I work with and work amongst a lot of artists. Most of them are artists that are involved (or becoming involved) in commercial ventures for selling their art.

Of this group there is a subgroup always on the lookout for help in selling their wares. Although this Top 10 list can apply to anything from direct selling to gallery sales (to a certain degree) the following links to blog posts I’ve authored has its strongest emphasis on helping artists who sell online and more particularly via POD (Print on Demand) avenues.

Number 10: Conversion, prospects, suspects, and coffee.

Number 9: You need a marketing calendar. Oh yes… you do!

Number 8: Generating Publicity – think outside the box.

Number 7: Stronger Designs.

Number 6: If it works – don’t do it?

Number 5: Features vs. Benefits.

Number 4: Keying & Tracking.

Number 3: Press Releases.

Number 2: Pricepoints.

Number 1: Designing for Presentation.

I hope you find this list helpful!

I’ve talked about creating “stronger” designs for a long time. I’ve talked to people about it in terms of print-media, apparel, website, you name it – it’s been one of my mantras for a long time. I’m always encouraging people to avoid “good enough” whenever possible and go for designs that pop, that stand bold against the bland, that show tutti-fruity when others show plain vanilla. I preach about the virtues of creating the best you can within the scope of the media itself (paper, onscreen, print, etc.) and the expected viewer or customer. It’s about making the best art for the people who will see it in the way they will see it displayed.

I ought to know. I’ve allowed many pieces of mine out into the wild with the thought “they’re good enough.” I was a bad boy.

A few weeks ago I was having this conversation with a buddy who was beginning to set up a photography portfolio online. He asked me to help him whittle down his masterpieces so his portfolio would be filled with only the finest examples of his work (which all of his photos are exceptional – so it was going to be a daunting project). I warned him that I tend to take whatever people think are their top-10 pieces and destroy them down to two items, at best. Very little survives my “cream of the crop” list-filtering.

It’s not about being brutal or unconstructive. It’s not about being the best of the best (which I am most definitely not in any way, shape or form), it’s not about suggesting the art that didn’t survive the whittling-down were lousy pieces. It’s about distilling the top by category (absolutely best colorful photo, best black and white, best portrait, etc.). It’s about narrowing down what looks best, in his case, onscreen at 800 pixels wide. It’s about picking the best photos that would present him as a photographer worthy of spending money on for the type of clients he wishes to attract. That, in my opinion, is going to produce results that could be very different from a portfolio of someone wanting to show off their best “human” photos or best “landscape” photos. It’s all about the venue and “best” is subjective.

However, it’s still a topic that includes something I hope can be useful to others in the POD (print on demand) world.

I’d like to just start with the best example of what I mean by “stronger” designs because it shows a few evolutions and how the word “stronger” can mean different things – my own work.

Above you can an evolution of a theme I wanted to follow – “pixel pusher.” It’s a phrase I’ve used to describe work I do to friends. The best part of this example is that it not only shows, what I believe, is a great example of a terrible example, but also the cruel irony that a graphic artist (me) would produce such an awful, stinkingly bad piece of art to illustrate being a graphic artist. It’s a great walk-through of painful horrendousness in one graphic. I apologize – I don’t know what I was thinking?

Okay, check out the above thumbnails – at the top – “I Push Pixels” 2007. Behold that little train wreck of pixels. It frightens you, I know it does.

Part of what got me into trouble, and a great motivator for this blog post, is my buddy and I were discussing the pain of sorting through our own art and tossing so many aside in favor of a few, great examples. He wondered how a guy (me) could produce pieces like these and yet have the nerve to display that top, 2007 “I Push Pixels” monstrosity – especially as a graphic artist who pushes pixels!

I don’t have a great answer but I suspect that my explanation will sound familiar. As much as I’d like to claim that I was a noob artist at the time and didn’t know what I was doing… that’s not true. I’ve been an artist since I was a kid and a commercial artist for years. I think I was caught in a frame of mind that was thinking that I needed to stock up my online store (for which that was a tshirt design) as soon as possible… more products – more products! I felt it was “good enough” and probably left it at that. I suppose there was also a chance that I got tunnel-vision in Photoshop that made me get fixated on a design element (or two) and felt I had accomplished my mission when I saw those elements on screen. I didn’t bother to really objectively look at it and realize that just because it matched the written description of what I wanted… it still looked terrible.

