Candid Conversation with Adrienne Barker, MAS

Hogi. Now I'm told that the way I'm gonna keep Hogi here is by giving him treats, so I'm just gonna take instructions. So Hogi's a certified therapy dog, and what I wanted to share in this time is the importance of these therapy dogs, and they're kind of sadly on hiatus right now. Are you familiar with the whole therapy dog thing?

I mean, no, I'd like to be told. I really— I'm gonna say no on that.

So in our community, we have— there's quite a big community of therapy dogs, and they go out and go to the schools and deal with special needs kids and such. And in our town, we had the Saugus High shooting, made national news. And so the dogs were over there all the time. And that's when we realized that Hoagie needed an Instagram account. So everybody can just follow @hoagietherapy on Instagram because the kids are going, does Hoagie have an Instagram account? You know, well, he does now, and so you all can follow him, uh, and he's way cooler, uh, watching him than me. Uh, but he's also certified at LAX Airport, and when my wife got him certified down there, I'm thinking, why in the heck does anybody want to voluntarily go to LAX? And then I realized that the dogs are able to go in and they have security clearance and they're able to really comfort passengers and people. And of course, that's all shut down now too. So I'm gonna let Hoagie go so we can go talk about some other, other, other more pressing things. I want to do— I want to make this little time we have together a little bit upbeat despite the circumstances many of us are in. So let's have at it.

I need to be upbeat. I'm not feeling as upbeat, so this is good. So you— I mean, you look So good. You look healthy too. Healthy as hell. Like, you're like, you're working out. I can't get over how great you look.

Many dog walks. I mean, we are blessed to be in an area where there are hills and such where we can go and, and do, uh, runs and, uh, hiking, social distancing and, and all that. Yeah, I, I actually feel pretty good. I eat too much, you know. The mask, they say the hottest thing for the mask is really for in front of the refrigerator. You know, that's the whole— where's my AllMask? I got a few AllMasks here from Allmade. I mean, these things are amazing. So, uh, uh, in any event, but, uh, we, we actually have— touching on the subject of masks, uh, here's my AllMask.

A little better. I want to see what it looks like because there's so many different masks.

Yeah, the AllMask is really nice. It's made of their proprietary TriBlend material. And organic US cotton, and there's a plastic water bottle in here somewhere. So there you have it.

Oh, that's a nice looking mask.

Yeah, I know, it fits really good. I won't do the full— well, yeah, hey, what the heck, I'll put it on. So Ryan Moore is really good modeling these.

That's a nice looking mask.

Wow. So here's a preview. Of the e-newsletter that is going to come out tomorrow, the freepromotips.com newsletter. And it's entitled, "You Can't See a Smile Through a Mask." You can't. And I personally, like you might be, you'd go in the store and you might do a little, you know, you don't have to say anything, you're smiling, but you can't see that in a mask. And I think that that's one of the downsides We go out into the store and we see all different types of masks from, you know, kind of odd, you know, like evil, you know, whatever types of masks. And, and I really believe that, you know, this is like a 2020 horror movie where we are now walking. We're all walking around like faceless, emotionless zombies wearing masks. And you couldn't even run. You know, this is like, it's insane. Like a movie, but sadly it's reality. And we touch on some of that in the newsletter that's coming out tomorrow. This is like a big plug for that, but we've really got some great content from a few people that have shared some personal things. And just— but these are our times right now. It's just different.

I think it's really— actually, a lot of people ask when I went to China in 2018, you know, because I don't speak the language, what it was like. And I said, oh, a smile was all you really needed in China to communicate because they're such beautiful people. So when you are in a store, you smile. Hi! Everyone would smile back and it was fine. As a matter of fact, there was one point where we were on the metro and Alana and this other Asian girl, they didn't even know each other, they started laughing at me. But they were giggling and laughing and they were getting hysterical laughing. And I'm like, not really happy because I'm like, what, what, like what? Like, so I'm trying to look at what's going on in my face. But the connection that they saw them make was just through that smile and giggling. So you were so right. And I kind of wish I had more crinkly eyes because that's the only thing we're going to see is like your eyes will show it. So, you know, I'm like, oh, but I wear glasses. So I had the whole conversation in my head the other day because so I decided I would just wave to people. So I'm in the grocery store going, hi.

