Awesome! Can’t wait to see it.Thanks
Hey Herb,
How can they ban you from using swaylocks?
Don’t they know that without chatting it up on sways you’ll lose your edge and create sucky boards?
Don’t they know that this is part of your board making ritual? they can’t seriously stop you from your normal routine.
—Hell, it was worth a shot right?! 
Cheers,
Rio
Quote:
There are no GOOD lawyers…
…Just Successful ones !
Your friend’s right
it’s all about Justice for your client what ever side you happen to be on so you’re either successful at achieving that goal or you’re not. But to tell you the truth I’ve always thought Mr. Melville was one heck of a GOOD guy…
BTW Herb
to be utterly truthful good help does not come cheap…
The cheapest contract negotiation bill I’ve ever seen between my company and a vendor for a week or two of help was between $50,000 and $60,000 and that’s when the lawyers on both sides are getting along and working with each other on the language of the contract. Insurance, escape clauses, and rule of law(usually Rhode Island for those incorporated) are some battles to be fought. No matter what make sure you clearly define it in writing and never allow anything open to later interpretation.
If you’re connected to the industry like you said, one option is to get an associate in a big name sports/management agency to represent your interests like Michelle Wie or Tiger Woods or any pro athlete would. If done right with the right agency they can usually squeeze out the best deal available. Slats did this with his original QS contract as a 17-18 year old wunderkind… Maybe you can create a new standard in pop-out contracts…
That’s one of the stipulations I plan on discussing further.
This is not the first time I have been asked, not to participate in a surf website.
Not to long ago,
When I was working for a very well known surfboard builder, he asked That I not post on other surf related sites and to post only on his surf website.
I did just as he requested until my separation from his business…to this day we still remain friends.
Ya Oneula,
That’s the sucky part…
…to cover your ass means sticking it out there…
…Don’t think I haven’t been thru this before…
…I have been…
…just not with all the real adult responsibilities that I have now.
My surfshop back in the 70s was incorporated,my partners were lawyers…I was all of 19 years of age…it lasted roughly 3 years.
Quote:
it’s all about Justice for your client what ever side you happen to be on
Nice thumbnail sketch of that profession…“justice” as a flexible abstract concept for sale to the highest bidder…
Shoot, Herb, the old adage “to thine own self be true” ought to about cover it. Although since I know you are something of a connoisseur of the media I would also offer a line from an old Nick Nolte movie: …“I swore I would never work for my inferiors again!”
Point taken.
Right now,
I worked myself into a stressful flu like situation…goodnightall.
One word: Delusional.
Herb hi, lots of people here seem to know who you are, I’ve no idea really. So I was just wandering if you could put me straight on a few things. Firstly are you really a nurse, ( a noble profession), or a full time board maker and you were just taking the piss on your profile. Secondly how many boards do you do a year. Also do you have some fab rad designs or construction techniques unique to you, maybe you have a patent or something, and good for you if you do.
Thanks from a bewildered Pommie who is just trying to work out what all this fuss is about.
Herb,
Lots of good advice here, and I’m sure you already knew most of what has been said even before asking, including the next few lines, but I’ll keep typing anyway.
Although I don’t work in the Surf industry, I know a thing or two about selling my sould to the devil, since I’ve been a product designer for 12 years, and my a*s is covered in undisclosable secrets (even a lot of my stuff that the companies never even used, but I’m not allowed to show around).
Any industry, except maybe the so-called “traditional” surf industry is built with a ridicolous amount of restrictions when it comes to intellectual property, there’s very little you can do about it, but you can make sure that they don’t take away additional freedoms using the rightful ones as an excuse.
It makes sense that they don’t want you to disclose information specifically related to their production, current or under developement, but I would seriously doubt that they can legally retain you from expressing yourself on the internet, as long as you’re extremely careful with what you discuss and how.
What I suggest, and I know it sounds easy because it’s not my problem, but at least this is what I’d try to do: negotiate as much as possible, especially to get more control versus money; I specifically mean get control over the products, try to get some control over the strategy of the company, those kind of things. It’s not gonna be easy, but if you can get that the answer is easy, do it.
There is a very simple reason for this: you most likely do what you do for passion before money. This opportunity does not necessarily mean just $$$, creating something feels better if you can reach more people, but it’s hard to live with the frustration of being misrepresented.
If you manage to get some control of the whats and hows, you have a much better chance to be satisfied with the outcome.
And since there’s a pretty good chance that you know the surfing world better than they do, your products would be more successfull too, and everybody would benefit from this.
just my 2 cents, but what do I know: I’m just a dumb Italian who moved to the US 2 yrs ago…
whichever way you go, good luck.
d
Yes,
You are.
Herb,
Best way to handle trolls/wankers/etc is to ignore them.
Just coz the guy lives under a rock and eats shyte for a living doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t value you.
Peace bro.
Yes,I am a nurse, graduated from an accredited school,and have been so for almost 30 years…I have built surfboards non-professionally ,and professionally.At the age of 19 I owned a surfshop in L.B.Ca. and a label in the mid 70s called RainbowBridge surf and skate inc.I have things that the surf and the skateboard industry hasn’t even come close to touching yet,and may never.
I’m not the only one, see, www.skaterbuilt.com
As a fellow nurse, a psych nurse at that, my professional opinion is that you would be crazy to not take the money and run. As long as your can get the conditions to your liking, of course.
Money won’t make you a happy man, but it will certainly make an already-happy man a wealthy and happy man.
You don’t have to please anyone but yourself. Figure out how to keep your conscience clear, and grab for it by the handful!
Quote:
you would be crazy to not take the money and run.
It’s even more crazy what people will do for quick money and fame!
How enigmatic. Thanks for the reply, you’re obviously a long time shaper with a few tricks up your sleeve. You must really love nursing to keep it up and do all the surf stuff your exalted for. My wife is a nurse, endoscope specialist.
Your wife is kind of a rear Admiral of medicine.
I’m at the end of my Nursing career…I work home health cases,compared to working 99 bed ICF-DD/SNF or the State of Ca.Hospitals.
But who knows, next week I could be waste deep in acute nursing somewhere…that’s the real gift of life,there’s always something new just around the bend.
In regards to the lawyer backlash . . . maybe things are getting too complicated . . . the average person does not know what contract they are signing . . . unless someone interprets it … .
frustrating to a person who wants to do it right but doing it right is dependent upon someone else’s interpretation of that right . . . last time that happened, the people were asking for WTF and a man crying out in the wilderness said to return back to the source of all life and when the Source came he simplified the law from many books to just two rules . . . .
interesting thread . . . i guess you really have to know yourself, know which direction you are going in . . . Also that choice is one you must live . . . and you have the luxury of making the decision to take it or not. Sometimes life doesn’t give us a luxury of choice . . .
There was an opportunity to jump in the surf biz . . . but it would mean taking massive pay cuts, moving back in with my parents, and back to my college days of ramen and mac n cheese as food . . plus my life balance would be removed, the only gyro left spinning would be surf. All others would be tipped over.
There are certain objectives I must meet. places to see, skills to be developed, this takes some $$ . . . and I decided not to take the opportunity . . .
It sounds like you’ve made your choice.
I’m no lawyer,
but,
I did attend and finish my first year of law school and passed the baby bar first time thru.Something most accredited lawyers didn’t do…something like 70% or better fail the baby bar,the first time thru.