Editing The Pen Addict 655/transcript (section)

== Origins of the family stationery shop ==

* What possessed you and your family to open a stationery shop? Well, I think for us it was, and I mentioned earlier, you know, looking back and thinking, oh, we've kind of always been on this road. It sort of makes sense. And that's certainly not just for me personally. It's that realizing that the three of us, myself, my spouse, Michelle, and then our kiddo Pen, and yes, their name actually is Pen. This isn't like a made up thing for the business. Nope. Their name was Pen before we had the business.
* That we all love stationery and we all have different kind of specialties or parts of the hobby that we're more interested in. And then there's also a lot of overlap. But the realization that we all had that shared love of it, I've kind of wanted to have some kind of family business for a really long time. So there's an entrepreneurial kind of spirit in part of my family that I've worked in. My dad's owned and operated pharmacy when I was a teenager. And so there's been these aspects of retail and running your own business that have always kind of been there. And so it's always been in the back of my head, even though I've spent the last 25 years working for other people. And in many cases, for many of those years, including now, working for very large publicly traded companies. But at the same time, most of that time has been working for big retail companies. So I've certainly developed a lot of opinions about retail. And so has Michelle, because Michelle had a similar work experience. But before she decided to leave the corporate life and focus on raising Pen when Pen was young. And then we always kind of felt like there'd be a point at which she would either want to go back to the jobby job, day job kind of thing. Or, oh, wait, why don't we, you know, as the kiddo is older now and doesn't need as much attention all throughout the day, every day. Like, this is a, it's an opportunity to do something that we can build for ourselves. And, and the idea is to build something that can kind of be, you know, a transition point for me one day to, you know, when, when I can, when, when it is fully profitable and sustaining and, and I'm ready to leave the, the fun of the, of the corporate life. Which anybody who has experienced that or is currently experiencing that, you know what I'm talking about. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Very much so. Very much so. And so, yeah, that's kind of, and it was a thing where we were, it was definitely a COVID, early COVID, you know, we're all sitting around the house, not going anywhere, doing a lot of online shopping for pens and other things that thought, you know, maybe this is something we could do. And that started with the pouring of blanks and, um, as just a hobby and, and that sort of, it all grew from there. Yeah. So when you, so what, what year did it actually open? So we, uh, 2021 is when we started, it was spring of 21. So just about four years ago, as we speak now. Okay. Okay. Um, is when we started selling blanks and then about six to nine months later is when we started kind of broadening into a, kind of a, a broader stationery offering. I'm always fascinated with blank makers, uh, because it scares me. I'm a chicken. Um, and it requires lots of, uh, lots of, uh, math and science and risk and moving parts and pressure and things like that. How did, how did that happen? Was that just like, uh, uh, like this is our, this is our shutdown hobby and, uh, we're going to, we're going to make some blanks. Is that, is that how that started? It was a hundred percent that we, uh, you know, we're, we're very crafty. We love to just about everything we get interested in. We tend to go way down the rabbit hole with. And, uh, and the easiest example is we went from, um, wanting to, you know, buy whole bean coffee, uh, and, and grind it fresh to mint for many years. Now we, we roast our own coffee beans now because we went kind of all the way down the way to get the best coffee is to buy green coffee beans and roast them yourself. Um, and so like now that's just kind of a thing we do and don't even think about it. Um, that's, uh, and so that's kind of our nature. And so that when we were getting into pens and in 2019, when we saw you at the SF pen show and went to the live show and all that, and then met lots of pen people bought a lot of our kind of first, uh, some of our more expensive pens for the first time. Um, coming out of that and we were then around the time we're sitting around in early 2020, uh, it was, well, what if we like, Hey, we like these small makers that are out there, you know, they're, they're hobbyists or they're, you know, they're making a handful of pens a month in their garage or whatever. Um, how, what, what if we could get like, not just commission a pen, but what could it make it truly unique? And, and we said, Oh, well, what if we like figured out how to pour our own blanks? And then, then it was a material that, that we made so nobody else could make it. And we could just get a pen for our own collection that no one could ever have that. That sounds cool. Hmm. And, uh, Jonathan Brooks, who's a just absolute delight and a, a blessing to the community overall. Um, he did that video with, uh, fig boot and where they, where he was just basically like, here's how I pour blanks. And he was so forthcoming with, you know, kind of the process and the, the, you know, what components he was using. And, and we all have our little secrets about exactly what like dyes and micas and things we use, but he was so forthcoming with the, like, yeah, here's what resin I use. Here's the molds. Here's the, you know, all that. It was, it really was kind of everything we needed other than the pressure pot, uh, which came at Christmas, uh, 2020. Um, and, uh, so yeah, in January of 21, we, we started just kind of goofing around and it was really for ourselves. And then when we got our blanks in the hands of some makers, the feedback, and we were really just like, Hey, did we do it right? Uh, cause I didn't have a lathe, um, or the, and anywhere close to the talent to even like try to see if, uh, they were full of bubbles or whatever else. And, uh, and the feedback was, yeah, um, Hey, I would, you know, buy these. Nice. And so, so we said, Oh, well maybe we should do that. We're not going anywhere.