Yeah, I mean, that's just a new time. And, and the other thing In anticipation, look, Adrian, you and I, we go way back. You know, we're both nuts, okay? I posted, hey, if you want to watch two crazy people at, uh, you know, 1 o'clock my time, 4 o'clock your time, Jeff, we're both crazy, you know, we'll probably have nothing of value to share. Maybe you got to see Hoagie. If nothing else, you get to see Hoagie. So that is like worth the price of admission. But I thought about it and I thought, you know, well, what is a statement we want to make here? And one is You know, look, I'm wearing my Promo Kitchen shirt. This was the winning t-shirt design. Those who are not in the promo industry, I know you're interviewing all different types of people, so, you know, your friends may not, you know, know anything about the promo industry, or they might through you, but I've got this on to commemorate this amazing organization, Promo Kitchen, in our industry that connects people. There's a mentoring program and all that. We do a big event at our PPI Expo, and I wonder, is that gonna happen again? We don't know what January looks like. We don't know what August— we don't know anything looks like. But also along the same lines, I love my— which way is it? So, SCUCon, another amazing conference.

That's a great logo.

It looks like a barcode. I mean, these guys are amazing, you know. And then of course you got this. This is, uh, this is from Monday, uh, morning, my Scoojo.

Uh, oh, I love it.

Morning. And now I'm on iced tea. I've got some passion tea in here. Uh, I drink a lot. Yeah, big, big drinker there.

You're— you are— you do so much, it's amazing. I actually like talking about the industry. First, I have to say It is so brilliant, the promo show. I, I can't get over the brilliance of it. I was talking to Claire from TechWeld yesterday, and, you know, so like, actually, so tomorrow I have planned to like go in and see, um, who's open. But have you gone into the promo? Have you gone into any booths?

Well, I actually tried to go in yesterday to a promo show booth which was empty, and then that particular supplier, I said, hey, you know, it went in empty because I had to go take care of the kids. Well, that's just reality, okay? Like, okay, well, I don't know, come back tomorrow. I don't know, maybe. I think that it's interesting and maybe worth touching on for a moment is how people are marketing in this industry. Suppliers who are normally on the road just doing amazing things. I wrote a piece some time ago about salute to our road warriors, our industry heroes who are out there making these connections. Paul Ballantone, You know, among the chief of the industry heroes who's our, yeah, we love Paul, who is, you know, the president and CEO of our trade association. This guy's everywhere. I mean, he's a champion for our industry. So these guys are on planes, you know, almost every day. And so now what do they do? They can't, and they don't know what to do, you know? And I have, I will say I stepped into a couple of them, and some of, The reps are a little down, a little depressed, not that excited. And then, you know, showing the products, which the fact of the matter is the industry is down pretty significantly. So if it weren't for what I've now learned— I seriously had to do a Google search on PPE. They're going, PPE is what's hot. Well, what is that? Oh, personal protective equipment. So if you're selling masks and sanitizer, let's not even touch on that. Then it's hot. But I think traditional products, there are some people doing really creative things in bundling packages where meetings were canceled. There are some great things that can be done with product, absolutely. But when we look at ASI, the Ad Specialty Institute, another key player in the industry has done some great reporting. One was reporting on 4imprint, that your audience who's not in the industry may be getting those catalogs. There, it's a, you know, a supplier of promotional products online through catalog.

What's that? I think I must have missed that one.

Okay, well, we did post it on the Free Promotives Facebook page, um, and, um, they say 80% down. 80%.

Wow.

You know, and I kind of almost didn't want to go, oh my God, do we really go down that road? But we're We're just talking and, uh, hey, you don't know what you're going to get from us, so here— but these are— this is all published, uh, stuff. There were—

oh no, it's fine, it's fine.

There was another one, 3, uh, mid-sized distributors down about 75%, one said. And so when you look at it, you go, well, that's a lot of business that's just not happening. Um, and doesn't mean all this is not happening, but I think people need to be focused on marketing. So when this does come back, and it will come back, I think— what do I think? What I think doesn't really matter, but my guess is business is going to come back. It's going to be less business, I think. Suppliers, distributors, restaurants, bars, some are going to be challenged to come back. Small independent businesses, which make up the bulk of our country, and these are the You know, people that, you know, gosh, I mean, interesting times.

It's interesting. I agree. I think that Halo's doing a great job. They have some really creative ideas almost immediately. I say within a week they had all the, in a box. Alana, be careful, honey. I thought they did a killer job. Today I promoted Pro Towels had a really good one with the nurses and they had 3 different designs on rally and beach towels. So that's wonderful. I love, I don't want, you know, you know, I, I, I love our industry and I love other distributors.

