The Pen Addict 484/transcript
| The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript | |
|---|---|
| Episode: | 484 |
| Title: | Don't Lie about Being in Antarctica |
| Release Date: | October 20th, 2021 |
| Hosts: | Brad Dowdy |
| Guests: | No guests this episode |
| Additional Information | |
| Official page: | Episode 484 |
| Audio File: | Audio Episode 484 |
| Podcast page: | The Pen Addict 484 |
| Length: | 7373 min <br />1.217 h <br /> minutes |
| Previous Transcript | Next Transcript |
Myke: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 484. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet, Squarespace, and Estabrook by Accutron. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad.
Brad: Hi, Myke. How are you?
Myke: Very good, my friend. How are you? Good, good. Why'd you let me go on vacation last week? I just decided to like rip things apart and like I had way too much time to think and things happened. What is going on? I didn't really know it was my decision to let you go on vacation, but I'll bear that in mind for next time.
Brad: Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. I'll let you know when it's coming up and I'll let you decide, you know, if something else major in my life needs to happen.
Survey Results[edit]
Myke: All right. Well, we've got some stuff to talk about later on. Today, people might be aware, they might not be aware, but we'll get to that when we get to it. But just as a last reminder, we want to let people know that the Pen Addict Slack survey, which doesn't require you being in the Slack, we've mentioned it a couple of times over the last few weeks, that's coming to a close now. So if you do want to get your entrances in and get your information and build up this really cool database, I don't really know how to describe it.
Brad: Well, it's a data point. It's a point in time of a very much shooting fish in the barrel survey, right? It's not an open managed survey, but we know the restrictions of people who are listening to this content or taking the survey. So it's a little bit skewed that way, but it's just a fun look at people who are into this hobby and the things that they're into. Yeah. This is the last week. We'll have more on it once Kat and Michael, they'll analyze it. They'll do some, I think, video analysis of it. And I know the point we were on last week about the top brands, that's definitely going to be a thing. And we got the big pen show bump on the survey as well. They went from like 400 and something to 600 and something responses, and I'm spending a couple of days. So if you haven't taken it, go take it. It's fun. It just talks about what you think about fountain pens and brands and things like that. So it's good stuff. It's good stuff. I believe it's anonymous too, right?
Myke: It's anonymous. Yeah, yeah.
Brad: Because they do ask some age and data, like some personal data, but it's all anonymous. Just to kind of map in what this community is built upon.
Myke: Which is just interesting stuff, and I really look forward to digging through some of the results. I had a few people contact us about our confusion about Pilot. Yeah, yeah. I did too. I did say like Vanishing Point is probably like a big point, like as like a big contender. I wasn't really thinking about, but obviously makes a lot of sense, right? The Pilot Vanishing Point is a very popular pen, and it's also like a really good pen for its money for most people. So that could really be a big sway. I still don't, it still doesn't feel number one worthy for me, but we're all different.
Brad: Well, again, like it's a multiple selection question, which we missed in the beginning. But still. I'll stick to my comment that it's just, it's such, it's a brand with a very high floor, right? There's very few bad Pilot products, and so people tend to latch onto those and keep them for a long time. So it's good. Kat and Michael did let me know we have respondents from all continents now except Antarctica. So I would like to give a special shout out to those of y'all stationed down there at any of the substations in Antarctica. We have to have one pen addict listener down there, right? But like, like, number say, we got one on that continent. So I'm going to need them, like in the next few days to number one, download and listen to this podcast. And then number two, go answer this survey. But number three, don't lie about being in Antarctica. I don't, all of a sudden, if we get five. Hang on, there were 9,000 people from Antarctica. You know, if we get five respondents from Antarctica, we know you're full of it. So here's the thing.
Myke: Here's the thing.
Brad: Let's just up the ante.
Antarctica Challenge[edit]
Myke: Fill it out if you're from Antarctica and send us some, an image, some kind of proof, you know? Yeah. Yeah. You know, like you filling it out with the newspaper next to you or something, you know? Yeah. One of those things. Yeah. Go outside.
Brad: Take me an outside picture. You know? Yeah. We're going to need proof if you reply that you are in Antarctica or no one's going to believe you. You get nothing for this, by the way. No, no, no, no. Just our eternal gratitude. Yeah. So we can check all the boxes, check all the continent boxes. Twisby's checking all the boxes, Myke, with their custom colors and interesting pins. And this one popped across my feed first and foremost because of the artwork. And the artist's name is Karashi Soil. I, you know, my apologies. I didn't check on the pronunciation of this, but they're an artist who basically draws stationery, like for the most part. They draw like real life products, right? Yeah. Let's say that, you know, they could draw like cameras or phones or whatever, like that type of artwork. And it's really fun artwork. I really like the style and the detail. And they worked with Twisby to make their own, I guess, I don't want to say, it's not custom, but like a limited, yeah, like a limited colorway for Japan only with the artist's artwork. And the first question that comes up is, well, haven't we seen this color before? And for Twisby and the artist to actually have a comparison photo in the marketing, it cracks me up. It just does.
Myke: I think that this is the artist's like personal brand color. Yes. Like going through their account, they seem to share, I believe that this is in Japanese and it seems like they share a lot of pens that are yellow, you know, like, which I'm imagining. Twitter's failing me on the translation here, which is a shame. Yeah. I've had that too. But it's, I imagine they're like, you know, like this is my color and now they work with it. It looks like a lot of their artwork is done with fountain pen as well. Like just looking at the way the lines look and stuff. So I think that they draw with fountain pen. So actually their profile. I think this is super cool.
Brad: Yeah. Their profile on Twitter says most of the artwork is done with fountain pens. So I did get that.
Myke: Oh yeah. Look at that. That's cool. I think that this is a great idea from Twisby. Like this is just like, this is what I want to see. Like I would like to see a pen brand embrace limited editions with creators and influencers. So like, again, comparing it to keyboards again, as I like to do these days, like a lot of the key cap designs and stuff, they are from particular designers, like not companies. And it's that person's design that they then get manufactured. They partner with a manufacturer and it gets made. And I think it would be kind of cool for a company like a Twisby or even a Kaweco if they did it right. Like to say like, for example, like the way that you do it, but you have to maybe do a lot more work than would be normal, right? Where you're having to like, hand these companies down, buy them in advance or that kind of stuff. I think it'd be kind of cool if like, you know, Twisby just partnered with a bunch of artists and creators and influencers. Like what color would you like? You know, what color would you like to sell to your audience? I think that would be a really cool idea. I think it would do well.
Brad: So here's what I want to see. It's along your lines, but this is the real reason I wanted to bring this up. So the color itself is, you know, like you mentioned, artist representative, right? It's their color. It's not, it's, you know, it's a little bit more of a mustard yellow compared to more of a, just a more lemony yellow of the original one.
Myke: And the box features original artwork from the artist too, which is amazing.
Brad: So that's my thing. So the selling point here to me, as we mentioned last week on the show, is the garbage we create. The selling point is this artwork. So what I want here is I want a print. I want a t-shirt. I want a tote bag. That makes me feel better about them using a similar color for the eco because this is killer artwork.
