Birthday time soon – and Reflection on the past year

[Aaron]

In about a month ausmicro.com is going to hit the big 5 years of age.

I know in the past 6 months or so I’ve been very scarce around here, I’ve alluded to it in a few posts about the place, but really there’s a lot of stuff going on in the life of Aaron and Kitty and I’ve had to prioritise accordingly.

The purpose of this post is in part to say hey “Birthday soon guys” the other is to go a bit into what’s been going on behind scenes for the past year, hopefully it will give an insight to the goings on and where we’re at as a community and as a resource online.

So into a brief history…

Back in April 06 (just days after our 4th Birthday) I left my job of 9 years and took some time to get through all the crap that goes with leaving a place that had become a defining part of me, but also a thorn in my side. I’d copped a year of being in the tough position between a restructure and a team of employees under budget and staff number constraints. I’d also been battling an injury I developed in the workplace, essentially my neck was collapsing onto the nerve braches out to the my arm and I coulding use my left hand for much more than typing. I’d had the symptoms for years but it finally got real bad. So that made it very hard to stay in a job, and be continually examined to determine if I was faking an injury. I suppose if I was more prone to fighting about my rights I’d be suing my previous employer as is my right for fair compensation for an injury that will cost me for the rest of my life.

So after a break and a few weeks on holiday I launched into upping the ausmicro.com ante, a lot of time was put into attempting to diversify and expand the ausmicro.com business, and for the most part i did this full time right though to August, when it was becoming very obvious that despite getting an injection of time and inventory there simply isn’t a consistent enough market for Mini RC in Australia.

Basically it was sending me broke – and doing it fast. Now had we had more cash for advertising things may have been a bit different but honestly – when the first thing out of a potential customers mouth is “I can buy this for half price on eBay” it becomes obvious that while eBay customers in the USA will complain if their FETs don’t travel 3/4 of the way around the world in 3 days, Aussies will happily wait a month or two for for their eBay purchase to turn up in the hopes of saving a few bucks.

Anyway, Kitty and I then got married. A very very good thing, and considering we had the wedding prep from hell I guess it’s a miracle we made it to that day!

Wedding wise we had (in no particular order):
* Wrong wedding dress arrive
* Bridal car (friends show car) pulled out at the last minute
* Honeymoon accomodation got pulled, we lost a substantial $$$ and still haven’t had a honeymoon 🙁
* Wedding decorator pulled out after taking $$$ and not supplying more than a couple boxes of crap.
* My family didn’t come or get involved, basically it was made clear that I was marrying the wrong woman some time ago, it’s actually been a year since I spoke to them last!

So yes, what bit of happy-go-lucky me that was left by the time we were married was reduced to Aaron who was flat broke, in serious money troubles and not very happy with the world. I suppose from that point things could have gone in either of two directions.

We were getting all the usual pay up or have guys turn up to take your stuff and break your legs type things going on. Somehow we survived that, and by dumping a lot of my own “toys” and giving up so many of the things I’d worked so hard to get for the previous 9 years we got through it.

I finally got back into work in the middle of November – my new employer is a big organisation, and I fit in it like a square peg fits in the round hole of those kiddie shape toys. Honestly it’s the easiest work I’ve done, and yet the most draining workplace. Sure it’s just the team I’m in, and I’m sure it’s not widespread throughout the organisation, I know this becuase it’s a big enough place for me to know people who’ve been working in other areas of the same organisation for years, and they’re not the same kind of people that I work directly with.

But pay cheques are pay cheques and things are coming back to the way they should be. The glimmers of light like being able to get ahead on bills, spend money getting the new version of the Spider into fabrication, and I’m tentatively pulling out the cars again and starting to enjoy the hobby again.

And that’s something i haven’t been able to do for the past year.

So now when I get up at 6am and wander into ausmicro.com HQ until 8am I do my best to ensure that between packing the order and responding to enquiries I’m taking more time to enjoy the hobby that started this all off.

So I may be quiet, but whenever i logged in here and I’ve seen that ausmicro forums bubble along on the strength of the community it’s given me a sense of pride that I was one of the two people to make it happen. I know Derek doesn’t get by here much, and he and I haven’t really been in touch for so long, but his enthusiasm lives on in other areas, and he’s still passionate as ever about gadgets. In fact he’s just taken it upon himself to get back into R/C, helicopters to be exact, no matter how much things change, things always stay the same.

So remember, as a old timer on the forums, or a newcomer, maybe a customer that’s come to check things out after buying something. ausmicro.com is not just about being a forum, it’s about being part of a community, one where you can talk about your hobby, or as i have done, your life.

So many times in the past months I almost walked away, almost put up the post that said “Sorry folks, we’re shutting down the shop, and scaling back the site” and generally disolving into doom and gloom, but I didn’t because every now and then a customer, or member will e-mail and say “thanks”, or “how are you doing” and remind me that in it’s own way ausmicro.com makes a difference.

So thank you for letting us make difference, and here’s hoping we can continue to do it for years to come.

