I don’t like summer. Call me a “Summer Scrooge” if you must, but I don’t care. It gets so hot and humid and I possess great jealousy of my friends and family that work for school systems and are preparing for months of vacation. It fact it can even make me bitter sometimes. Pretty much every year as Spring rolls around I feel the slump coming. I start to feel flat and bored, maybe even restless. In fact, it could be compared to a mini-life crisis (or year-crisis) that occurs every spring as summer looms. I find myself craving some sort of inspiration. What it seems to boil down to is that I get caught up in the monotony of everyday business and life. There is nothing to shake up the system and make me re-think the way I handle work and play.

Finding inspiration isn’t as easy as it seems. The spring and summer are quiet months for travel in our industry. SEMA still feels far away and for some of us, we are still mentally recovering from last year’s show. I think it’s easy to feel inspired or excited after visiting a show like SEMA, but that is just once a year. Thankfully, two months before SEMA there is another big event to attend. I am sure you have heard us talking about the International Window Film Tint-Off and Conference that is coming up in September and I know that many of you are planning to attend. Events like the Tint-Off and Conference and SEMA can help you re-charge your battery and be inspired to make some changes or additions to your business.

It’s not often that we find such a large group of window film installers to share ideas, projects and ask questions. These are people that understand exactly what is a part of running a window film shop and have faced similar issues and growing pains. I can’t tell how refreshing it would be for me to attend a window film writers’ conference (which does not exist, by the way).

So my challenge to you is to get inspired. Join me in Memphis in September and let’s get re-energized for the rest of 2011. In addition, come find me at the event. I want to chat with you and find out what you are interested in. Maybe you can inspire me to write something that will inspire you.