Right before I tumble right into a lengthy post detailing my thoughts and plans for my first business, I need to make known that earlier today, as I was unplugging my piano to plug in my heater (yes, because it was frickin' cold today, despite it being the middle of summer), I accidentally ripped part of my nail from the flesh of my right index finger. Like the nail ain't split, just the flesh underneath is no longer attached. It's nothing, big, just minor. A bit of blood, and a lil' sting of pain. Pretty much no biggy, I suspect it ought to heal in a day or two. I tell you this merely so you know that as I type this, I feel an almighty pang of pain, just so you can appreciate how important you all are that I am willing to endure repetitive jabs of torment.
A coupla nights ago I rather briefly mentioned that I wanted to do a t-shirt business. Well tonight I want to write a bit about its genesis and precisely what I mean. Except not so much precise because, like all my good ideas, they're so good I do not wish for potential competitors to steal my ideas, so I'll avoid being too direct and tend towards a happy nondescript indifference.
This whole idea really was the right ideas at the right time that sent my mind spiralling down an entrepreneurial path. First of all, I had, about two weeks before Christmas, been talking to my parents about our relatives who are in the retail clothing industry and I was merely hearing about business dealings and such. So I had all this stuff on my mind, where I was just thinking of what I would do if I had to handle distributing clothing yadda-yadda.
Then, Gordon, rather coincidentally, expressed a wish to me that he wanted to design some t-shirts. His idea was to just make some and then wear it to see how well his design would be received. I'm not sure if he has plans for mass-production or anything.
Given the frame of mind I was already in, the notion of distributing shirts that were original kind of excited me and really got me thinking. My initial plans were to go into a partnership with Gordon, that he would handle all the artistic stuff and I would handle the marketing and distributing and production side of things. Basically the lion's share of the work.
The more I thought about it, however, the more I began to wonder if I could perhaps open up the platform a lot more. Instead of just having Gordon, I make it so Gordon is just one of many artists who "work" for me. I'm not exactly sure what t-shirt designers for major companies fare when it comes to getting royalties or whatever, but if the industry is anything like the music/book-publishing industry, then I suppose treating my artists fairly can only help things.
Since I have a very non-chalant stance towards money, and the fact that I had and still have no intentions of this business becoming either a full-time occupation or indeed source of income able to support me, then I'm not driven towards making maximum profit and thereby screwing my artists over.
Like all my good ideas, everything must be crowd-sourceable from Facebook. More importantly, from my friends. I have no interest hiring people just because they're good. Business of all sizes ought to be personable and I really despite how divorced people are becoming from their occupation/job/professional-image. They ought to be one and the same. And like all good beliefs, one doesn't bother trying to manifest them real, they act as if they are and the enlightened will follow.
A status update to Facebook later and I got quite a good response. On top of an initial Gordon (with whom I confirmed afterwards to be interested), I got: Simone, Blake, AJ and Colby all raising their hands. I then went out of my way to ask Beau (my friend in the QLD whom I met online ... about 10 years ago now, it must be) who said yes and also intimated that his twin brother might also be interested. I also asked my good ol' pal Alastair and he also expressed interested.
This gives me a list of eight potential artists. And I say that merely because some of those people I have yet to assess whether they would be able to actually do it. I'm giving pretty much carte blanche to people with what types of designs they wish to pursue, so none all of it has to be 'hand drawn', in that they could take photos/images/logos and photoshop it up. This also opens it up for me as well. I'm probably going to avoid just single line pun/joke shirts, unless they can also be aesthetically pleasing.
With this, I basically went into a frenzy of how this would all work. The initial idea was to make it an online store. I've looked at several websites who run inventory and such, and have found several viable candidates. I then naturally had to look at PayPal accounts since if you want to run an online business you basically cannot avoid it. I also started looking and possible ways to host the site (since I have 7 free domains I've yet to use), and I believe the most viable option would be Google Sites. I only played around with it a bit, but it really seriously does think like a great site editor that will produce professional results. Failing that I can enlist Syn for help.