Myke: Yeah.
Brad: And all it is, is on a box that's going to sit in my closet, if not go in the trash can for some people. And it deserves more than that. So that's what I wanted to say about this. I love the idea. I love the correct collaboration. I love the product. Give me this artwork somewhere besides on the garbage that we create.
Brad: And that's the point I want to make for Twisby. If they're going to continue to do this and have these, you know, you know, next, next shade down the line color collaboration, right? To where they're going to end up using up all the colors like Kaweco did and have to like rename the product line. Oh no, this is now the eco classic, right? So we can use the color again on the barrel. Give me something else. Give me a notebook print, you know, give me a notebook cover with this printed on it and sell that in collaboration. It'll make me feel better about having a same color Twisby eco that comes at a premium, right? So this is 8,800 yen. So it's around 77 US dollars, which I think I've only I've bought the Japanese orange limited edition. I think it was around like 65, something like that dollars, maybe $70. So that's kind of the going rate for these, these limited edition Japanese Twisbys. But I would like to see more collaborations, but take them a little bit further than just box artwork. Yeah. And, and any, honestly, any regular color, this is any regular color. Like this could have been done anytime by Twisby. Make me feel more special. So anyway, I love it.
Myke: I want a Myke Hurley Twisby. Yeah. I want a Brad Doughty Twisby. Pick a color. Like let me pick a Pantone color and we'll go wild with it. You know? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I think I would like to see them do it. They've clearly done it. I don't know if it's just like maybe, you know, someone in the Twisby art department just loves this artist. Right? Yeah. And, and just wanted to like, don't mean it's in a weird way, like get close to them, you know, like, like, oh, now we know each other. We are collaborators. Like it's a cool thing.
Brad: Oh yeah. No, we all have, we all like super fan over people we'd like to like to work with and people who have some, some cool stuff. So yeah.
Myke: Like Brad Doughty. Mm. That's what, that's what, that's what I did.
Brad: I, I found what you're getting for Christmas, Myke. It's not the Twisby that we just mentioned. It's the, I'm getting you a, a, a PP for Christmas. Stop this now. The, the, the PP1 pencil precision. It's a lot of piece. Mm-hmm. Um, you can make your own wooden pencils, Myke. I had a listener or reader send this to me and I was like, it kind of blew me away. Cause I did, there's no way when they sent me the link, I was like, this is going to be just garbage. Right. This is not going to be a thing and it's going to be dumb. And then I started looking at it and I'm like, oh my God, this thing is crazy. And it looks like really, really legit. So I reached out to, uh, the erasable guys. I'm like, have you, certainly you guys have heard of this. And they said, they said that they had an Andy was trying to get like a loaner unit. But what this is, is this really involved woodcase pencil maker machine, like a self, like your own tabletop pencil maker. Right. And let's, I'll just go ahead and say upfront. So, you know what we're dealing with. If you can't see the link right now, it's like a $600 unit. Right.
Myke: So it's all these tools. Yeah.
Pencil Making Kit[edit]
Brad: It's basically, it's basically like a whole toolbox and on how to make a pencil. And it's, it looks to me like, I just, I don't know, but it looks extremely well done, you know, from just my visuals. I would love to know if someone has tested this out because you're doing everything, like you're putting the slats together. You're putting the cores in the middle of the slats. You're extruding the barrels to, to cut the shape of the barrel. You know, do you want a hex barrel or do you want, you know, a round barrel? And you can do these different things with this.
Myke: And they erase it on and put an eraser, the barrel. It's got a little, man. This is a wild thing. I, I will say, I don't know why. The only reason I can imagine somebody wanted this is because they just wanted it. You know, like I don't really think there's much of a purpose for it as such. Right. I don't think people need to make their own pencils, but I could imagine like you might, if you like this kind of thing, like, like hobby stuff or whatever, you could, oh, this seems like a fun activity. Right.
Brad: Right. And they did pose it as, hey, you know, do this with your kids. Right. Right. It's very, it's theoretically kid-friendly the way the marketing is. Well, I don't know, man. But it's not, it's not on there, like it's a complicated piece of machining. Like, I mean.
Myke: I don't know if this is Myke friendly. I don't know about kid-friendly. This, I mean. It's pretty intense. Yeah. I think I could get caught in something here.
Brad: Like, there's a lot of things going on. Yeah. But you just like, it's, they even have it set up. I was like looking, I was like looking at the, at the marketing page and you go all the way down and you see like the painted pencils. I was like, well, how do they suggest like you paint the pencils? And they actually have that built in. They have like a holder that's built into this device that allows you to turn the pencil as you paint it. It's really cool.
Myke: Right. Like it's really, they have a bunch of stuff. With this company, you can do like make, they have like chopstick makers and stuff too.
Brad: Yeah. So it's wild. It's, but I think you said it the best. It's kind of like a hobby kit, right? Yes. So it's like one of those things, like if you're going to do like a science project, like this is a more like a hardware type project, right? Like, you know, it's, it's pretty cool. I, they have clearly thought a lot about this.
Myke: In general, Brad, I don't know if you checked out their website, but like they sell just tools, right?
Brad: I mean, I'm looking at stuff. Yeah. I'm looking at like thousand dollar planers and stuff like that.
Myke: They are beautiful.
Brad: Yeah.
Myke: Really beautiful. Like just like the planes, like the block planes. Yeah. They're stunning.
Brad: Yeah.
Myke: They really are.
Brad: Cool company. Pretty well. Yeah. Very cool. Never heard of this before. You know, their, their tagline is serving woodworkers worldwide since 1983. So they're definitely like in that, that market. Yeah. And it looks like some pretty cool stuff. So I wanted to bring that up because I thought it was neat. And I thought it was, it surprised me when I clicked the link, what I was actually seeing. So it was very cool.
Myke: All right. Should we take our first break?
Brad: Yeah. We might have some other stuff to talk about.
Myke: We've got some big stuff to talk about. But first, let's thank our, one of our sponsors of this episode. And that is Pen Chalet. Pen Chalet have everything that you need for your stationary habit. If you're looking for a new pen, you're looking for some ink, maybe you want some refills, some carrying cases, carrying cases. That sounds like a great idea, right, Brad?
Brad: Yeah. Love a pen carrying case. Maybe. Let me think about it a little bit.
Myke: You can think about that.
Myke: Pen Chalet have all of your favorite brands. They do fast, reliable customer service, and they're doing discounts all the time. Pen Chalet always have great prices, but they're always doing special discounts, as well as adding new styles of pens, new products. Every time you go to Pen Chalet, you're going to find something new, because they have everything that you are looking for. They also back it up with the best, reliable, most fast, I don't know why I said it that way, customer service around. They sell internationally. They have great shipping rates. I've bought from Pen Chalet a bunch of times. It's a fantastic experience. But if you're in the US, they do free shipping on orders of over $50, which I think at Pen Chalet is easy to make a car up over $50, because they have so much amazing stuff. And Pen Chalet really wants you to have a great experience, which is why they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their high-quality pens that they sell to you for the lowest prices they can. So go to PenChalet.com. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password PENADDICT to get your hands on this week's special offers and to get the code that you need to save 10% on anything at any time over at Pen Chalet.
