Last week I was fortunate enough to be invited for an interview on a CNBC show called “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch”. You can see it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8QaIiQsWB4 It was a great experience. I happened to be in New York for a tradeshow anyway so the timing worked out perfect.  They sent a limo to the Javvits center in New York to pick me up. I have to admit I felt like a pimp driving thru Manhattan in a plush town car on my way to the CNBC studios.  The whole process went pretty quick. They get you into make up and doll you up, put a Mic on you and send you into the studio.  Within 15 minutes of arriving I was engaged in a conversation on-air with Donny. He asked me some basic questions about how it all started, where the name came from, how we got into Wal-Mart etc.  I hope he shows the new chromed metal Penagain (ErgoSleek above) I gave him. I also tried to mentioned our new kids Pencil version that launches in a few weeks.  I think it went well, but I guess I’ll know for sure in a few hours.

Whats funny is that a few hours later I was at JFK boarding a plane and had an itch to scratch on my face, I looked at my hand and realized I smeared my make-up!!!!

The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity in getting all of our major retailer orders out the door. To date we are now shipping to Wal-Mart, OfficeDepot, Staples, Walgreen, CVS, Fed Ex Kinko’s, Publix, AAFES, Fred Meyer. The list keeps growing and at this point we are now focused on becoming a good supplier. I.e, don’t screw things up on these first big orders, ship on time, make sure all the barcodes are accessible to the cashiers, etc.  In other words, to quote a good friend of mine “Dont ship sh*t”.  These big retailers dont want to “Buy” problems as one of them once told me. A quick way to bankrupt your company is to lose sight of this. The dream of getting this placed in as many stores as possible to let everyone try it at least once is actually materializing before our eyes. Scary thought when it actually starts to happen.

We have also been on some major roadtrips to not only build international distribution but to visit our manufacturing operations in the Far East.  By far though the coolest place we have visited is Dubai. The trip was set up to meet all of the major distributors and wholesalers in the Middle East region. It was a real eye opener and a successful trip. Some of the pictures above detail the experience. It was strange to be in the desert and ski at a Shopping mall ski resort. To be honest, the snow was pretty good.