I never know that you have a passion for the industry. Could you maybe like elaborate? No, go ahead.

No, but seriously, like, so like, you know, and I'm very thoughtful too. Like, I, you know, I had interviewed Carmen from Fast Signs and so, you know, I'm thrilled she's doing a lot of the signage for the graduation. I don't want to ever promote, put it this way, if I'm in a room and there's a couple of other distributors and I feel like, well, maybe I'm not a member, I will then talk about professional global etiquette because I never want to try to take something from someone else. And that is why probably I'm a good mentor through SCORE. I do, you know, but with some suppliers and distributors, as you know, but it's, but there's no competition to me. I feel like we all bring something different to the table or different areas. Before we go, I have to ask you though, I'm not saying we're going, but I want to, I have to know what's behind you because I'm like totally curious. I see your— yes, what are the— what are the lights? So we have pickles.

You might think that I run a little bit.

Oh my God, no!

So, uh, wait, wait, what's your favorite metal?

No, wait, Jeff, go back to your mouth. I want to see your favorite medal, the one that makes you so proud.

Okay, they're, they're actually, they're actually two. Okay, Space Rock, dig this. Okay, this is our friends of ours who do amazing medals, and, and, uh, uh, it's always great. But I will say this, here's one, and I— it's too hard to pull it off. It's the Wings for Life World Run. Okay, I'm gonna touch on this because this is amazing. Wings for Life was underwritten by Red Bull, and it was designed to benefit people with spinal cord injuries. Apparently the Red Bull, you know, extreme sports, that's kind of what Red Bull is all about, X Games, all that. And so apparently the owner had somebody with spinal cord injury and they wanted to raise money, and so they created this amazing event called Wings for Life, and it was a world run. And what happened is Everybody around the world, South America, Europe, Mexico, everywhere, we all ran at the same time globally. And it was in Florida, it was in, I wanna say Sunrise, Florida, and then also in our town, Santa Clarita, California. So there's West Coast and then Florida and then all around all at the same time. We started at like 3 in the morning. So our race was at 3 in the morning, and for you guys in Florida, it would have been like 6, you know. So, uh, and, and my wife was doing this at that time. I wasn't really running much because, uh, many don't know, uh, but, uh, I was a cripple for most of my life, and I had an ankle injury, uh, dangler from racing motocross, and I was crippled for many years until I had it fused. And then I started walking and then running. And so I relate to people with injuries and disabilities. And I was just— my wife goes, hey, you know, let's come out to do this event. I'm going, what event happens at like 3 in the morning? And as we were on our way there, I realized we went back by a few bars with crowded parking lots. I'm going, who's that? At 2 in the morning. I'm never out. Nothing good ever happens at 2 in the morning. That's what Mommy says. So anyway, I did have my ankle fused, and so I have been able to do all these amazing things. So Wings for Life was really special for me. So I go there, and I wasn't intending to do anything, and they go, yeah, you can sign up right here. So I was a legacy runner for Wings for Life, and Uh, they did that for about 3 or 4 years, and now I don't think they do it virtually or in less spots, but we hated to lose that. But Wings for Life was special. So all those medals—

oh, I love that. Do you know that I was on the, um, We Are the World? I was in New York City holding hands in the '80s with We Are the World.

I just watched that recently. Seriously, I'm going, oh look, We Are the World, uh, came up on, on YouTube. And actually Part of the tracks of that were recorded in a friend of mine's studio that was owned by Kenny Rogers. And that's how I guess it came to me. He had posted in Kenny's passing, there were a lot of things that happened. And my good friend was in the first edition, which is Kenny's, you know, came out of the New Christian Musicals. Anyway, they had a studio and recorded those tracks. And so I go, oh, I'm gonna watch We Are the World. And that was really quite amazing.

It was so amazing. All right, go back to the medals. So that's amazing. I was thinking they were lanyards, but I love that you keep your medals.

Different medals, you know. Oh, look, Wings for Life I did. We can't see them all. 1, 2, 3, 4 of those.

Oh, those are your numbers!

Yeah, yeah, these are—

I thought they were like license plates. Oh, that's—

oh yeah. And so, and the other thing is, uh, that's, that's pretty cool. Okay, this one, Down and Dirty Obstacle Race, with all the mud on it. I don't know if you can see that.

I mean, that's awesome.

