Editing The Pen Addict 738/transcript (section)

== Schaefer Pens ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So that Pilot, I can't even remember the name of it. Because it was like a $100 custom 74 looking pen with a steel nib. I'm just blanking on the name. I haven't seen that since their press release for launching it in Japan. And it was like, well, like what are you going to do? Like, you know, I don't know what's happening. I think there's going to be some Elite 95s. The E95, which is the pocket pen in some new colors. Hopefully coming soon with gold nibs. I don't know how much those are going to be. So, yeah. It's just interesting for me to see this one. This, now that they came over in JetPens, who imports this stuff, like I said. It brought it back into my thoughts. It's like, oh, are we going to see this broader than I read the more. I searched more into it. And I was just like, oh, no. This looks like it's going to stay there for now. So, kind of related to the price point discussion. This got brought up to me this week on stream. The Schaefer Balance 3 Piston Filler.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I would have never even considered Schaefer anything. Like, have we ever discussed a non-themed Schaefer on the show? Absolutely not, no. Yeah. They do some good Star Wars stuff. They do. And they do some good coffee stuff. And they just did a macho pen. I think we might have, like, discussed. But Schaefer did something kind of interesting here in that they modernized a classic design. Yeah. Which I'll admit is gorgeous.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Brad, I love this pen. Yeah. I think this is a really good-looking pen. It is simple as you like, right? It's black with gold furniture. And they do have a silver furniture one, just to show you. Okay. I just put the link to the gold. I feel like you've got to have the gold, personally. I think if you're doing it. But anyway. But just the profile of the pen and the areas that they've chosen to do something with it look really good. There's a very good contour grip. And the cap has a point at the end. This just looks like an excellent pen, design-wise, I think.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And on top of that, it's a piston filler. Yeah. And just to wrap up the intro part of it, it's $228 US in the US market. Obviously, a steel nib. Obviously. Oh, yeah. Steel nib. Steel nib. They at least made a two-tone steel nib to bring in this, tie in the entire aesthetic, right? I'm glad that they did that because that's a classic look. Yeah. I can't take my eyes off it, right? Kind of like you. That's kind of the reaction I have. If I just would have read text Schaefer Balance and saw that in just text form, I would have never clicked the link. No. I'm not interested in what they're bringing to the table. I think they did a good job modernizing one of their most classic designs and trying to make it for this market that we're in right now. So, who knows until we test one out and see how it is. It looks pretty solid. And it's at least interesting, right? Whether you want it or not or whether you like it or not. It's at least interesting to see companies do this. Parker's tried to do this in the past, even before all the price increase stuff. But they had a real pricing problem. They would make the dual fold copy of their old classic dual fold. And it was really nice and really beautiful. But it was just really, with the steel nib, it just had these weird outlier prices several years ago. So, yeah. I don't know. I like this. And I want to see what people think about this once people start getting them in their hands.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think they've got something new going on at Schaefer. They did. I think they turned it over.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. They turned it over again last few years, I think. Last couple years. They've gotten out a little bit more. I think in the U.S. I think Kenro Industries is now distributing them in the U.S., which is for these types of brands, the old Schaefer, Parker, Waterman's, the old classics, Cross, usually don't go through that type of chain, like that type of distributor. They're usually just more of like a brick-and-mortar type distributor, like, you know, your classic big box office stuff. So, yeah. I'm interested. So, yeah. We'll see. I just thought I'd bring this to people's attention. Yeah, yeah. Because it just made me kind of go, huh. I was like, that's interesting. I'd like to see that. And I'd like to see what they're doing, whether it's for you or not. I think it's a good, good entrant into the market. And I kind of want to see that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, very good. I'm always happy to see these more kind of like established older brands just push it a little bit. Like, you don't have to just keep making the same thing over and over again. Yeah. And I think that they've, from a design perspective, pushed this in ways that are not too bold, but bold enough.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think that's the thing. Like, with these old brands, you just don't want to see the same old, same old. Even though they're literally bringing back a vintage design, it's modernized. Yes. And you can tell just in the imagery that, okay, they've actually thought about this for the modern market instead of just like, you know, rolling out the conveyor belt for the same old, same old, which some of these companies do. Like, Cross and, you know, Parker at the lower ends. I mean, props to them for putting this out there. I think it's interesting.

