I hate conflict.
I'd do almost anything to avoid it.
When a business down the road started the battle of the cats at PosterBurner, I just wanted it to end.
(If you don't know what I'm talking about, start here)
So we decided to trap some cats - to get them neutered and stop the population growth.
The problem is, trapping cats takes the patience of an angel.
And I don't have that.
But luckily the cat rescue people that were helping us did.
On a Saturday morning, they pulled up to our office.
There was one truck filled with cat traps.
And a car with two ladies.
A short, stocky man went to work immediately setting the traps.
The ladies stepped out of the car and they both put on baseball caps with extremely long brims.
They popped the trunk and pulled out their nets and gear like navy seals getting ready for a mission.
They were serious.
And then they stayed outside our office for two straight days as volunteers and trapped 13 cats that were neutered and given shots.
Ever since that day, at PosterBurner the term "cat people" is said with deep respect.
The Result
The project was a great success for the cats.
But it didn't help in our battle with the guy that threatened to sue us for feeding the cats.
He started contacting our landlord.
And then one day he shows up at our door.
My brother answered the door, and things got heated.
There was a shouting match and luckily nothing more.
The bad blood had been sealed.
The next week a cat came wobbling up to the building.
He was barely able to walk and his eyes were wide and dazed.
And while I don't know for sure, I'm pretty sure he was poisoned.
And that is when I realized that no one is going to win the Battle of the Cats.
We were going to lose. The boat guy was going to lose. And the cats would lose the worst.
So we needed a plan to end it.
I reached out to our landlord for help.
And we made a deal.
He would let us out of our lease, and we would use him as our real estate agent to buy our own production facility.
After a few months, we found one.
Before we bought it, we had to go up on the roof for an inspection.
Standing on that roof was like a dream.
After 10 years of struggle, we were going to have our own building.
Even though it was the shortest roof on the smallest building in the business park, we all felt like it was the top of the world that day.
We moved the cats to a farm that another cat rescue group found, and the battle of the cats was over.
And our new office was amazing.
We were able to rewire the building and get advanced machines to speed up production.
We got faster and added a bunch of new products - cell phone cases, tote bags, poster tiles, and foamboard posters..
And then Corona virus hit.
And when I first heard about the lock downs, my blood ran cold. I didn't know if we'd have to let people go - which we have never had to do - and I could barely sleep for a week.
But then something strange happened. And things went crazy.
We'll cover that later in the series.
And here is the next part of the series about how we got our name.
And if you missed the earlier parts of the story of how PosterBurner was started, here are the links:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 9