Naoki Sonoda🚢 💡

What the hell is automatic ice-melting, and why should I care? Well, if you're a restaurant operator who wants to save water and allocate labor dollars more effectively, you should care. There are 2 main reasons to melt ice 1. To keep ice bins clean 2. If the ice has been contaminated Manually melting the ice is very time-consuming and tedious. It takes many trips of hot water from a sink to an ice bin to get this done. I experienced this many times as a bartender--so I know the pain. That's why I invented an automatic solution for ice melting. Auto-Burn™ attaches to existing ice bins to provide an on-demand supply of hot water. The hot water stream creates a whirlpool in the ice bin, and churns the ice. This churning action melts ice faster with less water--44% less water to be exact. If you're a restaurant operator, you need to look into Automatic Ice Melting. Nothing else on the market can do what patented, award-winning Auto-Burn™ does.

If there's one author who has been more important to me than anyone else in my life, Michael Singer would be the one. In my opinion, nobody explains human existence more eloquently. And nothing puts me back to center like his teachings. Most importantly, without allegiance to any religion or belief system. Never have I read a more matter-of-fact way to understand how science and spirituality explain one another--instead of being in opposition to each other. And if you're fearing that this book gets in the weeds in a scientific or mathematical way, fear not. It was written for everyone. What does this have to do with business or entrepreneurship, you might ask? Well, everything. Because entrepreneurship is a battle with oneself as much as it is a battle with your competitors. Because when you're in business for yourself, you need to find ways to quiet your mind, so you can make decisions from a position of strength, not fear. And by the way, Michael Singer started a software company that resulted in a billion dollar exit. Not bad for a guy that just wanted to do yoga in the woods to discover his true nature. Please check out his books--you won't be disappointed!

@second_bassoon dog=love

I’m about to fly with a very clingy, needy, velcro doggie. Please pray that he doesn’t embarrass me on this flight… I’m hoping he doesn’t make a single peep!

@second_bassoon I have a rule in my business: ship on or before the estimated ship date. I always try to exceed expectations. One way to do that is to be realistic in quoting the ship date. Yes, things come up. But communication is key. That's how you build trust.

Pro tip for ANYONE doing business: Please deliver ON TIME!! If life happens and you know you won’t make the deadline… Please, for the love of all that’s good, COMMUNICATE!! SAY SOMETHING!! I don’t care how talented you are. If you miss deadlines, AND leave your clients in the dark…. You deserve to fail. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

@second_bassoon That's actually quite incredible! I'm amazed at the tools we have at our disposal.

I'm rather proud of this Photoshop job! I needed this asset for the video I'm working on, but unfortunately, the best existing portrait of this woman is incomplete. No biggie... Photoshop's generative fill tool makes this an easy fix! Once I found a match I was happy with, I did some blending and light editing with liquify and the clone stamp tool. I aimed to match it as best as I could. I'd say it's not bad at all!

@second_bassoon So nice to finally hear you play! Thank you for sharing!

I'm not the most talented musician in the world. I haven't won any major competitions, I haven't been in any major publications, and yet I command way more attention and authority than those who have. And it's all due to one thing: Having an online community. And not just any online community... ...but an engaged one. You see, in today's world nobody really cares about your accolades. (This is especially true for the younger generation.) I come across so many accounts in my niche where the owner is listing all kinds of credentials in their "about" section: • The awards they've won • The school they attended • The teachers they've studied with But at the same time, their content is mediocre at best. They don't listen to feedback, They don't engage, They don't reply, It's almost as if they just expect viewers to flock to them because of what they've done in the past. Those things might impress the administration at some conservatory... But online? People really could not. care. less. There's only one thing that they want: Value Do you make content that people enjoy? Do you post things that people connect with? Do you interact with your followers and make them feel special? These were the things I prioritized as I was building up my channel. I focused on community engagement. I focused on providing value to others. I focused on creating content that people actually wanted to see. My awards and accolades? Frankly, nobody but the high and mighty in academia would even give a crap. The only thing that matters is the value I provide on a daily basis. And it doesn't take any fancy credentials to do that. · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · In about 8 hours, I'll be releasing a newsletter about why it's important for professionals to start building their online communities. I'll be going into how it'll give you an unfair advantage over your competitors, even if you're not the best. The link to subscribe is in my bio.