New Pen Addict List Items[edit]
Brad: This is a crazy interesting list. Lots of new things on the list this week. First off, the Tibaldi N60 fountain pens. I reviewed a different model Tibaldi. I think this is probably the better model to go with, the N60 model. They look nice. They're a really good rider. I really enjoyed my experience with it. It's a great pen. The Mayora Impronte is a pen I've just reviewed that I think is really great as well. If you like Leonardo-style pens, Mayora is another company that is along those lines. They have the same DNA coming from Omos, the closure of Omos. This was one of the splinter companies.
Myke: I think we spoke about them a couple of weeks ago, didn't we?
Brad: Yep, yep. We talked about my review, which I loved. And then you scroll down. There's some really interesting stuff down here. Once you get down, there's a pen from Stipula called the Suprema, which I have never seen before. It's an expensive pen, but it's a big discount. And this is something I would have to research and not necessarily buy on a whim. But I'm kind of intrigued by how the Stipula looks. And Stipula has been doing some new things recently. Sorry, my apologies. The closure of Delta from the new pen makers. My apologies. I said that wrong. There's too many closures and too many spawning companies. The interesting thing, Myke, the Platinum 3776 Mac E.A. fountain pens are getting closer to the standard 3776 prices, which is a compelling price point.
Myke: Yeah, that's the one I was just looking at. Like, I can't believe the price of this Mac E.A. pen 3776.
Brad: It's really good. And then the President, which is being discontinued by Platinum, is an even lesser price. You're getting down into the full 3776 price range at this point. So it's an interesting list. There is a lot of good stuff on this list from Pen Chalet. So I appreciate Ron putting all this together. It looks fantastic.
Myke: All right. If you want to go check this out for yourself, go to penchalet.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password penaddict. Our thanks to Pen Chalet for their continued support of this show and RelayFM.
Myke: Anything happen this week that we need to talk about? So in case people aren't aware, Brad sent out a newsletter to the Knock Co newsletter subscription list and announced it in other places as well. Knock Co, of course, the brand that Brad's been running for like six or seven years, I think.
Brad: Um, 2014, I think. Yeah, 2014 was like the website launch. Was that the Kickstarter launch? That was the Kickstarter launch too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was 2014. So there you go.
Myke: So many years now, like six or seven years. And Brad announced that Knock Co in its current iteration is no more.
Brad: It is. It is. This has been a decision a long time in the making, as Myke has been privy to. One of the few people that have been privy to the long term rolling around in my head of making this decision. And it's not obviously an easy decision to make, but it's the right decision at the right time to make. Knock can no longer sustain itself as it is without me putting in more time and money. And that's the short version of it. And, you know, it's probably how a lot of businesses shut down. No more time, no more money. And Knock is a heavy time and money investment brand, right? There is so much that goes into products. There's so much money that goes into, like, the capital. There's a lot of inventory float that you have to have and a lot of money tied up. And it could work. Like, the reason why it took me so long to let this go is because I know it could be successful if I had more time and money to put into it. So, the problem with that is I have so many other things going on that are going really well. I don't have, like, the 40 hours a week that Knock would need to be successful. Like, I fully believe if Knock was my only job and I spent 40 hours a week doing it and, like, that's all I wanted to do, it would be just a really successful, sustainable business. But as it's set up now to where the product launches are stretched out, you know, the inventory is large, the requirements from, you know, just design, production, inventory management, operations, marketing, shipping, all of those things, there's not enough time for me to, like, really get in there and make a difference, right? So, I threw money at it from my own bank account just trying to sustain because I know it's a good business, right? What were you sustaining? I was sustaining nothing. I was just sustaining.
Myke: What were you throwing money at?
Brad: Oh, inventory, inventory.
Myke: Right, but this is part of the stuff that I think it can be difficult to get you out around, right? Mm-hmm. If the business was selling stuff that you had to get, you know, if you needed to replace inventory, why were you having to pay for it?
Brad: Right, right. So, let me explain it. Let me explain it this way. Yeah. So, the business basics, and I think some people will understand this and some people won't, but especially for small businesses or non-public, non-public you run businesses, people, business owners talk about being profitable or not profitable, right? And that's just accounting magic for a small business. Small businesses do not want to run at a profit because you are then taxed on your profit. So, if you're not in these types of businesses, you haven't run these types of businesses, that sounds really weird. But it's not when the expenses for running a small business include your salary or your distributions or your bonuses or however, whatever money you are making for actually doing the work, right? Those come off before you get to the final end of the year decision. Did we make a profit? Yeah. So, not only... So, Nock has never been profitable, right? But we've always gotten paid. Mm-hmm. I haven't made a personal dime from Nock in about two years.
Myke: So, you... All I've done is work. You haven't even been...
Brad: There's been zero distributions to me in about two years.
Myke: So, this is like no, no profit, like real no profit.
Brad: Like, that's a different version of the business is not profitable. That is like literally I'm losing money because all I'm doing is spending time and investing my own money to just kind of float the inventory a little bit longer, right? So, that's a different type of not making a profit. Like, I think most small businesses that are sustainable, I think they're proud to say they're not profitable if they're like sustaining payroll and, you know, payments and disbursements. Like, if you're not in this world, like you don't... People may not understand how that works.
Myke: It's also worth saying it's different in different countries. It's not as clear cut as that here in most popular types of ways that businesses are put together.
Brad: Yes, that's a good point. So, in the US, you can be... Your business can not make a profit forever and you run a successful business, right? Right? So, what we're doing is we're like literally not making a profit as in I'm only spending time and money and not getting... It's the bad version. I'm not getting anything back. So, at some point that has to end, right?
Myke: So, here's the part that like to go back that was very good, very helpful. But like the part that's saying like if you were buying inventory out of your own personal money... Yes. ...why were you doing that? You know what I mean? Like you must have been selling stuff to buy inventory, right?
Brad: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, because I wanted to keep it going because like it's one of the things I'm most proud of and it's kind of my baby. But like what I mean is...
Myke: Okay, so it's complicated. Yeah. For you to buy inventory, the company must have been selling stuff for you to replace their inventory, otherwise you wouldn't buy it, right? Yes. So, why couldn't the company pay for the inventory? Because it doesn't move fast enough. Right. So, you were... So, there's bulk ordering... You were buying new products, right? Hoping that they would sell to offset some of the cost of everything else.