Finally, one day I realized it was, indeed a really weak design and brought the neighborhood down in the rest of my storefront. I decided to do a new version – “Pixel Pusher” 2008. You may notice that I carried over one of those design elements I used in the first one (the blotchy splatter behind the text). I don’t know why? I thought maybe, by changing up the text to a variety of fonts, would convey some message but once again… it only served to convey a lack of focus and confusion. It was new, but still a weak design. In all fairness, it looks mildly interesting at full-screen on a black background. The fonts are, indeed, interesting and the broken-lines and negative space give some interest too. However, when all is said and done it’s weak because it’s mostly just text, the slightly interesting bits don’t make sense to the theme (graphic artist), and those bits don’t translate through properly to a shirt like they did in higher resolution on the 30″ monitor. I failed again.

As a special note, I have nothing against text-designs. One of my store-favorites is one that was mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article I was featured in. It’s a simple text design made to look like a rubber stamp Does Not Play Well With Others. It’s hardly an Auguste Rodin original but it works because there’s a point to the simplicity of a stamp that implies its a label – a warning label. It’s become known and is uniquely identifiable (keep that in mind any would-be copycats). That’s why it’s a strong design – it accomplished its mission which included simplicity.

What I do think, though, is that there’s “text” and then there’s “text.” Sometimes, simplicity and message trump design. The words are key and too much flourish detracts from that. Then there’s times that the art and treatment of text-heavy designs gets taken to a higher level with the art. I think, if possible, one should try to push a design as far as it will go while keeping its integrity and purpose intact. Sometimes (as in my case) I frequently have to ask myself if I’m slacking off or if I really gave a design the full treatment it deserved?

It’s not hard to see I took a pretty drastic change in direction with the above. It’s still “pixel pusher” as that’s the theme I wanted but I wasn’t in love with keeping it specific. There was room to play. So, I decided that I’d stop reworking the existing art and just put down the graphic stylus and grab a piece of paper and pen and sketch. Sometimes, when I’m not bound by the mechanics of how I work in Photoshop and, instead, go back to sketching, I come up with clearer ideas of what I want. It’s weird, but sometimes white paper and pen is more liberating than a blank PSD canvas.

As you can see from the newer, 2009 silver emblem it makes more sense. It’s certainly easier to take pride as a graphic artist when your graphic art doesn’t look like poo… which the first two versions did. These next two versions, I feel, are evidence that I did, indeed, have more work to do and I couldn’t defend the previous pieces any more.

Obviously, this is all subjective to my own views. Customers may say otherwise by how they spend their money, family may lie and say it looks great. However, sometimes an artist just has to make an executive decision.

The 2009 silver emblem does have graphics that support, what I believe, are a stronger design on the theme… a graphic pen which makes sense, clean and bold design as an artist might aspire to make, and the extra “digital artist” text brings it home in case someone didn’t quite understand the slang “Pixel Pusher.”

This piece also represents a philosophy I’ve been getting more in-touch with and blogged about earlier – that of Designing for Presentation. In a nutshell, I created the silver emblem version knowing full-well that it had to look appealing at 200 pixels in a thumbnail. It could have had more detail, it could have had more intricate embellishments, but in the end I designed it with the ever-present idea in my head that it had to look good to a customer in the first way they’d encounter it.. the tiny section graphic.

The final piece, “Pixel Pusher Brewery” is not so much about taking a weak design and making it stronger but about playing to a niche market that enjoys, in this case, vintage style signage. It’s a stronger design in that market, that’s all. It’s a passion of mine but I thought others might enjoy the fact that the theme of “digital artist” could also take on some character with a brewery/beer-label style rendition. It narrows the audience, yes, but it can be a devoted following – those who like this style.

Well, 1500 words later and you surely get the point, right? It’s not about a design looking bad. When I say “create a stronger design” I don’t mean the previous one sucks out loud. I don’t mean that at all. What I do mean is that there’s potential that’s not being explored and you’re duty-bound to uncover it. It’s like having a Maserati and never really taking it out on the open highway and putting the pedal to the metal. It’s about creating art that totally jacks up the level of craftsmanship to the point where even you, the most critical artist, will agree the design is fully realized, and ready to unveil to the world. When you work a design up to maximum with text, colors, layout, art, balance, style, and focus… you’ll never have to look back and wonder if it’s good enough. You’ll never have to wonder if it’s your art itself that’s not appealing. Art is subjective – but only when you feel it’s the best that particular piece can be will it be considered a finished piece.

