Death of an Industry...

First off congratulations to Matty O and Heather for doing their first Ironmans and becoming official Ironmans. They had a great time and did it in 13 hours and change. The best was they literally did it together the entire way. They trained together and raced it together. That's special.

I was up early, I came to Chicago to be on an industry panel of experts to talk about photo books and photo gifting. My main purpose was to get exposure and try to get more business, especially from Snapfish which had a business development person named Kristy on the panel.

When I walked out of the hotel the weather was awesome, it was so beautiful, warm and sunny. It was going to be a warm day in Chicago. It's weird being in Chicago on the 10th anniversary of 9/ 11. I was in Chicago 10 years ago and trapped there for a few days until the flights resumed after being grounded.

I remember it like it was a recent memory. I was in the hotel restaurant at around 9 am with Glenn Tinley, a friend, an Ironman and a sales guy for me. The TV was on and the first plan just hit the building and it was burning. Everyone was watching and it wasn't that big of a deal, we thought it was just a plane crashing innocently. Then the second plane hit. The minute it hit, I knew it was terrorism and I told Glenn that, I knew the day was over and this was an attack on the United States.

The show didn't proceed. It is the largest print show in North America and companies spend millions of dollars to be there and boom, in one minute it was over before it even got going. I was also in Chicago with 8 other people from my company. They were my management team in their entirety. My brother wasn't there but he had about 4 of his key guys there as well. We were all staying in the same hotel.

It turns out that my brother in law Kevin also got trapped in Chicago. He was flying for Delta and was on the tarmac in line at Mid-way and the planes had hit the world trade centers and the pentagon. The airlines weren't telling any of the pilots what was going on, which in hindsight was stupid. Kevin found out when one of the other pilots turned on a regular radio and was getting the reports. Shortly there after all the planes were grounded and Kevin came to our hotel to hang out with us.

The first thing we did was go to the corner store and pick up some beer and then we all headed back to the hotel to watch TV. We were quite nervous because our hotel was right near the Sears tower and reports were saying that Chicago and the Sears tower was in danger.

When something like that happens you learn a lot about people. For me, I got calm, I love being in the eye of a storm, I get peace. I also felt that it was going to be a nice break from work. At that time all I did was work and worry. This was kind of like a mini vacation, albeit forced. A couple of other guys, Dan and Dominc panicked. They were like little girls on the phone with their wifes and working themselves into a frenzy. They tried to look at all things for us to get out of Chicago. Flights were done, no cars were available to rent and trains were full. They eventually found a bus. They were just freaking.

We hung tight, we planned to wait for the airplanes to start flying. After a couple of days we realized it was going to be a lot longer to catch a plane. We started to make alternative arrangements and got Amtrak train tickets and headed up to Grand Forks in the Midwest. We then had someone drive down from Canada and pick us up. It was a blast. I remember falling asleep and near hugging Gord Johnson, one of my team leaders. We got home save and sound and the minute we crossed the border we felt safe again. It was like turning a light switch on.

It turned out that Dan and Dominic just beat us home and it sounded like they had the smelliest and worst trip riding the greyhound bus home. I never looked at those two the same again. Up until 9/11 they always projected themselves as men's men. After it happened they wigged out and ran like little children. I never got the sense after that that you could rely on them in a foxhole type of situation. There wives were also all over them to come home. The irony is that over time, both of their wives left each of them. Dan's wife fooled around with the 20 year old boy toy from the boxing gym she went to, she was in her 30's. Dan was a dope, he would go out of town and a male friend of hers would come over and paint the house. He thought it was all innocent. We knew he was painting the house and cutting his grass. Dan was / is such a flaming liberal it was sad. Dominic was just an un-loyal dirt bag womanizer who got caught fooling around with one of the designers at our shop. Dan was self righteous and Dominic was philanderer.

The trade show panel went well. I'm always a little nervous until after I do my spiel. I made some power point slides last week and stumbled a little on the second slide then settled into a smooth groove. My message was we are the biggest in Canada at manufacturing photo books and we can't get enough work, the market is untapped. It must have worked because two of the panelists, one Snapfish and the other Creative Memories, approached me to talk about how to do more business in Canada. Especially Snapfish. I told her that out of all our customers Snapfish does the least with us. We then set a date to meet in November after the Worlds. I'm going to come visit and she's going to arrange a meeting with the department head, Barry.

After the session I registered to get a badge and started to walk the show. I lasted about 10 minutes. I looked around and it was death. It was death of an industry, 80% of the people I saw were middle aged or later aged males, heavier set and obviously in the industry for a longer period of time and riding it out. None of the booths had any swag, which was the main reason for me going in and the technology was all boring. I've always felt at home at these trade shows, now I feel like an outsider, by choice. I don't want to be part of the print industry, it's dead and everyone knows it and they are just hanging on to get as many years of income as they can before retirement.

For the show and the panel, I wore my typical jeans and Ironman shirt. I loved it. All these people on the panel and in the audience dressed like they were at a wedding or trial hearing. Me, I was in my Ironman gear, jeans and my tattoo showing. Even when we were done and I was getting some of my business cards to share, I was pulling it out of my "bad mother fucker wallet". I loved it and walking the trade show with Reid's Element skateboarding pack pack even made it sweeter. I was looking at the other and thinking, "you poor SOB's". I can't stress enough how this industry has been decimated. Hopefully it will be my last printing show. I only saw one guy I knew and I'm glad I was on the phone and only was able to shake his hand. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I was curious if my dad was at the show and if he was if I was going to run into him. Chances were slim as I only did 10 minutes and asked myself "WTF am I doing here?"

On the cab ride to the airport I spoke with my brother, it looks like he's probably going to buy one of the haircutting franchises. He may be in Toronto this week or next to visit some of the shops and talk with the guy in charge of franchising for Canada. I think I'm going to join him and learn more myself. I'm not in a hurry to do anything and I want to learn more about Physio-med, it seems like an opportunity more conducive to my interests. Although if the hair cutting place can make lots of money I'm interested too.

I got a text from Craig in Michigan, I met him as a potential customer and became friends with him. Never did do work with him. He's an Ironman who's been out of it for a couple years and getting back into it. He texted to remind me that Wisconsin was now open. I registered for Roth and barring unforeseen financial reasons we may or may not be able to make it. If I don't make it I still want to do an Ironman next year and was thinking about signing up for a North American race, Wisconsin was on the list. In the end I decided not to sign up, there is a new Iron distance race in Grand Rapids Michigan next year at the end of August called the Michigan Iron www.michiganiron.com and I may do that one if need be. I didn't want to do IMWI on the slight chance that I make it to the 70.3 World Championships next year, they are on the same date. Very wishful thinking. I also don't know if I want to do an Ironman in September when the weather could be possibly be very cold.

The flight back to Toronto was uneventful other than I was craving sugar and couldn't get back on track, I had some "good & plenty" and "m & m's". Large bags. Then dinner at home, a couple of fudigles and even went to baskin robbins for a blizzard type ice cream. I folded like a house of cards. I was so depressed at the end of the night thinking "how could I do something so good for myself on the weekend and then sabotage my efforts with no self control?" It's my life story.

All night I spent on the computer looking at franchises and business for sale. I found some great sites that have everything. I was also talking to my brother who is very close to wanting to pull the trigger on a hair cutting place.

No Training
4372 Calories