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CEO Daily Update – 10.20.2020

October 20, 2020 by Jason Gazaway

Confessions | Gloves Everywhere | 3850 Series Switches | What’s My Role? | News to Start Your Day

Happy Tuesday!

October 19th is Office Chocolate Day & National Suspenders Day…so wear your suspenders while eating chocolate today! (whether you are in the office or not)

Ok, you guys. Can I confess something to you? Some days it is hard to write these emails. On the hard days I either feel stuck in a “what in the world do I have to say that is interesting?” mode, or other days anything I may want to share feels vulnerable. I have a few tricks up my sleeve to overcome or push through those things (don’t worry I don’t picture you all in your underwear). But then there are days like today where we receive really impactful and meaningful emails from customers and … wow! Knowing we’re making an impact in someone’s everyday life, bringing a smile to their face or meeting a need they have by what we’re doing and how we do it, is real motivation.

One of our core values is Make it About Relationship, and the emails we receive with wonderful stories of how our team has impacted someone’s life helps me know that they are really living that out. I am a proud “mama bear” in those moments, and it makes me want to find more ways we can positively impact lives.

Some of you receiving this email came to us because you needed safety supplies, and we had them in stock. Others of you are a customer because of our core business, which is technology products. When COVID hit and PPE was difficult to find, we had customers ask us if we could source it for them. That began our journey into PPE, and it has been great for us. We strived to offer products at great prices, found products that others weren’t able to offer though they did come at a premium cost (I’m looking at you Clorox wipes), and will always seek to ship products quickly and provide exceptional (and unexpectedly positive) service. I think we always knew that selling PPE was a season for us, as masks and gloves and other safety supplies would at some point (and are now) more widely available. That leads me to confession #2: a couple of weeks ago we made the decision to begin exiting our safety supplies season.

Letting customers in on “inside information” probably isn’t considered a best business practice. To be fully transparent about it, we are hoping you will help us exit this season gracefully. As of right now we still have great stock levels on many products, but as we sell out of them, we do not currently plan to re-stock the shelves. We have learned SO much through this journey (I hope to be able to write about some of those lessons soon), and we are looking forward to being able to take those lessons and apply them to our core group of technology products. I hope you’ll continue to buy your masks, gloves and other safety supplies from us as long as we have it (and feel free to share the great deals coming your way with your friends). We would also love to serve you with any technology needs that you have now or in the future.

With much appreciation for each of you,

Christin

Today’s Product Updates from Rebecca:

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CEO Daily Update – 10.16.2020

October 16, 2020 by Jason Gazaway

Word for The Year | Gloves Back in Stock | Don’t Be A Know-It-All | News to Start Your Day

It’s Friday!!

(October 16th is National Boss’s Day. National Sports Day, and Global Cat Day…so take your pick on which to celebrate today.)

——

Well, it’s Friday and I’m not Christin. lol! She asked if I could fill in for her today and I always enjoy getting to talk to all of you.

If you are like me, then you are probably just as surprised as I am that we are already in mid-October. It is crazy how quickly this month has flown by, even how fast this year has gone by at times. I was joking with a buddy the other day about the craziness of this year and told him it felt like the year went like, “January, February, March, March, March, April, April, April, Ma-Ju-Jul-Aug-Sept-Oct.” I imagine the rest of the year will fly by just as fast, which means after Halloween next week, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be right around the corner before we know it.

Every year, I end it by reflecting on the past year and then nailing down what I need to focus on for the next year. I usually try and narrow it down to one word or a short phrase. For 2020, my phrase for the year was “Focus on the things that REALLY matter.” At the core of it was to be intentional about my relationships, my time, my energy, my health, and my spiritual walk. Little did I know how different 2020 would be than what I thought it would be at the start of the year and that phrase and the meaning behind it took on a whole new intensity during the year. I realized some things weren’t worth my time, effort, and energy and were just a distraction. Other things became more important, like my relationships and health, and gained more energy and time. The shift in focus has been very impactful for me both personally and professionally.