Happy pixels.

“Design for the Thumbnail!”
Topic: Designing tshirts with the storefront presentation in mind.

A free-form video about designing not only for the product itself, in a print-on-demand environment, but also for the online customer first-impression.

I’ll admit, it’s not a polished video by any stretch – I didn’t want to delay recording my thoughts in favor of editing. I hope you find my ideas useful nonetheless.

Pop on over to Adam’s TShirtChat.com and read his write-up about a new Print on Demand company.

UPDATE 1: For the record, I posted at TShirtChat.com my strong feelings against the stated Terms/Agreement a user would agree to upon signing up with Yerzies. Therefor, in full disclosure, I’m saying I have not yet signed up for an account with Yerzies because of my position on, what I feel, are unnecessarily restrictive and adversarial terms.

I have posted the following email to the Yerzies company via their website contact form. In my usual fashion I write-from-the-hip and I don’t pull punches:

If you’d be so kind, please direct this email to the appropriate user policy department.

Awfully archaic and adversarial licensing agreement you have… don’t you think?

“You hereby grant to Yerzies an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty free license (with right to sublicense) to create derivative works, reproduce, distribute and publicly display the Content that you post on our website in any and all media (now known or later developed) throughout the world.”

I’d hope you would consider adopting a far less adversarial and industry-standard user agreement soon?

I know of no artist let alone heavy-hitter in the POD-seller-field that would either agree to such terms or actually upload quality content knowing these conditions exist.

I can think of more favorable ways to get one’s feet off the ground as a POD than to have a license agreement that hangs the threat of a company walking off with, without compensation, user-created material?

I’d like to respectfully request a response as I believe there are concerns that exist and, if those concerns can be overcome, would directly influence some who are active and valuable members of the POD-selling community.

A response that could be freely shared with my peers would be very, very welcome.

You have an interesting foundation being formed and it’s an exciting time in the POD industry, I’m sure you’d agree? When a company, such as yours, enters the scene there can be much more excitement generated if there is positive and hopeful news to share.

I thank you for your time in reading and hope you’ll consider my request for clarification and possible re-articulation of your current, existing terms of service.

-Daniel Mowry
Print-on-Demand and affiliate seller.

UPDATE 2: Responses received – please read comments.

Well, to be fair, we’ll have to classify this as rumor-mongering because I haven’t had the chance to check numbers or sources, yet.

However, I woke up to an article in Venture Beat offering early glimpses into the possibility that Cafepress has paid between $15m-$20m for ImageKind – an art print-on-demand service.

Again, in keeping with purely the word on the street angle, is that Zazzle lost a possible desired bid in this as well – not surprising since they’ve been making many moves to increase their business lately (some positive, some less so).

If true and accurate it’s no surprise to me because of the focus of Cafepress as a leader in the POD industry and their growth… often to successfully expand beyond what made them successful years ago: the tshirt.

We’ll see what comes of these as the press releases, rumors, and day runs on.

If it’s the case I have to admit I’m anxious to hear the reactions from a few people I know who are highly invested in the IK service.

UPDATE: It’s confirmed.

This is a sentence I heard last night. Actually, it was an all too common plea for help, disguised as a sentence.

I was helping someone develop some of the finer points of her business plan’s marketing and competitor analysis. Her husband and her are taking their great children’s book art and illustrations and bringing them to market via merchandising online. Previous attempts at using a POD (print on demand) service were met with disappointment and frustration. Thankfully, they couple decided they needed to take a proactive approach, as opposed to throwing in the towel. This is a good sign when failure is met with determination to overcome, rather than quit.

It was noticed during a few conversations that, although the couple have a successful book and illustration business (good, old fashioned, brick and mortar business) they may have had unrealistic expectations of what happens when you go online with a business. The most common misconception was that simply being online gains attention when, in reality, I think it is a greater black hole than anything. I truly believe it’s possible to be invisible online for years – and that it’s the norm. A person must work at being noticed… and that’s a little different than simply opening doors in a building on Main Street, USA.

There came a point, to make a long story short, where we had to analyze expectations of what an online business is and what it isn’t. In some cases it’s an extension of an existing business. In other cases, for all intents and purposes, it’s an entirely new, separate, and aspiring business. One’s experiences with an offline store can certainly be used to good steed but it’s unheard of that a new, online business, no matter how much you feel is a logical extension or expansion of your existing business… is a new entity with all the related challenges.

