It is so important to always know where you're at at any given time.
It is pretty hard to move forward when you don't know where you are.
Assessments are critical and must be done at regular intervals. Complacency creates weakness and makes it very easy to lose sight of the big picture and any long term goals.
Grinding out week after week month after month can eventually lead to a need for an attitude adjustment. Time for a check up from the neck up, and eliminating any stink'in think'in.

Written for me

Moral Responsibilty & Perceived Value

An interesting couple of weeks for sure, but enlightening at all levels. What has transpired and what is most important over these last weeks for us has been a re-clarification of what quality and perceived value means and how it dictates our moral and ethical concerns in the market place and our responsibilities to our consumers. This re-clarification has thankfully led to a major re-direction of motivation, focus and energies. It is like a weight lifted.

Many corporations deal each and every day with products that are unsurpassed in quality, meet and exceed perceived value, and offers the consumer more for there money than first realized. When marketers and sales people walk away with consumer resources knowing, and feeling that said consumer is receiving far more than they realize, it is a great feeling for sure.

Unfortunately, there are consumer products flooding the market place that just don't come close to quality levels that support price points or that offer insurances favorable to long term consumer satisfaction. This writer would like to believe most companies attempt to insure value and quality in what they offer but, in the same breath, I know they fail miserably and many just don't give a damn either.

So many manufactures, importers, distributors, both large and small, are only concerned with how many dollars "X" product can generate with a total disregard to quality, value, or consumer satisfaction. I know of an importer whose only concern is dollars. No concern in what the product really is, no criteria for quality controls in manufacturing, no concern for the consumer, just how cheap can we get them and how much can we get out of them. Taking in money first and addressing value and quality second, if at all is there concern. The saddest thing is that the product concept is great and could be huge in the market place. This company realizes the poor quality in its product, could correct issues, but doesn't therefore they are relegated to being second best only.

Thank God for our own ability to realize that it is ethically and morally better to only offer the best. Respect the consumer! That is exactly what we do each and every day and we are damn proud of that! How 'bout you?

Observations made of a unique and special group of individuals that share the same thing close to their hearts. Some are relatively new and are still accepting and recognizing it, but most who have spent a lifetime developing and nurturing it:

Their Passion for...


Passion:
1. ardent love or affection
2. a strong affection or enthusiasm for an object, concept, etc: a passion for poetry
3. any strongly felt emotion, such as love, hate, envy, etc
4. a state or outburst of extreme anger: he flew into a passion
5. the object of an intense desire, ardent affection, or enthusiasm
6. an outburst expressing intense emotion: he burst into a passion of sobs
7. philosophy
8. a. any state of the mind in which it is affected by something external, such as perception, desire, etc, as contrasted with action
b. feelings, desires or emotions, as contrasted with reason

Garage Appliances

Why we buy tools and how we use them is always an area of great conversation. After many years and thousands and thousands of one on one discussions with tool owners (not necessarily woodworkers) it is clear that tool ownership is an individual, personal, and dynamic thing. Some folks do actually set-out to become woodworkers through an internal motivation sparked either by up-bringing, meaning dad or grandpa did it, shared it, and seemed to enjoy it, or through a simple attraction for creating something made with your own two hands. Others are already fine woodworkers and are always on the look out for equipment that either makes what they do now easier or for tools that can expand there expertise. These are the folks that use tools to create great works of art, fine furniture and beautiful heirloom cabinetry. The folks who actively seek to be great woodworkers are strong in numbers and we are privileged to serve many of them but we probably talk and sell more to the folks who recognize the need for tools that are always at the ready for when something needs repaired around the house, or when simpler applications of specific tools are required.

Home owners/garage owners are the folks we sell to more often than the "woodworker" and they far out number these "style" woodworker.
I re-call many a corporate sales meeting where the focus was to outline annual market plans that would attack and capitalize on the classic woodworker not the garage owner/user. I noticed early on that representatives who focused and developed there presentations strictly on what the corporate belief was never ever seemed to reach the level of success that reps who just went out and talked to the everyday folks did.

We surmised that there were far more folks that needed to just replace the kid's splintered swing set seat, or pull up a warped piece of decking that always seemed to trip up guests.

You see there is a big difference in the woodworker who builds a "Rainbow Industries" type custom swing set (retail $2,500) and the home owner who bought one and now needs to maintain it. Many homeowners do not have the expertise or desire for building a second floor two tier deck , but recognizes when a piece of said deck needs replaced. It certainly is convenient to own a proper grouping of safe and reliable tools no matter what the job might be. Around the house there never seems to be a shortage of things that need to be cut, drilled, bored, turned, sanded, or painted.

Tools we buy for the home should really be perceived as the appliances for the garage. Just as we have wonderful appliances (tools) for the kitchen, it is equally important to acquire appliances for the garage.

In future posts we can discuss the evolution of our tool usage as well as when that one special project comes along that vaults the garage owner into fine woodworker status.

Tucson now completed and what an event it was. Of all the Lowes Home Improvement centers we have worked, this one was spectacular! What makes one stand out over another considering their cookie cutter layout? It always comes down to the many employees who work in them. The Tucson associates, managers, asst. managers, etc. were very very well trained, expert in their respective areas, and most accommodating. These folks more than opened up to what we do in there stores, grasped the concept of what we do, and partnered with us to meet our combined goals. These folks were absolutely and completely supportive, and efficiently and speedily processed all the customer orders in a fashion I had never witnessed before. This store represents what courteous, friendly, and helpful customer service is all about. With an environment conducive to good business we were immediately prepared to handle the onslaught of visitors. This leads us to yet another element that fueled this stellar event. Our Tucson owners capitalized on the opportunity afforded them with the scheduled event and came out in record numbers. They were once again appreciative, armed with good preparation which led to wonderful discourse, and ultimately to informed and educated decisions.

Tucson will be our next stop and from all indications it will be a busy one. Talked with the store manager yesterday and he mentioned that they had already been receiving calls. That is always a good sign. Over the past year + I have really been amazed at the outpouring of praises not just for the release of the many impressive upgrades but by the fact that we are out in the communities and actively if not aggressively driving our dedicated owners to these events. The folks coming out are just plain appreciative and excited to come in and visit and they always show there appreciation with a hardy "thank you." There are so many subliminal elements that make a company strong in reputation. Without a doubt we have built our tremendous reputation over decades now and we pride ourselves in maintaining that reputation by continuously being the innovators in not only our product lines but our customer service and by acknowledging our wonderful loyal owners. Thanks Owners!

He was a class act, a leader of men. I think his legacy will eventually prevail and all the mess of the last few weeks will finally be focused where it should be, on a perverted assistant coach who needs to be put away. The press was quick to condemn Joe and really turn the whole mess on him. Without the motivation to work hard at building quality football programs, disgraced by his beloved Penn State, and shunned by his peers, there was know possible way he could mount the necessary battles needed to fight any kind of illness. Stripped of all that he was and represented for so long there was just know will to live. We'll miss you Joe.