Sunday, February 5, 2012

The Crystal Ball is Getting Clear, Definitely a Trip in the Near Future!

As usual it was a busy week here in Arizona. Ms. Pat Line Dancing every other morning, then shooting at the Range every day she isn’t dancing, keeps her hopping. I've been studying this "reloading" stuff and keeping Ms. Pat's gun cleaned……..Smile
                                                                                          
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Part of my reloading equipment showed up.  The base came in and I temporarily clamped it down on my shop table. I have a nice little workbench spotted that I would like to get for a permanent setup. The remaining parts, including the press itself, will be here tomorrow. So I’ll set it all up and mess with it for a while and try to get familiar with how all this comes together.   I got the lead "projectiles" Thursday but the "primers" and the "powder" are still on order. 


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It seems strange that the  PressurePro shelves in my shop are all empty. Before these shelves were full of PP systems that I had ready for shipment, sometimes as much as $20,000.00 worth of inventory. After almost 8 years, it's kinda nice to have that all behind us. Although, don’t get me wrong, PressurePro did well for us and allowed us to have and enjoy a lot of things we probably wouldn’t have been able to do.  I really wasn’t looking for a job when I found PressurePro. I was just looking for a Tire Pressure Monitoring System. All I really wanted to do was monitor my own tires while traveling down the road. That was a constant worry for me, especially when I would see all the damage a blown tire did to RV’s.

I found PressurePro even before they came on the market and we were a part of the Beta Testers of the very first design.  We talked them into making a lot of changes to that first system, but when we finally got the finished product, I was impressed! I told everyone I met in the campgrounds  we went to about the PressurePro system and many of them wanted one.  I would call the Company and get them to ship a system to these people.

Becoming a dealer and selling them was not even in my mind. Then after about my 5TH call to the factory for a system, they asked me why I didn’t become their very first dealer. I wasn’t interested at first but I loved the system and they were so easy to sell, I decided to make a little “pocket money” off the deal. We became PressurePro’s very first traveling RV Dealer.

Bless Ms. Pats heart when one day she saw me struggling with the sales, troubleshooting, sending out quotes, packing up systems and shipping them out along with making out the invoices, she asked me “need some help”? I was buried and struggling, so that was music to my ears.  I’ll bet she may regret she ever made that statement but oh my, was she ever good help. Ms. Pat is one that will jump in and really get involved and do what is necessary to get the job done. That job included keeping me encouraged and solving a lot of problems. We were working it hard back in those days, going to a lot of Rallies and putting on a lot of Seminars.

My son Scott was good with computers and agreed to set us up a website. That was what really set things off.  Sales skyrocketed and it was more and more of a job to keep up. I would always say “Man, I wasn’t looking for a job” and Ms. Pat would say “Me neither”! Ms. Pat was really good at it, she is a born salesperson and we went to the factory twice for training and she became an excellent troubleshooter, with the patience of "Job". But it was a lot of work for her. She would occasionally tell me, "I’m quitting, I thought we retired".  Every time she said that, I would give her a promotion. first to Sales Manager, then to Vice President and then I told her “OK, You are now the President of the Company, you can’t quit!".

So she was President and I was Stock Boy, which was fine with me. :-) I was always great at starting stuff and getting it going, but when it got down to detail, I wanted no part of it.  But again, it was fun and we gave it our best, both of us. Now it is just another chapter of our lives.   One thing for sure when you decide to give it up or as we are calling it "RETIRE", it sure is good to hear something like this from the President and Founder of PressurePro. (see below)

Mike and Pat:
Good to hear from you. The one thing I want from you is an agreement that if you’re close to KC, you’ll come see us and take some time to relax and break bread with us. I appreciate all your efforts on the behalf of PressurePro. You both have been very special to us. I hope you enjoy retirement, as much as you both did, this will be a change for you. If we can ever be of assistance, call on us. You’ll remain one of our favorites and we hope we don’t lose touch with you.
Do well and enjoy life!
Phil 

End of Story!!


Well, the Crystal Ball shows us a clearer picture of our upcoming short trip.  Next Saturday we are planning on a full day of handgun training at the world famous Ben Avery Shooting Facility.  It is over north of Phoenix near I-17, about 60 miles from North Ranch. Since we have to be there at 7:00 am on Saturday morning and they have a campground, we decided to take the motorhome. We will leave here this Friday, so we will be there bright and early and ready to learn. This gun class will consist of several hours of Classroom training on gun safety, Arizona gun laws, etc. and then a few hours on the shooting range. The class will qualify us for an Arizona Concealed Weapon Carry (CCW) permit. We both already have South Dakota CCW's and have had them for years. The permit we have is good for AZ but we thought the extra training would be good and we need to know the laws for this state.  I’m sure it will be well worth the money and we are both looking forward to it.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by. You all be safe and enjoy life..We are off to Church, to give our Father in Heaven our Thanks for his many Blessings!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

5 comments:

Jack said...

Mike, will AZ issue you a CCW if you are an out-of-state resident? I'm assuming you are still SD residents?

Sherry and Charley Dilworth said...

That was a really special note from the president of Pressure Pro!! We know first hand what a great job you two did. Certainly helped us out when we needed it!!

Have fun with all gun training!!

Jim and Sandie said...

Isn't it great to be appreciated for the work you've done. Nice to know that they were willing to take the time to send the note. Have fun shooting. Jim wants to do some practice shooting when his back lets him. But we have the range just up near Usury Mtn which is close by.

Al Bossence said...

We never did get around to getting a Pressure Pro system but kinda wished we had when you were still doing it,

Elaine said...

we never did get around to getting one either...but are thinking hard about it...we finally did get a brake buddy...congrats on your re retirement :) enjoy