Editing The Pen Addict 373/transcript (section)

== Pen Making Process ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I think it's actually worth pointing out, like, because I've, we've mentioned your suppliers, but they're just supplying the material, right? Right. We make everything. You're making the pens. Yeah. Oh, yes. I just wanted to clear that up because I don't, I didn't want to confuse people about that. So like when you say you're in the shop, Hugh, that's you making them, right?

'''Hugh:''' Starting with an acrylic rod. Yep. And doing what she tells me to do. And how many times? Yeah. That's it. Good answer. But. Yeah. No, that's it.

'''Ana Reinert:''' All three of us also having some sort of business also means suppliers can be mailing envelopes, labels, all the other stuff. Printing ink. What else could you possibly need in your office? I'm sure you think of a million things. Yeah. Bubble wrap.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do you have a desire to make products that are not fountain pens or like pens, right? Like I know that you also have a line of ball, like they can take ball points as well. Have you ever thought about what it would be like? And we were talking about this earlier, right? Yeah. Like ink, paper, that kind of thing. Hmm.

'''Carol:''' I think every once in a while we've tossed around an idea of, you know, some coordinating inks or something.

'''Carol:''' I think, yeah. I don't know. You know, we, on the long car rides, late evening chats, we do kind of think, try to think outside the box. But right now, we just want to do this thing really well. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because I guess that would, both of those types of products would require complete outsourcing, right? Yes. Because I can't imagine here you're going to be stirring ink in the basement. Hand-binding books. Not in this lifetime. Right. No.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Right. But we know lots of people who could get involved in this. Exactly.

'''Hugh:''' The thing that is Conalea is us. Mm-hmm. And that's our brand. And when we come through social media or we come through our web store or we come through at our tables at the show and we interact with our Ohana, we want it to be us. Which means, no, do we make the box, the wooden key? No, this is handmade for us. Mm-hmm. But we make the pen. Mm-hmm. And so if it means having somebody else make an entire product for us that is embossed with a Conalea logo, that's really not – I'll never say never. But if we were to do that, it would have to be done really, really the right way. Mm-hmm. So that we come through and it's inspiring to us and then our Ohana. Right now – and I couldn't agree with you more – it's we want to do what we're doing the absolute best, most inspirational way we can and maintain that quality and that craftsmanship and protect the brand so that everybody always knows that's a Conalea pen from Hugh and Carol.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So the level at which you both work and talk about your business is a legitimate inspiration to me. Absolutely. Like – Mahalo. Thank you. You think of things and work at a level which is so much more than is needed, but what is the result of that makes sense for how much work you put into it. Thank you, man. And I will say as well, like, Hugh and Carol are probably the nicest people I know. Every time we ever talk about Conalea pen, we get these beautiful emails from Hugh or Carol, and it is wonderful to know you both.

'''Hugh:''' Thank you. And we feel that way about you and our Ohana here listening and watching online and around the world. You inspire us. And I've told you both this story where I'll be listening to the podcast on my way to work in the morning or on the way home, and I'll hear you say something about Conalea, and I'm literally hooting out loud, banging on the steering wheel, and I look at the side. I was like, oh, yeah, sorry. I think there was one time where you told me you had to pull over because you were crying. Yes. Yeah. It touched – yes. I had to pull over into a parking lot because I got choked up with what you were – but that's what this community is about. We're all touching each other in these personal ways because we have an affinity for this thing called writing instruments and how it makes us feel when we can express our most personal and inspirational and heartfelt thoughts through pen and ink and paper and preserve it in a journal that we protect. That's not golfing. You know, that's personal.

'''Carol:''' And then getting together with all of our friends afterwards and what did you get? What did you get? Right. And sharing all of that. It's just so much fun.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. If you want to see any of these wonderful pens and you're not at a pen show, you should go to canaleapanko.com, right? Yeah. That's the best place. And social media – what are the social media accounts, Carol?

'''Carol:''' Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And is it canaleapanko and all of them? It is. Same. Wonderful. I would like to thank you both very much for taking the time to talk with us today. This has been wonderful. And if everybody could please give it up for Hugh and Carol. Thank you.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Thank you.