@second_bassoon You're right. I was being greedy! The reality is that if 15 people showed up to see us play live, that was cool.

@NaokiMSonoda Heck, even 50 people who love my stuff is enough!

500 people can fill a small theatre. 100 people can fill a lecture hall. 25 people can fill a classroom. Imagine having a classroom full of people eager to hear from you. Why then, do you take your 25 followers for granted?

Early in my bartending career, I quickly figured out that there was one thing that slowed me down more than anything: Rinsing my tins and strainers in between making drinks. I would waste so much time doing this manually. I kept wondering to myself, "if I could rinse my tools automatically, I could work so much faster." And that's why I invented Auto-Rinse™. The one advantage I had was the thousands of hours I logged working as a professional bartender. The big companies never bothered to solve this problem because they didn't know it was a problem. It's hard to innovate from a cubicle... But when Auto-Rinse™ hit the market, they started paying attention. One company cobbled together a sink, beer glass rinser, and dipper well to solve this problem, and the competition quickly copied their design. But I knew these poor imitations could never do what Auto-Rinse™ does: ✅ Rinse a complete set of bar tools (2 tins + 1 strainer) at the same time ✅ Rinse the inner and outer surfaces of drink-making tools--including jiggers ✅ Rinse with warm water to dissolve sugars and syrups ✅ Provide an area to dump shaker ice ✅ Use the rinse water to melt the shaker ice ✅ Provide an area to stage tins and tools ✅ Use ZERO chemicals ✅ Use ZERO electricity So when the bigger companies acknowledged that "Rinsing is an Actual Thing" with their workarounds, that was validation to me. Even more validating was when operators starting installing Auto-Rinse™ and giving us positive feedback. Operators love Auto-Rinse™ because it: ✅ Cuts down ticket times to increase speed of service ✅ Allows servers to spend more time engaging & selling ✅ Provides a consistent & reliable process for rinsing ✅ Saves water ✅ Is built to last True innovation is difficult, because you have to build something from scratch. But it's worth it, because creating an optimal solution provides the most value. If you want to improve your entire front of house, you need to implement Automatic Rinsing. And patented, award-winning Auto-Rinse™ is the only equipment that provides this. #bars #restaurants #foodservice #cocktails #specialtycoffee #bubbletea

@second_bassoon Congrats!!!

Just entered the 4-figure club! 😎 I've only ever hit the 1,000 follower mark on one other platform (YouTube). But let me tell you: hitting this milestone on 𝕏 was 100x more difficult! I felt like I had to fight tooth and nail for every follow! 😂😂

I just hopped aboard Ship 30 for 30 from @dickiebush and @Nicolascole77! Can't wait to learn the fundamentals of digital writing & start publishing every day alongside hundreds of others in the community. Check it out!👇🏼🚢 ship30for30.com

A business "expert" told me to make sure Auto-Rinse used chemicals, so I could squeeze money out of my customers every month. I thought that was a stupid idea on so many levels. 🤦🏻 First of all, you don't need detergents or sanitizers to clean bar tools. Mixing tins, mixing glasses, jiggers, and strainers are used only to mix drinks (unlike glassware, which is used to serve and consume drinks). Big difference. Designing Auto-Rinse to use chemicals would be irresponsible because: ❌ We would be knowingly ripping our customers off ❌ We would be responsible for putting chemicals down the drain for no reason I wasn't ok with that. That's why designing Auto-Rinse to be chemical-free was so important. Chemical-free design is not only good for the environment--it also keeps costs lower. Come see us at the National Restaurant Association Show this May, booth 9734. There's so much more to the story.

