Safety Products

CEO Daily Update – 9.4.2020

September 4, 2020 by Craig Haynie

On the Road Again | Cisco Switches | New Safety Products | Tech News

Happy Friday!

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

I made it home! I was nearing the house around 7pm I texted the wife before I got to the driveway and her and the girls (4 and 7) were waiting in the yard. I got parked and the girls ran over. I knelt down to give them hugs and kisses … BARELY got any, and they about knocked me down to get in the door of the RV!

They loved the thing and were about to pass out of excitement over their bunk beds – each with a shelf and it’s own TV/DVD player. We had to nearly pry them out of them to go eat dinner. All they could talk about was “can we sleep in it??”. I think there is no way around a front yard camping trip this weekend, haha!

As I mentioned before, we already have a camping trip planned in a couple weeks, and we have another set of friends we are already starting a conversation with about going somewhere too.

In addition to that, while this Motorhome is in near perfect shape to be 10 years old, I have a handful of things I would like to do to it like replacing the radio and speakers, some maintenance items, and minor repairs. I look forward to the projects.

Now that I am home, I cannot wait to get on the road again! Let the fun begin!

I don’t know if it’s true, but I heard …

There is a town in Nebraska called Monowi with a population of one. The only resident is a woman who is the Mayor, Bartender and Librarian.

[Read more…]

CEO Daily Update – 8.27.2020

August 27, 2020 by Craig Haynie

IKEA | Modeling Business for Others | Price Drops on Thermometers and Gowns

Happy Thursday!

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

I don’t know if it’s true, but I heard …

IKEA is an acronym which stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd, which is the founder’s name, farm where he grew up, and hometown.

Today I met with a former CK team member for lunch. He left over a year ago and went out on his own to focus on sourcing products overseas to save his clients money and reduce overall time and aggravation. We do this too, but he wanted to focus 100% of his effort on it as well as radically change his lifestyle which included selling his house and moving a few hours away to be near family.

We met because we are still great friends that don’t get to see each other very often. He was in town on business and we were able to connect which is always a great time and today was no exception. One of my favorite people!

In addition, we are working on a project together and were able to discuss it a little. He has a client that he’s manufacturing several thousand sneeze guards for that will go into retail locations. He’s not setup for logistics, nor does he want to be, so he asked if we could handle that aspect. I gladly accepted because we have a great team and great operation that handles warehousing, logistics, and pick/pack/ship every day. We’ll receive several containers full of product, then stage and process over 100 pallets to over 60 locations nationwide. Fun!

When I left our lunch appointment today I was thinking about how not only have we remained great friends but how he also trusts me/us to handle such a critical aspect of this deal for him. And this is a guy that worked for me for 10 years and knows where all the bodies are buried! Haha.

[Read more…]

CEO Daily Update – 8.12.2020

August 12, 2020 by Craig Haynie

Kids Masks | UV Sterilizers | Light Bulb Moments

Happy Wednesday!

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

I mentioned yesterday that the wife and I decided that we wanted to buy a camper. We’d gone and looked at some on Saturday after having talked about it off and on for months. To my complete surprise last night after we’d looked online for a little while, my wife said “why don’t we rent one and go on a trip … tomorrow”. That is so not like her! I had mentioned wanting to go see her family in South GA (a 5-6 hour trip) and she suggested that we combine the trip to see them with an RV trip. So, we looked for rentals till 3am!

The idea was to rent something that was similar to what we think we WANT so we can get a feel for it. After lots of looking and talking we decided that we thought a class C might be best for us. I locked down a rental, went and picked it up, and by the time you read this email we will be packing up and hitting the road!

When I got home we surprised the girls and they lost their mind. They are so excited about the camper and the adventure. More to come!

From Joe, our friendly Safety Supplies Product Marketer:

I hope everybody is having a great week so far! Today is an AMAZING day as we’ve added new products to the site! School has officially started for many kids and I know it can be worrisome but I’m here to give you guys a little extra comfort! CablesAndKits is finally HAPPY to announce the arrival of kids masks! With 5 different patterns these boxes of 50 masks contain girl, boy, and neutral patterns, perfect for stocking up the whole family or sending with your kids to school for the teachers to keep in the classroom. It can be insanely hard to get the little ones to cooperate and wear a mask all day, so a nice design may it make it much easier!

