It’s the simplest questions that are often the most difficult to answer.
Lying in bed the other night with my fiancée put her book down in a way that without uttering a word said, “Mark, it’s time to pay attention!”
Deep breath: in Mark’s world, it’s best to be ready for anything!
“Do you like your closet door opened like that?” she asked while pointing across the room at my wide opened closet door. While glad not to have gotten the dreaded “do these jeans make me look fat?” question, I was just as uncertain about how to answer. You never know how deep these rabbit holes can go.
Believing honesty is always best in a relationship and deciding not to overthink it, I told her the truth: “I don’t notice the closet door: whether the door is opened or closed!”
Apparently I need to pay better attention to what is going on around me!
That’s probably good advice. Around me lately has been a bit of a whirlwind. But unlike the opened closet door, I HAVE noticed those changes: they’re entirely due to this blog and podcast.
Unlike the opened closet door, it would be hard not to notice the buzz in my life that the blogging and podcasting has created. My phone, email and text messages are all “ringing” off the hook! Since I dropped my last blog post about Dan Calkins, that story has been read by almost 700 dealers. Even more exciting is that the first real episode of my podcast got listened to over 400 times. Many of you have reached out to me and I hope that will continue: I LOVE hearing from readers and listeners, especially if you want to talk about other topic ideas!
I’m glad I seemed to have hit that content “sweet spot” for so many dealers. I have always felt that this industry did a poor job in delivering information and I hope I’m bringing some change to that. If you have not read and listened to those previous posts, I encourage you to scroll back and read about and listen to Dan.
But there is much more to come.
This blog post you’re reading now may be a bit light on paint content: that’s due mostly to exhaustion. Being far too old to trust technology to send money, I am just back from hand-delivering my most recent paycheck to my daughter, who is studying this semester in Barcelona. I’m not so much tired from the travel as I am exhausted from reaching into my wallet so many times!
Have no fear though, next week it’s back to work! I’ll have my second podcast episode with Dan Calkins posted on Wednesday. While you’re enjoying that episode, I’ll be at the Allpro show and I have scheduled to tape four new episodes while there. I’m really excited to share those topics with you. Included among them will be my first with an independent retailer who is doing some really cool stuff. I think you’ll be impressed.
If you do see me at Allpro, please stop me and share what you are thinking about this work. I want to know because that knowledge will help me make it better.
I wonder if writers and podcasters are all inclined to leave closet doors opened? Now that it’s up for discussion, I think I leave the closet door opened so that I can always see what’s inside. Seeing what’s inside the paint industry and what’s behind those doors, is what these blogs and podcasts are all about. The truth is that I LIKE the doors and windows opened! Secrets are never good for a relationship and closed doors are a great place for secrets to hide. It’s one of the reasons I write and while my fiancée may be able to get me to keep the door closed, for you guys the doors will always be open.
No matter the topic, the goal will be the same: make it interesting and relevant to both independent paint retailers and people that work in support of independent retailers.
I am having a fabulous time doing this. I feel a renewed sense of enthusiasm for my work and am enjoying the creative explosion that this has caused in me. I hope you are enjoying it as well and am grateful you are following along!