Who knew about www.stepstooluniverse.com? One of the wonders of the web is the opportunity to run an amazingly focused business without worrying too much about location.
I've been thinking about step stools recently. Not in a freaky or demented way, but more casually, because we had kids in the house over the weekend. Short visitors always remind me that our counters are high (kitchen counters, of course, but bathroom counters, too, in our place).
Kids can't reach to wash their hands. So we use a step stool. And I love our step stool. It's a kick-stool, like we used to have in the library in which I worked (UCDavis). But they had them in public libraries, too. You must have seen them. They have wheels, and roll, but if you put weight on the step, they settle firmly onto the ground and don't roll.
Shelley (the mom of Max and Sam, the kids who were visiting) was remembering that as a child, herself, she had always thought she could sit on the kick-stool and roll around. Except once she sat on it, it wouldn't roll.
I love our kick-stool. And I was so happy when I saw it, by chance, in a retail shop. We bought it, and are kick-stooling happily ever after (we use it in the kitchen, to reach into the upper cabinets).
But here's the thing: I never would have remembered that kick-stools existed, had I not seen one. And even though I might easily have found a kick-stool on-line (as at stepstooluniverse.com), I wouldn't have known to look for one. Because I needed to see it to get the idea that it would work for us. Before I saw it, I didn't know I needed it.
This is a tricky marketing thing in our new internet-era. Anything can be offered for sale, and purchasing something requires just a few clicks and a credit card. And search engines make finding things quick and easy. But what if you don't know what you're looking for?
If you don't know that you want a kick-stool, how would you know to seek one out?
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