Behind the Scenes - 1/10/25

Dear Friends,

For those who are new to our emails, I try to do an email once a week where I go into the details of what is happening behind the scenes of our small business. If you want to catch up on prior messages, check out the blog here or just jump right into the story below.

It's great to be back. A nice break over Christmas and New Years is always appreciated. Time to reflect on the joy of the season and to remember the things that have happened in the year past is a gift. It's also great to think about the next year and what we hope to accomplish. All that to be said, I'm glad to be back at my desk.

I get great joy out of my work, a blessing I try to be grateful for daily, and this time of year is especially my favorite. There are so many things to do, and they happen to be discreet tasks with end points like reports. So much of my job as CEO involves long tail projects that don't really end, they just evolve into the next thing, so putting a little checkmark next to the box in the Pocket Cut where I keep my list is quite satisfying.

2025 brings with it new and exciting opportunities. I've been very pleased with the success of our Limited Edition launches, and its opened the door to a whole new world for me. Suddenly, everything is on the table, even crazy ideas that we dismissed previously because we thought they wouldn't be popular. It's really quite fun. I have been working on scouting out new colors, patterns, and even exploring alternative materials as a possibility for drops, and I would love to hear from you if you have an idea. The sky is the limit!

Furthermore, I've been able to get back into more development of new designs. There are two major categories that we want to launch and expand a new line of products in, but both of them have had a much longer than usual development cycle. In part, that is due to their complexity and novelty to our company, and also because I am more determined than ever to get the design perfect right out of the gate. I think these new items may become as iconic for the company as our Classic Cut Journal has been.

With the new year I've been able to start using my Stationery Cut with the softcover Leuchtturm1917 calendar insert to keep track of things. I'm happy to say we have a whole new lineup of calendar insert options. I've also been using my Leather Folder for the numerous printouts of reports that I have been collating. Trying to deal with large spreadsheets on a small screen is impossible for me so I have returned to a more authentic business experience of printing everything out and taking up a whole desk with my work.

The good news is that last year was a success for us. How that is evaluated is a complex question, but for me success metrics mostly revolve around high customer satisfaction, low return rates, new product launches and sales, and our success at keeping our lead times from ballooning during Christmas. From a sales perspective it was about middle of the pack, better than last year but not as good as a few years back. Our train keeps chugging along and that's the real mark of success.

I was reading through old journals over the break, and I found my old self rather amusing. Call it age, or experience, but my old attitudes about growth seem a bit silly to me now. How many times as a child did my mother read me the Tortoise and the Hare? The successful company is not the one that grows the fastest, controls the most market share, or has the large product selections. It is the company that makes the very best products, at a size that is stable for the long haul, and is able to sell those products to people who appreciate what they are and what they represent beyond the flash in the pan consumerism that runs our world.

I am so grateful to have a group of people who appreciate the authenticity of what we make. The fact that "the Real McCoy" version of leather products are costly is undeniable, but that their longevity more than makes up for that. There is something unique and tangible in quality leather that must be experienced. It can't be described. So to all of you I say "thank you" and I am excited for what this next year will bring!

P.S. The podcast is back! New day is Wednesday, and the first one was this week. Check it out here if you missed it. There will be a hint in each of them about what the Limited Edition will be the next day as a little bonus for watching.

Stay tuned for more letters on Fridays in the coming weeks and be sure to go subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you like and watch the videos it helps us get promoted more by the algorithm to people who may never have heard of us.

Ever your servant,

Colin Murdy CEO/Owner

Murdy Creative Co.

Cell: 414-434-9001

MurdyCreative.Co 

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