Editing The Pen Addict 454/transcript (section)

== CWP Production Mode ==


'''Myke:''' Speaking of full production mode, Myke, let's talk about our good friends at CWP. Cause I'm tired of talking about us. Okay. Uh, Caroline Weaver, CW Pencil Enterprises. We've talked about their changes a lot over the pandemic times, the current times, the changes in business models, all the things I personally find fascinating about the stationary business. And I know you do too. And I know our listeners do too, especially for a shop as beloved as that and how they were trying to reimagine what they were as a storefront, like as a brick and mortar in New York city. And they opened the physical store, uh, about a month ago. And we're given about a month or so to get the online shop back up for all of us CW Pencil Enterprise super fans. And as of yesterday, I think, or maybe Monday, uh, CW Pencils.com is back online. So I just wanted to give them a shout out and go check out what they have because it's a little bit different than before, right? It's not, you know, 99% pencils and pencils accessories. It's a good, even smattering of all of the office supplies, stationary, notebooks, art supplies, anything that you'd want from like an all around stationer, right? That's what they have. So the site looks awesome. They, they have highlighted it with orange, Myke. I'm very happy about this.

'''Brad:''' You're not going to send a cease and desist.

'''Myke:''' I'm going to send, uh, Caroline a strongly worded email. Um, actually, actually, you know what? I think I am going to do that when we're done. Um, concerning your use of orange, I think I will do that because I wanted to talk to her about something else anyway. I will send her a message when we get done.

'''Brad:''' Uh-huh.

'''Myke:''' So congratulations to her and the team. I know, like, this has not been an easy thing to do. Yeah. And an easy thing to pull off.

'''Brad:''' There's a cool post, like a blog post that I'll also include in the notes that, like, details all of the new stuff and, like, highlight some things that are still working on. Like, they don't have international shipping yet, but they're going to soon. Um, I find that this move from Caroline and the crew really inspiring. Like, so someone who has a, who's starting a newer business, right? Like, where I am in my life. Seeing them pivot in the way that they are and the way that they have from, like, really expanding their scope. Um, and kind of, they're taking CWPE to the next, this is, like, to the next level. Like, this is now a much, much different, much bigger operation. Uh, I find it incredibly inspiring to see. Yeah.

'''Myke:''' Unfortunately, it took, like, a scorched earth to have to make this decision, right?

'''Brad:''' Yeah, but that's, you know, that is how. That's part of being a business owner. They had to, they had to go right down to the, to the bones of it. You know, and, and I think that there will be, in a few years' time, lots of stories like this. Like, people who had to completely change their business because of the pandemic and it ended up better for them. Like, honestly, I, I consider RelayFM one of those. Like, the, the work that we've done on our membership program, we, I don't know if we ever would have done it with Augusto that we did it. Uh, and I think it's worked out great for, for everyone who's involved, who's, like, taking part of the, the program right now and into the future. So, there, there are stories like that. Of course, there are many more stories on the other end. Um, but if we're gonna have bad, I like to have good, too. And, and seeing what, uh, Caroline and the crew have done, I think, is really, really inspiring and super cool.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, love it. So, I, of course, have been waiting for the online store to come back up to order a specific, uh, group of notebooks that they've carried that have come highly recommended. It's the Emilio Braga notebooks, uh, from Portugal. They do A5 and A6 models. They're these really unique, um, kind of marbled colors, really cool, like, composition style, but in a more, I say handmade, not saying that these are handmade, you know, notebooks, but they have that kind of natural looking feel to them. And I, I, these, I call these, like, the Soprano notebooks because I can't, every time I say Emilio Braga, I think of Lorraine Bracco. Um, did you ever see The Sopranos? I love The Sopranos. So, she's the psychiatrist. She's Tony's psychiatrist, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, that, I can't help but think of that. They're not even close. No, but it's the name. It's the name. Like, the Emilio Braga, all I want to say is Lorraine Bracco.

'''Brad:''' No, what I'm saying is, to me, Emilio Braga and Lorraine Bracco are not even close to each other. But, you know, what are you going to do? Like, your brain just makes connections, right?

'''Myke:''' Yeah, have you, I mean, have you met me, right? Like, don't expect me to, to think this is normal. But, I know a lot of people have ordered these notebooks and speak very, very highly of them. So, I'm anxious to get those in. I think I ordered two A5s and one A6s. So, I can be sure to give some away as well. So, look for that on the blog. I always like to pick up really unique and fun items for myself to try and to give away. So, long story short, I just want to let everyone know that the CWP online shop is back. I use them frequently. They always have really cool stuff. The only thing I'm going to miss about the online shop, and Caroline said it, and that's just the way business is. And I 100% agree with this decision because I always thought it was an interesting decision to begin with, is no longer selling pencil singles, right? That is just not an efficient online product to sell, right? So, if you're buying pencils online, it's going to be in dozens. Or however, they come prepackaged. You know, maybe it's a six-pack or whatever. And I'm sure they'll be making, like, some of their kits and things that they've done before where you can buy a group of a dozen pencils of, you know, very different things. But I'm sure that's, you know, it's much further down the line. So, that's a completely smart move. I'm just, you know, upset because I don't live there and get to walk into the store. You can buy all the singles you want. So, I'm jealous of that. It's just a comment born out of jealousy.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I will say, like, that that continues to give people a fun reason to visit the store as well as the beauty of it and how everything's laid out. Is that also you can go and get your pick and mix pencils if you want to do that. So, it continues to be a fun reason to visit the store. And I very much look forward to visiting the new and improved CWPA at some point in the future.

'''Myke:''' And I look forward to the stories from Caroline to come. Not only business-wise, but in, you know, stationary-wise. Because she's a great storyteller. And she's been very open about this whole process. And as you know, I'm a super fan. So, there you go. Head back to cwpencils.com. Get your stuff.

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