Whirlwind US Research Trip

Sorry for the lapse in blog posts!  In the last few months we’ve been “crazy busy” in a good way. We’ve been working in Santiago and have been on the road.

As part of our effort to understand customer needs and wants, we took a three-week trip to the US in late May/early June.  We visited Stanford, Harvard, University of Texas, Texas A&M, and Baylor and interviewed potential customers to find out their views about our RahRah4Good jewelry.

As much as this might sound like a boondoggle, it was real work!  We were constantly showing our jewelry and soliciting feedback.

At Stanford, we showed the red and white collection to students and alumni  And, we met with the manager of the Stanford Bookstore, who expressed interest in carrying our line.

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While at the University of Texas in Austin, we probed coeds about the “orange and white” group.

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We even had an audience at the “Texas Exes” – the largest alumni organization in the world.

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At Texas A&M, the focus was on “Aggie Maroon”, and we noticed that competing jewelry was somewhat tacky and not sustainably made. Who knew that Ed would become such a connoisseur!

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And, we learned that you can get a monogrammed pistol case with the Texas A&M logo.

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Back in Austin, we met with a jewelry designer for expert consultation.

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And, of course travel with no play is no fun!  So, Jan was delighted to visit Mary Taylor Gulledge, one of her college roommates from Stanford.  It was such a treat to reconnect with her and meet her husband in Dallas before we flew back to Santiago.

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On the trip, we were also able to visit family and friends in the Bay Area and Boston.  We were glad to see everyone and get their insights into RahRah4Good. It felt a little strange at the end, when we were coming “home” to Santiago!

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