Be cool. We're with Jay Leno and James Worthing anyway. But, um, Down and Dirty. Okay, another thing where, um, uh, when we talk about life, I want this to relate to other people. It's not like about me, oh look, I did this, you know. My hope would be for the few people that might be watching this is this is not like not about me, but it's about, uh, maybe encouraging other people. So, uh, friends of mine said, oh yes, obstacle races, mud races, you know, many know about Spartan and and, and just mud events in general. And this was an event we had out here. And they go, yeah, Jeff, you can do it. Well, this was like a brutal— I mean, we are like on this mud thing and obstacles, and I'm like, are you kidding me? And then I saw this big hill, and I'm going, that must be for the, the 10K, not the smaller— the, I don't know, the shorter one. No, no, no, we're going up that hill. And, and frankly, I wouldn't have made it had it not been for a couple of people who really supported me, I would have quit. Seriously, I would not have done it. Sadly, one of those people lost her life tragically. It's another whole story we're not going to touch on. My friend Amy and Mark, who led me through it. The point is they held my hand. They got me through it. I think that's the same way with challenges. In life. And of course, I've also got my Lord. I can handle— you and I can handle anything together. So, you know, I mean, it's not— you know, sometimes as we live life's challenges and things like that, you know, whether it's our faith, our friends, our family, you know, they pull us up and we're able to accomplish things that we never, you know, maybe thought possible. Gosh, we're getting like sensitive here. But I don't want to— you know, if I'm doing an interview like this, this is like not about me. I want somebody to maybe walk away with something positive because I got nothing. I'm just a guy here in California trying to do what I do.

What is— so actually, I have a question for you. So when you say they— like, so for me, I'm thinking they're going to help me, they're actually dragging me up the hill, like, I'm following. But are you saying like words of encouragement is what they're doing, or are they literally—

yeah, it wouldn't have been— if it wouldn't have been for them, they'd not drag me. And, and surprisingly, I was able to crawl over those obstacles. I mean, it was I don't know. Much respect to my Spartan friends and the people who do all these, you know, crazy things. And I, you know, I find myself hanging our runners lane group. And shout out to my Misfit runners. Okay, we're gonna be sharing this. I should have worn my Misfit shirt. And while we're on the subject of Well, we're just taking it where we want to go because like I said in the beginning, you know, you're gonna get what you're gonna get. Okay, so here's the deal. We have a group of people, it is the Misfits, uh, you know, we're just out there. We love our Santa Clara Runners, we love our Runners Lane team and all that stuff, but then we have the Misfits. And so the Misfits decided, you know, we want to do some shirts. I don't have the shirt here, but, uh, well, it's in the other room. But, um, so, uh, shout out, uh, to, uh, Blue Monster Promotions. And why am I drawing a blank? You know Blue Monster, he's in Florida right there. You don't? Now I feel— now, okay, erase this. So I screwed up, uh, uh, Nurse Blue. Come on. Anyway, great designer. He did me a favor and did a design. And so we wanted to have, uh, uh, wait, that blue sky—

are you talking about blue sky design?

No, Blue Monster. Hey, I mean, all that, all that. I'm not gonna go there. Okay, yeah, am I drawing a blank? Anyway, okay, so God bless him for the design. So anyway, we're doing this thing and it's the SCB Misfit Runners, and, and because after our run we go and we have coffee, and so there was a coffee thing that he put in there, looked really quite cool. And then, well, then somebody goes, we need, we need a wine glass, you know. So, uh, we added this wine glass in, so it was covered one time on the inside So anyway, it created—

I have to see that. Oh my God, take a picture of it.

I will show it to you, uh, off camera. Why am I drawing a blank?

Don't worry about that. I have a question for you, so turn around again. I want to know what is the picture above everything. There's a picture. What is the picture of?

Okay, so what we have here is James Worthy, uh, basketball. I was in the sporting goods business And gosh, I look young and thin there. That's kind of weird. And then, uh, and then this one was— this is really pretty cool. So, um, you recognize this guy with the big chin?

Jay Leno.

Jay Leno. So we were really glad, um, some friends of ours, um, from New York worked with, at the time, uh, Tom Brokaw, and they set us up because NBC, you know, NBC is NBC. And so, um, uh, they were in California and they hooked us up and, uh, we got to see Jay and, and meet him. And we had printed up some t-shirts. It was his 5th anniversary at that time, and we're able to get that picture. And, uh, I think one of them downstairs is signed. So anyway, um, but, you know, So yeah, that— oh, and Frizz Freeling over here. Frizz, he was a friend of mine.

Oh wait, what?

