Не Русский люблю?

"I know that business requires the different approaches, I know It will turn to be more profitable, to buy media, to buy bloggers etc, but I don’t want to do it. It is stupid but that is fact. I still believe that the power is in the truth, not in the money."

"So I am one among small numbers of those lucky guys who turns the hobby into the business in one or the other aspects of this word."

Ed,

I read over your position regarding AEAC's model and am going to speak to a few points you've voiced in the quotes above;

Sponsorship:
The partnerships I've entered into with my sponsors are looked upon as mutually beneficial relationships established to create a win-win-win among the community, the industry, and AEAC. The airgun community wins because they get a common source & frame of reference in a review outlet, the sponsors win because they get awareness created around their brands, and I win because I can afford to dedicate my life to this 3-way beneficiary.

Message:
Agreed, strength lies in the sincerity of message. While I don't have the expectation that you'd be familiar with all my work, I would hope that if you're going to lump me in a category of not sharing truth on account of being compensated, that you'd have something for these guys to back that up. You'll want to... because they know otherwise.

Luck:
We've both shared in similar fortune on account of hard work & result... does categorizing one anothers efforts really add any layers of value for these guys?

Best,
Steve

Does anyone else remember Steve saying "the only beef i have is that the first stage is so darn hard. come on Crosman, how can you be right and everyone else be wrong. and you know how easy it would be to lighten that first stage pull for us" and "its ho hum stock has some catching up to do"? I think he is giving us fair reviews.

Keep them coming Steve. I think there is a lot of value in your reviews.

Steve, if you ever want to a review on the new Edgun Lelya 2.0, let me know. I've got one on order. Will be willing to send it to you for review down the road. Sometimes, it will be good to make a review with a gun without sponsorship just to prove to all the haters it can be done. After, there is no other gun on the market dual cocking, duel safety, bullpup, this short...viewers want to know if it is worth buying.

"davidsng"Steve, if you ever want to a review on the new Edgun Lelya 2.0, let me know. I've got one on order. Will be willing to send it to you for review down the road. Sometimes, it will be good to make a review with a gun without sponsorship just to prove to all the haters it can be done. After, there is no other gun on the market dual cocking, duel safety, bullpup, this short...viewers want to know if it is worth buying.

Click to expand...

Hey David, 

Thanks so much for trusting me with your gun... that's very cool of you.

I'd be very open to helping Edgun with some coverage sometime but these days, AEAC is already oversold for 2018. With only so many weeks left in the year it wouldn't make good sense for me to push off waitlisted sponsors to try and squeeze in a free one for Edgun. It just wouldn't be fair to them... or to my family for that matter.

As for the haters, it doesn't bother me that AEAC isn't of value to them. We're doing a good job. For your own peace of mind, I had to work a lot of free months (dozens of free vids) and invest thousands of free review hours to get here buddy... not to mention invest a lot of money in hardware.

I wish I could share with ya all the amazing things we've got planned for ya'll this year. You won't want to miss any of it but to circle back, my door's open to the entire industry. I've no boundaries, biases, or limits to what I'll invest time in helping the industry broadcast... and I'm not expensive. But I can't work for free brotha. Really hope you understand.

Best,
Steve

Steve, I completely understand with everything you said. I know it takes enormous amount of time to do one of your total in depth reviews. I love the sport but matter how much free time I have, I (along with most everyone else) cannot possibly do such an extensive review as yours (with the graphs, editing, multi-cameras, cutting, detailing) without some sort of compensation. Many people don't understand that this is "just the way it is". After your post, I hope a few more will be able to understand this. Hard work and long hours reviewing someone else's gun so they can sell more of their product, cannot (and should not) be always for free. It should be a partnership. Weather it is a sponsorship or not, everyone would like to see at least one Edgun up on the "center-stage" of airgun reviews.

I would also like to see Steve do reviews on other guns. But I also understand that he has a family and now that this has become at least a partial part of his income it is probably difficult for him to do it. I don’t think h e is getting rich doing what he’s currently doing but he is at least hopefully covering his expenses and hopefully his business will grow were he has decent income from this. Ed has made a decision that he doesn’t care to get involved in this type of marketing which is his choice. Hopefully Brian at EdgunWest will be doing some more videos were we can see how the new Edguns perform and perhaps other who are serious shooters will do the same if I had skills in doing videos I would give it a try but unfortunately still photography is as far as I go. 

"davidsng"Steve, I completely understand with everything you said. I know it takes enormous amount of time to do one of your total in depth reviews. I love the sport but matter how much free time I have, I (along with most everyone else) cannot possibly do such an extensive review as yours (with the graphs, editing, multi-cameras, cutting, detailing) without some sort of compensation. Many people don't understand that this is "just the way it is". After your post, I hope a few more will be able to understand this. Hard work and long hours reviewing someone else's gun so they can sell more of their product, cannot (and should not) be always for free. It should be a partnership. Weather it is a sponsorship or not, everyone would like to see at least one Edgun up on the "center-stage" of airgun reviews.

Click to expand...

Thanks for understanding Dave. Yeah it's always roughly 40-50 hard & fast hours per review for me and with AEAC being my sole source of income, I've got to make each week count. Travel, weather, and regular life put stress on the time table so I tend to work hard & fast when I can, but go a lot of weeks in the year without an income. Fortunately for us all (community, industry, AEAC) we've got the best sponsors in the world behind us and they're all taking very good care of me... and Airgun Nation.

Yes, I too would like the chance to work with Ed & Brian one day but as Ed said, that model isn't for him, and that's cool.

Best,
Steve

"Brian10956"I would also like to see Steve do reviews on other guns. But I also understand that he has a family and now that this has become at least a partial part of his income it is probably difficult for him to do it. I don’t think h e is getting rich doing what he’s currently doing but he is at least hopefully covering his expenses and hopefully his business will grow were he has decent income from this. Ed has made a decision that he doesn’t care to get involved in this type of marketing which is his choice. Hopefully Brian at EdgunWest will be doing some more videos were we can see how the new Edguns perform and perhaps other who are serious shooters will do the same if I had skills in doing videos I would give it a try but unfortunately still photography is as far as I go.

Click to expand...

Hey Brian,

With 23 of em' backing AEAC (as of this morning... was 22 last night) we ought to be in good shape getting the core industry's new product through AEAC/AGN for review and for Review-Discuss-WIN. RDW is already booked out for all of 2018 so you guys have lots of fun coming your way... with the next one being tomorrow morning. As for review product, most everyone likes to send their new stuff so I don't always get a say but when I do, I put it to good use... I know what you guys like

AEAC is my sole source of income and while it doesn't yet generate the money I'm accustomed to, it's doing very well. We've the world's best followers & sponsors behind us and I'm living the dream so who am I to complain. Life's good right now and I'm grateful.

Best,
Steve