.


Btw, I'd like to echo what Blade said about having Dan sell all of your kits. He's the one I went through, to purchase your Apatosaurus.

[raderstudios]

Thanks for the support, guys! It's funny that someone guessed that I am working with Dan on this... Honestly, I don't know if getting inventory to him will be a problem at this point. I don't think it will, but I won't know until I give it a go. Since, I do most of my casting, there isn't really another step there. What I am envisioning is that I will function mostly as a sort of wholesale warehouse, while Dan's Dinosaurs will function as a retail storefront. I'll dedicate one weekend per month to casting, and then I will ship inventory to Dan as needed. That way, I am shipping once a month (which I can hopefully budget time for), and Dan can make sure that orders go out in a timely fashion.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Hopefully your budgeting a little free time into this schedule too...we all need some sort of break to keep up with ourselves.

[raderstudios]

Oct 4, 2011 14:53:39 GMT Blade-of-the-Moon said:

Sounds like a good plan to me. Hopefully your budgeting a little free time into this schedule too...we all need some sort of break to keep up with ourselves.

What is this concept of "free time" that you speak of? I'm a grad student... If we have free time, then we aren't working hard enough! At least, that's what I've been told...

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

It's terrible that life has to be like that, but everyone needs down time..no matter what anyone tells you. The ones that don't are gonna expire a lot sooner than the rest of that do.

[weaver]

Aw man, that's a-okay. Keep up with the studies Johnathan and good luck too!