* That's amazing. That's amazing. So how did, how did that morph into, all right, we're making blanks and, and like, what else can we do? Do we have like ideas for, you know, more stationery we can get into, into like, you know, what we're seeing now when people go to enigmastationery.com, you know, they see a really fun, amazing curated wide selection of, of stationery. And that, that initial thought was, Hey, let's make some blanks. And, you know, maybe some people like them. So how did we, how did we get, uh, get towards today from, from that point? Well, I mentioned that, uh, you know, one of the things that had us thinking just for ourselves was this fascination with kind of small makers. And so the, the conversation right away when we were, cause that was clearly our, our primary customer when we were selling just blanks. Uh, we're, we're makers. We did have some enthusiasts who were like, Oh, I want to buy your blank and then go take it to a maker. But it was mostly makers that were, that were buying from us. And, um, and so it was, well, how could we, what's a way to expand this in, in a way that kind of highlights, highlights what we're doing and what they're doing. And that got us thinking about the idea of doing like special edition pens where we make a dozen blanks, send them to them. They make a dozen pens. And, and then that's, it's a thing that only exists, you know, that time. And, you know, this ephemeral quality of it, and they would add something that's kind of just ours that, uh, would give people a reason to want to shop with us. And, you know, the, kind of the, that aspect of it, because anybody, like we're not going to be able to compete with a jet pens or, you know, something like that, where they've got a whole staff of people and, and, you know, more capital to carry inventory and that kind of stuff. So we, we quickly focused on like, well, can we do this in a way that is really from our perspective? So kind of the, um, our viewpoint to the stationery world. And so that's, and when we started to figure out that we could directly import products from overseas and, and do, um, you know, stuff like that, that let us start building out the shop in a way where it's like, well, here's things we're actually using that we love that we want to make sure other people who love this stuff know about it. And so that's kind of where it, where it continued to expand from. And that's the way I always, you know, love to, love to hear is like, well, like it's what I like and it's what I'm looking for. And maybe other people like it too. Like I've said that, you know, pretty much my whole career, because, you know, this is a, this is an odd business that we're in. Like when you, when you say these things out loud, you know, amongst, you know, you know, maybe your coworkers at your day job, it's, you'll, you get the side eye or it was like, what, what did, what did you just say? But in, you know, this realm, in the stationery realm, we're obviously all super passionate about it. We love, I know I'm speaking for myself here. I love seeing what vendors and retailers come up with that surprises me. I still have, I still get enjoyment from myself thinking about the time that you sponsored the show and I found the cat sarcophagus on your, on your webpage. I still think about this all the time because this shouldn't happen. And this is exactly what I want, right? Like that's the way I think about a lot of our businesses and our friends that are making stationery or writing about stationery is like, it's really cool to see what other people come up with. And I think that's something y'all do very, very well at Enigma. So who is mostly responsible for finding the stuff at Enigma these days? So it sounds like a cop-out, but it's truly all three of us. Like we, I think that's fair. I think some people, some people are like, yeah, yeah, it's a family business. Sure. But like one of you is doing all the work, right? So I'm going to vouch for you right here. Like I have met all three of you. I know you all, I've seen you at pen shows. I absolutely believe that's the case. Um, when you say it's definitely like between all three of us. Yeah. Well, and anybody who has, you know, so I'm, I'm definitely the, uh, I call myself a secret introvert because I, I, I sometimes appear to be extroverted, but I'm, I'm, I'm not. Um, but at the same time I'm more talkative than, than pen or Michelle. Uh, but anybody who has, there's something special about a pen show. Anybody who's come up to our table at a show and shown interest in a product and pen was standing nearby, uh, they find out real quick, just how deep the subject matter expertise go with a pen. And Michelle's the same way. Like we each, you know, for the products that we're, that, that we kind