The Plan

So the plan is written down in my notebook and I'm starting on the logo, the labels and the hang tags. I haven't decided on silk labels or screen printing directly on the shirt (or iron on labels) yet, but I have a name, a tag line, and this weekend I selected fonts and colors for the logo, labels and hangtags. I plan on having them done by the end of next weekend.

I will also be starting incorporation paperwork this week so I can apply for the RN# through the FTC as soon as possible since that info will need to appear on the shirts according to labelling requirements.

Tom Johnson — Graphic Designer — TJ Studio

New Directions

I'm starting a new project.

This blog will detail the steps I take to launch a line of designer t-shirts so that I can track my progress in this undertaking and so that others can learn from my experience.

I will outline my plan and blog about the details (at least as much as I can without giving away proprietary information) and the course corrections I take to make it a profitable venture. I have already divided it into five main areas of related tasks that I need to accomplish to launch the line.

They are:
1) Marketing Functions - Items such as Logo Design, Brand identity, Labels, Hangtags, Packaging, Catalogs/Line sheets, Fliers and Advertising.
2) E-Commerce Functions - The Website (Flash intro, web content, shopping cart, payment methods), A Monthly Newsletter and Email Marketing.
3) Corporate Structure - Company Registration and Incorporation, Accounting and Finance, Operations, Vendors, FTC Registration, Government Compliance and Plant, Property and Equipment.
4) Line Launch - Buying Blanks, Private Labelling, Colors, Styles, Silhouettes, Samples, Sizes, Designs and Production.
5) Sales - This includes Tradeshows, Customization for Groups and Organizations, Retailers, Consignment, Pre-sales, Marketing Channels, Promotional Items and Special Events.

There are miscellaneous items to tackle and contacts that also need to be made and I'm sure I will figure out other steps that need to take place to be successful. I am using previous experience in the industry and things I have learned from every job I've ever had (yes, even McDonald's) to combine my skill, talent, ingenuity and passion to make this thing work. I will also put to use my recent readings and the audio books I have been listening to from authors and speakers such as: Anthony Robbins, Andy Stanley, Thomas J. Stanley and Deepak Chopra.

I hope you find the lessons I learn helpful. And I hope to collect valuable information and experience and be able to ultimately join the successful people that I am following.

I have been tossing around this idea in my head for several years and have been waiting for the right time both in my life and in the markets to start this venture, and I have had several years experience in the industry and have committed to this idea and time in my life to make it happen.

Let the journey begin.


Tom Johnson — Graphic Designer — TJ Studio

Catching up and Mekong catfish

Just catching up and getting back into the blog. I've been quite busy with the new job and a new play and logos and websites. I need to figure out what to do next with my t-shirt design business. I've been sitting on it, waiting for some things to happen with other areas of my life and it's time to get on the stick and get some things going with it.

Leaky roofs are the pits. I have one, I should know.
It is VERY hard to find the leaks without cutting up your ceilings or removing whole portions of your roof.
And you need that thing to keep the water out of your house. Crazy.

Medical Insurance Companies... Oh boy, let's talk. First of all they JUST figured out that I have a new employer. 6 moths after the fact. So they aren't too bright. Then, the same prescription I use for my allergies (more on the pollen later) suddenly isn't covered BY THE SAME INSURANCE COMPANY THAT COVERED IT BEFORE. I cannot believe it. OK, I can.

Tax time. Enough of that.

POLLEN. We are being invaded by alien seeds raining down on us from another planet. It's true. I have never seen that color green reproduced ANYWHERE. Not in print, web, TV, outdoor – nope, nowhere. It's way out of gamut, so it has to be from outer space. And even though the stuff you can see isn't the irritant, it shows up at the same time that the stuff that is an irritant does. Just makes my life miserable. Wish my prescription was refilled.

So on House the other night, he makes reference to planning a get away vacation to Cambodia - 600 pound Mekong Catfish, he says. Can't wait to get his hooks in that size of a fish. Real fighter, you know.
HA!!!!
Pass the Lipsey and grab some hummus (it's the new paste, you know). Rob Bloom and Mark Gravett would just die!

See ya. Next time I need to discuss ideas for a vanity tag.

poker, traffic and football

Just a few ramblings before I get to the business of washing my truck, designing a logo and playing some poker.