Brad: Right. Okay. And in this business, like a single case could be a year from design to production to receipt and then another six months to a year to sell through the product. And then you multiply that by like how many different products we have. It just becomes this whole spider web of trying to manage from trying to make the right decisions all along the way. And it just ends up catching up to you. Like it's difficult to manage this many products with like order minimums and time that it takes to make a product. Like these products... I'm not making a digital product that's infinitely repeatable, right? Yeah. Like we're making a thing that has long lead times and large minimums and things like that. So, you just end up getting stretched too thin in the end. So, all I was doing was just trying to keep my head afloat until I got to the point where it's like I can't make new things because I can't commit the time or money to make me feel like there's some kind of big turnaround or something, right? Like I know it's a good business and I know it's a great product. But I can't run it individually. Like, you know, I talked about how the different things I've got going on, right? Like all the pen addict stuff, you know, the blog, the podcast, the membership, like that stuff is doing great, right? Yep. And all the spoke stuff that I've got going on with Brian, like all that stuff's doing great. And like people were emailing me, it's like I'm shutting down Nock. Are you going to be okay? And I'm like, Nock has cost me money for two years. Like I've been okay for like the last two years because the other things I have are doing good. So, and those things I can allocate my time and resources to because they're not just the huge bulk of time and resources that Nock requires, right? I can do those things, you know, I could spend 10 hours and make a difference, 10 hours a week and make a difference in pen addict stuff. I can't spend 10 hours a week and make a difference in Nock stuff, right? Yeah. It would require 40 hours. So, and I can't do that, right? So, you know, that's why I've just been stringing it along for a couple of years. Like keep thinking like, well, I'll just do another few case designs. I'll make some more, you know, orders and put out some money and then it'll eventually come back. And it's just this slow burn. Like it's a really long, long process. And if it was the only thing I did, like it would work fine. I fully believe that. But like, I just don't have that. And the way everything that I do is set up, like I also have like spending the time on like the pen addict stuff and the spoke stuff is definitely more worthwhile. Like that stuff's paying the bills. Well, I don't want to just have those things bring in money that I spend on Nock. Because of some vanity reason, right? Like, you know, just wanted to keep it going. And so, yeah, I eventually just decided to pull the plug. We've been talking about it a while. You and I have probably been talking about it for six months or more. Just like I need to do this. And it's a hard decision to make. It's not easy.
Myke: So, I have a bunch of questions for you. There's more I want you to say. But just to, because you mentioned the other brands.
Myke: I know that obviously like, I think we have a similar thing of like you have an idea and you want to pursue it. But would it be fair to say that you ended up moving and looking at other products, other companies because maybe Nock wasn't where you wanted it to be?
Brad: I'm not tracking you. Say that again. How do you mean?
Myke: So, like, you know, you have all these other endeavors that you were a part of. Like, Spoke and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. And was it a thing of like, you were even more pushed or desired to do other things because Nock couldn't do what you hoped it would? Yeah.
Brad: Like, you can see more on the table. Like, there's opportunities that I'm not pursuing with Pen Addict and Spoke to improve both of those things because I don't have the time. Yes. Well, what is, where can I get this time back? I was like, and I've never considered like that not closing down Nock was the thing until I finally, until I kept writing checks. And I was like, you know what, this thing is costing me money. And I know, like, I have lists of things. Like, I spent vacation, like, writing down all the things I want to do going forward, right? And they were all Pen Addict and Spoke things and no Nock things because I knew it was over. So, I spent vacation, like, writing the newsletter to send out to close down Nock because it's just not working for me personally anymore.
Brad: You know, some of the things I wrote in the newsletter that I sent out were talking about, you know, what the future of the brand. Like, I'm not saying, like, Nock is done forever, but it sure as heck isn't going to move along like this, you know. Am I leaving the door open for, like, to carry, like, the note cards, which was, like, the biggest comment I got in reply to, you know, the newsletter and the news of Nock shutting down. I was like, well, where am I going to get my index cards now? Yeah. You know, could I keep that as a one-off and sell them in the pen store? Sure. Like, I'm not there yet. Like, but, like, I'm not saying no to that, you know. Could I do, like, a special project with the Sinclair and we do some fun collaboration type of thing? Sure. Like, you know, I'm leaving that door open from a Nock type of product. But Nock as it is now is not going to be, like, a large retailer of pen cases and stationery. It's just not sustainable for me.
Myke: Yeah. Okay.
Myke: Do you have – so, you have a couple of points in our notes here that I want to make sure that you feel like you've hit on before I pepper you with my questions. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is there anything more that you want to mention on this before we take a break and get to that?
Brad: OMG the feedback. Y'all are amazing. Everyone who replied, who, like, ordered stuff, it's mind-blowing, the feedback I got. And it just –
Myke: Yeah, because your plan was to basically, like, sell off everything just so you had no inventory. But I remember you saying to me, you thought it was going to take a while.
Brad: Yeah. So, I put in the – I didn't know what to think. So, I did kind of an inventory before I did this, right, a product inventory. So, I knew what I had to put on the site for sale. And then I announced that all the cases were going at 50% off in the newsletter. And it was madness. I can't believe the amount of orders. I can't believe how quickly everything went. There's still plenty left for some cases. But what happened was not in my purview, right? I didn't think what happened happened. I now have a big Kickstarter level of shipping to do. I might have to send out another newsletter today saying, number one, thank you for all the amazing feedback. Number two, it might take me a month to get all these orders shipped. It was that big. Which is good. Like, that's what needed to happen. But even I – it caught me off guard for sure. Like, I'm in a shipping hole for a while. Which is okay. Like, you don't think about that. Like, I knew it was going to – like, oh, yeah, a bunch of people will order a bunch of stuff. Not at the scale that I saw happen this week. So, it was crazy.
Myke: You're going to be very busy, aren't you, over the next couple of weeks? Yeah.
Feedback and Future Plans[edit]
Brad: Next month. Like, literally, it's going to take me like a month to go through this backlog. That's how many orders I got, which is great. Thank you all. Like, that's – it worked as intended. Just, I think, even better than intended. But it goes to show me – Yeah. Yeah, it goes to show me that, like, people really love this product and people really appreciate what we did. And that makes me proud. And we'll talk about that more. But, yeah, that's the current situation is we sold through a lot of cases and have a lot of shipping to do. It's going to be – it's going to take me a while to process all that. And then after that, we'll kind of get a lay of the land, see what cases I have left, see, you know, if there's inventory that I've missed. I know one product, you know, that I'll be able to put back up, you know, a small amount of – like, one box, like, kind of slipped through the cracks. And I was like, oh, well, I just can't do that today. But we'll have another round of new inventory as we go through this month. So, you know, maybe later in the year I'll send out another note and say, hey, this is, like, the final stock. And then, you know, maybe next year – I haven't thought about this at all. Maybe next year in Atlanta we have, like, the last hurrah of, like, all the one-off prototypes and all the just the random stuff that I can't sell.
Myke: See if you can somehow rent that old – your garage for a day. Yeah, exactly. That would be hilarious.
Brad: That would be hilarious. Like, there's – we have such good memories. Like, such good memories. Like, and I don't want to, like, put knock out the pasture. It's too important to me. It's a really important part of my life. And, you know, while this is the end of what it is now, like, I hope it doesn't go away forever.