The animator? Okay, yeah, so wait, where is— where is it? Up there.

Oh my God, I see that! Oh wait, that's a Frizz Freeling? Is that the Pink Panther?

Oh my God, probably if it wasn't signed, right?

His, his daughter is on Facebook. Oh my gosh, his daughter is, um, Hope. Hope. I'm gonna look it up right now. I will. Oh my God, she'll love to see that. When I had the gallery, she told me that if anyone bought anything, she would be happy to sign it. And her— do you know who she is?

No, she's—

her name, I'm going to tell you right now. Hold on, this is so interesting. That is a beautiful piece signed by Mr. Freeling. Wow. So she is, um, well, maybe she's not my friend anymore. She was. She was. Hope— yeah, is that weird? I don't see her now. I hope she's okay. Yeah. Wow. I don't know.

I have a hand drawing of Bugs Bunny on a napkin that he drew. Um, that's framed somewhere. He— my mom met him on a cruise and, uh, he did it on a napkin and just drew Bugs Bunny, um, from the cruise. But, uh, lastly, hey, come on, okay? And my wife, she'll be watching this go, oh my God, there he is with the freaking judge shows, you know? Okay, The People's Court, you might remember this guy. We did some stuff. Oh, there it is, Judge Wapner. Come on, now we got Judge Judy. So we did some stuff for his— in that—

was that— was that nationwide?

What, uh, the show? You don't know Judge Wapner?

Oh my gosh, I think I heard the name.

Now it's just— I'm a judge, sorry.

You're so— you're, you're lucky you're in California. So wait, so you're— so California, you know, really will be its own country pretty soon, right? Be like, oh, are you going to the country of California? Florida will be split. You'll be— Florida will be now North Florida or South Florida and will be two different states. So I see that happening. But so things are so different where you are, and it's crazy. And you kind of knew— you were kind of on like— it was California doing things first, it felt to me. Like, okay, California shut the state first. Down. Yeah, right.

Yeah, I think we got a jump on the thing and shutting things down. I think that's why it's not been as tragic. You know, New York's a tough situation because it's so dense. And, and it's interesting, we, we're so blessed because we have this open space. And we were— we did have a call with some friends of ours that we met on a cruise many years ago. It's amazing how in 7 days you build a relationship with people. You know, I pray the cruise industry comes back, and Princess Cruises is in our, in our own backyard, their headquarters and all that stuff. But anyway, I met friends and they live in Manhattan, and we visited them and they visited us. And so we, we called them last week and, you know, to check in on them. And they're, they're in Manhattan, so we've been in their apartment, we stayed there, and they have a very nice apartment with a bakery downstairs, typical, you know, Manhattan. And, and I go, yeah, you know, It's got to be challenging because it is so dense there. And, you know, here, as you know, we have space and a park. And Peg goes, we have Central Park. Yeah, they're a block from Central Park. But it's like, you know, we're going, yeah, I have Canyon Country Park over here. You know, it's like, whatever. I mean, yeah, yeah, well, we have Central Park, like, like the most famous park perhaps in the world, you know. But I have no idea what that must be like now.

Oh, I think they mean it was a field hospital. You know, that was the thing with China too, because when people think of China, they think it's so crowded. But China, every community has these amazing parks. Um, good, good, good. It saved me some food. So China has some amazing— and so it's very— and we're, we're, we're— my Sammy, my son Sam was here from Shanghai, and he's like, my God, you live in like the country. You're— it's like a bumpkin country. But it's Florida. Most people think Florida, they think of Orlando and how busy it is, but Daytona Beach, we're very quiet here. I mean, it is like just so— it's just so quiet. But I want to ask you, um, first of all, I don't want anyone to know, so I— so just very— but I, I did book a cruise for Alana and I, uh, August 3rd, but I don't want to tell anyone. But it's kind of funny, right?

So like, okay, you don't want to tell anyone?

Nobody's watching, nobody will know, right? But, uh, it was such a great price, 4 nights, and it was like, I'm like, I, I gotta do it because why not, right? It was just—

what did you book for?

I booked, uh, Carnival because I had so many, because now I'm like in that higher thing, so it was very cheap. And I mean, for 4 nights, oh, Bahamas, and, uh, yeah, the Bahamas and their private island. I like going with my daughter because, um, because she doesn't drink and I'm not really a drinker. So, you know, sorry, Dee, if my girlfriend Dee's watching, she's probably like, really, Adrienne? But I don't drink, so Alana's nice and easy. Like, if I say let's take a nap so we could stay up late, Alana's like, she'll do that. Or if I say, you want, let's go to the midnight buffet, she's like right next to me. So she's the easiest to hang out with. But your friend that— the person that you knew from Santa Clarita The, the man that was— and oh my gosh, I followed him before you even said something. I was watching his, um, his live on Facebook because he was, he was reporting, and it's crazy.