Poker
I held my first poker night here a few weekends ago. I invited 16 people and by the time all was said and done, two showed up. I even extended my invites to people I didn't think would show up anyway. I was right. Funny, they all said basically the same thing. Sounds like fun, keep me on the invite list. I have to tell you, if I invite you a few times, let's just say THREE, and you're a no-show all three times... right. Off the list. Maybe two! I fared well against a tough player, Wesley. And we taught Brian the mechanics of Texas Hold 'em. He broke even after three games, so I think he was catching on. And I think he had fun, too.

I'd like to start a monthly game and take a rake to send the yearly champion to Tunica for an all expense paid trip to the WSOP satellite for the tournament. I figure the buy in is $100 and the room is about $50, so we could take $20 a month toward the poker champiion prize and then have a year end poker weekend party and use the rest for food and booze. Of course with only three players that would be difficult. I figure a few of us would even pay our own way to Tunica (or wherever)and make it a poker road trip. THAT WOULD MAKE FOR SOME GREAT BLOGGING!

Traffic
Traffic in Atlanta is so awful! It looks like I'll be traveling to the North end of town to work again. I'm excited and bummed at the same time. There's no bigger waste of time than sitting in traffic or sitting at the MARTA station waiting for trains to break down, skip your station, be too crowded, etc...
Someone needs to run for office and fix this mess. New York is a perfect example of how it can work. What are some others?

Football
Spat on. That's how I feel. T.O. spat on D Lo. He might as well have spat on me. I like the sound of the word spat. Funny. I'm still a believer that Atlanta can make the playoffs. And lose in the first round. Mort and Vick both made it into the record books last night. They kept us in the game, The defense kept us in it the first half, but couldn't make the stop to give us a chance to pull it off. Mora said those stupid things last week. I truly believe he was joking, but it wasn't funny. I hate the play calling: 3rd and 17 run, 3rd and 1 run, 4th and 1 pass, 1st and 20 run... just no strategy. Hand-off to Dunn, pitch back to Vick, pass to Dunn for 17 yards... ingenious! Dangerous, but ingenious none the less. Ok, enough football. I'll be back sooner than I was last time. Go Falcons. Carolina and Philly to get in. Hope Philly gets beat by New York today... they should.

Tom Johnson — Graphic Designer — TJ Studio

injury timeout

So I spent yesterday in the emergency room at Rockdale Medical Center.

I woke up and my leg was pretty sore. I put lights on the house Sunday (two story house, 11 windows and the cute icicle lights on the eaves). By the time I got to work my leg was throbbing and I could find no position in which it gave me any relief. I left early and had my wife come home and take me to the hospital.

Did I mention that I hate hospitals? And doctors. And being sick. And the guilt I feel when I'm sick. And the fact that the last time we ended up in that place we spent 4 hours there and never saw anybody, not even the triage nurse.

So within half an hour we were in a room talking to a doctor.

Tests, Xrays, pain medication, muscle relaxers, very good explanations of all the time and procedures...

I guess they heard us talking when they decided to revamp their building and their systems. That's something that I think companies have a hard time with. LISTENING. Frankly, I have a hard time understanding why bosses don't listen to their employees. Why Captains, Lieutenants, Seargents and Squad leaders don't listen to their enlisted men. Why REPRESENTATIVES and elected officals don't listen to their constituents.

When we get the Democratic and Republican nominees for the Presidential race for 2008, what input do we have in the selection? And then we get to vote on those two (and some independents) "qualified" candidates. Lets see, states select delegates (via witchcraft and pressing of palms) and they nominate a candidate. Then they go to their respective conventions and nominate a party candidate (using calculus, more witchcraft, referencing the latest Farmer's Almanac and more pressing of the flesh). Then we have our Presidential Candidates, groomed from birth, held in high favor by the people that are part of the system (read: problem) and the general public gets to vote on them. Where are our choices? Seems the price of entry is too high for "commoners".

"I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore, or elsewhere, for the selection of a candidate for the Presidency, made up chiefly of editors, and men who are politicians by profession; but I think, what is it to any independent, intelligent, and respectable man what decision they may come to? Shall we not have the advantage of his wisdom and honesty, nevertheless? Can we not count upon some independent votes? Are there not many individuals in the country who do not attend conventions? But no: I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reason to despair of him. He forthwith adopts one of the candidates thus selected as the only available one..."
-- by Henry David Thoreau - 1849

Detailed description of the selection process here.