Aaron
ausmicro.com Co-Founder…..

--
Site Owner Guy.

[mini-g]

wow, been wondering for a while where yopu been, guess that answers all my questions. good to hear things are going in the right direction for you now.

[betty.k]

far out! well, if you’re gonna have a crap year you may as well make it a big one!!:D

i must say, i felt a disturbance in the force. i’m just glad it wasn’t you and kitty parting company. no matter how bad it is you’ll always have each other;)

and us!:smiley14: :8ball:

[TallduDe]

I thought i had a busy year!

after a year off from RC’s im slowly coming back. Glad your doing the same man!

btw happy b’day Ausmicro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kevsta]

Wow… Good to hear that you’re getting on top of things.

[mini-g]

hey kev, how you been? you still got your z?

[z-beam]

thanks for the info Aaron, please blog more often its great to hear about what youve been up to.

personally ive had little time for the cars myself. i bought a nice xmod and it looks all shmick so im scared of beating it up without having a prettier shell to stick on it. really need a better motor made up for it, i should buy one for myself before my birthday hits.

so which toys did you keep? 🙂

[Dangerous Dave]

I haven’t been on here for that long, and I’m still only into Bits, but the amount of help, encouragement and laughs I get from here keeps me coming back 🙂

Aaron, know how ya feel with tight financial strings, I’ve been both a single parent and full time student for the past 5 years :s

but I went 1/10 RC racing last w/end with a 20yr old buggy and had a blast 😀

Fun is still to be had on a budget..

[kevsta]

@mini-g 225164 wrote:

hey kev, how you been? you still got your z?

Hi big dave, I’ve still got them – will eventually meet up with all you guys to have a race.

[jamiekulhanek]

Wow, crazy year Aaron!

I haven’t been around here much lately, but I’m still madly in love with R/C cars, boats, planes and helis, and I’ve just started playing with my bits and digi-q’s and my other misc small stuff. Forgot how fun it was…

[Aaron]

Thanks everyone, I had a lot of mixed feeling making post but felt that if I couldn’t share the story with the community I’d be trying to cover stuff up..

Some things I’ve learnt is no matter how close you think you are to people (friendswise) they can still let you down – and when they do even better friends will come to the surface. Whenever you get a finance company heavy leaning on you fight back, negotiate etc you will get a better result than just giving up 😉

Lastly stand up for your rights at work! If your work causes you to get crook do something about it, get them paying for your medical treatment – stuff compensation you don’t need to be greedy you need to get healthy and the law/rules are on your side.

Ohhh the tax man always wins 🙂

Jamie you’re spot on “Forgot how much fun it was…” So true, and that’s somethign I don’t want to forget again!

A.

--
Site Owner Guy.

[Admin]

Hi Aaron, congrats on the marriage despite all your wedding woes…
The AWD Speedy is awesome, hanging out for the Spider 3.0.. i am addicted to speed!

[mini-g]

@kevsta 225172 wrote:

Hi big dave, I’ve still got them – will eventually meet up with all you guys to have a race.

cool man, very cool… look forward too it.:beer:

[PandaBear]

hmm… 5th Birthday eh…?

[Aaron]

@PandaBear 225186 wrote:

hmm… 5th Birthday eh…?

Yup the big Five…

“I am Five”

😉

A.

--
Site Owner Guy.

[PandaBear]

@Aaron 225193 wrote:

Yup the big Five…

“I am Five”

gotcha, secret birthday project coming right up – gimme a week or 2

[PandaBear]

sneezed twice, got drafted into a roadtrip to Adelaide over Easter… and hey, its middle of May already.

Gee whiz, what happened to the Birthday Bash?? 😎

[diehard]

wow, Aaron mate you are giving me hope. i myself is going through a dark patch in my life right now similar to what you went through, and i just got engaged 2 weeks ago and you know what? i myself is starting to come through on top.this community and these little cars help keep my sanity for just a couple of hrs a day, thats why i have taken such a shine to all of this. so keep up the good work and thank you to everyone that bothers to take time to read and reply to my posts………… Happy Birthday Ausmicro……….
diehard

[Renton]

well isnt there just some top vibes flaoting around

life can get you down aaron but it sure beats being dead. Just remeber, Never argue with idiots cause they will only bring you down to there level, and beat you with experience

I have only discovered a love for RC cars in the last 6 months. This in turn put me onto this site. A site of no assumptions or jerks, no writing off or heckling. Just a site of good info and very technically minded people. For someone like me, who has next to no bloody idea, to ask mundane and simple questions and still have them answered in depth just astounds me.

Aaron – Is the BA in your avatar yours? if so how would you feel about a set of EBC greenstuff pads for the front of the old girl? They would be my birthday gift to ausmicro and a gift to you for persevering through shit times, and to re-assure you that mates are out there even if you have never seen and or spoke with them.

Happy B’day Ausmicro

hip, hip

[Dangerous Dave]

fark that’s a cool offer..

but do they eat rotors??

Playing with toy cars keeps me out of bed (some days)..

[Author]

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