Editing The Pen Addict 527/transcript (section)

== Good Guy Marketing ==


'''Brad:''' This is definitely like good guy marketing. Like, I agree, right? Like they are spending their own money, right? This is money that they're having to spend to get this produced and packed and all that kind of stuff. Like, I just hope that they're confident. That's my thing.

'''Myke:''' They have to be. It's literally the core of their business.

'''Brad:''' Well, they're not necessarily confident, right? Like, it is their business. It's the business. That's what I mean. Like, I, that's what, if you're going to, my feelings, if you're going to include this sheet, you really got to be confident that it is as good, if not better for most people. You know, we go through this with our own products. Never going to catch everyone. And if you try to do that, you'll get no one. You have to make a product that's good enough for most people, not perfect for any particular group, I feel like. Right. Because you can do that, but you'll have a very small business, right? Right, right, right. Because you won't get all of that group to buy your product anyway. So you kind of have to make something that's good enough, I believe, for everyone, rather than like particularly perfect for one type of person. I just, yeah, this is a fascinating thing. I cannot wait to see what people's reactions are.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, so two things, two more things. One, people forget that Hobonichi or the parent company 1101 is actually a publicly traded company. Like, this is like business decisions are a big deal for this company. Like, it's on the Japanese stock exchange, right? That was one point completely separate is I think based on my testing of the new Sanson paper, I think it's going to be good. Like, I have no qualms about the changes. Like, I understand that any change for such a particular item as this one will be, you know, met at a microscopic level. But I think based on my early testing, and this was like the first run of the Sanson Tomoe River paper that Jacob sent me, I think it's going to be perfectly fine. If not, I mean, it's going to be hard for me to ever say anything's better than the 52 GSM Tomoe. But this at least has a chance. Like, it's in the conversation. And I think in the end, maybe 2024 is a little bit of an adjustment period for them. And then they're just right back into it full bore where people are going to realize that, oh, yeah, this is pretty good. It didn't really no real hangups company big scale wise moving forward after that. So I think it's all positive to me, but it's got to be super weird for them sitting in that office trying to figure out what they're going to do. Can you imagine the stash of paper that they've had to still run 2023 out of the old Tomoe River paper? I mean, it's kind of been produced for years.

'''Brad:''' Well, oh, really? Yeah.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. They shut down the Tomoe Gawa three years ago, maybe two. Was it really? And they set it in there. Wow.

'''Brad:''' I feel like that just happened.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. Because, no, they switched them. Well, because they switched the machines and it made a bad product, right? So that was in that timeframe as well. And then it went away completely because the new machines were making a bad product. And then the new company bought them just out of like last fall. So, yeah, it's been at least two years, if not three. And to fill that supply for years worth of Hobonichi planners, that's a large inventory.

'''Brad:''' Have you seen the new book that they're working on?

'''Myke:''' I haven't. I haven't gone through the catalog yet, even though it's full on planner season right now. So we'll talk about that in September. I have not. What are you seeing?

'''Brad:''' So I was just on the website. It's called, I believe, Hun. H-O-N, but it says pronounced of a long O, which means book in Japanese. Okay. I call it a life book. It's like a hardcover book. It has some cover designs. It's A6 size, same contents as the Hobonichi Techo original. Lay flat binding because it's hardcover, it looks like. And it's like a whole year book, like a 365-day book. This is good looking.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. Dang. Okay. I have not gone through the site. I've purposefully not gone through the Hobonichi stuff because I'm rethinking my planner situation for next year. So I just want to sit down with it. So, and when I do, I want to write down my notes for the podcast. So we'll do that maybe in September. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' This product, there's more information about it in October.

'''Myke:''' This is, this is a very classic style that I appreciate in notebooks, in an annual type of notebook, you know, not just like a kick around notebook. Hmm. Okay. I did not see this and I am compelled. So yeah, that looks great. Looks great.