Editing The Pen Addict 252/transcript (section)

== Pen Chalet ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' This is, I think this is what we want to dig into. I want to, I got some questions about this. So, Myke, before I go off the rails completely, won't you let everyone know about our first sponsor? And that's our good friends at Harry's.

'''Myke Hurley:''' For decades, big razor companies have been increasing prices at the expense of their customers. So Jeff and Andy decided that they wanted to create Harry's to stop this trend. And as Brad mentioned, they are supporting this week's show. Jeff and Andy knew that there was only one way to ensure quality and keep their prices low. So they bought their own blade factory. So by taking less profit and selling directly over the internet, Harry's offers their blades at half of the prices that you're used to. With Harry's, you'll pay just $2 a blade compared to the $4 or more that you'll be paying at the drugstore. Now, before we finish this week's episode, we're going to talk very briefly about the fact that next week, me and Brad will be together for the Atlanta Pen Show. So I am already preparing myself for the entire bathroom full of Harry's products. Is that right, Bristar Bradnowdy?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, I'm having a problem at the house now. I'm finding my razors and blades in various bathrooms at various times. So I'm going to have to go on a recon mission and recollect and make sure I have everything I need for next week's travel to the Atlanta Pen Show. You would not look as beautiful if you did not have Harry's products where you need them.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Without question. It's very important. Harry's is so confident that you will love their blades. So they want to give you their trial set for free. You just need to cover $3 for shipping. The free trial set that Harry's offers includes a weighted ergonomic razor handle, five precision engineered blades with a lubricating strip and trimmer blade, their rich lathering shave gel, and a travel blade cover. This is a value of $13 for you to try out for free. Now, look, stop messing around. If you haven't got started with Harry's, go today and claim your free trial offer. Just go to harrys.com slash penaddict right now to get started. All you need to do is cover that small shipping cost. Thank you so much to Harry's for their support of this show and RelayFM.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, Caroline, you're in college or close to wrapping up college or just right after, and you're having that kind of dream scenario just playing around in your head. If I could do anything in the world, this is what I want to do. And then the difference with you is you made that a thing. So when did you say, I actually might can pull this off. I might can be that lady in the pencil store today, not in retirement, you know, not, you know, down the line. You know, I don't need to go into the corporate world or wherever, you know, I'm supposed to do. I'm going to start a pencil shop. How did you get from those? How did you connect those dots?

'''Caroline Weaver:''' Yeah, I mean, it definitely didn't happen right away. I finished college and moved to New York quite simply just because I love it here and wouldn't want to live anyplace else. But I graduated with an art degree. So it probably goes without saying that it's not that easy to find a job when you have an art degree.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Especially in New York, right? I assume. Yeah. Yeah.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' Yeah. It's very hard. And I was pretty naive. Well, I think like most recent grads, I was pretty naive about what the real world was going to be like. So I moved here because I love New York and had a hard time finding a job. And I finally found a job and it wasn't really what I wanted to do. I really honestly didn't know what I wanted to do. And this job was really awful. I had a really bad first winter in New York. I was in this job that I hated. And I also somehow got Lyme disease living in Manhattan in like January without even like leaving. I didn't even leave the city. I don't know where that would have happened. But anyway, I got Lyme disease. I had like this really weird winter. And truly just like I just kind of woke up one day and thought like, okay, like this, all these like bad experiences I've had since I first moved to New York are some sort of sign that I need to make a big change in my life. And I just decided to do it. And I started crunching some numbers and thought like, okay, like I can I can make this work if I started online first. So I made like modest plans for that. And then I figured like, okay, maybe in like a year or so I can open a regular shop. And then maybe I can afford to hire some employees after a couple more years. And yeah, I was trying to be like very practical about it. And yeah, I did it. I spent the whole summer buying inventory and getting in touch with pencil factories and vendors and getting everything organized. And I photographed other things for the website. I kind of just did it all myself because I couldn't afford to hire people to do it for me. And I'm kind of stubborn and like to do those things on my own anyway.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' And then it just happened. I happened upon a space in the Lower East Side here in New York City that was tiny. It just kind of felt right. And it was like shockingly inexpensive for Manhattan real estate. And I think I wasn't planning on opening a physical store so quickly, but I think finding the space, it just felt so right. I couldn't have said no.