Myke: All right. Let's take a break. And I got some questions for you. All right. As you knew I would. I'm ready. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform to build our own online presence and run your business. From websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics, Squarespace has you covered because they combine cutting-edge design with world-class engineering to make it so easy for you to establish a home online and make your ideas a reality. Whether you want to promote your business or your next idea, whether you want to showcase your work with a beautiful portfolio, whether you want to sell physical products, whether you want to announce an event, write your blog post, it doesn't matter what it is, Squarespace gives you the tools to do it. You start with a professionally designed template and use drag-and-drop tools to make it your own, to really make it look even more beautiful and modern than just what they give you out of the box. It's awesome. You can customize the look and the feel, the settings, the products that you have on sale, and more with just a few clicks. And everything's optimized for all screen sizes, so it's going to look great everywhere. With Squarespace, you get free unlimited hosting, top-of-the-line security, dependable resources, 24-7 customer support, the ability to grab a domain name and register it for the site, take advantage of SEO and email marketing tools, and so much more. And you don't have to patch anything, upgrade anything, install anything. They take care of it all for you. So, go to squarespace.com slash penaddict, and you can sign up for a free trial today with no credit card required. And when you're ready to launch, use the offer code penaddict, and you'll get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com slash penaddict. And when you decide to sign up, use the offer code penaddict, and you'll get yourself 10% off your first purchase, and you'll be showing your support for the show. Our thanks to Squarespace for the continued support of the penaddict and all of RelayFM.
Myke: So, one of the things that you've been mentioning, and I heard you mention a little bit, because you were talking about this in your Twitch stream yesterday, twitch.tv slash penaddict. People should go check it out.
Myke: Can you clarify, like, why a lot of the conversation is focused around you and your decision? Because, you know, a lot of people will be aware that Nock was you and Jeff.
Brad: Right, right. And Jeff knew this was happening, right? But Jeff and I, about, I don't know, was it a year ago? We talked about it on the podcast. When I wanted to keep Nock going, I knew I had to invest some of my own money into that. And from a business paperwork perspective, as 50-50 owners of the company, I could not invest my money without the partner investing a similar amount of money. So, and I wasn't going to put that on Jeff. Like, I wanted to do it. And, you know, I wasn't going to make him make that decision. So, I said, hey, would you just let me take over the company? I'm going to try to make this work. And the way I'm going to do it is I'm going to invest some of my own money into it. And so, we actually did, like, a paperwork transfer of ownership to me. So, it was solely, like, my decision, like, how to allocate funds and, you know, do all that kind of stuff and try to make things work out in the end. And then it got to the point where, you know, I had to make the decision that we made today. Like, it was just me continually trying to fix, trying to make Nock a thing. And, you know, it got to the point where, like, I could no longer sustain that. So, you know, I'll let Jeff know, talked about it. And he said, you know, that sounds like a good decision and, you know, all that stuff. So, yeah, like, that's why it was, you know, I talk about, you know, like, we talked about it when you were reading some of my emails. Like, sometimes you say I and sometimes you say we. And it's, like, that's totally how it has to be with Nock because Nock is me and Jeff. It'll always be me and Jeff, no matter, like, whose name's on the paperwork. Like, Jeff is why Nock exists. And I'm just forever grateful to him. I consider him a close friend. And just he's an amazing designer and maker. And, like, Nock wouldn't exist without him. So, just huge shout out to Jeff. He knows I love him.
Myke: But ultimately, the decision to shut it down kind of had to come from you. And that's that, right?
Brad: Yeah, I mean, I've been the only one involved in the business for two, three years now.
Myke: Yeah.
Brad: Like, even when it was a 50-50 thing, like, Jeff was just, I mean, Jeff, you know, has a wife and kids and a full-time job. And, like, couldn't put the time in that, you know, to work on it. So, it's been a solo show for quite some time now. Yeah.
Myke: How? We touched on some of this already a little bit. But I want to kind of understand, like... So, you had a business that was selling products, but it wasn't making money. Mm-hmm. Were there some... Did you guys make mistakes? Like, were your margins wrong? Did you overorder on certain products? Like, Nock was a successful business. Mm-hmm. But it wasn't... It seemed like it got to a point and things kind of seemed to stop. Do you have any feeling now on what might have happened?
Brad: Yeah. Going to retail was the worst decision we ever made. Okay. That was all on me. That was my decision.
Myke: Can you explain a little bit about what that decision was and why you think it was wrong?
Brad: Sure. Basically, our margins are great if we're selling products direct. Yeah. Right? We built it to sell our margins... Built our margins to sell the product directly. Yep. So, and that worked well. And, you know, it's like, well, if we're going to grow the business, do we need to go to retail? And let's try to do that. And took a cut on our margins just to do that.
Myke: Ask the retailer, say, well, just... Oh, I'm picking them out of that. You don't have to. But you can't go to Goulet and say... Sure. Well, then Goulet comes to you and they're like, hey, we would love to sell some knock products in our store. And then you go, okay, then. We charge $25. You're going to have to charge $35. Right. You can't do that. And the reason you would say that is because, well, now, you know, you could be taking, say, a 10%, 20%, 30% hit on your margin. Because now, you know, like the retailer needs to make money too. So they now need to make money from what was originally all the money you made. You've got to give them a slice of that. So it reduces the amount of profit that you see from an individual purchase.
Brad: Exactly. And with the idea, the false idea, that we would make it up in volume, right? Well, it happens.
Myke: Right. Right? It does happen. But it doesn't happen for many people. But it does. Right. In theory, it could have happened. I see why you did it. Yes.
Brad: But. Yeah. I don't regret the decision, but I made a mistake. Right? I think those are two things I can separate in my mind. Yeah.
Myke: Because you can still look back at it and be like, in the same circumstances, in the same situation, I would still make the same decision. Right. But it always was the wrong one. And if I was going to try a post-mortem, my feeling would be it was unnecessary because the people that were buying knock cases would have bought them from you. They didn't need to buy them from the retailers.
Brad: Right. So, that's when, from our perspective, I'm looking at it like, brand. Let's get our brand built. But we really had more of just like, it was a more personal thing.
Myke: It was a more personal business. You know, like if you, you know, there are other companies that could have carried the product that may have been better for that, you know? Just because like, you know, I think a lot of the places that the products were in, they're already very much in our community. Like, they're very much in our world. Like, for example, if you were able to put it at like, an office supply store, right? It might have been a different situation. Because then you are truly adding on sales where I think probably what happened is you just moved the sales around to different places and overall lost money on it. Yeah. Yeah, totally.
Brad: Totally. So, and then, you know, that gets into the whole like, inventory questions that we've had, you know, in the past. It's just like, carrying like so much volume and dollars tied up in inventory. Right, right. Like at one point.
Myke: Because now you're holding inventory in multiple places, right? Right, right. So. Because when do you, when you're working with a retailer, when do you make the money?
Brad: Just on, just on the initial sales. Yeah, see, that's not what you want, right?
Myke: Yeah. The ideal situation, which I don't even know if this exists, is the retailer pays you up front, right? For the product.