'''Carol:''' Aloha.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do you think they left me a pen in here? No, that's the one I'm returning. Oh, man. They sent me two. I bought one. That's right. That's the one to go back. So I think that about does it for this episode, right?

'''David Sparks:''' Yeah. I think that's a wrap. San Francisco is awesome. This is something we kind of put together on the fly. And to get the reception that we've had for coming here, putting this on, y'all putting up with our nonsense, this has been really great. Like, this show, I love this show. So I want this to be, like, permanently on my calendar every year. It's just such a...

'''David Sparks:''' This is the pen show that all other pen shows should look up to as far as the way they do things right.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Isn't this a fun show?

'''Myke Hurley:''' It is the fun pen show. If you moved to San Francisco, then San Francisco could be the pen addict's home show every year instead of Atlanta. That's just, like, a thought for you. Can you do that? I mean, that's a different level of Relay FM membership.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, we're top tier at that point. That's a different level.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Yeah, that monthly subscription would have to go up a little bit.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We are here for one reason, though. And only because of one reason. And that is because of our wonderful Kickstarter backers who made this whole thing possible. So I would like to extend my most heartfelt thanks to them for everybody that backed the campaign. And they should all be... Everyone's in the midst of receiving their products except me. I asked Brad to bring mine to the San Francisco pen show and he didn't. Nope. So now it has to be mailed to me at home.

'''Ana Reinert:''' You know who didn't get their Kickstarter backers? We didn't.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, we haven't got them. It's true. I don't think you ever sent me last... It doesn't matter. Brad never sends me anything. I'll never get it. It's fine.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Yeah, I also didn't get the code for the video from last year.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I can send you that. You don't do anything, do you? I do it for them. Oh, man.

'''Ana Reinert:''' It's all for you guys. We never.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But thank you so much to everybody that has ever backed one of our campaigns and who has this year as well. We should also thank Stephen Hackett, who's mailing the video himself this year. Thank you, Stephen. Thank you, Stephen. Thank you, Stephen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Just behind the camera.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And we should always thank our third host, the wonderful Anna Reiner. Anna, thank you for joining us, as you always do.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I guess that's about it, right?

'''David Sparks:''' Yeah, and I want to thank the San Francisco Pinshow promoters. Todd was going to sneak in here. Maybe. I'm not sure if he did or not. I can't quite see behind the column. But he did so much for us in allowing us to do this. Giving us this space. Making sure we had the setup right. I cannot thank him enough.

'''Myke Hurley:''' There's a key thing here. This is the first time we've ever recorded a live show from a pen show that was in Atlanta. Yeah. So that is a clue to how nice they have been to us and how difficult it can be sometimes. Yeah. Check it out. We'll ever get that DC live show.

'''David Sparks:''' I don't even ask. Like, that's a non-starter. Like, I won't even go there. So Todd, Ricky, the entire team has been great. And Todd wanted me to mention, and I love this fact, and I didn't realize it. He's on the board of the Pen Collectors of America. So y'all come check out what they do. There's some information up here. We have the Penant Magazine that releases, I want to say, every quarter? Is this monthly? Yeah, it's every quarter. So they send that out. That's a good name. Yeah, they do great research articles, really great information, and you can join them. And there's some information up here for y'all to check out and a sample of the Penant Magazine. So thanks, Todd. Thanks, San Francisco Pen Show crew, for being phenomenal to work with. They did not have to do this for us. And the first time I asked them, they were like, yes, what do you need? And I just can't thank them enough.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And we're not 100% sure on this, but I'm pretty sure. I think this might be our largest ever audience.

'''David Sparks:''' Yeah, I think by headcount, we were over 100, I think, in here tonight. So that's pretty cool.

'''Ana Reinert:''' And it's actually not as hot in here as it usually is by the time we're finished.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So that's good news. No one's going to pass out during the raffle, which is great. I can't wait. It usually happens. You can catch show notes for this episode at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 373. Thanks to Squarespace for the support. Until then, say goodbye, everybody.

'''David Sparks:''' Goodbye. Bye, everybody. Bye, everybody. Bye, everybody. &

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]