Then we get to see the debates, see the television commercials.

"Or take it one slice closer to the bone. Leverage care. For the cost of a jar of peanut butter, you can be a Great Mom, the kind every kid would love to have. You can look out on your happy kids playing in that perfect suburban backyard and breathe a little sigh of contentment that life's so good, with not a wicked witch in sight. Just like on television.

We die. And there's more than one way to get it over with. Advertising has some serving suggestions for your premature burial."
-- Cluetrain Manifesto

I want choices. Real ones. Not lip service. I want conversations about what type of government is right for me. For me and my morales, for me and my needs. The majority rule is not working. We need to speak up. We need to not be governed. The BEST government doesn't start with a capital letter. The BEST government is composed of people, not career politicians. Liberty is freedom from government to stand as an individual, to be protected but not squashed. We need a support group, not a government. There needs to be more conversation and less regulation. What control do we as a society have over where our tax dollars are spent. I mean really have a say.

Lets start talking about things that matter with people who make a difference. And the othere need to start LISTENING.

Thanks for taking care of me yesterday all you support people at Rockdale Medical Center.

Tom Johnson — Graphic Designer — TJ Studio

artificial trees

So I'm putting up one of TEN, uh huh, ten Christmas Trees tonight. My wife likes Christmas. A lot. We'll have people over this weekend to eat Christmas Friendship Cannelloni. You can vote for my recipe on chefs.com to win $10,000 in the Treasured Recipes contest. Really. Go to the site and register and vote for my Christmas Friendship Cannelloni. The top five vote winners get to go to San Francisco for a cook-off and the winner gets $10,000! Of course, the 85 plus friends we cook it for every Christmas will tell you that it rocks.

Anyway. Artificial trees.

The Cluetrain Manifesto thesis # 15 says:

In just a few more years, the current homogenized "voice" of business—the sound of mission statements and brochures—will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court.

I got micro-managed today at work. Again. By my command and control temp boss. I just don't understand that. I mean, do people just need some sort of control fix? Is it due to repression? Is it victims of the corporate silos trying to break out? It seems to be a trickle down phenomenon. It seems to be a repetitive event. I just left a place because of my command and control problems (read: Ex-Friend, Creative Director, Illustrious Potentate, Corporate Zombie). Serves me right for having his back for 3 years. I just don't understand how people can pretend to be trustworthy and then hobble the organized, thoughtful people that get the job done and want to grow and be creative. Seems that the mission statement didn't mention anything about mature, responsible, going places employees being able to do their own work without a Kindergarten Cop on patrol. Their loss. I'm talking now. I'm thinking that when this company of mine gets going, I'll hire people to work from home and give them more than what I promise them. You know, we'll talk every day. We'll collaborate. I'm tired of the lip service. I'm tired of being that lip service voice for companies that don't get it. WE ARE REAL. We are tired of working for artificial companies and artificial people giving artificial voices to their "culture." Get a purpose. Take a stance. Let go of the drama.

Government needs to get a clue, too. Local government, State government, Federal government.
You cannot exert power over those you do not have relationships with. That's tyranny. Take a stance. BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, OF THE PEOPLE. Represent.

And Cluetrain Manifesto thesis # 25 says:

Companies [read: and governments] need to come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships.

But they wouldn't talk to me while I was working for them. Just the same old rhetoric, same old command and control, no freedom, no expression of creativity, no fixing what's broken, no listening. Well, they'll talk to me when their precious market share drops because I start talking to people. Then they'll want to talk to me. And I'll be laughing (read: Not interested).

Tom Johnson — Graphic Designer — TJ Studio

holiday lights

Thanksgiving is done and with that comes our annual Christmas Dinner. This year the same lights that I put up on the house EVERY YEAR are giving me fits. One string wanted to blink on its own. When I finally found that one little red light bulb amongst the rest of the plain ones and replaced it with the regular kind of light bulb, it pops the fuse on that strand of lights every five minutes.

If you employ people, make sure you hire the red-light-bulb kind and then treat them well. They are the ones that bring that special quality to their work. They aren't there just to punch a clock. They stick around to make a difference, to grow their careers and to take on responsibility and in turn make the company successful.

That being said, if you replace them with the "regular kind," your strand of lights will pop its fuse every five minutes or so. Find and hire creative people and treat them right. Or, go pop a fuse.

Tom Johnson — Graphic Designer — TJ Studio