Editing The Pen Addict 433/transcript (section)

== Curation Challenges ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a magical nightmare of pulling together 12 items or, like, say, 6 to 12 items from 6 to 12 different places at the same time.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. Every month. I think it's monthly still. I'm not. So I'm no longer a subscriber to anything. You know, Field Notes, it doesn't mean I don't love them. I just don't use the Pocket Notebooks as much. Blackwing, I have too many pencils and I'm fine just buying the one-off stuff that I've seen. Like, I've bought two dozen Blackwing pencils for the first time in, like, a year. And then Art Snacks, there was actually too much art for me, right, when it starts including, like, acrylic paints and paintbrushes and things. Like, which is the focus of the box, right? There's lots of markers and pencils and erasers and cool things that I love. But it got to be more stuff that just didn't fit for me, but that doesn't mean it's not great. So I think it's that it's really kind of these three main ones. There's lots of other subscriptions that have come and gone. There's some that are active right now. And I just feel that that's kind of the best. And then this whole topic hit not only because CW Pencil was discontinuing my last remaining sub, my favorite box. I got an email from TI2 Design, whose pens I love and have consistently loved. And who Myke has been a good friend over the years to myself and to us at Spoke Design. And he's come out with a new club. And it's a pen of the month club. And this is a different category, I think, than the subscriptions. This is more... This is an aficionado super fan club, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This is more like a Patreon.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So there is a mug maker that I like. His name is Brian Giniuski. And he makes mugs. His company is called Drippy Pots. You may have seen these online. And he has a Patreon campaign, which has a limited amount of people that can subscribe to it, I think. Where he will make you and ship you a mug every month. Right? So like this... And that is if like you are a big fan and you just want loads of their products. And you'll take a new product every month. And that's your thing, right? So this is the same with the TI2 Design. It feels much more like I am the biggest fan of this brand. And will just take whatever they make me. Yep. It's slightly different than what we're looking at with the... And I think part of the reason is it's a scale thing. Right? Where like if Field Notes did this today, what they do, we would call it this. Yes. But like if TI2 Design scale up to the point where they're selling 20,000 of these pens every month. Right? Which who knows, right? Who knows what the world can give you. Then we wouldn't call it that. But we will naturally assume that these are probably quite small numbers. I believe that there is limited slots. So this definitely has more of that like super fan feeling to it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Which I like equally as you know, all of these other things. Like if you're a TI2 Design super fan, I would sign up immediately. I think Kara's Customs does something similar or at least has some type of club type of aspect as well. So it's cool to see these brands being able to commit to a pen of the month club, which honestly blows my mind. I mean, Myke Bond is crazy prolific as it is. So it doesn't surprise me that he wants to give this a shot. But, you know, it's also probably over $100 commitment every month for a pen you don't get to see ahead of time. Which is like scary if you're not into TI2 Design, but perfect if you are, right? It's like sign me up today, right? So I think it's pretty cool. So all of these things kind of got my wheels turning a little bit. Not that I have any more to say about these topics, but I think it's always cool to think about the subscription services as part of businesses, you know, where the CW Pencil Box was a subset of the business where Field Notes, it is the business, right? I mean, they have retail, you know, where they just send the extra netbooks to retail partners and retail partners.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a way to get rid of the stuff that didn't sell.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. You know. Yeah, but it's kind of their primary. I guess Blackwing, it's not really their primary, but like Field Notes it is. Where CW Pencils, it was, you know, it was down the list of things that were important to them. So it's not a surprise that this eventually, you know, had to head to the chopping block, especially as they transitioned. So, and then right at the same time, I'm thinking about this. I get the TI2 Design mail. I'm kind of like blowing my mind. It's like, do I need something like this? I don't. I'm definitely not subscribing. But it's cool. I like it. So there you go. That's my, that's my treatise on subscription services. It's very hard. All of this is very hard. All right, Myke. We're going to stay on the main topic and we're going to talk about another item in the stationary business world that I got an email on. I actually got forwarded this from a reader because I'm not on all the mailing lists. Like, there's a lot of mailing lists. I love mailing lists. I'm a fan of mailing lists. I subscribe to a lot. I don't subscribe to a lot. So sometimes I get forwarded things. And this one I got forwarded from Galen Leather. And this is more of the transparency aspect, how to run a business aspect. Like we talked about the Musubi email. Like, I love talking about these things because I'm involved in running a business. You're involved in running a business. And I appreciate when companies see a problem and attack it head on. So let me, this, I am actually going to read this entire email, Myke. It's not that long. But I think the whole thing needs to be read so we can discuss it. So here you go. So this is from Yusuf at Galen Leather, the owner. So it says, as you know, as being part of a commercial business, we are part of a pen and paper community. There's that word again. Maybe this is not a written rule, but we believe in our community transparency, honesty, and integrity coming first. We would like to inform you about elastic issues that reported first quarter of this year. So if you, if, for those who are unaware, um, Galen Leather is based in Turkey. English is not Yusuf's first language. So just bear with me as I go through this. He's done a fantastic job at putting this together and explaining the situation. So he says, what happened in March? A user reported that one of our pen cases, elastic stained her Lamy and pilot MR pens on social media. Actually, we were shocked by this news. We have been in pen case business in the last, for the last eight years before a public statement, we decided to make an investigation. Once we contacted the user to understand