Q. As everyone knows, ninjas totally rock. How did you come up with the concept of ninja bands? 

A. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and ninjaband.com is no exception. I wanted a silicone wristband that read ‘ninja’ similar to the ubiquitous LIVESTRONG bracelets. After Google gave me 0 results, I started wondering what it would take to create the product on my own. After a few days of research and planning I made the jump and launched ninjaband.com.

 Q. How did you go about locating a manufacturer to create your product? Any trial and error there? 

A. Turning an idea into a physical product is by far the hardest part of starting something like this. I was actually really lucky sourcing the product. Because I felt like “time to market” was really important for ninjaband.com, I did as much vetting as one can do in 48 hours and finally settled on a vendor that ‘seemed’ reputable. It was a home run, the bracelets arrived sooner than promised and they were exactly as I had envisioned them. 

Q. Do you have a traditional 9 to 5 job or is ninja bands your primary source of income? 

A. I am a computer geek by day, so ninjaband.com is a hobby for me. 

Q. The website layout is quite simple. Any concerns about the perception this could create with a potential buyer? Or have you found this to be beneficial? 

A. Simple is an overstatement! I wanted the website to be as ridiculously simple as the product and to do that I really needed to strip away everything but the bare essentials. Being a fan of ninjas myself, I knew firsthand what a potential buyer would be looking for in a website. I was guessing that anyone willing to spend their money on a ninjaband would have been turned off by a professional looking page. The ninja subculture is subtle like that.  

Q. On the ninjaband.com site, there is a noticeable lack of contact information. Was this done by design? If so, to what end? 

A. The idea behind the design was to say “Hey, I have a silicone wristband that reads ‘ninja’. If you want one, pay for it at the bottom of the page and you will receive it in the next few weeks. If you don’t, thanks anyway. P.S.: Ninjas rock!”  To send that particular message I didn’t feel that two way communication was necessary. You will notice that I have since added some contact information to the bottom of the page, mostly because I have really been enjoying the emails sent to me from the buyers. There’s this whole ninja-speak subculture that’s very funny, so the email/twitter links facilitate spreading that humor.  

Q. What is your process for filling orders? Do you handle this function yourself or do you outsource?

A. Order fulfillment is done 100% by me. Once the fulfillment process was created and standardized, it was a breeze. I have a nice little area that basically acts as a desktop fulfillment assembly-line. Believe it or not it is a nice way to wind down at the end of the day. 

Q. What steps do you take to market your product? Is word of mouth strong? 

A. Marketing was done by the usual avenues: Twitter, Facebook, and Google. However, what really pushed ninjaband.com into the success category was getting posted on deals.woot.com. Woot’s customer base is HUGE and they are the exact type of buyer I was looking for. Once a couple ninjabands were purchased through deals.woot, the rest of the deal a day websites picked it up. From there it was a snowball. 

Q. Why do you think ninjaband.com has been successful? 

A. The main driver behind the ninja band’s success was getting the product in front of the right demographic. I think lots of products fail because the right groups of people never see them. When I launched ninjaband.com I knew exactly the type of people that would buy it and focused only on getting their attention.

 Q. Who is your primary customer base? 

A. Ninja’s are a tricky bunch. Between 0-150 years old. Have an annual income between $0-$1,000,000,000. Are either male or female. In all seriousness though, when it comes to ninjas it’s very simple: people either get it or they don’t. People will either buy the wristband with enthusiasm or look at it like it’s the dumbest thing in the world. I’m not interested in changing people’s mind. I’m interested in the people who already get it. 

Q. Any other entrepreneurial ideas or endeavors in the works?

A. Yeah! I have a couple of other non-ninja band related projects getting ready to launch. Most involve combining the potential of cloud-based computing and people’s desire to buy stuff. 

Edward Ford, age 30, is the creator of ninjaband.com. He graduated from Rockford College, majoring in history (and ninjas) and is currently employed as an IT Manager. Edward is married with 1 child and 1 on the way. If you’d like to learn more about Edward he can be reached at his website here: http://www.edslifedaily.com/