So, I have started the process already of looking towards 2021 (I think everyone has and just wants to move on from 2020, haha!). Right now, the concept for my word/phrase revolves around “Restore”. Not sure how it will evolve and what insights I will gain about it between now and the end of the year, but I am looking forward to continuing the process.

Have you ever done something like this? Do you usually have a focus for the year or do you just go with the flow? I don’t think either way is right or wrong, I think it is just different for each person depending on their personality. Just curious.

Hope you have a great Friday and weekend! It’s going to be chilly here in the South. I am ready for some real Fall weather!

Jason

Today’s Product Updates from Rebecca:

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CEO Daily Update – 10.12.2020

October 12, 2020 by Jason Gazaway

Spaghetti Brain? | PPE Prices Continue to Fall | CP-PWR-CUBE-4 | Alignment & Adaptability | News to Start Your Day

Happy Monday! (A holiday for some, a normal day for others.)

Hey there, friends. I hope you all had a good weekend. It was rainy and wet here due in part to Hurricane Delta making her way through. I have been thinking of those impacted by her direct hit since Friday. My heart just breaks thinking of them being hit by Hurricane Laura just a few weeks ago and now again with Delta. If you are in that area and there is something we can do to help, please let us know.

Have you ever heard of men’s brains being compared to waffles while women’s are compared to spaghetti? I was thinking about that today, feeling like a spaghetti brain myself, and I Googled its origins. Apparently, it was a book (that I’ve never read) written in 2001 by Bill and Pam Farrell. It looks like it was endorsed by Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages. A reader mentioned that book in response to my personality test post on Friday. It is a good one! Craig and I attended a Gary Chapman marriage conference pretty early on in our marriage. He was funny and engaging. We still use some of the content from the conference with each other, so he obviously made an impression on us.

Anyway, back to spaghetti and waffles. I’m not sure if that characterization holds true for the majority of men and women, but it certainly does for us. Craig has the ability to focus on one thing at a time physically, mentally and emotionally much easier than I do. Everything is connected for me. Looking for a sock? Oh, look that toy needs to be picked up and I should probably take out some meat for dinner. Did I move the laundry over? I should do that and I cannot forget to send that email, oh and I also need to take out that puzzle for school tomorrow. Now, what was I looking for again?

I was having a particularly “noodly” day today as I was processing through the weekend, thinking about what’s coming up for the week and also what I wanted to share with you all today. About the time I thought I knew what I was going to write about, a friend shared a meme that induced a moment of panic. I don’t want to frighten you, friends, but I do have a little PSA: there are only 10 more Fridays until Christmas. Eek! How can it be?

6 Fridays until Thanksgiving

10 Fridays until Christmas

81 days left in 2020

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CEO Daily Update – 10.1.2020

October 1, 2020 by Jason Gazaway

Thoughts on Balance | Cisco 8500 Series Switch + Sale | Nitrile Gloves | News to Start Your Day

Happy Thursday!

Welcome to the CablesAndKits CEO daily email. Read more about this email by scrolling to the very bottom.

Faith. Family. Work. Friendships. Hobbies. There are so many things that can take up our time each day. Often I hear people throw around words like balance and multitask, question how they’re going to juggle all the things, or perhaps wonder how does that person “do it all”?
Balance.

How we express our Core Values at CK has morphed over time, so we say this a little differently now, but in 2014 we would’ve expressed our desire for time well spent with the core value “Balance Life and Enjoy the Journey”. Those words are still thrown around between our team from time to time, usually in an encouraging way when someone is taking some time off for vacation or to do something fun with their family. I believe it is still a good sentiment, we should strive to balance our life and we should enjoy the journey. From where I sit right now though, as business owner, wife, homeschool mom, and more, I can’t help but wonder if the balance we seek is more of a fluid situation, a pouring of resources from one cup to another at the appropriate time rather than the more traditional, measured picture of a scale balanced and waiting for just one thing to be added or taken away that will cause it to tip one way or the other.