@second_bassoon So inspiring to read about your journey! Congrats, and keep growing!

Hey there! I'm Monique. In 2021, I quit my corporate job with no backup plan. My objective? Find a way to monetize my creativity. In recent months, I've managed to do just that! But my journey to this point was far from linear... Here's the CliffNotes version of my story: · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · I’ve always been a very creative person. As a kid, I had dreams of becoming a writer, a musician, a painter… …pretty much anything that would allow me to spend my days creating works of art. By the time I went off to college, I had my eyes set on becoming a professional musician. However, by the time senior year rolled around, it was abundantly clear to me that this wouldn’t be happening. So reluctantly, I opted for the safer route.

 I got a corporate job as a royalty processor, working for a major music company. And I hated every. last. second of it. Here I was, this highly creative person doing some of the dullest, mind-numbing, non-creative work imaginable. A far cry from my dreams of creating every day... I spent 5 years in that position, all the while trying to figure out an escape plan. Sitting in my cubicle and staring at excel spreadsheets all day was becoming unbearable. I wasn’t cut out for that. Something had to change. So in mid 2021, with a nicely padded savings account, I went ahead and quit my corporate job (with no replacement lined up). It was the biggest risk I’d ever taken in my life. And it was only my complete faith in God that allowed me to take it. Come hell or high water, I was gonna make it work. A month after quitting, I left my home state of NY for the much cheaper state of FL. Once I was settled, I embarked on my journey towards monetizing my creativity. · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · My first venture was YouTube. I created a couple new channels, and put my all into them. I knew YouTube could be a fantastic source of income, so it only made sense to start working on videos. But after months of consistent effort, I eventually lost steam. Results weren’t coming quickly enough for me. My funds wouldn’t last forever, and I didn’t exactly have the luxury of waiting around for something to happen. I needed to be making money ASAP. So, I moved on to other ventures. · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · Over the next year, I did several different non-creative jobs, like: • Freelance accounting • Retain arbitrage • Day trading • Tutoring All while practicing my creative skills. However, I’d gotten to the point where I was just feeling mentally exhausted. The whole point of quitting my corporate position was to make creating my full-time gig. But instead, I’d put myself right back into the position of hating the work I was doing. Something had to change…again. · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · In early 2023, I decided to give YouTube one last try. This time, I focused on developing the creative skills needed to produce the best content possible. I took courses on: • Graphic design • Video editing • Writing • AI And practiced these skills relentlessly. Before I knew it, the quality of my content improved exponentially. And soon enough, results began to follow. My video impressions went from hundreds to millions. Some of my videos began raking up hundreds of thousands of views (in a tiny niche). And most importantly, I was starting to attract an audience that showed up every day. It was my first real taste of success. But the issue of monetizing still remained at large. · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · By mid 2023, I was introduced to the idea of earning money outside of ad revenue. For years, I thought that the only way to make an income through content creation was to grow your audience large enough to collect meaningful ad money. Little did I know that creators with 1,000 followers were earning full-time incomes from their other business offers. This opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. I thought, “I’ve spent the last two years developing a host of new creative skills. And I’ve gotten results from them… …So, why don’t I pitch my services to others?” And that’s exactly what I did. I developed an offer around audience growth for business owners and pitched it to those in my network who I thought could use it. And within a month, I’d closed my first client!

I was over the moon! Immediately, we began working closely together. I helped her to identify her niche, develop a content plan, and execute on that plan. A few months later, her account took off like a rocket. She gained a raving fanbase, a new revenue stream, and loads of traffic to her business. As good as my own wins feel, NOTHING beats the feeling of seeing your clients win. Now, my goal is to replicate these results as much as possible. That’s why I’m here on 𝕏 – to make friends and connect with those who I can help. This journey is just getting started, and I’m excited to see where it leads! · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

 If you’ve read this far, thank you! It means a lot to me!

 Feel free to follow @second_bassoon if you want to join me on this journey.

