The following article was written in April of last year. Note the last line, “Stay tuned.” I’m sure all of you have been riveted to your in box waiting. This past month I’ve been busy converting my stack of completed puzzle into home furnishings. The one you see is Bambi as a teenager (ha ha) attached to a colorful fabric background. It goes for $85.
Just about everyone is finicky about frame style so I decided to stay away from them entirely.
CEO Bob (written April 14th, 2022)
About a week ago, the mailman delivered a five-pound catalog of every office supply you can imagine. The company is called Uline. I had never heard of them. I was mildly curious as to their motivation but, didn’t think a whole lot about it until my wife showed me the actual address label. The first line had my name, spelled correctly for a change. The second line said “Puzzling”, which at first was puzzling. After about 5 seconds, I said “Aha!”
I had forgotten for a moment about my own company, Puzzling.com, founded right here in Pittsboro, home of the Chatham County seat, in 2019.
The inspiration and motivation in forming the company was multi-faceted
— I wanted to know if I could actually create my own company. How is it done?
And, maybe there’s money to made selling used jigsaw puzzles, or, selling jigsaw puzzle assembly coaching tips, or framing the 40-some jigsaw puzzles hanging in my garage and selling them on-line.
With my Psychology degree, maybe I could advise others on how to navigate through their “puzzling” life issues. After all, I do enjoy telling others what to do.
About 9 years ago, I added an article to my computer’s “favorites” list entitled, “How to Start an On-line Business for 100 Dollars”. I never purged it —- imagining, maybe, someday…… Someday was that day in 2019 after advising a family member to do the same. The instructions were clear and the cost was $38.00 excluding the cost of fuel to get to the courthouse. I listed myself as CEO.
CEO Bob!
The ultimate trigger which motivated me to act was my fascination with jigsaw puzzles. The more I learned and after realizing how popular it actually is, I began to form ideas on how to make it pay me.
My first action was to create a blog. I named it Puzzling.com. Why? I was going to use the metaphor of life being a lot like assembling a jigsaw puzzle and —- because it was the first name that came to mind while I was on the phone with Victoria, my Director of Web Services, who is also, coincidently, my granddaughter whom we love dearly. Victoria quickly checked to see if that domain was available. It was. Another $35.00 and the deal was done.
Puzzling.com was born.
Since becoming a struggling mediocre writer I’ve learned that more and more people read less and less. Could it be that my writing is a tad too esoteric even to the point of being obtuse? Especially the blather, burble, and blether (even Word doesn’t recognize this one”) that I put out. Yeah, I know! Go look’em up!!!
My daughter recently explained to me why I have between zero and no “followers”. They’re called Podcasts.
She claims that you can listen to or watch a podcast while you’re driving. Not so with reading.
So now, I’m at a critical point in my post-retirement career —— Should I continue chasing entertainment technology or just relax, assemble puzzles, and stack them on the ottoman in the extra bedroom?
bobzodyssey.com 
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