Tuesday, April 1, 2008

20 years? Are you kidding me?


I've heard of it happening to other people, but I never dreamed it would happen to me. Then like a boot to the head, it did. I'm getting old. My 20 Year High School Reunion Is This Year!!! What is that all about? I'm in shock and awe... Less awe really... Much more shock.

So I signed up to the old High School reunion page, filled out a profile, and told everyone in a couple paragraphs what I've been up to for the past 20 years. (I had to leave a few things out because of the space limits). So then I posted a few recent pictures of me, me and my wife Jen, and me and some of the kids. I then went and read some of the other profiles that had been posted. I think it is great when people only post pictures of their kids. That tells me they've gained a ton of weight or they're bald (or both). Me, I'm doing a fine job in both areas. My hairline is receding without my permission. My weight is out of control. I'm a big dude and I need to shed some poundage. But, I carefully selected some photos that don't make me look like a drunk grizzly bear that has just fattened himself up for the winter hibernation, and posted them. (no photoshopping either). So I say, post away people! We want to see what you've been up to. Most of us have gained weight and lost hair, and I haven't even mentioned the men yet! :)

So other than that freaking me out, and making me reconsider that Stack Attack from Wendy's, life is good. March was a surprisingly busy month. We continue to build our OEM base of customers which is our core focus as a company. April is already looking like a record breaking month as we have a lot of OEM shipments going out in April. The OEM business is tricky. You need to have the best price or you lose the business. However, if you bid the lowest price, you also better have quality cables to back it up, or you lose the business. Yet so many bids come through where they don't consider the quality issue, and they go with some unknown overseas company, and when there is a quality complaint, it falls on deaf ears. That is the advantage to Professional Cable's OEM division. We have the same price as the overseas trading company or factory that you would normally deal with, but we hold our factory to American standards of quality control. Our products must meet the RoHS directives. Our HDMI, FireWire, and USB cables are certified. We aren't cutting corners. Occasionally we will lose a bid to a lower price. But our customers know once they start doing business with us, that they can rely on us to give them a competitive price, and that our quality will meet or exceed their requirements. We back our OEM cables with a lifetime warranty. You don't get that from other companies. If there is a problem, you get to pick up a phone and talk to someone in English that is on your time zone.. (mountain standard... close enough anyway).

So the OEM cable business is good. We are in so many industries, that while maybe one industry is feeling the pains of the slowing economy, our customers in the other industries are still booming. We also have international accounts that actually are taking advantage of the weaker dollar. The Euro can buy more cables now days. Our company is a global operation tied to economies in Asia, Europe, Canada, India, Mexico, South America, and the USA. Our customer base is not just in the technology industry. I'm not saying that we are recession proof, I'm just glad that we aren't only tied to a small segment of the US economy.

Before I go, I should mention that Professional Cable has monthly specials. This is a good opportunity to try out a product that you haven't purchased before or to stock up on a product that you like because we really slash prices on these items for the month. It helps expose our broad product range to all of our customers excepting the OEM accounts. For more information, please contact us. sales@professionalcable.com

Until next time
The Cable Guy
http://www.professionalcable.com/

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