Songs on the comfort of returning home litter the playlists of most modern musicophiles.
Whether your taste is the harmony of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound,” the driving guitar and drums of Mötley Crüe’s “Home Sweet Home,” Diddy’s soulful “Coming Home” or the prayers of John Denver looking for a Country Road to take wonder home on, musicians agree with Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.
So does Mark Lipton!
During hours normally reserved for shuffling from bed to bathroom for the third time of the night, I slid behind the wheel of a white Audi sedan.
A gift from my fiancéeic!
As I joined the southbound lanes of Connecticut's Merritt Parkway, still foggy from the pre-dawn alarm, I asked my right foot to wake up the German horses and their jockey. Putting the car's transmission into manual mode, I paddle shifted the drivetrain through its sprint to 80 MPH before setting it back into its fully-automatic mode, for the early morning drive to New York's John F. Kennedy airport.
Buck Wheat!
The heat of an Austin, Texas summer was never part of the Buck’s plan. But neither was her father’s house in Stamford, Connecticut! I’m certain we will be up late nights while she figures out her next steps. Having had a harrowing few weeks, Buck's summer plans need to be re-planned. As I pick up my daughter from a week of hiking and spa treatments with her mother in Santa Fe, New Mexico I’m hoping her mother got all that worked out.
I‘m still tired from the last time Buck was home!
Version 2
This week I expect to launch two new sites for dealers of THE Revolution: Dages Paint in Louisville, Kentucky and Aucutt’s Paint Store in Clovis, New Mexico. When their sites go live, these two lady-dealers will be the first installations of version 2 of the web and e-commerce sites of THE Revolution.
Built from scratch to my specifications with an all-new design and user interface, version 2 of THE Revolution is a truly custom-made e-commerce and web platform hand built for independent paint dealers. In the coming weeks I’ll have more to say about version 2 and its bountiful harvest of upgrades and features. I’m still doing a lot of catching up.
I’m a Journalist
Independent paint dealers suffer from a paucity of information about our channel. While there are a few places remaining where dealers can find industry news, the Paint and Decorating Retailer or Coatings World magazines come to mind, trade magazines today are more about promoting their brand and selling advertising space than they are about reporting industry news.
Which bothered me enough that I created an episode of THE Mark, My Words! Pod and vlog casts dedicated to delivering industry and market segment news. So that when dealers make decisions and build plans to support the enterprises which are their stores, they'll have the news and information they need to inform those decisions.
Meaning I can add “journalist” to my resume! I'll put it right below ecommerce executive!
You can watch the new episode on my website here, or on my YouTube page here. If listening is still your thing you can take your Lipton “to-go!” and listen to the podcast on my site here or on Soundcloud or Apple Podcasts.
Epilogue
Thank you! So many of you who have reached out and offered support and love as my family has been dealing with some shit. Your caring means a lot to us all and is greatly appreciated.
I’ve been struggling to put into words the details of my family’s recent experience with a person of poor character. If you’re interested in knowing more, I found it easier to speak than to write so during the last minute or so of this new pod and vlog cast episode, I share with you (a little) of what we’ve been dealing with as a family.
Thank you all for caring.
