At Beepods, we are constantly working hard to bring better products, services and education to all of our customers and future customers and partners here at Beepods. It is difficult for us to keep everyone up to date on new things that we are working on, but in 2018, we are making an effort to keep you apprised of the newest technology, products and services we are offering.
In 2017, we launched a series of items that many people enjoyed and yet, I am sure most of you didn’t even know they existed. The big thing for us this year is making sure that you are aware of them and know how they will benefit you and your beekeeping experience. We will begin holding office hours and webinars on Beepods Tech and how to use it in the field and to improve your success in your honey bee colony.
This year, we have been working hard to develop an online course which can be used for beginning beekeepers, or in classrooms. We are aiming for a tentative launch date for beta testers in mid-to-late February. Beta testers will receive updates and bonuses in thanks for their input.
We will also be launching an app which will make collecting data easier during hive inspections. We have partnered with the Milwaukee-based company devCodeCamp in order to develop this app, and we’re so excited for our beekeepers to be able to download it. Our projected launch date is sometime in early-to-mid March.
While it isn’t exactly new, we want to remind our beekeepers of the private Facebook page that we have created exclusively for our members. This gives you access to exclusive content, helps you to get in touch with your fellow beekeepers, and gives you access to our software. Members also receive cool bonuses, like our pollinator-friendly seed packet, which should be coming out soon!
In 2017, we brought on two new team members:
Sam Joseph joined the team as a volunteer in 2016 so that she could soak up some hands-on beekeeping knowledge. She’d been fascinated and entranced by bees for years, reading book after book but never able to support her own hive. With two years of beekeeping under her belt, she is coming on board full-time this year, to give our customers support any time they need it. She will always be here for you, just a phone call, email, or text away!
Devon Rowley joined the team as a writer and editor. While she knew little to nothing about bees when she first came onboard, that has certainly changed! Over the past year, she has learned so much about bees and beekeeping through her teammates’ writings as well as her own research. She is excited to see what she’s going to learn this year!
We have updated our shop page so it’s easier for you to navigate. While you’re there, check out some of our new products, like our Bee Viewer and DIY Balm Making Kit.
We’ve made some new partnerships that we’re really thrilled about, and we hope that you are, too! We teamed up with Carolina Biological, who will be helping to distribute our education materials, which will be available soon! We’ve also partnered with Bee City USA, a great organization that we are working with to raise awareness for honey bees. Their reports page, where they share the annual reports of their affiliates, was underwritten by Beepods’ own Scott Offord!
We have partnered with Pollinator.org, a great organization that specializes in promoting education and research in order to help pollinators. A portion of every sale of our balms and salves goes toward their cause.
We are also working to develop two new advisory boards: a Science Advisory Board and a Customer Advisory Board. The Science Advisory Board’s goal will be to analyze data in order to better inform the scientific community of what is happening in the world of beekeeping. The Customer Advisory Board will be put in place to better serve our customers. They will take compliments, complaints, and suggestions from our customers so that we can continue to improve our business.
All in all, it’s looking like 2018 is going to be a great year for Beepods. We hope you’re looking forward to it as much as we are!