Editing The Pen Addict 513/transcript (section)

== New Pen Acquisition ==


'''Brad:''' Oh, this is gonna be a great episode. Number one, because I have a new pen, Myke, that I wasn't gonna buy.

'''Myke:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad:''' And then now I have it because our friends, Tom and Dan at Studio Neat, could not not send me the Mark 1 in orange. Right? That's great, right? Like, I didn't ask them for it. I didn't buy it. Like, I was in a, I had just spent a bunch of money on pens, so I was like, I love this pen. I do not need to buy it. Mm-hmm. And, you know, I just didn't. And, you know, it's cool. I've enjoyed other people getting theirs. And then I got an envelope in the mail. And on the back of, it came from Studio Neat. And I knew I didn't have anything on order from them. And I was like, hmm, this is interesting. And then I flipped the, flipped the, flipped the image over. And it's like, how could we not? Was written on the outside of the envelope. And I was like, I know what this is. So, I want to say this with the caveats that Tom and Dan, I consider them my friends. I'm a Studio Neat fan. We have, obviously, you have business, multiple business relationships with them.

'''Myke:''' Yep.

'''Brad:''' The thing about this pen, I, and I will say that I have, you know, the original Mark 1 prototypes, you know, I was part of the crew that helped them kind of suss out what they needed to do and build and things like this. So, I have an intimate knowledge of the Mark 1. And I'm a super fan of this pen. The thing you forget about pens you may already have that you don't use on a daily basis is what brought you to them in the first place. And when I unpackaged the bright orange Mark 1, it just put a smile on my face, right? And there's a few products that do that because of how they feel, how they finish, just like all of the technical aspects combined. They put a smile on my face. And, like, that's the best feeling about any product. And, like, it was a given that I was going to love this pen, right? There was just no doubt in my mind. But if I don't use something like the Mark 1 on a daily basis, which I don't, I don't use any pen that religiously because I am the first and last word in pens. And that means all of them, Myke. I literally use all of the pens, which means I can't use the same one every day. When I picked up this pen, clicked it, and started writing with it, I was like, this is such a good pen. Like, that's it. Like, that's all I have to say. Like, that's when you know, like, a product is designed right. It's made specifically for you. Like, you know, I'm talking about myself here, right? Like, not everyone's going to like this pen for very valid reasons. But the products that we like, we tend to have more than just a technical relationship with them. We tend to have something, you know, a little bit more personal relationship with them. And that's how I feel about a product like the Mark 1. And, like, I feel that about a lot of products, too. And, like, there's some products that friends make that I don't have that feeling about. And that doesn't mean they're not great products. It just means they didn't check all of my boxes. And the Mark 1, regardless of the color being orange, which is a great color orange that they nailed, the Mark 1 is just one of those problems. To borrow a completely overused phrase, it just sparks joy, right? That's an accurate phrase because it does, you know, meet a lot of the criteria for, like, certain products. And sometimes that's all you need. If you can check that box, for some people, you're in a good place. And I think that's where the Mark 1 is with Studio Neat. Yeah.

'''Myke:''' I mean, obviously, I love the Mark 1.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I have six of them now, I think.

'''Brad:''' So, yeah. It's, like, I don't want to, like, overstep and overgush over friends and people you have personal relationships with and things like that. But, like, I do it. Why shouldn't I, right? If I genuinely like the product, I'm going to tell you I genuinely like the product. And I don't care who makes it. I just happen to be friends with the people who make it. And I'll tell you this about my products, too. Like, there's products I make that I just have complete bias for. And you better hope that I do when I'm making things, right? If I'm designing something that I'm not completely biased for, then I'm just, you know, any generic retailer who carries all the things, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's the way I feel about it.

'''Myke:''' I mean, I do believe that, especially from some companies like all of ours, you know, mine and yours and Studio Neat, I do believe that the products only work if they have your full, like, heart in them. Right. Because, you know, you've got to be able to create something that speaks to the people that will buy it in a way that, like, Moleskine don't need to. Right. But, you know, it's a different way of doing business, I think.

'''Brad:''' It is. It is. And I've been thinking about a lot of these things in the background a lot separate from this. Like, I'm just, my brain is in overdrive, like, thinking about things. And I'll be writing about a lot of just, you know, related but just kind of ancillary stuff, you know, not straight up pen review type stuff. Because I'm having, I mean, like I mentioned, like, I feel like I'm in a really good place right now. So, like, my creativity is peaked. Good. And sometimes that means sharing, like, more personal things on, like, how we got to this point. And not just, hey, here's my next pen review. Right?

'''Myke:''' Good. I look forward to that.

'''Brad:''' I was going to say it started last week when I just talked about, like, hey, how am I managing, like, my phone home screen. Right? These are all these things tying together into how I'm able to create things. And talking about a dope orange pen is one of those things that I just enjoy doing. And I feel like I'm doing it extremely well right now, Myke. And I'm the first and last word.

'''Myke:''' First and last word.

'''Brad:''' Mm-hmm.