Countries My Shirts Have Visited

Posted on June 3rd, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: General Business.

This tool, which draws on the Google APi, is supposed to be used to show the countries you’ve visited. I decided to show some of my sales report data on it instead.

I only ran a few random Decembers worth of sales, it was too time consuming to look them all up and I couldn’t bring up the report for my entire history because the server complained. I looked up unknown codes (I had to look up MO — which is Macao for instance) by using the Country Code tool.

It was a pretty fun excercise seeing where else in the world someone was also into some of my obscure interests. Next time I’m feeling down I’ll come back and revisit the map to cheer me up (and maybe update it, but we’ll see).

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

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Quick Country Code Lookup Tool

Posted on June 1st, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Marketing, General Business.

Made the boyfriend code this country code tool for me (he also wanted to try out Ruby on Rails). I’ve got the most popular country codes memorized but when something new comes up it’s fun to find out what new country will have a citizen sporting one of my shirts :)

There are already lists of country codes out there but this tool lets you just plug in the 2 digit code and hit return (or the “Go!” button on the page ) to find your answer.

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Music Video Maker Automatically Sets Pics to the Beat

Posted on May 8th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Marketing.

So, as is my wont, I was checking out the latest web2.0 sites and found fliptrack which lets you make a slide show from pictures. Yeah, nothing new. But they provide music to go with it. Still not new. And, it is automatically set up to play your pics to the beat. Ok that’s new.

What else is new is that the site has gone through the trouble of dealing with licensing issues so you can legally share these videos on MySpace, Blogger, etc.

I made a quick video to test them out. I used their desktop application (you can do it all online too). The interface was decent, especially for a free program. You could actually create your own timing just by clicking and dragging frames though I stayed with their suggestions for the most part. They had the option of using effects as well so yes, you too can do a star shaped transition effect ;) Unfortunately for Mac-only folks they only have a Windows version right now so you’ll have to do it all online.

Though I was tempted to use the “Scooby Doo” theme (and maybe I still will later), I chose the song “Too Sexy” for the fun, cheese factor. The concert pics are ones I took during SOE’s FanFaire in Atlanta last year. Good times. Url link to video: http://www.fliptrack.com/watch/QDLl85LBzq

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The End of a 1,400-Year-Old Business

Posted on April 25th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: General Business.

What entrepreneurs starting family businesses can learn from the demise of Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi

The world’s oldest continuously operating family business ended its impressive run last year. Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi, in operation under the founders’ descendants since 578, succumbed to excess debt and an unfavorable business climate in 2006.

How do you make a family business last for 14 centuries? Kongo Gumi’s case suggests that it’s a good idea to operate in a stable industry. Few industries could be less flighty than Buddhist temple construction. The belief system has survived for thousands of years and has many millions of adherents. With this firm foundation, Kongo had survived some tumultuous times, notably the 19th century Meiji restoration when it lost government subsidies and began building commercial buildings for the first time. But temple construction had until recently been a reliable mainstay, contributing 80% of Kongo Gumi’s $67.6 million in 2004 revenues.

Can you imagine? The article continues on the website.
From BusinessWeek.

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Photoshop “Real Steel” Tutorial

Posted on April 20th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Design.

So I was making a graphic that I wanted to feature a steel fridge in, and came across this tutorial. It’s a great step by step tutorial so I thought I’d share it.


Link.
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T-shirt PODs - 10 Points about Bountee

Posted on April 13th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Print on Demand.


It seems like there’s another new Custom / Print on Demand t-shirt service opening up every other month now. Newcomer, Bountee joins the list of shops looking to profit off of DTG (Direct to Garment) Printing.

It’s a little tricky to get to their details without making an account or watching their movie but for those who want the quick version here’s the nitty gritty I gleaned from various pages on their site, blog and video:

1. You can set your own prices by typing in a percent markup when you design your shirt.
2. Bountee seems to be aiming at having a brick and mortar presence some day… they say that they will strive to give the designer a commission mark up in that situation that is the same for what they have set for online purchases.
3. They only accept SVG files.
4. Payment to designers is currently via PayPal only.
5. You can *not* submit a design you have already submitted elsewhere or is already available elsewhere.* SEE UPDATE NOTE BELOW
6. Their product designer is pretty nice, shirt print area is large and designs can be placed very close to the bottom hem (though not on the shoulders or sleeves).
7. Upload of images is done one at a time and there are no bulk tools at all.
9. You can use their own tool to make text only designs.
10. They are in Beta.

