Azuna Blog - Tag: articles
Growing Pains
If I were to start singing, “Show me that smile again…” How many of you would immediately join in singing “don’t waste another minute on your cryin’”? That’s right. Today I’m here to talk about “Growing Pains”. Both the show, and the pains of growing a business. You probably remember how Kirk Cameron’s “Mike Seaver” would add equal amounts of chaos and pride to Alan Thicke’s “Dr. Jason Seaver” life every week for seven years at 8PM Eastern / 7 PM Central on ABC. Well, running Azuna is kind of like having our own personal “Mike Seaver”. Chaotic and unpredictable at times, but it’s your baby so when it does something special you can’t help but feel a surge of...
Read MoreDale & Brennan
Have you ever seen the movie “Step Brothers”? It stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly (two of my personal favorites) as Dale and Brennan, two goof-balls who are forced to live under one roof when their parents get married. If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and watch it. It is pure comedy gold! I was watching “Step Brothers” the other night and it reminded me of my partners Keith and Ryan. Keith and Ryan and brothers and while they can get up to some mischief from time-to-time, it’s nowhere near on the scale of Dale and Brennan. But watching the movie made me reflect on the idea of family. The family you are born with,...
Read MoreShipping during a Pandemic
This week’s blog is about…wait, hold on one second, I just have to answer a question about shipping. OK, back. Now where was I? Right, shipping. If you’ve been following our blogs you know that we are a true start-up. That means everyone wears every hat. Someone needs to design the website? Make it happen Scott! Someone needs to put together a marketing plan? Got get’em Scottie! Someone called in sick and we need someone to pack product? Hey Scott, you’re up! You get the idea. Nowhere was this more prevalent than in shipping. When we started I tried to handle it all on my own and what I quickly realized was that I never, ever, ever want to be...
Read MoreListening to your Family
What seems unique to one person can seem very normal to another. I had what some would consider a very unique experience growing up. My family was in the funeral business and for the first ten years my life my family and I lived above the funeral home. You heard that right; we lived above the funeral home. Here’s what that meant for my little brother and me growing up in that environment. It meant that right away you learn a lot about compassion and grief and the value of life because while other kids your age were watching cartoons and playing with their toys* we were exposed to families who had just lost something very precious. If that...
Read MoreThe Trip to Jersey
I’ve talked a lot about Buffalo, New York in these posts because it is where we manufacture Azuna and it is where I have lived for the past 20 years. But I’m not from Buffalo originally. Originally I am from northern New Jersey, or in the local parlance, North Jersey. A big part of the reason why I love Buffalo so much is that it reminds me of home. Lots of straight talk, and lots of support. I maintain a large group of friends in North Jersey and one of the first collaborators was my friend “Big Mike”, who I’ve known for the past 30 years. If you looked up “What does a guy from North Jersey look like” his...
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