Greetings from the Depths of the Jungle!
I’m feeling like it’s way past time for me to give a chat about what’s been going on with yours truly, Paul June, and Barrel O’Monkeyz. It’s been a while—at least around the start of COVID—since I reached out with an update. While others went quiet or fell to the wayside during COVID and its aftermath, I’m glad to report that both the June household and Barrel O’Monkeyz is striving, surviving, and thriving!
On the Homefront
Sara and I are blessed with three girls—Noelline, 4, McKinley, 7, Leland, 8, and our frequent mystery visitor, “It wasn’t me.” They are growing up fast and our days and nights are filled with laughs and giggles. Of course, one second they’re angels and the next that little halo slips a bit as they get busy poking and prodding each other.
It’s a little like herding cats at times as they are never lacking anything to do activity wise: from beach time, swim classes, soccer, softball, hikes, vacations to Wolf Creek’s Lodge, family events, camping trips, school activities, and on and on.
As for the adults, Sara just got a part-time job as a special-ed teacher. She’s got her hands full and is doing a fantastic job being a full-time mom. It can test her sanity at times from when the day begins to when it ends, even with Dad (that’s me) hopping in as much as I can to give her a hand. I know being a mom is a full-time job and I so appreciate everything she does. I know I couldn’t do what I do without her doing what she does.
In addition to our three girls, three dogs and one cat rule the house. We already had one 100-pound Rottweiler, so we decided to take in another—a rescue dog named “Bella.” My good old buddy, “Fred,” a 5-pound teacup yorkie, is still rocking it at 16 years old! He’s still the boss man and lets both Rottweilers know it. We also took in a rescue cat, a feral feline named “Wally” who has learned to survive the coyotes around here, which is good because no matter what we do to keep him inside, he always finds a way out. Best mouse catcher ever.
We’ve made some major changes to our house in El Cajon. It’s an A-frame with little insulation, so we seem to go from extreme heat in the summer to near freezing in the winter. So, we added solar and a new roof to our house (thank you Bill “Soularbill” Bindseil for helping with that). It’s amazing how much money it has already saved us. We also redid our kitchen, family room, and deck, which has made our house a much more livable place.
Monkeyz World
I’ve been working two jobs to support the family: as King Monkey guiding the Barrel O’Monkeyz ship and working full-time with Mobile Edge, who has been one of BOM’s clients since 2015, as their VP of Marketing. I want to give props to David Cartwright, Mobile Edge’s founder and president. Not only is he my boss, client, and friend, he’s also an amazing and supportive individual. I am very blessed and grateful to be able to work with him. A big part of my work with Mobile Edge is the support of CORE Gaming, which focuses on gaming gear and tech for (you guessed it) gamers of all ages and abilities.
To the clients who stayed with Barrel O’Monkeyz during COVID and beyond — a shoutout to Eric Ludwig (Ludwig APC), and Steve Oldroyd (Belvedere Exclusive), among others—they’ve been simply amazing. We are so grateful for their faith in Barrel O’Monkeyz and the enduring nature of our relationships. They have truly become more than clients; they are our friends.
Of course, we lost a few clients during COVID as the sports and active lifestyle space took a big hit. Like everyone else, though, we made shifts in the ways we worked, made sacrifices and tough decisions to roll in costs, and went through a period of little or no growth before we came through the other side with some amazing new clients in diverse areas such finance, with Michael Schumacher and his team at Enact Partners, and master carpentry and construction with Jed Richard and the crew at Holland’s Custom Cabinets.
Looking Forward
For the Junes and Barrel O’Monkeyz, there’s rarely a dull moment. Like all families, we have moments where one second, we’re screaming at the world and the next we’re hugging each other.
Barrel O’Monkeyz continues to grow with a growing roster of clients looking to us for marketing, communications, and web support.
I continue to commute twice a week to Mobile Edge in Yorba Linda, working with David Cartwright and the rest of the Mobile Edge team and enjoying every minute of it! You’ll catch me at shows like the PPAI Expo premium show in Las Vegas, the SAAC Expo in San Diego, maybe at CES, CAMEX, TwitchCon, and other trade shows to name a few.
For those in San Diego area—or if you’re going to be in the area—I’ve launched a quarterly event I call “The Gathering.” While I hate calling it a networking event, this is a great way to grab coffee or a beer (or both) and talk fireside chat style as friends about timely stuff like AI and ChatGPT, or branding and marketing, or about what’s new in our respective worlds.
So, there you have it. Big hugs to everyone, much love, and God bless. Give me a shout out any time. I look forward to hearing from you.
Paul June
King Monkey,
Barrel O’Monkeyz
