Greatest Dot-to-Dot David Kalvitis Interview

In April of 2012 one of our local retailers, Simply NY was interviewed by a local videographer from Money Business Small Business Perspectives.  John from Money Business saw our books at Simply NY and contacted us requesting to interview David Kalvitis.  This video was filmed in August 2012 and has aired on local Rochester, NY cable channels during the fall.

David thought an interview would be a great way to explain to customers why and how he makes the books. He talks about the reason he started Monkeying Around and how long it took to make it a full time business. One of the things that makes the Greatest Dot-to-Dot books different from other puzzles books is that they are hand made by one author/artist and published by the same. David can take his time creating dot-to-dot images and puzzle styles without date restrictions from a large publishing house. It also gives us the opportunity to have better customer service since everything is done in one place.

For individuals who are interested in starting their own business, David talks about how he started up, and how the company has grown to have employees. You will also hear how “word of mouth” can be more valuable than expensive advertising. Over the years our customer base has grown, because customers from the year 2000 are still buying twelve years later. David has created brand loyalty with his dot-to-dot books.

Monkeying Around customers tend to be so loyal that they write and call to thank David for creating his variety of difficult puzzles. We have received letters from older people sharing how the books help with physical therapy, Alzheimer’s, dementia and relaxation so they could sleep. Teacher’s have mailed dot-to-dots made by their students to David. Beautiful colored pages from our books have been carefully mailed back to us as a thank you.

At the end of the video David shows some of his collection of antique dot-to-dot books. This collection has taken years to build and David is still actively looking for more antique dot-to-dot books. It is fascinating to discover how the books were made for children, but occasionally we find a harder puzzles in some books.

…don’t leave the video early, as there are bloopers…

 

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