the issue, we discussed with our elastic supplier about, about the possibilities. They point out that the problem may only be due to moisture, wet hands, et cetera. Then we started to make a detailed test with a wide range of pens, different brands, materials from ABS plastic, acrylics, celluloids, copper, modern pens, vintage pens, from $10 pens to $1,000 pens, light colors, and dark colors. It took six months to complete our own tests. Finally, we can't see any stain, discoloration problems on the pens. So there's more I'm going to read, but just to recap, they had a problem or saw a problem from a customer who shared it on social media. They went through the work of trying to figure out what the problem is. They ran their own test over a six-month period of time to figure out what the problem is. And so far, I haven't come up with anything. So now I'm going to continue the mail. There are many different situations in daily use. Sometimes we touch our pens with moist or creamy hands. Maybe apply disinfectant during the pandemic season. Sometimes pen holders can be exposed to the sun and the outside. We can even write when we are by the sea. To eliminate all these risks, we decided to produce our own elastics some times ago. Our new elastics produced of only cotton and rubber are more softer and safer. They are more resistant to possible problems and not dyed. It is only woven from the thread of the same color as the pen case. As we mentioned in particular, we could not detect an important problem with our previous elastics. We only made this change as a precaution to the problems caused by different usage patterns in daily use. We're always grateful for your support and understanding. Thank you, Galen team.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm kind of taken aback by this whole thing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' A little above and beyond feeling, really.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Honestly, it is. That's why. Because I think this is superior, right? This is what you want to hear. Okay, a customer reported a problem. Let's try to figure out why that happened.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We can't figure out why. Look, we did six months of tests. We ran every combination of elastic with every combination of pen. And we couldn't repeat what's happened. Most companies would have just stopped there. But they said, well, just to give everyone peace of mind, we're going to make our own elastics with another partner where we can guarantee that this thing that didn't happen probably will never happen. It's kind of mind-blowing what they did here. I think it's fantastic. I just wanted to, like Galen's, again, to be clear, Yusuf's a good friend of mine. I support Galen Leather wholeheartedly. You know, but I like to think, you know, with my level of transparency that, like, I will call it as it is. If one of my friends does something bad, I'm going to say it equally as praise them when they do something good. But this caught me as such an outlier, Myke, that you just don't see this, right? This felt, this was just kind of a cool thing to see, like, I don't know, in how they chose to handle a problem. Because this is not the first time that they've had production issues. Like, do you remember the warping issue on their writing box? Like, they had many, many issues getting that problem solved. And, you know, they've always been good to handle it. So I just wanted to point this out as a small business owner, looking at other small businesses, the way they handle the customers, you know, during problems, like, tells you a lot about how businesses are run. And I'm prideful in how I handle things. Am I always right? No. But do I try, you know, my best, you know, to do the right thing by the customer? Always. Always. And when you see someone like Galen Leather or CW Pencils, like, lay it out there, like, you just can't help but respect them even more for how they handle their business.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. As a counterpoint or an additional point, which is in a slightly different vein,

'''Brad Dowdy:''' the lengths at which Galen Leather have gone to is also, or could be seen as also, the potential downside of the small close-knit community that the pen and paper wall is in. Because one could argue that the lengths that they went to were not necessary for one solo complaint.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I see where you're going with this. Yes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But because the community is so tight-knit, one person can make a bigger impact on the overall feeling of everybody towards you. So if it got out in the community that Galen Leather's leather was destroying people's pens, they would be a bigger call for that company to explain themselves. Right. Where if we were talking about, like, Moleskine, they don't care. Right. Because why should they? They have so many millions of customers. Right. One person having an isolated incident or seemingly isolated incident, it's not really worth it. You know, you kind of just, if you want to give that person a refund, do it. But, like, they're not going to affect your brand, most likely. Right. But because the community is so small and your reputation is only as good as the perceived reputation by the community itself, you are held to a higher standard. Like, I am, like, the same with a lot of the ways that we run RelayFM, right? Like, our audience treats us much, would treat us much more harshly than a wider audience of a larger podcast network. You know, like, we are put under a microscope. I like that personally because it keeps me honest. Right. So, like, there are, we turn down certain types of sponsors because we know that our community would not like them. But these are the exact sponsors I hear on shows that are much larger than ours or more mainstream. You know, like, there's a, we get, like, lots of requests for, like, medical stuff that we don't do. Or, you know, like, for example, there is a company that does, like, hair loss stuff and men's health things. I won't go into much more detail than that. But we don't feel like it's a fit for our audience and we feel like our audience would be quite critical of it. So, we turn down deals like that. And it's, like, a similar thing of, like, because so much, because our entire company is built on the back of having such a strong and engaged community, that is what makes us able to do this, right? It's why we're so thankful to people because our communities enable us to produce this content and enable us to have homes, right? Right. But if you want to have that type of community, you have to be honest to it. And that means you must be willing to be scrutinized. And the other side of having that willingness to be scrutinized is you need to make decisions and the outcomes of those decisions could be seen as, in typical business circles, a wild overreaction. But it's important to our community.