Brad: I mean, they did. Our retailers paid up front. Okay. Yeah, that was fine. Like, that was fine. So, balancing. So, when you do that, right? Say we're working with 10 retailers. Yeah. I have to understand their business to understand how much I need to order. Like, what is their business model to sell these products? And what is that volume? And like, plan ahead and like, make these like, educated guesses on volume and future orders. And it just becomes this whole cycle. And we just ended up, you know, just digging a hole.
Myke: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. That makes sense. Mm-hmm.
Myke: Why shut knock down? Why not just rest it?
Brad: That's kind of what I'm leaning towards. I mean, I'm definitely, well, okay, let me rewind. Why shut it down? Because like, I'm never going to have 40 more hours a week to work on it, to take a break and then reboot it, right? Yeah. That's not what I want from knock. So, I mentioned that I am not, I mentioned this in Twitch, that I'm not going to work 80 hours a week to try to make this successful along with everything else. Yeah. I'm just not going to do that. I'm not in like, I'm not on hashtag team hustle. You know, I'm not on, you know, work or die type of things. You know, I have a family, I have a life, I have other things I want to do. I have other successful businesses that I run. I don't need to kill myself to make this happen. Like, if I decided to, you know, work 80 hours a week, knock would still be going. I'm choosing not to work 80 hours a week because I don't want to. I'm just going to be very clear about that. I do not want to rise and grind, as the chat is saying. That is not me. I don't think that mentality does the businesses of those people justice. Yeah. Because I think everything I've built is personal. And you lose that when you're, you know, when you're always be hustling. I think you lose the personal touch that makes these things successful. And that's like the most important thing to me is to have like a personal connection, a community, a conversation with, you know, your customers. And you're just going to lose that.
Brad: That's my opinion, you know, in that type of thing. Could I, I mean, is it technically possible for me to do it? Sure. But then it's technically possible for me to not have a life. And I like having a life. I like having my family. I like my kids. I like having, I like having free time on the weekends. I don't want to work weekends anymore. I work, I work every Sunday. Um, I basically work six days a week, right? Already just to do the stuff that I need to do. I, I, I've chosen not to work Sundays anymore. It hasn't worked yet and it's not going to work for a while with all these orders I have to ship. But like next year, I don't want to work on the weekends. That's my goal. So I'm just not going to do it. And this is this decision I had to make to get there because everything else is working really well. Like I have, I have time to work on pen addict and make it better. I have time to work on spoke and make it better.
Brad: Take those two things that are successful. Not that knock wasn't successful, but adding in just a marginal amount of hours to knock does, will not make that a success. It needs a huge bulk of hours that I just don't have.
Brad: So to get back to your original question, why shut it down and not rest the brand? Because I'm never going to bring it back the way it was before. Never, ever. It's not even a consideration. I might, like I said, I might do, I'm not even saying I'm for sure going to like have like a singular pen case and a singular note card product. I think those are thought, those are decisions I don't want to make today. Yeah. The decision I will make today is that knock is not going to be what it used to be. I promise you that just because I don't have the time.
Brad: You know, I, I'm not taking anything off the table other than me running knock as a full-time job. So everything else is, is, is on the table, but no decisions are even remotely ready to be made for that.
Myke: Okay. So basically what you're saying is like this, you know, the, a standalone website selling a bunch of cases. And like, it's just, that's just not, that's just not the thing. Right. Right.
Brad: Okay. Like I said in the newsletter, like I could see knock being a project based, you know, outlet. Right. Like one-offs collaborations projects, but on a, it's like a very small scale. And I mean collaborations as in like, I would make a case to sell on the pen attic site and that's it, you know, that kind of thing. I don't mean like, Hey, let me collab with like every retailer and every retailer has their own case. I don't have time for that.
Myke: No, because now you're back to square one again.
Brad: Or, or the desire to do that because I don't need retailer X to come and say, Hey, can we do this collaboration? And I say, yes, that's literally a year of my time right there. It's if they call me today, it's going to take us a year to deliver the product. And I don't have time for that.
Myke: But at the, at the same time, knock has this IP, it has all the, the case designs and stuff. And so that's valuable.
Brad: I think our case design, that's why I'm not ending the brand. I'm keeping the brand because I think our, what we have built is valuable. Whether I'm making money off of it or not. Right. Like our case designs are valuable. I think they are special. Like, I think they made a difference in how people think about how they carry their stuff in, in this community. And I'm not letting that go. Like, like if anything, like that's like the, the thing I'm the most proud of is our design work. Me and Jeff is we made some really good stuff and, you know, maybe someone else will own it one day and it continues to exist. And that means we did a good job. That stuff is valuable. And I, I'm going to tell y'all right now, I understand that. And I'm not letting that go. No one's going to be making, you know, our stuff without our involvement in it. Yeah. At some, at either, you know, licensing or purchasing or whatever. Like none of that's on the table. Like I don't even know where to begin with that. But there's a reason why Nock is not just going to vanish off the planet because I think what we make is valuable. I think it's actually very valuable to be perfectly honest. So, and I don't have to sell it.
Brad: If that makes sense.
Myke: Yep. It does. Um, so really like ultimately the thing to take away is what goes away now is this standalone store of a range of products. Like that's not happening anymore. But yeah.
Brad: The store, the retail storefront's not happening. The pin show tables are not happening.
Myke: Yeah.
Brad: Um, that type of like just big retail is not happening. Yeah. You know, one-off, one-off stuff is definitely on the table. It's just not, don't expect any, even me to even think about that until next year. It's going to take me that long to ship, to ship everything I have right now.
Myke: So you, you, you've at the moment, you've got a lot of stuff, right? Like a lot of orders, you know, when you see all of these orders come through, like these hundreds and hundreds of hundreds of orders. Do you get any regrets about closing this down? Like clearly people love the stuff and there's, there's a desire. Or do you think like, this is just a one-off? No, people aren't going to do this usually.
Brad: Yeah. No regrets. Okay. Cool. Like it's not even a consideration because you've known me long enough. I don't make snap decisions. Yeah, I know. If you have followed me for long enough, you know, I'm just not going to jump for no reason without thinking about it for quite some time in the bigger picture. And I don't have one ounce of maybe I should rethink this and try to make it a go. Like I am done. Like that part of this journey is done. You know, maybe there's a different journey to be had, you know, like that's why I like, I'm not sad about this, right? Like this is a journey type of situation. I am so proud of what Jeff and I built and I'm so happy with what we created. And, you know, I'm just like going down the road. Like we've got more mile markers to hit down the road. And this was maybe a little detour or something, but it's not a negative.
Myke: So what you're saying is life is a highway?