of bring to the table and we each, you know, we, we're going, we go to overseas, you know, we go to big companies, you know, us distributors of large brands. But the thing we've really spent more and more energy on is finding small makers and not just pen makers, but people who are designing stickers, they're making, um, you know, greeting cards, they're doing, you know, like, you know, magnetic bookmarks to, uh, you know, with, with funny sayings on them, like, you know, all the, and, and mummy cat, uh, blind boxes, you know, like, and, and so, yeah, this, this stuff, like in our, our first filter is like, am I excited? About this personally. And so, yeah, pretty much everything that's on the shop is something that one of us is probably really into. Yeah. And that makes it really hard to say no. That's, I imagine that part of managing retail is like, when do we stop? I, I like everything at some point I would like to sell it too. That's a super, super big challenge for all of us. Yeah. Well, and our number one, you know, filter on, I'll zero in on like the imported stuff. So we imported a lot of stuff directly from Japan and there's some, there's some cool, you know, avenues that enable that. Um, it's a little harder with the tariff activity that's happening in the U S right now, but, uh, we'll weather that storm with all our fellow competitors. Yep. Um, but the number one filter we have is like, can we sell this at a price? People will buy that we will actually make some amount of money on it. Cause, um, cause we can't just, you know, be a nonprofit. Right. Right. And put all the work into, you know, to sell it at no markup. And so, uh, so yeah, we have, we have kind of some, you know, standard formulas where we'll, you know, cause all the time we spot stuff on the Japanese site that we do a lot of shopping on and, and, uh, we'll be, one of us will be like, this is amazing. And we're like, oh my gosh, I agree. Oh wait, that run it through the formula. Can we sell that for $60? Oh no, nobody's going to pay $60 for that. So, okay, well that's a cool item, but that's not a good idea. Not for us. And so, and the realities of selling online and what's it going to cost to ship that? Cause we do flat rate shipping for our standard, uh, shipping. So we can't afford to, you know, eat $10 on a, on the shipping for an order that only made us $5, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Shipping notebooks is great. Everybody.
* Yeah. Anybody who, uh, anybody who wants to, uh, really get us on a one is when you do standard shipping and you buy a whole bunch of notebooks. It's my favorite. Uh, I can, I can tell you that it's probably going to come to you via UPS ground if you're in the U S and we're going to lose money on it.
* So yeah, like I, I just find even probably is probably more accurate. Oh, totally. Totally. But yeah, it's, uh, shipping's a fun game. We all get to play. It's so enjoyable. It doesn't keep me up at night at all. Well, you, you, at least for the most part are shipping lightweight things. It's true. Since, since you are no longer in the paper, the big stacks of paper business. Yep. Um, you know, that's, uh, the pens aren't too bad. Even when we had not go in, even though we had paper products, if we're selling cases, like, yeah, I'm, I'm rarely cracking eight ounces on anything. And like people who ship a lot know that like four ounces and eight ounces are like these huge breaking points. And, you know, like we're, we're, we're in, we're okay as far as things go, but things get loose real quick. And then you start seeing numbers that don't add up and you're like, wow, that's crazy. I feel for Myke on that. Like I adore the sidekick notebook. I literally use one every day. Um, but yeah, the, the shipping aspect of that and you add an international, like, I mean, I know they've got, they've got help from, uh, the folks that, uh, um, cotton bureau that are, uh, fulfilling, but, but yeah, it's, it's a, it's a tough game. And so many customers are just like, um, they've been fooled by all the companies that go ahead and just lose money on, on quote unquote free shipping. Right. Right. Um, but anybody who took a college econ class knows that there's no such thing as a free lunch and that applies to shipping as well. Yep. Yep. Um, boy, we can have, there's another podcast for us. We have so far, we have Vic crystal podcast and we have shipping podcast. Although I've threatened Myke with a shipping pod, a shipping and logistics podcast before. So yeah, lots to say on that. So let me get to our last sponsor for this week's episode, because I have more, uh, Enigma questions. I want to, um, to ask and, and see what else you have up your sleeves over there. But let me talk about our good friends over at express VPN. So this