Yeah, our friends, um, uh, here in Santa Clarita, um, the Goldmans, they own the local, uh, KTS radio station. Amazing, uh, people do amazing things in the community. And so they were on the Princess ship that was, uh, quarantined in Japan, and he was one of the first people, he actually got the virus or got a fever on the charter— well, the jet that was flying back, the military 747. He got a 103 fever. They're just going back and all of a sudden he gets sick and then they move him to the back of the quarantine plane. And then when we landed in California, they then took him to Omaha, Nebraska, which was that infectious disease center. And so he was there for quite some time. And there's a whole story there. They are back now. In fact, just this week, it was the other day where they were on the news because they actually— I don't know how they got there, maybe full commercial to the White House. They were sitting in a room. Um, uh, it's on, it's, it's out there. Um, him and his wife Jerry, uh, Carl and Jerry were there at the White House and they have a big wide table. They're all spread out and they were interviewed, some other people who had had different stories. Um, wow, kind of like Yeah, so, um, yeah, it was, it was nice. He was in quarantine for quite some time.

His personality, like, I was, I was like, all of a sudden there was a point in time where I had to— I watched everyone live and I was so impressed with how, how everyone was taking it in stride and nobody was like— they were just all nice and understanding. And, you know, and some people didn't even have the right medication and they— but they were just It was just crazy how calm and nice and kind everyone stayed on the Princess.

Yeah, and these people were really amazing. He was so funny. You know, he talked about— one of the jokes was buy stock in Coke because they own Gatorade, which was the primary medicine he had during the early days. And then the other joke that was great, and people don't— your audience isn't going to get this, but he had a stash of plastic straws, and the people in Omaha, Nebraska didn't understand why plastic straws were like, you know, evil, or, you know, you know, they're banned in California. We're in California, so plastic straws are bad. Created an entire category in the promotional products industry for straws, which is great. Yeah, a great job, man. Dan Webb, Webb Company for Straws. All good.

Amazing, amazing. We don't really, um, it's weird because we're on the beach, so Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach, and some But there's still, I see a little plastic, but mostly paper straws. I have, I just bought Alana 150 colored paper straws 'cause she likes drinking everything through a paper straw. That's so funny. That is really the fun part about our industry too, is that we kind of are in the, like, so all the companies are retrofitting their machines. And I realized in the beginning too, I'm like, you know what? It's not a matter of like people saying, well, stay in our own lane and don't, we shouldn't be selling the PPE. My thought is, wait a second, customers, if you go online, if you just play yourself and you say, I wanna get 100 masks for my employees and you go online, it's scary 'cause you're gonna order from places that you don't even know and you're giving your credit card out to companies and why wouldn't you wanna order from someone that you respect and you can, you know, has a good reputation and are gonna be dependable. And so, you know, I studied it. I went on the SGS testing so I could understand. Halo's doing an amazing job every day of keeping us informed, which I think is great. And yes, it takes a little bit of more time because so many people need them. And the— but like, it is working. And even hand sanitizers— no, there's really no— I actually got hand sanitizers from, um, from a company that I'm not supposed to say it, so it's melaleuca. But I don't know why I can't say it, they're gonna shoot me. But anyways, I got 2 bottles and I got some smaller bottles I sent to my niece. She had nothing in Palm Beach. She had nothing to clean with and zero hand sanitizer. So I was able to take care of her for a little bit. But anyway, so we have to learn something new, but I never thought of it like, oh, I'm so horrible selling masks. I'm like, you know what, I sell masks because it's needed and we could trust. Our suppliers, and that's the number one thing. It's just you have to know who you're trusting, but it's a slow process, that's for sure.

Exactly. Yeah, gotta go with companies that you can trust. I see a lot of the, uh, just people popping in our forums and going, yeah, I can get them, I can get them. They're, you know, they're, uh, off, you know, overseas, you know, companies. But you don't know, you don't know what's in that sanitizer, you know. That's You know, that's, that's an important one. So you want to deal with a responsible company, uh, uh, preferably US company, although their production is quite backed up. But you're going to get good, you know, good stuff.