Note on item number 2: this is both good and bad. It’s good because a designer may find another venue that their shirts can be sold in, with possibly no extra work on their part. It’s bad because on other sites you can use your online store as a testing ground for designs and if something “catches” you can make your own deals with brick and mortar stores and make a bigger commission on each shirt than you would by using your POD service of choice. With some negotiation you can easily make more per shirt than you would by having your shirt sold online.

Note on 5: This was written in their with language specifically mentioning voting sites (Treadless is an example of a voting site) and their desire to not “steal” designs away from those sites. However, I believe it also means that you can not submit a design you have up on CafePress. And once you submit a design to Bountee you can not then sell it using any other service, not even your own. I noticed; however, that you had the option to make your shirts “Limited Editions” at Bountee by specifying how many to sell. UPDATE: I re-read the Terms and I now think that you CAN have a design up on CafePress AND this site… however you can NOT have it up on Threadless or other sites which prohibit you having it elsewhere available.


All in all, I think Bountee is a good entry into the POD market but it will have to prove itself as a good starting point for t-shirt entrepreneurs who are looking to build their own brand.

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Calculating Your Hourly Wage

Posted on April 13th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: General Business.

When I first started my shop I remember wondering how much I made per hour doing this crazy thing. For those who might wonder the same thing here’s a fast way to figure it out if you know what you made for a full year.

To find your hourly rate, divide by two and drop the thousand. So $50,000/year becomes approximately $25/hour.

This is based on a general 40-hour workweek and doesn’t include taxes, but it’s a good general back-of-the-napkin trick.

Of course you will have to adjust to reflect your own working hours.
Thanks to Ramit for the calculation!

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eComXpo Last Day

Posted on March 22nd, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Marketing, General Business.

Sorry for not posting earlier. This online conference is here: http://www.ecomxpo.com google around to see if you can get a free pass. They have presentations where you can ask live questions but they also have on demand presentations and show and booth prizes. This is my third or fourth time attending.

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CafePress Class in Los Angeles Area

Posted on March 12th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: CafePress.

Long time CafePress shop owner and graphic designer, Jean Roth is again teaching a course on CafePress at West LA College. She posted this on the CafePress forums:

Hello Fellow CPers

I will again be offering the college extension course I did in October on how to kick-start a CafePress shop. I know whoever reads this is already is on your way already :) but do feel free to pass this info on to friends in the LA area who might be interested. And please excuse the shticky wording — its from the catalog!

Do you have great idea for an original t-shirt or putting your art on a poster? Have you ever thought of starting your own online business? Rotem Gear creative director Jean Roth will once again be teaching a class at West LA College where she will show you how to design and create your own products and sell them online through CafePress–with little or no overhead.

Find out what products you can sell (see sample products to check out the quality!), how much money you can make, the type of investment required, print methods, how to upload images, how to attract shoppers to your webpage and much more. **Students will actually set up shops of their own online during class. **

The 3-hour class is perfect for artists, graphic designers, hobbyists, business owners, non-profit organizations and self-employed people who want to bring in some extra cash or create a full business.

Wednesday, March 21, 6:30-9:30 pm
West L.A. College’s Westside Extension (310) 287-4475
Direct link to course info

How to Register

The course is not by CP, so it’s from the point of view of a veteran shopkeeper, but it does have CP’s blessings :)

BTW if this is helpful for anyone — this is the list of resources I give out on a CD to the students .. feel free to use and share!
CafePress Resources

http://www.rotemgear.com/CPCourseCD.html

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Easy Visual Site Statistics - Crazy Egg

Posted on March 10th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Marketing, Website Tips.

So I’ve been testing out statistics tracker, Crazy Egg for a few months now.

I’ve been quite happy with them and have been meaning to do a positive write up on them, but with a recent addition to their service they have gotten even better!

In a nut shell (or should I say eggshell?) Crazy Egg gives you statistics you can find through other services, but it does it with a great visual interface which shows you visitor habits in a very intuitive way. There are three main tools, all are shown first over a live picture of your website page.

They have a heat map overlay, a list of what links got clicked the most, and then an overlay with clicks and stats coming off as “flags” from links. The new addition to their service is also on this “flag” — it’s a “More” option which shows referring links. So, for example you can see a “flag” on a link to a t-shirt and then be able to conclude that, “People who clicked on this came to the web page because they typed in “T-shirts” in google.

It’s a brilliant service and the free version allows you 5000 visits a month. The whole thing works like other trackers, you insert some javascript and then visit their website to view the overlays.

I’ve used it to test two versions of my homepage and found it quite easy to see the impact in my changes.

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