Brad: We don't need you to sing in two consecutive episodes. Are you sure? I don't know. I think it could become my new thing. Yeah. No, no. But like, you know, I am, like I'm happy. Like, and I'm not relieved yet that I made this decision because I have a lot of work in front of me to really kind of wrap this up. But like I know by next year, like all I have to do is open my notebook that I took on vacation and look at all the things I want to do. And knowing that I made this decision today is going to allow me to do those things that, you know, are going to continue to build on what I've already built. Like it's hard to talk about yourself in like a business sense. You know, that's always been a difficult challenge for me. But like I am really happy with what I've built and that I've been able to make a living of it. And Nock was a part of that like for a long time. And, you know, now it's not going to be like a core part of that. And like because everything else is going so well, like I'm totally cool with that. Like I'm completely fine. It was just it was hard to make the decision, but I know it was the right decision.
Myke: Yeah, I think I think it was too. I mean, sometimes, you know, when you when you have all of these different endeavors, you just need to let some stuff go to find some mental space. So that you're able to continue focusing on everything. Sometimes it's not even about like how much work a project or a thing actually takes up. Like, you know, you might work on it for two hours a week, right, which maybe isn't that much or whatever. But it's the mental energy that it takes for having all of these things just in your brain all the time that I actually think takes the much larger load than the time spent.
Brad: Yeah. And you know me, that's a very big issue for me. Like the mental the mental energy. Like I get I get sapped and drained on the regular just because of the mental overhead it takes to continue doing this.
Myke: Spoiler alert. Guess who's also been thinking about this? Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, like that's that's what that can be a big it can be a big effect. And I think for that reason is is more than enough for you to continue with this idea, especially considering, as you say, like it just changed and it wasn't it wasn't the same anymore. So.
Brad: Yep. Yep. And like I I had to come to peace with that over the last six months and I finally did. And and yeah, I'm I'm I'm content with the decision. I'm it's it's totally the right decision. And it's actually, you know, a little bit overdue, I would say, you know, you know, not extremely overdue. But, you know, in the last six or nine months, you know, maybe I could have jumped a little bit earlier and, you know, but it's all good. All good, man. I am.
Brad: I don't know. I don't know how to end this other than to say just like I'm really proud of knock and really happy that I mean, it's your journey, right? Like, yeah, you are now. It's a big deal for me. It just is. And that's what makes it hard to let it go, despite knowing that it's the 100 percent correct decision. Yeah. So, yeah, that's why I just ramble on. I'll keep rambling on about it. So to put a bow on this, maybe I don't know. Maybe you have more questions, but I will say there's going to be another email coming saying, OMG, thank you. It's going to be a while before you get your order. Because it's a mess. It's wow. It's a lot. So, yeah, expect a knock email today. And if you're not on the email list and you have placed an order, it's going to be a while. But I will ship everything. It's just going to take some time.
Myke: This episode is brought to you by a new collaboration between Estabrook and Accutron. Watchmaker Accutron and pen maker Estabrook have joined forces to produce a new pen collection commemorating both of the brands. And it's called the Accutron by Estabrook. These two brands have a really rich history. Both have successfully represented what was beloved about the past with the great possibilities of the future. And so the Estabrook is a collaboration that is history in the making. This Estabrook is made from the proprietary diamond cast formula in Accutron green blended with gold and diamond dust. Gold plated trims accentuate this limited edition collection, which delivers in luxury as much as it delivers with an exemplary writing experience. 100 pieces of this collection are offered in the Estee Oversize model with 18 karat gold nibs coveted for their exceptional performance, making their Estabrook debut with the Accutron tuning fork logo engraved upon them. The Estee Accutron is also available in limited production traditional fountain pen size with a gold plated nib and engraved logo in a full range of nib sizes. Every pen is equipped with their cushion cap closure to provide a secondary seal to ensure an easy start every time. Plus nibs specially manufactured for Estabrook by German maker Yowo, and they can be inked with any international cartridge or converter. The Estee Accutron is also offered as a limited production rollerball as well, so you get a different writing experience, but with that same beautiful design. These are lovely looking pens.
Brad: So you need to click the links in this show note because these don't pop up at retailers like that you're used to. They're a direct collaboration with Accutron, and they are worth checking out because this material is awesome. This is one of the coolest ones that they've done yet, and they have a little Accutron logo etched on the nib. And I just think it's really well done, set up perfectly, and I think it's a killer collaboration. And do yourself a favor and go take a peek at these. If you're into the Estabrooks at all, which I am, I'm kind of in love with this one, and it's worth checking out.
Myke: I'm using my Estee today, actually. Yeah, I need to ink mine up. So nice. They're really great. They really are. I really do like these pens. They're overall just a great package, and then in these special edition colorways, it's just even more so. It's super cool. And you should go check it out for yourself. Go to accutronwatch.com slash collections and choose partnership items, and you'll see the Estee Accutron there. You can also use the code on the site PENADDICT20, and you'll get 20% off, which is incredible. That's accutronwatch.com slash collections. Choose partnership items. We also have links in the show notes as well, as Brad mentioned. And you'll use that code PENADDICT20 for 20% off. Thanks to Estabrook and Accutron for their continued support of this show and RelayFM.
Brad: I'm exhausted.
Myke: Yeah, should we do a couple of us TPAs and get out of here?
Brad: Yeah, we can. We can.
Brad: Yeah, I feel like, so you know me, I feel like I've said a lot, but I want to say more, but there's nothing new I would say. So you have to stop me, so we should do some STPA. Yeah.
Myke: All right, TJ asks, I have six fountain pens, and I already cannot keep track of which ink cartridges work with which pens. How do you keep all of this straight, or does no one actually use these cartridges after a certain point and just switch to converters?
Brad: So, I mean, anything written, right? Like, I try to manage that just by writing it down, right? It's, you can't keep in track. You make a, like an ink log, right? So you just have, when you put the cartridge in, you go and you write down what is where, right? That's how I've done it in the past. Then, I don't know, TJ's probably already there with six. Like, if you have two fountain pens, it's easy to, like, keep up with. But six is, like, a bit of a management issue. Like, how do you keep them straight? And maybe you're not quite, like, the FPC.ink, the fountain pen companion setup yet. But if you use a notebook regularly, flip it to the back page, and that's where you do this stuff. That's how I do it. And then I know when I've finished that pen, even though I have six, I can refer back to what I had in it before and then make a decision. Do I want to put in the same cartridge? Do I want to clean it and put in a different cartridge? Or, like TJ's alluding to, you're going to be in the converter. You're going to be in the converter and ink bottle game before long. Like, that's just kind of how it works.
Brad: That's just kind of how it works. So, the cartridge management is a little bit tough. Most of them are in international sizes, either short or long. So, they're compatible to a degree. There are some slight variants in the sizes and widths. Like, you might have a long international cartridge that will fit in the barrel that came with, but might not fit in another barrel just from a diameter perspective. I just try to keep them in their original boxes. Because I know which one, you learn pretty quickly which ones are proprietary. Like, if you have a Lamy, only Lamy cartridges are fitting there. Right? If you have any of the Japanese pens, only their cartridges are fitting in there. Everything else, eh, it's kind of a toss-up. I mean, there's some small proprietary stuff with, like, Parker, Schaefer's, and Cross. In general, you figure out pretty quick.
Myke: I mean, one of the reasons that most people, including me, switch to converter is you don't have to think about this anymore.