A couple of days ago a friend asked if I could come help her finish taking some things out of the house she is selling so that photographs could be taken for the real estate listing. I struggled to find time in my calendar to give to her, but I knew I needed to make it happen. This friend and her husband had been slowly moving to a new home in what was supposed to be a months long situation that had turned into years … yes, years … and now, he has cancer. Just like that the weight of this moving and cleaning out project came crashing down. I listened as she struggled with what to do next and I prayed for them, and eventually I told them that we wanted to help. In fact, we nearly insisted on it. So a few weeks ago we started the final phase of this moving project, helping them get ready for a huge garage sale, working the sale, cleaning things out, and listing items online to get them sold. Today we moved the last of the items out of the house and into the garage, photographs were taken and listing documents were signed. Whew! It was a great day.

… but you know what I didn’t do today? Full homeschool lessons with my kids. We listened to our book we’re reading in the car, we talked about bugs and the pilgrims as we drove, we served our friends in need. And it will all be ok. Life lessons. Balance.

[Earlier this week I saw a Twitter screenshot from an author floating around on social media. The sentiment reminded me of these thoughts from today. Here is a blog post about the viral tweet of the words of author and mom, Nora Roberts.]

May each of us be able to recognize today which of our balls are plastic and which ones are glass.

Christin

Today’s Product Updates from Rebecca (our “Rock Star” Product manager):

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CEO Daily Update – 6.15.2020

June 15, 2020 by Craig Haynie

Restful Weekend, Ministry of Business, New lower pricing

Happy Monday!

Wheew! I feel better! When I hit send on my email Thursday night (to be sent Friday morning) I shut the laptop and didn’t open it until just now (it’s Sunday night about 11pm). It was my oldest daughter Caroline’s 7th birthday today (Sunday) and we made a long weekend out of it. We had my wife’s parents in town, as well as some good friends. We spent the weekend by the pool, grilling out, eating at Caroline’s favorite restaurant, and going for putt putt. It was strange to not work at all but was very much needed. After the friends left it occurred to me that we barely “talked shop”, which is unusual. I think I was in overload shutdown mode haha.

I just caught up on emails and was so blessed by the ones I received. I asked last week for your experiences with returning to normal, and the replies were varied and great to hear. I loved how one person pointed out that the return of big yellow school buses on the road is a signal to the public that “things are ok”, and the importance of them doing their part to make that happen. Wow, how cool. I said that I agreed it was partly the buses being on the road, and partly Waffle House being open haha. Someone else pointed out that he is near retirement and is considering taking the coronavirus changes as a push to buy an RV, hit the road, and see some sites!

I have also had people that have told me that my emails have, in some way, impacted their walk with the Lord, encouraged them to spend time reading the Lord’s word, praying, growing, and being more bold in their faith. Here is what I most recently replied with ….

It has taken a number of years to get to the point where I could email out like I do openly about faith. The journey began in 2010 with another business guy taking an interest in me, sharing his journey, and inviting me and my wife to a ministry through business conference. SURRENDER was a huge part of it which happened just a few months prior. From there it has been a matter of walking in the light that I have, staying in the Word (which isn’t always consistent!), and being obedient to what the Lord puts in front of me. With the emails I am sending out, an opportunity to send them appeared and I took it. Then the Lord opened the door one day for me to start saying some things, and it’s gone from there. I never do more than I feel I am supposed to, and I attempt to never do less – which is the obedience part.

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CEO Daily Update – 6.10.2020

June 10, 2020 by Craig Haynie

TONS of Updates – Happy Hump Day, Lysol Spray, 3M N95 In Stock, Cases of Hand Sanitizer, Nitrile Gloves

Happy Wednesday! HUMP DAAAAAAYYYY (never gets old)

This is the first thing that came to mind when I started this email for some reason (my brain is random):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrHxhQPOO2c

What’s your outlook? Is it going to be a bright sunshiny day? 90% is up to you ….

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church….a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”
― Charles Swindoll