This is my first post in a week or so. Since I haven’t been updating this I don’t really expect too many people to continue tuning in. I’ve been doing a fair amount of shit, just none of it blog worthy. This post will pertain to my job and I don’t expect to be too entertaining. It’s going to be a lot of complaining and whining so just be prepared if you are going to continue reading.

My dad and I went down to Baltimore to call on a few dealers. I haven’t seen Baltimore in a while but I was impressed by how nice the inner harbor area is. We ate at this upscale place for lunch where the lunch prices were entree prices. I order some pasta with lobster in it for 18 bucks and I thought it was terrible. It wouldn’t even call it a portion and it looked and tasted like puke. The dealers we visited were all nice people but in the end didn’t write any business.

What is happening in our world is that bigger companies are acquiring smaller companies. When this occurs, the larger corporation takes power from the people on the floor to place orders. All ordering must be done through corporate buyers. This poses a problem to us as a smaller company. How do we get the corporate buyer to stock all of their branches with our product, which really only sells to a niche market? This is an example of the question I’m confronted with on a daily basis.

I don’t go to work everyday and sit at my desk and do the same shit daily. I don’t have a routine. It’s my job to figure out how to sell the head buyer of a company that has 250 stores why he should stock my product. How do I blister package my paint scraper so it will sell in Sherwin Williams nationwide without raising my cost so much that it prices the product out of the market? A competitor just came out with a quality product to rival our number 1 moneymaker and will most likely cut into market share. This is the shit I deal with on a day to day basis. Not to mention the phones calls that come in from our customers saying that this thing not working or how do I do this.

People probably read the lines above and think, wow sounds like you have a lot of responsibility, that most be really cool. Yeah, it’s also a lot of pressure. If the business doesn’t make money there isn’t anyone there to sign the paycheck. There becomes no paycheck. Sometimes I have the philosophy of Kevin Spacey in American Beauty. Just give me a job with the least responsibility and have someone sign my paycheck, I don’t even care how much I make as long as I can live.

After 4+ years of doing this I’m starting to wear out a little bit. My dad has taught me how to run a business profitably. I know what it takes. My only thought is that I’m going to be working for the next 30 years of my life. This is the end of being “young”. There’s only a year or two of getting away with goofing off and having an excuse. The idea of getting older doesn’t hit you until you realize you aren’t young. I’m just complaining because my youth is fading and I’m getting wrapped up in work and I don’t like it.