Well, and Claire was saying from TechWell— Claire was saying, well, Adrian, now we have a problem with the plastics because getting those plastic bottles are very, very difficult now because we have a plastic shortage.

Yeah, also now plastic single-use plastic bag that you couldn't go in the store, you had to bring in your bag. Now you can't use those, so now you got to use the plastic bag, you know. I mean, whatever. Now we're back to plastic bags, whatever.

In our industry, I always tell people too, we have over 800,000 items, maybe a million, whatever, that you— we have to know and understand. But that promo show, I really think that like other industries would really get a kick out of it, how they put it together. So you're literally kind of like this And then you would be— I would be talking to you and you're like running your booth, and then you're just taking products. Here, Adrian, look at this. And it's, it's— I don't know, I'm hoping that every other industry is doing that because that—

it's—

I mean, yes, I can't touch it, I can't feel it, but that's easy enough that you're going to mail it to me. But it is the most brilliant kind of marketing and way to adapt to what's happening is to do that promo show. And I love that it's on their time.

Yeah, and I think the question will be is what does the trade show look like in the future? And as I said earlier, you know, will we ever see, um, you know, the vibrancy of our PPI Expo, which, you know, I'm praying that, you know, will still continue to be, uh, you know, the industry gathering place because it's unique. I mean, there are many regional trade shows that are great for connecting, but I think the PPI Expo is more of just kind of more like a gathering place. There's, you know, obviously lots of education, but it just, it's just different. That particular event in Vegas in January is special, uh, and, uh, you know, will it be smaller? You know, probably. Um, Paul, uh, uh, Bellantone from PPI and Tim Andrews did a great, um, uh, you know, uh, webinar on, on, you know, what what's happening. And we were— I was looking forward to— I work with Allmade, an amazing apparel company, and we were working on a fundraising event for the ASI Show in Chicago, which would have been July, and that's obviously off. So I was disappointed about that because we could have done some really great things, and, and we will continue to. I just think the landscape will be different as we go forward, but part of it might be Hey, we can do these virtual things and look at how much money we're saving and travel and blah, blah, blah. I think you'll see more of that, and that's fine, but still, and also, the handshake's dead.

Oh my God, Leah, I love Leah.

The handshake's dead. Seriously, you're not gonna go to a trade show and hug and shake a person's hand anymore.

Oh yeah, I wrote the article the other day And Leah just wrote on the last conversation that, you know, the heart on the head. Some people, I think it's, I think now I'm gonna say it again, you gotta stand up when someone approaches you to say hello, be the first person to stand up because people weren't standing up very well. And then that's not just my, you know, so it's not Celebration or Miami or Tucson. It's like all over. If you could sit and then just like shake a hand, that's not gonna elevate you. So you really literally elevate yourself, get up out of the seat. You know, maybe handing out something antimicrobial now. So actually, I wrote an article and I included the handstands, um, little buff in the back of the phone, or even handing out something like this, you know, where you're like— because this way you're giving something to someone so they can remember your name. Speaking your name clearly, you know, asking Jeff, how do you spell Jeff? Because, oh, you can spell Jeff many million ways, right? So you when you meet someone. And then if you want to say, you know, okay, like, oh, you know, so nice to meet you. But I, I think that it makes sense that we're changing. I also think our— like, I'm curious, I feel like we're being rushed to get back to work, which is not a bad thing, but I feel like right now, like, everything I'm hearing, it feels like, okay, in 2 weeks we're gonna be back, and good, because I need to fix these bangs here. And really, we're But anyways, but, um, but I see networking being a little different like that. Maybe we're not necessarily going to be in, you know, all together in a room. I don't even know what that looks like, wearing our mask, introducing us, eating lunch together. Excuse me, but I will tell you, I don't know, you know, we don't—

we just don't know. I'm curious about it.

I, I want that shirt. Did I ever tell you that I was on the bus? I did the ASI road show.

Oh, you did? Really?