I also have in my mind some potential marketing campaigns, but that comes later. I'd like to appeal to an international market, so it won't just be targetted locally to Australia or indeed Canberra. Shan't say any more ;)
I also have some "real world" representation ideas in my mind, but nothing fully fleshed out. I know a few people and locations in which I could set up temporary stores to at least appeal to a local market.
So in my mind, basically the business would operate like this. I get all the shirts printed and I store them in my apartment. Then people, using the online store, purchase the shirts. When this happens I basically package them up and take them all down to my local post office and send them off. That's it. How hard can that possible be? In all seriousness, how hard?
Because at the end of the day, if they don't sell they don't sell. I'm not investing tens of thousands of dollars into this. A couple at most. And if I fail then I fail. I'm not asking others to invest in this, and my artists are not invested, so they will not be hurt by the lack of sales. The shirts that don't sell will sit in storage until they do, or otherwise I will think up some way to make some minimal profit. There will be no harm. Lest I remind you how little I care for cashies ;)
The hard part, of course, is the actual production of the shirts. So as I hinted, I have familial contacts that may be able to help me get mass-produced shirts. Luckily, I also have local contacts and I have one potential candidate in mind who might be good for this. I sent him a well placed e-mail, but unfortunately a family emergency has called him away fro two weeks (I suspect it's been at least 2 weeks now) and I am eagerly awaiting a reply. But if this guy falls through then I will consider the others. It'll be far less personal and intimate, but I'm fine with that.
Right now at this stage, I need to find out how much an individual shirt will cost me to produce (the cost of the shirt + the cost of printing + the cost of shipping). I need to know all this to know if I have a viable cash flow and what kind of a profit I can make. Once I reckon I have a realistically working "business model", I'll call back on my artists for designs.
Once I get the designs, ones that I approve naturally ( ;) ) then what I think is the best road forward is to have them sell the pieces to me (or the business, I guess) for a set royalty. Yes, it will involve contracts. And thus yes, it will involve lawyers. But the last thing I need is to have my competency questioned when really I'm just living by my own set of philosophical values. So I must determine how much this royalty would be. Plus I think this way it's fine because the natually good designs will sell and the sucky ones won't. But also in this comission way, no one but me is bringing money to the table, which is exactly how I want it.
Then I need to set up all the online business stuff. And the marketing campaign. And the real world location.
yeah, I know I always have ideas. Many, many projects. This is indeed just another one of them. In fact I'm not even going to say it'll be more important than the others, because it's not. The whole project is designed around the idea that it won't take up much of my time or effort (outside of setting it all up) and without continual investment from me.
There have been naysayers. That's only natural. It really doesn't bother me that much though. The success of this project is not predicated on whether or not I make money, despite what "realists" may insist. There's not a huge chance of this working, you're right. But I'll be satisfied with breaking even. No, actually I would be satisfied if by the end of it I have not completely stressed out, if I haven't had major arguments with officials or whatever. I will be satisfied if by the end of it I had fun and all my colleagues also had fun.
The whole scope of the project falls under the idea of doing it my way. Outside of legal issues, I am discarding all notions of convention and tradition. If I don't think it a wise move to make, I won't make it, no matter how much you insist. For instance, some enquiries I've made to printing companies have asked that I provide a sample picture and they can get a quote for me. The way I see it, that's unacceptable. I am not getting anyone to make any art until I have a full idea of the finances going into it. So if they can't work by my rules, then I just won't use them. Pretty simple business strategy, I find.
Oh, by the way. Other ideas I had for marketing is to use local talent from my pool of friends. IE models, photographers, videos, whatever. In due time, if the project gets off the ground, you'll see another plea-status update on Facebook.
PS. I still don't feel natural blogging and you can no doubt tell this from the jerky thought patterns of this post. Although that could be the pain from my finger.
