Value in 10 Daily Essentials

As I sit in a crowded distracting coffee shop with my face buried behind my laptop, I quickly realize I’m taking this blogging thing too literally. But I’m already here, so I’m going to slowly sip this coffee that is entirely unnecessary at 9 pm and punch this thing out.

If you got the chance to check out the first blog post from Blain, one of my partners, you might have read that we are going to use this outlet to introduce ourselves to learn more about who we are and why we do what we do. That being said, Hello, my name is Grant. And I think that should do it. Thanks for reading!

In all reality that would usually be my forte, as I would be looking to see where I could snag a cheap beer or half price appetizers at this hour (Doolittle’s no question), but I am going to stick this one out to share a little about who I am and why am passionate about what we do.

While considering what I was going to write about I found myself staring down at what once was my white keyboard and started to realize where my keyboard and I have been…the things we have accomplished… how long we have been together. It’s been a long four years for us, the longest relationship I have ever been in as a matter of fact and I also realized that it is something that I genuinely use every day. Now there’s an idea, the things I use every day, or as I now am seeing it, the longest possible intro to my first blog post, Grant’s 10 Daily Essentials. Now before I go on, I promise that this blog post has meaning so if you have the time I will do my best not to disappoint.

So here they are, the things that I find myself using, loving, and in most cases misplacing on a daily basis. As with my longest running keyboard relationship, I also figured out how long I had my other daily essentials.

Keyboard – 4 years
Sketch Book – 2 months
Pencil/Pens – Safe to assume a maximum of 10 days, my colleagues would likely argue even less.
Tape Measure – 1.5 years
Boots – 2 years
Wallet – 2 months
Phone – 1 year
Coffee Cup – 1.5 years
Keys – 1 year
Sunglasses – 1.5 years

Total Time – 12 years 4 months 10 days.

12 years, 4 months, and 10 days… 1/2 of my lifetime is the combined time that I have had the items I’m going to use tomorrow, and this is what that means to me.

I would assume we all have at least one, the one thing that we have that we just can’t throw away or are unwilling to replace because it is still so good. I have one, well actually two, they are my Red Wing work boots. I should mention that I still wear another pair that I bought almost 6 years ago as well. You’re thinking, good for him, dirty boots are his next relationship analogy, well you’re in luck, they are!

bar with me just for a minute here. The reason I am passionate about something like my dirty work boots is the same reason I am passionate about what we do every day. They are a quality product that I am proud to wear, I’m truly comfortable using every day and built by a company that I believe in. That being said it is my hope that our customers can say the same thing about our products and that’s why I am passionate about what I do.

Dirty, old, beat up, and worn down are the things I like to use every day. In reality, those are the things that I build with every day. The things of most interest to me have a story, they have lived a past life, seen what hard work looks like and are ready to be used again. Reclaimed wood to me is no different than my boots, nor is it of any less value.

Value…I think that word gets used incorrectly too often. To me value is not in the ability to acquire something at a low price, value should be something that you are proud of, that brings you joy and use every day, something you Value. I honestly believe that if you are going to use it every day you should love it daily.

In the end, I design and build every day because I want to bring our customers a product they truly value, a piece that they want to use and are eager to share.

Until next time,

Grant