You're A Freaking Purist
On a swampy, sweaty, humidity laden JANUARY afternoon in Orlando, I rolled up to an appointment in my pickup with the AC blowing and the AC/DC cranking. This meeting was a long time coming. It wasn’t going to be easy. It wasn’t going to be comfortable. It was flat out going to suck ass. It was time. It was time to end a relationship that started out all nice and fluffy and ended up being lipstick on a pig.
I’m not normally a confrontative person, in fact, I pretty much steer clear of conflict wherever I can. But This. This could wait no longer. I had to tell this person how I felt he had failed me and several others by getting greedy. He had a great thing going, but he got greedy. A pretty cool networking group with some pretty cool people that was started for some pretty cool reasons had turned to utter shit and turned out to be NOT SO different than any other. Self-serving.
We sat down and I endured some rather BURNT coffee from a national chain. He chose to recline outside, so the 150 degree coffee and the 92 degree, chunky humidity drenched Central Florida air started to work together to cause extreme discomfort. Dripping with sweat, I spoke up, hoping to get this over with and get back to my tunes and air conditioning. As I expressed my disdain for the shift of the group that I was well entrenched in, my contact was gracious and politely heard me out. He massaged his unkept beard a few times with his hand and then looked me dead in the eyes and said, “you’re a freaking purist, you don’t cut corners. Sometimes, Tom, you need to cut corners.”
I was just called a purist. My brain scrambled to put meaning to this. Purist… Was this an insult? Had I upset him so much that he resorted to name-calling? Did an epic war of words just begin? I stared at him as I continued to drip with sweat and process what had just happened. He went on to explain that as the group had grown, he had to start cutting corners to accommodate the growth. He had less great speakers, less classy venues, he had to control the narrative a bit more as it got more popular. Quantity over quality. Ok. I get it, I think. But…
I’ve owned a digital marketing agency for over 14 years. On Target works with some high-end companies who expect some high-end results. As we grew, we learned. We made mistakes. We made bad hires. We made some poor financial decisions. BUT, we always, always, always put the customer first. No matter what, we’d make certain that they always got our best. They paid our paychecks. They kept us afloat. They spread the good word about us and help us grow the agency even larger. If that’s what being a purist is, I’m ok with that. Cutting corners helps no one long term. Doing it the right way, sticking to your guns, and seeing a long term gain as opposed to a quickie, is the only way for me, my agency, AND my coffee company.
So, I raise a mug of Pure Grind coffee to the purists, the ones who seek quality always. The ones who don’t settle. The ones who live by a high set of standards. Here’s to the ones who don’t muddy the waters with excess nonsense. Here’s to the ones that appreciate a great thing when they see it. Here’s to the ones who don’t cave and cut corners to jack up their profits. Here’s to the freaking purists, everywhere. I salute you.
Hi. My name is Tom and I’m a freaking purist and the name for this coffee was inspired by this very interaction. Do it right or don’t do it all. Thanks so much for reading and sharing this with a friend.