Vapor Digest #3 The Trade Publication For The Vapor Products Industry
Issue link: http://vapordigest.epubxp.com/i/442928
09 My smoking habit made its way to my front porch. Next I resorted to smoking in my garage, then with just my head hanging out the doorway and blowing smoke into the garage. I eventually made my way to smoking inside the house. One morning after waking my kids up for school, my asthmatic daughter cried to me "Daddy, please stop smoking, it's making me cough." Hearing those words come from my daughter broke my heart. That day I bought lozenges hoping they would help me to quit. The lozenges didn't work, so I tried quitting cold-turkey. That didn't work either. Then an online friend told me about electronic cigarettes in 2011, so I ordered a Riva 510, used it for a week, tried a tobacco cigarette again, took two puffs, threw it out, and that was it. Patrick V*: Do you remember the first you saw someone vaping? if so, what was your reaction? Blake: I honestly don't remember the first person I saw vaping. However, the first few times I saw someone vaping in public was a huge shock and gave me some sense of excitement and fulfillment. Patrick V*: What do you remember about your first vaping experience? Blake: When I first started vaping it was a time where people used disposable atomizers and cartridges with a filler material inside. When preparing my electronic cigarette, I would fill the material with e-liquid until it looked soggy, just as the instructions directed. For the next 2 weeks or so I dealt with e-liquid entering my mouth; that is until I learned about and purchased a drip tip, and started "direct dripping" as we called it. Man, we sure have come a long way since those days. Patrick V*: What would you say are your 3 favorite flavors to vape? Blake: I'm a very picky vaper. When I find a specific flavor, I usually stick with it for long periods of time. What I enjoy most though is Peach, Blue Raspberry and almost any fruit flavor combined with menthol. Patrick V*: When someone starts a new venture and is trying to build an audience, there is usually a "things are really starting to click here" moment. What was that moment for you? Blake: The "things are really starting to click here" moment for me was when I started receiving emails and comments from vapers and smokers that read something I wrote on my blog. It was a time where I was unsure if what I was doing made a difference or helped anyone. My blog started gaining traction at the time. I believe that Google and the rest of the vaping community understood that what I wrote came from my heart, and wasn't fueled by money or stats. Patrick V*: What was the reaction from your family and friends to this new venture? Blake: My friends didn't think much of my blog in the beginning. My family thought it was a good idea to channel my energy into something that helped others. For the first two years, I was a stay-at-home Dad, working on my blog, while my wife worked the night-time shift at the Hospital. After my blog started receiving more attention and I was hired to write for others websites, both my family and friends took things a bit more serious, just as I did. Patrick V*: Who were some of your early supporters, encouragers and mentors? Blake: My family encouraged me from the beginning. They knew it was something I enjoyed doing and knew it was finally something that I really wanted to excel in. There have been many vapers that have supported me, but names that immediately come to mind are Troop Wolberg, Jeannie Kerswill, Dimitris Agrafiotis, Kurt Landversicht, Brett Davison, and Brett Coppolo. Troop helped me with Guide To Vaping in the earlier days. Jeannie was always like the mom of the vaping community and her encouragement helped me a lot. Dimitris has encouraged and supported me throughout the time I've been writing. We first met online where he would feed me the latest vaping community news. The news he gave me increased my blogs popularity and contributed to making my blog a known source for the latest happenings within the vaping community. As time progressed, Dimitris would continuously contact me through Skype, offering advice on how to better reach out to the vaping community, as well as motivating me to write various content. Our many conversations lead to my first attendance at a vaper's meet, and several more after. Though many know Dimitris strictly as an online personality, he's an even greater guy to know in person. What I enjoy most about Dimitris is that he encourages me to take some of the same paths that he has, which lead me to hold many vaper's meets for my area. I was transformed from a person that would wait for the next guy to take action, into a person that stood tall and went for the stars. I've always considered myself as a follower... and, now I'm more of a "grab the bull by the horns" type of guy. To sum it up, Dimitris is just a very influential person, both online and off. He inspires, encourage and motivates others to become better. And, I'm not sure about you, but I enjoy surrounding myself with positive and motivated people. Kurt is someone that helped me further my success in blogging. Google hit me hard one year and his advice was to just continue writing honest content and everything will come out alright. That was some of the best advice I've ever received. Brett D. was a partner that I worked with before Guide To Vaping. He's not only been there as a friend and online-brother this whole time, but he's also helped me with the design and development of my blog. Brett C. is an online vapor store owner that has truly believed in me and what I'm doing. Though we have yet to meet face-to-face, he's become a friend of the family. Patrick V*: What is the best part of being an influential vaping enthusiast? What is the most frustrating part? Blake: Though I do get somewhat nervous when eyes are on me, deep down I do enjoy the attention. It just makes me feel like what I've devoted 4 years of my life to is being acknowledged, not just by the people I've helped, but by the people that notice I'm helping others. The most frustrating part is that there are some people who don't like me just because I own a blog that generates revenue. Making money from this industry wasn't my initial intentions, but if I'm able to provide for my family, while in the process of helping others, I see nothing wrong with that. Patrick V*: What, in general, do you foresee on the vaping horizon for 2015? - Is there any wild-ass prediction that you would like to make for 2015? Continued on page 36 "I was transformed from a person that would wait for the next guy to take action, into a person that stood tall and went for the stars. I've always considered myself as a follower... and, now I'm more of a "grab the bull by the horns" type of guy."