Editing The Pen Addict 122/transcript (section)

== Brad's Week ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Just when we come back from the second sponsor, we're going to talk about Brad's insane week. Yes. So much to unpack from this week. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We haven't even gotten to what all went on in my world this week. So we're going to do that and give you the full breakdown.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So this week's episode of the Pen Addict Podcast is also brought to you by Harry's. Harry's was founded because shaving can be expensive and frustrating. The process of shaving your face can be annoying, painful and irritating at times. And the process of buying shaving products can be even more so. This is why Harry's exists. Because one of their founders, a guy named Andy, was fed up of the poor experience of purchasing shaving products. Harry's creates products with a super cool brand and design that speak to you as customers. They have a simplified ordering process, a snazzy website, and they get you blades and shaving materials without the need of having to be made to feel like a criminal by going into a drugstore and having them unlock them from the cabinets. Now, I've been speaking on some other shows this week about my personal experience of using Harry's products. But Mr. Brad Dowdy has also received some of Harry's products himself. And Brad, I would love to know what you think about Harry's stuff, about the kits and the new products that they have too.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so one of the things we talked about before the show is, you know, that now that Harry's is sponsoring us, I'm actually one of the few hosts that's actually been a Harry's customer for since they launched. I guess it's probably been less than a year, I'm thinking. But at least in the past six months or so, I've been a Harry's customer well before they sponsored this episode of the show. So what I was looking for, I, you know, I have a wonderful beard, Myke. You did. But, you know, you do still have to shave. You know, you've got to shave the neck, shave the face, do all that stuff, make it, you know, make it good looking and sharp, sharp looking man. And I hate buying razor blades. You know, I've been like a Gillette Fusion guy forever just because that's kind of what you do. No thought into it, grab it at the grocery store, buy the way overpriced razor blade refills. And it's actually like painful paying for that because it's so ridiculously priced for a disposable item. What Harry's did is make quality easily as good as that, if not better, for such a good price. Their blades are excellent. They last a long time. They don't dull quickly. The handle I got, I, of course, went with the orange handle. It's a perfect fit for me. It's real classy looking. That's the Truman set.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Is it Truman, I think?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I think that's what it's called. I don't have it pulled up. But, yeah. So I got the orange handle and the blades and the shaving cream or the shaving lotion, I guess it's called. So that's what came with the original kit. And I never used anything but, you know, the, like the fusion gel, shaving gel before. So I've never used like the cream before. And it's really, really good. It's actually taken aback by how good the shaving experience was. So I know I'm just kind of rambling about Harry's, but I really love this product. I talk about with pens a lot, you know, you got to get a good value. You know, there's, you can way overspend for way inferior quality. Harry's is the exact opposite. It is such, I mean, you can go to Harry's right now and spend like $15 and have like, and be set up.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. $15 gets you a razor, the foaming shave gel, which we're going to talk about in a minute, three razor blades. And their blades are about half the price of the brand, like the big brands, like Gillette and stuff like that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So I would already gone through my first kit and then I just reordered blades and it was just so cheap and easy. Their packaging is awesome. It's really cool. Everything they do with the brand is very, very well done.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a great value. I can't recommend them enough. I've recommended them to a bunch of friends. I've recommended them to my wife. I'll say, hey, you got to use this because it's, it's better and cheaper than, you know, keep buying this Gillette Fusion junk, you know, every month. And, you know, this just recently, I just, last week they got me the, they sent the, tell me the names of it again.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Foaming shave gel and the aftershave moisturizer.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I've been using the foaming shave gel instead of the lotion.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it's been really good. It foams, like you hardly have to use any of it to get a thick foam to shave with. It does really good. I'm a real huge fan of the aftershave lotion. I've never used any, I've never used anything like that before. I use it every time I shave now and I just get this little smile on my face. I'm like, ooh, I'm fancy.

