Hello World!

Yeah, that was Tom, expressing a salutation to the vast populace of this big, blue beautiful globe we call Earth. This is Tom, too, narrating the words and the actions of Tom. Me. This is what happens when you haven’t written in 844 days.

Has it really been that long?

I suppose it has. Well, the first half of the next year since the last post was really just as meh as you might believe. Get up, drink coffee, scroll the net, play some Madden, avoid reading, writing, and (mostly) arithmetic and just sort of wait for the weekend. Have some beers with the wife and/or fellas on Sat and Sun then do it all over again. You know, typical American stuff.

But the second half of 2024 was, well, life changing.

Remember the OBT?

It was this dream on hold for the longest time where Tom (yeah, the same one I talked about above) worked for a very long time at one company and there was this sitting promise that, some day, he would own the place himself. It even almost happened a time or two. Or, at least, it almost almost happened because the talk of it happening got talked about some times more than others. But the can, as cans are wont to do, got kicked down the proverbial road.

I love using proverbial in sentences.

Then, sometime late in June 2024 the whole thing picked up steam again and all of the second half of July through all of August and all of September were the worst days of my life. I mean, I’ve never been so consistently frustrated and angry. The process, you see, was working itself through and Tom (yeah, that guy again) had to spend every iota of his talent, perseverance, and energy to navigate through the miles of red tape it takes to get to the finish line. And, I mean, it’s a LOT. And I had to do it mostly alone. I don’t mean the missus wasn’t helping, she was an absolute rock. I’m talking about the machine, man. Every step of the way was spent following up on bureaucrats and organizations that push your paperwork off to the side while you scream at them “it has to be done NOW!”

Point in fact: I opened the store as primarily a GE appliance dealer. We’ve been primarily a GE appliance dealer for decades. GE is proud of that. I opened my particular doors on October 1, 2024, ready to place Tom’s first GE appliance order. But you know what? GE, my primary label and the one company I turned my paperwork into first way back in July, was still working to get my account up and running. I owned a business but couldn’t yet buy product!

I won’t even mention how my pricing from the manufacturer was wrong the entire first month. In the bad way.

But we got through all that. The manufacturers eventually got everything sorted out, they made good on a lot of promises made along the way, and by late December 2024 I can proudly say that the nightmare of transition was finally over. As I’ve told many since, I finally felt I had my feet under me as Tom, the business owner.

2025 was great. 10% revenue increase over all of 2024. Proud of that.

I added back Dylan Andersen to the staff. My right-hand man. He’s so important. The missus works for me, too. Or maybe I work for her? She’s back office essential. And, like I said, my rock. Plus, she has more flexibility with her time now for appointments for the boys and what not. I doubled the delivery staff. We had a great website built. Follow us on Facebook.

We even added another dog and he comes to work with us. 🙂

So, if you’ve been out there wondering if Tom was still out there, being Tom, and – if so – what he might be up to these 844 days, now you know. I bought the business. I got overwhelmed with red tape. I found my footing. I added more help. These days, I thoroughly enjoy what I’m doing and spend a lot of time wondering how I can do it better. And, yes, I still have beers with the missus and fellas on weekends. I am still Tom, after all.

Being Tom has just become … different.

Here’s a shot of the baby when he was a baby, on his first day of work:

I’ll try to post more pics next time!