Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Changing Paths

The name of this blog is changing lanes, but this post is about changing paths. Career paths.

Now, I’ve only been out of college for three and a half years, so it’s not like I had this smooth path that I’d paved for myself. Nonetheless, I would have never guessed that I’d be managing a website, selling a product that three months ago I knew little about.

Top of the line, wooden, end-grain cutting boards is now my full time job. We’re working with web developers now creating a logo, website, identity, and marketing plan.
But why cutting boards? Well, I’m glad you asked.

John has had the opportunity to meet many people through his work on heavy duty truck accessories. He carries products from many suppliers, and has particularly gotten to know one located in El Campo Texas (near Houston). Tough Country is family owned and operated, and they truly take the word family to the next level. Employees of Tough Country have been there for years, because they say that they’ve always been treated “as if they were family.” During our stays in the Houston area, we’ve been able to learn about Tough County and discovered ways to do business together. Which brings me to the cutting boards…

Tough Country has a sawmill offering services mainly in custom carpentry such as staircases, paneling, flooring, molding, etc. Two years ago, C.O.O Kurt Pratka was looking for the perfect Christmas gift for his family. Having access to a sawmill, Kurt hand made a batch of cutting boards. The recipients of the boards raved about them and that batch quickly grew. People wanted more of these cutting boards. In the town of El Campo alone, Kurt has a hard time keeping up with the orders and requests. With the John Tatum “I can do that” mentality, the website idea was born.

As I stated earlier, we’re developing the product by making decisions on style, size, working on logos, web layout, marketing and more. John and I have visited the sawmill and personally met the people that work each day to create these hand crafted cutting boards. It’s petal to the metal and I cannot wait to introduce the website to you in a few weeks!



I’ve been told to find out what it is that motivates me and use that to guide my career path. I used to think that meant I had to be doing work that could change the world. I was wrong.  It’s not a job that changes the world- it’s people. It’s how we chose to live our lives each day that makes a difference and those choices don’t end at 5:00. Selling cutting boards won’t change the world, but it will and already has changed my life. As far as being motivated for this new career path... consider it done. I am motivated by being a part of something pure, something honest, something unique, and something personal. I am motivated by being a part of something I can take pride in and something I can watch grow because of the work that I am doing. That something just so happens to be running my own cutting board website.  I could have never guessed that my career path would lead me to being a part of the freshly approved Tatum International, LLC. I don’t know what all that entails, but I look forward to making my way on this new career path.








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