episode of the pen act is brought to you by express VPN in the real world. If you're looking for privacy, you close the door, but online we'll leave doors open everywhere. We go using the internet without express VPN is like never closing doors behind you because all of your traffic flows through their servers. Internet service providers, including mobile network providers know every single website you visit. And in the U S ISPs are legally allowed to sell that information to advertisers. So express VPN reroutes a hundred percent of your traffic through secure encrypted servers. So your ISP can't see your browsing history. There are loads of reasons to choose express VPN. It hides your IP address, which makes it extremely difficult for third parties to track your online activity. It's easy to use. Just fire up the app and click one button to get protected. And it works on all devices, phones, laptops, tablets, and more. So you can stay private on the go. It's easy to see why it's rated number one by top tech reviewers like CNET and the verge. So I've used express VPN for years. I've been traveling already to LA and Philadelphia this year in 2025. Express VPNs on my phone, my laptop, my tablet. When I'm in the airport, express VPNs on. When I'm in the hotel, express VPNs on. It just makes me feel protected and private when I'm heading out on the road. So you too can protect your online privacy by visiting expressvpn.com slash penaddict. That's expressvpn.com slash penaddict. And you can get an extra three months of Express VPN for free. So head to expressvpn.com slash penaddict. Our thanks to Express VPN for their support of this show and all of Relay. So we were talking about sourcing right there. And you have a storefront and you're doing a lot of work on retail. I'm just wondering how much time you spend sourcing products, right? Like I know how much time you're spending like putting together a product listing and taking product photography and writing copy. Like it's not your full-time job, but it kind of is at the same time because I know how much it takes. But just in sourcing, like are y'all doing something probably every day trying to find new fun items? There's this like background process that I feel like is always running for all three of us where we're kind of thinking about what we might need to go find or something we saw that we want to go back to. But we definitely don't track how much, you know, Myke wouldn't like this and CGP Grey definitely wouldn't like this. But I'm anti-time tracking for this particular work because it would be so depressing to know exactly the massive amount of time we spend out there searching and sourcing products because we have such a huge diverse group of suppliers with way like massive variance in the level of technology involved. Some where it's like, if you want to order this pen, send me an email with like which ones you want. And others where it's, I mean, there are literally ones who would prefer that we faxed something in, but I'm not doing that in 2025. So, yeah, the quality of their websites and all that wide variance. So, yeah, that's that adds a lot of time in. But we actually spent a lot of time with one of us screen sharing to our big screen TV and the three of us sitting on the couch and looking at like filling a card up at a particular source or something like that. Or one of us saying like, hey, I've got some I found some cool stuff. Let me show it to you. So we use the screen share function on our various devices a lot to do that all together. So there are frequently evenings where it's like, OK, we've watched that episode of Severance. Now let's spend 45 minutes looking at website X, not literally X, website ABC.com to look at products.
* It's just so cool. Like the whole family's involved in this. It's like I'm just sitting here smiling when you're saying, hey, we screen share on the TV. We look at products. It's like, that's so cool. I just I love hearing that. And like the results show like y'all have like really good taste and really fun ideas and and just picking out all the products. So it's it's always fun to see. We challenge each other in like a very positive way, too. Like it's like good natured ribbing on like you like that. That's terrible. Nobody's going to buy that, you know. Oh, yeah. Yes.
* There ever did. Does someone ever win? Do y'all ever like pick out like three stickers or three washi and whoever whoever sold the most? They're the winner of the we definitely have memories for whose idea things were. So when we sell out of something or when something just sits on the shelf and we have to, you know, mark it down and and, you know, put it in the clearance shop to get it out the door or stick it in a lucky box, which is that is a thing that happens sometimes.