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” - Gerald Ford Of course getting outside feedback is important--you need to be sure you're on the right path, no matter what you're designing. However, on my journey as an inventor and entrepreneur, I've learned that sometimes you have to listen more to yourself than anyone else. Here's the thing... When you have a vision to create something--especially if it's new or novel--most people aren't going to get it. They're not going to understand. Why? Because if it was a common idea, they would have already seen it, or thought of it themselves. So, when YOU have a vision, it's your responsibility to follow it. When the universe has graced you with a new and novel idea, you're obligated to see it through--no matter what other people say about it. Why do you think most innovators are laughed at in the early stages? Why are new ideas always called "crazy" ideas? Simple: because people don't have vision. They live small, and want to keep others living small so they can feel good about themselves. They've been conditioned to be obedient workers, and they don't like it when others have the audacity to break away--even if that's what they dream to do themselves. Like crabs in a bucket... If I listened to "good" advice, I would have never started on my entrepreneurial journey. And the journey is far from over. It's not like I'm saying this from a yacht after exiting my company, flush with cash. My situation is quite the opposite. I'm still in the thick of it, trying to get my company to succeed. And there are no guarantees. Except for one... By following my vision, I've been guaranteed the knowledge and expertise that could have only come from being on this journey. I would have never gained this valuable experience if I listened to the "experts." Of course we need to get outside feedback from time to time, to see if we're on the right path. But if you have a strong vision that keeps bothering you for attention, maybe you should follow that vision. Maybe you'll gain expertise through the actual experience of being on your journey. Any maybe you'll start listening to the only opinion that really matters... Your own.

Finding your niche is hard. I spent 10 years jumping from niche to niche, hoping something would work. Finally, I found my perfect niche and was able to grow an engaged audience of 10,256 people. Crazy part? All I had to do was find the answers to Three Core Questions. Today, I’m releasing my comprehensive Niche Finder. It's an easy-to-follow guide that includes the Three Core Questions that allowed me to: • Attract my ideal audience • Identify my unique set of skills • Create a targeted content strategy If you want it for yourself, just: • Like • Follow • Comment “FINDER” And I'll DM you the link! Free for the next 72 hours only! (Retweets greatly appreciated, but not required)

Ice bins are very prone to contamination because they're left open during service--and keeping them clean is a nightmare. Until now. Auto-Burn™ modular ice-melters drastically reduce the friction of daily ice bin maintenance and emergency cleanups by automating the ice-melting process. Not only does Auto-Burn™ deliver an on-demand supply of hot water to your ice bins, it also creates a whirlpool that melts the ice faster--with much less water. What does this mean for your operation? ✅ Improved sanitation ✅ Improved safety ✅ Water-savings of over 40% when compared to manual melting You can have these big wins for a very reasonable price, and no longer worry about your ice bins again. Come see us this May at the National Restaurant Association Show--booth 9734 in Lakeside. We'd love to show you how much this cost-effective device can help you meet your safety, sanitation, and sustainability goals.

@vanessaosheaa Yes! Lessons hit home when you actually experience them in the flesh.

@NaokiMSonoda This is so true Naoki! The lessons that's resonated the deepest with me came from my own mistakes, rather than advice or lessons from books.

When experts give advice, it's all about mitigating risk and playing it safe. Experts try to prevent us from making mistakes to spare us from the pain they experienced from their ignorance. But in my experience, the huge mistakes are where I learned the deepest lessons.

@RobAlchemyCoach Ha! No, I waited to insert my typo in response to @vanessaosheaa

@NaokiMSonoda I thought it said 'multigating' and I thought. That sounds cool!

@second_bassoon Let's goooo! Excited to see your channel grow!

@NaokiMSonoda Thanks Naoki!!

I've been dreaming of this moment for a very long time.... Now, I just have to be patient!

@vanessaosheaa Yes, and mistakes teach is a visceral way, unlike simply taking advice.

@NaokiMSonoda Nicely said Naoki! So many lessons come from mistakes.