Interview with John Downey 6-27-07

[Jim Pemberton]

Well, that's it!

John, we'll look forward to your answers to the other questions, and your support and participation here.

Thank you for sharing your time with us tonight.

 

[-JB-]

It's all about communication.

We always tell them prior to service that we will need to hook up to either a kitchen, laundry or bathroom sink, which we will clean & polish when we leave. NEVER had any issues with it.

 

[John Downey]

Of all the industry leaders and personalities that you met in the "parts of four decades" you've been in this industry, who would you have liked to have interviewed but didn't?

Howard Olansky

 

[John Downey]

Do you think my early collection (From start till 2001) of CleanFax is worth any thing yet???

I dunno, John. Maybe offer them for sale on Mikey's Board. See if you get any suckers ... err ... anyone who would like to invest in classic magazines!

 

[John Downey]

Let me ask you how you would deal with advertisers who you knew either ran shady businesses, had a poor product or were liars at best? Would you let them run a ad in Clean Fax and look the other way or would you tell them to take a hike?

Mike, I'd like to add to my previous answer that you have to be VERY careful about how you handle this type of situation lest you find yourself facing a restraint-of-trade lawsuit that you will most probably lose. Subjective or fuzzy concerns (shady, poor product, liars at best) are not usually sufficient grounds for refusing to accept ads from a company. You need to have something specific and documented.

John D.

 

[John Downey]

John thank you very much for your help hosting the first Summerfest. I wish we'd recorded your little pep-talk that kicked off the Roundtable discussion. You had a lot of great insights on our efforts.

Thank you for the kind words, Lee. I sure as heck don't remember what I said, but I'm glad they were memorable to someone!

John D.

 

[John Downey]

What do you think of the new version pre-sprayer attachment on the classic?
Like it better than the old? How about the leaking issue when the sprayer tips over?
To me that seems like the weakest link on the system, any ideas?

I'm not a fan of the new prespray system. When I buy my next Steamin Demon I will retrofit it to use the old prespray system. Alternately you could buy it without prespray and buy a Hydroforce injection sprayer.

 

[John Downey]

In this information age,do you think the print media will become a minor player.

Sorry, Judson, I completely missed this one. I think print media will decline some but remain fairly strong for the next 10-20 years. As the baby-boom generation dies off, I expect a more rapid decline.

I can't imagine ink-on-paper media becoming extinct, but in time it will be like trains and horses as means of transportation.

 

[Steve in Omaha]

Terry, Bjorn, Trevor

Multiple personalities