'''Myke Hurley:''' This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one website platform that is designed to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just getting started or scaling a business, Squarespace will give you everything that you need to claim your domain, showcase your offerings of a professional website, grow your brand, and get paid all in one place. With Squarespace, you can offer your services and get paid. From consultations to events and experiences, you can showcase your offerings of a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. Think built-in appointment scheduling, email marketing tools, and more. You can keep everything cohesive of on-brand invoices and get paid easily with online payments. The online payment stuff can also extend to store items, right? So Brad has a store that he has run on Squarespace for years over at the Pen Addict, where they have all the integrations that you need and the services you might need to sell physical and digital goods. And you can then, as you're building your business, you can connect with your audience and your customers through email campaigns. Squarespace has all the tools you need to engage clients, promote services, and grow your business. It's all built-in. You can set up email automations to stay connected, nurture leads, and save time, while seamlessly integrating your offerings into a beautifully designed template that drives bookings and sales. You can schedule emails that reach your audience at the perfect time, keeping your business top of mind and driving long-term growth. Head to squarespace.com slash penaddict and you can sign up for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use the offer code penaddict. You'll save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That is squarespace.com slash penaddict with the offer code penaddict, and you'll get 10% of your first purchase and show your support for this show. Our thanks to Squarespace for their support with the Pen Addict and Relay. Can I give a double shout-out of the week? Shout-out of the shout-out of the week.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Shout-out to Squarespace support. Once every few years, they're always changing and updating, like the back-end stuff. Once every few years, they break something in my workflow, right, specific to me. And they did that like two weeks ago with the Markdown Editor. And shout-out to them. They actually listened to the problem when telling me there wasn't a problem, listened to what I had to say, watched me, you know, like screen cap and screen record what I was doing, go, oh, yeah, let me look into this. Let me escalate it. And then fixed it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, that's so good because you were dealing with this while we were together.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, while we were in Memphis. I was so angry. Yeah. Like when things change, like when you're like an online publisher of some sort, but you have like workflows, right? And this is a stock item that they have their Markdown Editor in. And they broke it. They were making a change and they broke it. And they're like, no, that's just how it works. I'm like, listen, this is not how it works. You know, and they actually listened to me. You said listen and they said, okay. Yep. I said listen. I was like, no, no.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Here's why this is an issue. And they're like, oh, yeah. Okay. And they fixed it. So we're back in business. All right. That was shout out number one. Real shout out of the week, Myke. Oh, can I do it again? Shout out of the week?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I did it. I feel like I doubled it up.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, no, no, no. Okay. The first one was the shout out of the shout out of the week. I don't understand. I don't know. This is. So, Myke, we have our shout out of the week.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm not doing that again.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I was trying. Red Branch Crafts. We have our latest meet your maker up on the site. Jeff and Susan from Red Branch Crafts. Caroline Foti, who writes for the Pen Act, interviewed them recently. And it's just a great post on how they came to be. I met them two years ago at the Washington, D.C. Super Show. And I think it was their, it might have been their first show. And I think I talked to them before the show. They were just like, hey, what to expect? They're super nice people. Great looking pens. They make the materials. They make the pens in house and just really, really good stuff. I always like to give a shout out to Caroline and all the makers she gets in this series for Meet Your Maker. So, if you like this, go check out this article at the bottom. You can click on the tag for Meet Your Maker and see all the different maker interviews we had. So, they're really good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Nice.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. You want to do a quick businessing update? Yeah. Quick scheduling update?