Two new products in one day?!?! YES! On top of the children’s mask we’ve also added UV Sterilizers to the site which are awesome! With rechargeable batteries and a compact design these are perfect for bringing with you on the go. Whether it be your keyboard, car keys, steering wheel, or even a carpet, enjoy a clean surface without having any sticky residue or scents left behind from disinfectant agents! These UV wands are small enough to fit in your pocket, purse, car, etc and are great for killing germs and viruses on surfaces where sprays are not appropriate or practical.

[Read more…]

CEO Daily Update – 6.24.2020

June 24, 2020 by Craig Haynie

Million Dollar Sale, Day 3 – 30% Off, Free Webcams with Review

DAY THREE of the Million Dollar mid-year BLOW OUT sale!

1726 items are 30% off (See below for details)

https://www.cablesandkits.com/outlet.php
(Use the facets on the left of the page to narrow the results)

Guess what day it is?

Monday and Tuesday are packed with meetings for me, so I really do love Wednesday. Not because it’s half way to Friday, but because for the rest of the week I get to spend more time freely “working with my hands” wherever that may lead me for the week. I do have irregular strategy and various other meetings some Wednesdays and Thursdays, but I generally have more flex time to work on sourcing, collaborating to launch new products, working on strategy, and cleaning out my inbox. On Monday’s and Tuesday’s I meet with Sales, E-Commerce, Marketing, and Product leaders as well as hold a weekly leadership meeting where we review the week behind, and discuss the week ahead. I love every one of those meetings, but of course 16-20 hours of meetings and calls in two days can be exhausting, especially when I also work another 4-6 hours a night on “third shift”. It’s totally worth it though because that is where we create accountability and get each other unstuck on what we are working on separately that comes together to move the business forward.

Today I have a day full of monthly meetings but tomorrow and Friday I am wide open, which I very much look forward to. When I have open days is when I tend to work the latest nights the night before, and sleep later the next morning. I LOVE working at night because there are so few distractions and you can really knock stuff out. I got an email from someone at CK recently saying they worked one night and it was glorious. I said we could start a club and get shirts! Haha.

Free Webcam with Product Review
We need reviews on our webcam product page! If you would like to help us out, I’ll give you the webcam free! I will give away 10 webcams so email me quick if you’re interested. If more than 10 people reply I’ll still give you a discount!
https://www.cablesandkits.com/computing/webcams/wc1080p-01/pro-18838/

[Read more…]

CEO Daily Update – 6.4.2020

June 4, 2020 by Craig Haynie

Referrals, Price Gouging, Nitrile Gloves, Clorox Wipes, & N95 Masks

Happy Thursday!

WHAT – A – DAY. We have a monthly Sales and Marketing meeting that goes all day. It was a tiring meeting when we used to do it in person, but now that it is all video it’s even more exhausting. Over 8 hours on video with several other leaders discussing our product lines, and our sales and marketing efforts. I love the meeting, but after 3 hours sleep the night before it was tough. But it is so great to take the time to work ON the business and not just IN it. I encourage you to find the areas of your business that need you to step out/away/back and give it some thought and consideration. If you don’t have some sort of plan, any move is the right move.

Price Gouging – We launched Clorox wipes yesterday and today I received 5-6 emails accusing us of price gouging. Ouch! That’s a first. I tried to explain in yesterday’s email but here goes again … These wipes are “normally” $5-8 per canister in stores. Normally. Like when they have them and the world is not buying every one they can find and picking the shelves clean. Things are not “normal” right now. We are not a Clorox “partner”, and even if we were we would not be getting any inventory, or would be getting very little. The only option we have to buy and sell these wipes is when some enterprising entrepreneur calls us up and says “I own 20,000 of these. I want X dollars. Do you want them?”. I either say yes, and have them available for you at a higher price, or I say no, and don’t. Just because the price is high does not mean we are price gouging. It means that our cost is sky high which is driving up the price. Let me be clear, we are going to make money on every item we sell or we are not going to sell it (donations aside). So we bought some at a high cost, marked them up a reasonable percentage (that is LESS than our standard margin on technology items), and offered them. Just because that price is higher than usual doesn’t mean that we are price gouging. Please hear me! I am absolutely here to serve you.

All that being said, due to the volume of sales today I was able to increase our order quantity significantly and get the cost down, and in turn, get the price down. We want to make money doing business (else why would we do it), but we are going to try to save you money at the same time! In general, if our cost goes down, the price follows. If you have ANY questions, please reach out to me!

[Read more…]