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's exactly right. And that goes back to, to put a bow on it, it goes back to my point where these decisions and more the way that you run a business, like you being you and myself and Caroline, and there's ways to make a lot more money than we make. Oh, yeah. But that is a choice to not because it compromises something about us. Your integrity. It makes us successful in the first place, right? We wouldn't be successful in the first place by compromising our morals and our integrity, like you say. So, yeah, I fully support these types of businesses. And that's why we have, you know, these great communities that we have and super supportive communities and wonderful listeners and fans and readers. Like, it's great. Like, I'm thrilled.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, because I just think it's like one of those things where it is worth noting the other side, right? Yes, that is a good point. But like, Galen clearly went to that level for two reasons, I would assume. This is my assumption is one is they were confused about it because they'd put the work in in the first place to make sure something like this wouldn't happen. And then two is they don't want to be seen as producing a product that would be seen in the community as damaging to expensive products, right? Right. I guess one of the worst things you can do in our subsection of the community is to make a product that damages your $1,000 Nakaya. Right. You're done, right? Like, if that's the type of product that you make.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. So, Galen, a lot of these companies that we love, they have a lot of give a damn. And that's not every company has that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, it puts you in the fight in the first place, though.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. All right. Let's talk about one of our favorite advertisers.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Definitely one of yours. Yeah. One that you treat your own face to. That's our friends over at Harry's. You know Harry's by now. Well, I want to tell you about their sharpest blades ever, which is something that Harry's has recently brought to the market. Unlike some other razor companies, they don't charge you more for their product improvements. Harry's new sharper blades are still as low as $2 each. And new customers in the U.S. can redeem a trial offer of Harry's new sharper blades right now by going to harrys.com. Harry's blades are delivered directly to your door on your schedule with or without a subscription. These new blades are so sharp that in a study with people shaving four times a week, they reported that Harry's new blades, their eighth shave, was as smooth as their first. Harry's is able to do this because they own their own factory based in Germany that's been honing razor blades for 100 years. They source their steel from Sweden and own the entire manufacturing process from research and development to the factory floor, which allows them to keep those prices low and lets them confidently stand by their quality with a 100% quality guarantee at harrys.com. So, Brad, tell me something about these Harry's products that you love.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So here's the thing. Okay. We've been talking about these new blades for a little while now and I don't have them yet. So I'm going to go order. I just made myself a note while you were talking order Harry's blades.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The reason why I don't have them is because they already make the best blades I've ever used in my life. They last forever and I don't burn through them. Right. I just don't have the opportunity to constantly churn through blades because they're so good to begin with. And now you're telling me that the one that's available now is even better. So I'm going to have to just go order these, keep these separate from my existing sash, you know, make sure I know which one is which and do a little comparison. You should shave one half of your face.

'''Myke Hurley:''' See how that goes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You can give Harry's sharpest blades ever a try today because they have a fantastic offer for pen addict listeners. New U.S. customers can redeem a Harry's trial set at harrys.com slash pen addict. You'll get a five blade razor featuring these new sharper blades, a weighted handle, foaming shave gel with aloe and a travel cover to protect your blade when you're on the go. Go to harrys.com slash pen addict and redeem your trial today. Today, our thanks to Harry's for their support of this show and Relay FM.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Continuing our theme of businessing, Myke, let's talk about pen shows. What do you say? What are they? Exactly. The definition of a pen show has changed. Like we haven't had any. Yep. Physically in a long time. There hasn't been many opportunities virtually to have them. You know, some there's been some pop ups and some individual things. But the Detroit pen show coming up on November 13th, 14th and 15th is going to be completely virtual. So they are planning on holding the Detroit pen show as scheduled, but with all virtual vendors all online. So you'll have to go to we'll have the link in the show notes to the Detroit pen show because I want you to go see and I'm involved and we're going to talk about this in a minute. But I am anxious to see. If this can be pulled off. Because it's different, right? It's like I'm I'm very curious about how the show organizers are going to make money, right? Like that's a thing that I can't not think about, right? Because you're losing the gate, if you will, right? You have two sources of income as a show runner is your vendor tables and your attendees. So this is all free for attendees. Vendors, you know, obviously have a table fee, but it's all going to be managed online. There's going to be vendor kind of meet and greets. And then there's going to be the availability to book a time with these vendors that are part of the pen show to have basically a one on one session to see their products, learn about their products and decide if you wanted to make a purchase of their products. So I'm interested to see how this all plays out. And I definitely am going to participate in some of that. But aside from that, I'm doing a virtual meet the makers panel, which I did in Baltimore and in person. And this one's going to be online. So I'll be have four makers with me will be I'll be, you know, hosting and moderating the panel discussion and I'll be asking questions and things like that. So we're doing that on Saturday. And I'm just anxious in a good way, not anxious, nervous, but anxious to see is this going to be a viable option for future pen shows to take on now?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' What is the pen show aspect of this?