'''Myke Hurley:''' This is what I keep saying on the shows, right? I think, I think in general, men don't consider moisturizer. Yeah. But it is so important because when you shave, you are opening your skin up to just damage. Yeah. And it's so important to use stuff like the aftershave moisturizer that Harry's have put together and they use all natural ingredients and stuff like that. And it's really good. Really, really good stuff.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, one of my concerns is I'm not a big, I'm not a cologne, you know, cologne guy. You know, I don't need that huge cloud of Drakkar Noir, you know, floating around me. You know, when I walk down the street, everyone knows I'm coming. And so, it's a real subtle, real great scent on the aftershave. It feels great. I'm going to keep reordering that. And that's kind of a no-brainer. So, that's going to be part of my shaving process now. But if you can't tell, I'm a huge fan. So, I'm excited that they are sponsoring it. I can't recommend it enough.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' What you get for what you pay is such a good deal. It's a really, really great value. And, like I said, I've been using it for about products for about six months now. And I'm not going back. It's great.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You, too, can experience a clean, close, and comfortable shave of Harry's. At the moment, Harry's is only available in the United States. I believe you can get shipping to Canada, too. And I have a great deal for those of you that are. Go to harrys.com right now. And you'll get $5 off if you type in the coupon code PENADDICT with your first purchase. That's H-A-R-R-Y-S dot com. And enter coupon code PENADDICT at checkout to get that $5 off and to start shaving better today. Thank you so much to Harry's for their support of the Pen Addict and Relay FM.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, before we get into, I guess, our main topic. We don't really have a main topic today. We're just chatting today. I wanted to do our pen blog of the week, which is the desk of Adam. So, Adam's pretty new on the scene. And I don't know how I first found out about him. Maybe on Twitter. He might have actually sent me something. Sent me a link. But his blog is really, really well done. Really great photography. He does some great product reviews. One of his latest up right now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, one of those, one that I've read the most recent is his September pen and ink combinations, which are really great. And you should definitely check it out and tell Adam that the Pen Addict Podcast says hi.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, I had a busy week last week. Yeah, just a bit. My brain kind of exploded all over the internet on my blog, I guess. All at once. You know, Wendy, I'm not a big let's just rip the Band-Aid off and get over it kind of guy. But, you know, this week I had a lot going on. So, in the span of two days, on Friday, I announced a new sponsorship package for the Pen Addict blog. It's something I've been thinking about for a while. And then on Saturday, I up and killed the Inklinks.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Which was met with... Okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' There's a lot to talk about here.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Evil eyes. Evil eyes across the internets. So, yeah. I have... It's hard to know where to start, but let's start with sponsorships and what I was thinking. So, we've talked... You and I, you're privy to my brain a lot more than the general internet is. And we've been talking about for probably more than a year of me making the move towards a full-time online...

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' ...work, if you will. So, that means, you know, the things I do at the Pen Addict, the things I do with the podcast, the things I do with NotCo, and anything else I can add into there. Not that there's something to add right now, but, you know, just stuff. Doing these things online. Doing these things that I love. Talking about things that I love. Being involved in this completely. And eventually making it my job. Now, I'm of the age where... I remember this vividly. When I got out of college and was bouncing around from job to job to job for years, I remember all I wanted was to work for a company where I could work there for the rest of my life. And, you know, be paid decently and move up the ladder and have benefits and have job security. And I got that job. I've been at the same job for 14 years. You know, I had that hiatus for one year at JetPens. But I'm back with the same company. And I always thought that's what I wanted, right? That's what you do. You know, that's what my parents did. That's what, you know, my in-laws did. You know, they all worked for the same company and, you know, for 35 years and then they retired. Well, that's really not how things are these days. You have options now. And while my job is awesome, my regular day job, this really is what gets me going, this podcast. Talking about pens and paper and making pen cases and creating things on the internet. So, do I eventually want to do that for a living? And the answer is yes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, you can't just up and do it. That would not be very responsible, especially when you're married and have kids. So, I've kind of formulated a general plan in my head on some things I want to do with the blog. And I'm starting to roll that out now. And the first thing was offering sponsorships. So, number one, Jetpens has been an awesome sponsor for the blog. And they will continue to be the main sponsor for the blog. They, we have a great relationship. We've had this relationship since practically the beginning of the blog.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And that relationship is going to continue. In addition to the always-on Jetpens sponsorship, if you will, I now have come up with a plan to offer up one weekly sponsorship for anyone.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, it can be pen companies. It could be other products. It could be apps. I just have these things available now. So, I'm having, going into the one weekly sponsor, kind of like guys that I respect a lot, like Sean Blanc and John Gruber. And, you know, I've been able to talk to these guys about these things and how they do it. And has it worked out for them and things like that. So, I finally just decided to make the jump. You know, working with syndicate ads, they make it easy to schedule everything and have a calendar, a release calendar of what weeks you're booked. And I thought it was really important to just keep it at a single sponsor per week. I don't want to overwhelm the readership with a bunch of ads and a bunch of random stuff. I want it to be focused and I want it to be pertinent to the reader. And I want the readers to support these people who are sponsoring the blog. So, I think it's only fair to give them that exclusivity. You know, give them those blog posts for the week for what they're paying for. So, that was kind of my idea around the sponsorships.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Launching them was nerve-wracking. It went exceptionally well. Better than I imagined.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Proving the point that I made to you many times in offline conversations. That I'll make again in a moment.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But it went exceedingly well. I was busting it over the weekend talking to everyone who has, you know, committed to a week of sponsorship. And, you know, it's good because I can have these conversations directly with these sponsors, right? We can talk about, you know, what would be a good ad for me as a, you know, representing the blog, representing their product, right? And something that's good for the readers. So, it's great to be able to work with all these people who want to sponsor the blog to, you know, really get it right. And I think that's just an important overall feel I want to have with these sponsorships. I want them to be part of me, be part of the site, fit in seamlessly. And I want them to be quality. And I want them to be, you know, supported by the readers. So, I have to work hard to get that right. And that's why I was so happy this weekend. Because I was just, like, churning out emails to all these people who were, you know, wanting to sponsor the blog. And we're, you know, coming up with ad copy. And we're checking images. And I'm just hammering this stuff all weekend. And when I finally stopped, I was like, whew, that was good. I was like, okay, this is how it's going to be. And I'm good with that. And I like it. So, yeah. So, that's me rambling about sponsorships. And it's gone well.