Yeah, I did. And, um, and I did, and it was fairly expensive. And what we wanted to do is the last hour was going to be for, um, for the distributors. But I had a whole idea. It was going to be the color of promotional products. Every distributor would have a specific color so that their clients would be wearing that color. But, and so the whole thing had it in my head. So I got a chance to— went up to to like Massachusetts, got on the bus. Uh, Damon was, uh, Damon was there, Charity's, uh, fiancé, and a few others. You know, they're all just so much fun being with everyone and really getting a feeling of what it would be like to watch them. Every morning they had to get up and they had to get dressed and eat a little something and go to their booth and set up their booth. And then they— an hour that, you know, I would have where nobody came in because it wasn't really what I had thought. I didn't have that kind of connections to get everyone in 5 cities to come after the hour, but I really wanted to have the local distributors do it, but whatever. Um, and then, and Mr. Nick DiNicola— Nick was amazing because he has a really cool story about how he was in show business. So very, very cool. And then I remember the funniest one was the young man from the, uh, koozie company, and he, he got so drunk that they found him in the, like, the middle of the night. He didn't know which room he was in, and he's just wearing his underwear. Well, to be a roadie, so— oh my gosh, and you're exhausted at the end of it, and then they go home and then they're doing it all over again. I mean, it was kind of amazing.

Wow. So I think we need to end this on a more optimistic note though. We got to move to another topic and like end up— like, not this drunk guy running around his underwear. We got to do better.

I love that business.

I mean, it's great, it's a great story, it's just not what we're going to close with. You know, we've got to close with something big. Let's go big.

Wait, so close the clothes? Don't close with no clothes. So, Jess?

Yeah, you need to— okay, so you need to do a bit, um, you know, on— well, you already have in part on, uh, Zoom etiquette and all that. You might have seen the video where the guy's in a meeting, he walks away, he's got no pants on, you know, type of thing. I think there is something you said. We were on a meeting with our California state senator business group in our community, and it was really great. But there's one guy, you know, he was eating, and it's cool because it was drinking and people were eating and dinner, but this one guy is just slurping up with the chopsticks some Chinese food, and it was more like— oh my God, Zoom faux pas. So, uh, so here, I'll play business etiquette. If you're gonna be in a Zoom meeting, you know, you would just, you know, you just you need for a decision. You wouldn't necessarily slurp up pasta, you know, too close. You know, you don't want to get too—

uh, I took a bite. I took a bite of my—

too much. But, um, in any event, uh, there you go. Dinner time. It's almost lunchtime for me. Oh yeah. All right, so, uh, all right, Jeff, I love you.

I love talking to you. I love when we communicate together. I love— I want people to know that we are not afraid of each other. We're not afraid of sharing information to each other. And just like Walgreens and CVS are beautiful across the street from each other, the same thing. We all get along. It's a lovely industry. I'm so happy to be part of it for 35 years. I see your MAS up there, your award, and I have mine.

Master Advertising Specialist, you know. So I threw a bunch of classes to get there, you know. It's all good.

It's a big deal. It's a big deal. It really is. You know what, we— I'm proud of it. I use my initials all the time. It's something that we've worked hard to, to do. And so, and then between you and I and our relationship, I love it. I love, you know, even when I was in Tucson, Arizona, and you're allowing me to, uh, to do the Keeping My Fingers Out of the Curation, that was lovely. So I really thank you from the bottom of my heart for being someone that I just appreciate so much. We share so many of the same friends, which is great. And, um, you know, it's not, it's not a bad thing that Paul is so good-looking either. I mean, hey, I'm not the only person in the world. And Tim Andrews is such a lovely man. And every time I see Mr. Cohen, I blabber and cry like a baby.

Norman Cohen, ASI, father of ASI. I mean, he's amazing. I was blessed to get picture with him, uh, recently. Oh, it's in Fort Worth. I got a picture with him, and he's just a great, gracious man. And, um, so anyway, there's some great people in our industry. So, uh, thanks for all your reading with this Meet Your Friends. I, I, you know, I imagine we bored many people because we're just sitting here chatting, and like, who really cares? But, you know, just tune out, you know. He said nobody's for— nobody's forcing anybody to watch this. And if you watched it. We hope it hasn't been too painful. And, you know, hopefully—

would you stop? I get like thousands of mail.

Say something about the Jeff video. It's like, oh yeah, that guy. Oh, what'd you do with him?

But actually, I love this idea. I love this hashtag, show off your friends, because this is something that really is— and I'm so thrilled Carmen is doing it. So I got— I'm gonna go off and watch her show. So So to get to know other people really is valuable. So I feel like, uh, ever you do it, just do one, show off your friends, and I would love to watch. And I love you. Have a good rest of the day and night.

All right, thanks. God bless all you guys. Here's to better days ahead.

I love it, love it. May I share your, uh, post tomorrow?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Perfect. All right, I'm gonna go off and eat my, um, my whatever I made— chicken pot pie. Bye-bye. Thank you, Jeff. That was amazing.