Three Quick Updates

Ah, spring is here, and it’s getting hard to resist the temptation to head outside and play in the sun. Despite the gorgeous temptation of procrastination, things are still chugging along.

First — as of today, Vintage Pin Works is actually a real business now! All of the licensing is dealt with and today is the effective start date. Yipee, we are now entitled to make transactions and pay our taxes.

Secondly — our business cards are printed and here. It turns out the first batch ordered had a real snafu with the shipping company. As in, it was quite literally run over by a truck. Tire print and all! But, thanks to the power of good customer service, a new expedited order made it our way. And now, we have some sweet cards to exchange with folks we meet. Alright!

Third — ah, who am I kidding, there is no number three. I’ve actually been doing quite a bit of research into a few more business administrivia tasks, but unfortunately there isn’t much progress to report there. It turns out there are a lot of online store fronts to pick between these days, and quite a few places that do prints-on-demand, but we haven’t managed to land on the right solution yet. We’re still exploring our options, and hope to have some more details once there’s a concrete plan of action.

So, that’s it for this week. Next week should be a lot more fun to share about as I dig back into the Bally Beach Club restoration.

Making progress

Just wanted to swing by and check in with some updates on what we’ve been up to. Things are still going to be a little quiet on the blog for the next while as we continue to setup shop. The good news, though, is that we’re not just sitting on our hands enjoying the sunny weather (although that does sound nice….).

First up, we’ve finally gotten around to shoring up the last bits of paper work. Somehow, these little things can be a real pain. There’s just something about actually holding down a day job that makes it awfully hard to finish up tasks that need to occur during business hours. Fortunately, we can finally check off a couple more items from our list: filing the city business license, and setting up a dedicated bank account. Small steps, sure, but every bit of progress counts.

And, now that we have all that squared away, we can finally do a very important thing: we can spend money! Well, at least we can spend it without having to worry about it getting mixed up with our personal accounts. So what was the honorary first purchase? Tickets to the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show in Tacoma. We don’t have anything exciting to share out right now, so we’ll just be attending as visitors, but it should be a fun chance to get out there and see some pinball tables. Drop us a line if you’ll be there on Friday, and we’ll try to say “hi”.

Also on the list of accomplishments, we’ve procured some essential parts for the old Bally Beach Club table. Nothing super fancy, but definitely some important essentials: rubber rings, fresh light bulbs, springs, and most importantly the actual pinballs. With these pieces in place, we should be able to get some action shots posted of the table up and (sort of) running. Stay tuned for the juicy details.

Ramping Up

In the early days of a new business, a lot of time goes to tasks other than the core of the business. Right now, Vintage Pin Works is focused on general start up activities, so unfortunately there isn’t a lot of action happening with actual pinball.

But, Vintage Pin Works is about more than just making money — we’re about sharing the passion and art of pinball with the world — so we’ll be blogging about the whole process, end to end. In general, we’ll try to keep the blog posts focused on pinball, but every once in awhile things will veer off towards the small business and logistics side of things. Authenticity is important, and sharing the process is just part of keeping things transparent.

Here’s the general check list we’re running through before getting to work on actual pinball renovations:

• Come up with an idea, a mission, and a name for the business Done!
• Determine the quantity and source of initial investments Done!
• Establish online accounts with our name: domain, email, blog, Twitter, FaceBook, Flickr, etc. Done!
• File a business license with the state Done!
• File a business license with the city
• Open dedicated bank accounts
• Setup and configure financial software
• Refine and iterate over the business model
• Establish short term and long term timelines for core activities
• Create business cards and other core collateral

And the list goes on. And all of this fun gets to happen before we make a single business transaction. The good news, though, is that the gears are turning and things are moving along. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to work through the logistics and start shifting gears towards what really matters: Pinball!

Welcome to Vintage Pin Works

There isn’t much to see here yet, but stay tuned for more content. Vintage Pin Works was founded to preserve the art of classic pinball. Our activities comprise of three main goals:

• Catalog and preserve the beauty of existing vintage tables. This involves going to various pinball expos, tradeshows, and proprietorships to photograph their tables (with owner permission, of course) and learn more about the history behind each table.
• Restore and refurbish poorly cared for classics. A lot of refurbishment these days is done either to make a quick buck or through a painstaking search for original parts. We try to find the middle ground here, especially since classic parts are a dwindling resource. Our restoration style maintains an authentic spirit, but we don’t shy away from modern touches.
• Build a new generation of classics. This part of the plan is a bit longer running, but it is crucial to carrying on the pinball legacy. We will build all new hand made classics leveraging real wood playfields, traditional chime-based sounds, and classic target oriented gameplay. Of course, it won’t be without some thoughtful modern touches, but you’ll just have to wait and see what we have up our sleeves.

Thanks for dropping by. Sorry there isn’t more to share yet — everything has to start somewhere, and this is just the beginning for us.

Feel free to drop me a line any time,

-Michelle Keslin