Brad: So, I keep a box full of cartridges, but they're all in their original box. And then I keep a separate box just full of empty converters that I just go grab. Even, like, they're mixed up. Like, my international converters are mixed in with my Japanese converters because I can, I know what they look like just visually. But, like, my cartridges, I just keep them in the original boxes and know how to pull them. And if I, if you get to a situation where you're ordering pens and you receive a bunch of cartridges, right, like, that are shipped with them and you don't really know what they are, what the ink are, what the ink in them is, you know, I just, I set those aside separately. Like, I have a little Ziploc full of the unknown, the unknown cartridges that I just keep for probably no reason. But, you know, I'm usually swapping in something that, that I've purchased separately than what the, what the pen ships with.
Myke: Sorry, TJ.
Myke: There are words to say. We can't help you. You have to get used to it.
Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you, you'll, you'll, you'll get the visuals soon of what goes with what. Like, it's pretty easy. And the feel.
Myke: You know, sometimes you jam a converter in and it doesn't fit. Like, okay, need a different one for this pen.
Brad: Yep, yep.
Myke: Matt wants to know, what's up with Conid?
Brad: I feel like we've covered this before, but I'm not sure. Um, even if we have, they are, I guess they've always been a medical manufacturing company that has an engineering group that also made pens. Um, someone can correct me if I'm, I'm wrong in my general assessment of, of what the brand does. So when COVID hit, they escalated their, um, side of the business that is the medical manufacturing and no longer had time to make pens. They've never said they're done with Conid as like a brand or a sub brand of what they traditional make.
Myke: Conid focused on COVID.
Brad: Mm, yes.
Myke: Yes. Yes. Um. Come on, I can't not do that. You put that in my lap and I have to take that.
Conid Discussion[edit]
Brad: Conid dash 19. If they don't come out with a Conid 19 pen, they're, they're leaving it on the table. See now that's, I feel like that you went too far now. I mean, it was your fault. Like you went there.
Myke: It had nothing to do with me. I didn't make you say that.
Brad: Yeah. But they, people who are Conid customers love that pen. And there is a really hot secondary market for Conid pens because they are so beloved. But they have not announced what they're going to do. Like I thought at one point they kind of peeked their head above water and said, hey, we're going to start doing some pens. And then nothing ever happened. Um. So, I think the situation is we're all just sitting and waiting right now. Huh. So.
Myke: I didn't know that. Yeah. I didn't know they were a medical manufacturer. So, I don't know if we spoke about it. And I just.
Brad: It's something to that degree. Yeah. It's something to that degree.
Myke: Yeah. I had no idea about that. Interesting. Yep. Yeah. I think they have a thing on their website. Because it's going to the website. And they're like, our products cannot be ordered at this moment. Read why. And so, I'll put a link to show notes to that too.
Brad: Yeah. But that's like. That's probably like. I don't know. Over a year. It's April 2020.
Myke: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When they put that in there.
Brad: Right. Right.
Myke: And the last question today comes from Two Hands of Blue. Do you have any recommendations for a good fountain pen under $100 that takes short international cartridges? I adore my Pilot Metropolitan 2P580. But I've been gifted a pack of international cartridges. And it seems like a good excuse for a new pen. Preferably not Kaweco. Don't like their style. But if it's the best option, I'll be good to know too.
Brad: So, I'm in a mad dash to find the name or the model number of the Pelican that takes cartridges. Okay. There is a non-piston filling that looks like the M205.
Myke: Right.
Brad: But it's not called that because it's not the piston. And I think it's under $100. And it's going to fit those cartridges. So, some of the Pelican pens. So, one of them is the Stola 3 that Chad is reminding us. So, that is one. That's not the one I'm thinking of. So, but Pelican makes several designs. And they take international cartridges. Okay. And, man, I'm blanking on this. I reviewed it on the blog. But I just, they, since everything's like a model number, I can't think of the number. And it, like, it really didn't take off. Right? Like, it was, I don't even know if they still make it. But, yeah, maybe it was the 205. But they called it something different. Like, the P205 instead of the M205. Is that it? So, I'm sorry. We're, like, rambling here. I'm looking at Chad. I'm doing searches.
Myke: Everybody's trying to work this one out, huh?
Brad: But it's actually a 200 series. Yeah, here it is. The P205 cartridge fill. So, I don't know if they still make it. How much was this pen?
Myke: How do you look at that?
Myke: Huh. Okay. So, it's just a regular looking Pelican.
Brad: It's a, it looks like your standard piston filling. And I don't think they make it anymore. But, yeah, I would look at some of the Pelican's other, like, lower price offerings. Yeah. They're going to fit international cartridges. Pelican makes international cartridges. And that's about as good a quality as you can get. Yeah. That's, like, outside of Kaweco. Yeah. And they have, they have products that take cartridges from, like, $20 up to, like, $100, where this, the P-series used to be. And then, you know.
Myke: Penchalet still have it. But it's still in inventory. In inventory, $160.
Brad: Oh, yeah. That's more than I would pay for that, honestly. Like, I wouldn't, you can get the piston filler for that much. Right. So, like, I don't think that's worth it. If you have to have it, like, if you have to have it, so. Can I have it? Yeah. So, the chat is, the chat's actually saying the axle, the spoke axle, I didn't even consider. It's actually $79. That's a great pen. But if they don't like the Kaweco, they may not like the short style of the axle, right? No. The axle is, like. The spoke axle is perfect.
Brad: It's funny. Like, I don't even, that didn't even cross my mind. Come on, Brad. It didn't. Come on, Brad. Like, now that I have time to, like, you know, totally promote my other companies, I'm still going to be bad at capitalism. Like, it's just, it's my move. It's my move.
Myke: So, let me do it for you. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of The Pen Addict. You can send in a question with a tweet, hashtag RSTPA, question mark RSTPA in the RelayFM members Discord. Or you can email them to hello at penaddict.com. Go to penaddict.com where you can read about all of the latest goodies in the pen world. We have posts written by Brad and the wonderful team over at Pen Addict. You can go to spokedesign.com where you can find Brad's pens and paraphernalia. It's interesting for me now that the intro has just gotten a little shorter. So, I have to, like.
Brad: I was waiting for it. It didn't hit me until you started. And I was like, what's he going to do?
Myke: I'm just going to, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'll work it out. Go to twitch.tv slash penaddict. You can go to penaddict on Instagram. Dowdyism on Twitter. Brad on micro.blog. I am imike. I-M-Y-K-E. Go to cortexmerch.com and buy some frigging notebooks.
Brad: I don't know why I'm so angry about it. You should make a product called the frigging notebook. So, you can say go buy some frigging notebooks.
Myke: No, I've got something that I'm working on, but it's going to take the time. It's taking time. You know how it is. Manufacturing is hard, Myke. Yeah. There's one thing. I've got a prototype. It's sitting right here in front of me. It's awesome. But I'm particular. So, it's going to take a while. Yep. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of The Pen Addict. Thank you to SD, Accutron, Squarespace, Pen Chalet for the support of this show. And we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.