We discussed soliciting and directing current customers and creating awareness of the online presence to people who are already predisposed to have a favorable opinion of the existing business. We discussed the usual ramping-up via search engines, inventory, press releases, events, etc.

However, there was a certain moment of Zen when my friends realized something from a comment I made to their frustration that the online business wasn’t living up to expectation:

“You don’t have a business yet. You have an online store.”

It’s one thing for a person to sign up with an online POD service, create art, upload and apply it to products and technically have a “store” of some kind online. It’s another thing to realize that it’s everything after this point that will be the business.

The business, in my mind, isn’t the www URL. The business will be the weeks or months of decisions, tracking, adjusting, marketing, promoting, and growth that make that online store anything more than a bunch of pixels in a browser window. The business isn’t the site – it’s the operations behind it and honestly… it might take time and effort.

There was brief sideways nod of her head, a pause, and then a thoughtful look replaced the frustrated expression. It was at this point we began having an exciting and dynamic conversation about “the business” and all the possibilities, potential, goals, and planning. It was at that moment the business plan was born.

This is a subject I’ve been watching for a couple of months, now. I haven’t said much and probably won’t, but, unsurprisingly, there’s always a certain caliber of person that can’t honor an NDA and more info is beginning to come out.

TShirtChat.com has brought the topic up and made some very good points. It’s worth a visit to read and give your feedback. There’s surely varying degrees of “it’s business” involved in this topic. Of course, to me, that doesn’t always ring as a positive thing.

Give your thoughts on the matter:

“Zazzle Corporate Ninjas Get Dirty!”

Update: Cafepress has posted the following: “Poaching isn’t over easy…”

If anyone has any more links to the subject – let me know. I’ll be happy to post more points, counter points, or measured feedback.

~by Daniel Mowry
Published on Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Since she was “old enough to eat glue” she’s had her hand in some form of creativity. Sculptures, crafts, doodles, art, you name it – she’s enjoyed creating it. Her passion and joy for art shows through in her work and the success of JGoode Designs caught my attention a long time ago. It’s great for me to have a chance to interview Jen as she’s not only a respected peer but one of my friends.

Dan: Jen, it’s great to talk to you. For everyone’s benefit let’s start with the usual… tell us a little about yourself.

Jen: I’m a 4th generation Colorado native, however I’ve lived all over the country. I think that has a lot to do with my constant interest/need in seeing new places, meeting new people and trying new things.

I currently live in Colorado with my husband and 3 children. I have a love for creativity on all levels and I truly believe everyone is capable of creating amazing things, we each just need to find our own little creative outlet and niche. My official business name is JGoode Designs – I sign my art and title my artist name as “jgoode”, and my brand/business name is all encompassing for all of my various design and art including, but not limited to, illustration and cartoons featured on tshirts, gifts, cards, prints, etc. sold through various online venues as well as photography and some fine art. I also sell handmade gifts through on etsy.com and a retail shop in Littleton, Colorado called “Willow.” Also my art now seems to have a strong touch of “girliness.” I am not a girly girl. Or wasn’t. The more my family fills with boys, the more girly I become… I think my art is my female outlet sometimes.

Dan: I’ve admired your work and expertise as a business woman for a long time. It’s a real treat to interview you. Let me ask you a little pet-question I’ve had: The penguin-themed art… is that a niche you just fell into or are penguins your favorite, little critters?

Jen: First, let me say thank you! I am honored and delighted for this opportunity, this is so exciting! You were one of the first people I “met” online when I started with Cafepress, someone I looked up to as a mentor and now a friend. I’m honored you’d want to know more about me.

Penguin art, complete and total accident. Serendipitous. I’ve since become a huge penguin addict myself.. But this originally started as one of my many characters and a little self entertaining game. I love the egg shape of this character and through some nudging of a few friends thought it would be fun to dress him up. The character’s popularity grew and in turn, so did my visions of new outfits. Besides the penguin itself, the interest in this character has helped me solidify my style a bit more. Previously I was playing with a huge variety of illustration and design styles – since I have learned I love the doodle”, whimsical cartoon approach.

Dan: How would you describe your business? Is it entirely online? Or, is there an offline, multi-faceted element to it?

Jen: My business is a work in progress as is the art that drives it. I prefer to say I am a professional doodler than an artist because I feel like everything I do is more of a happy “doodle” dance type of creation than a serious artistic piece. I primarily sell illustrations featured on t-shirt, some decor and novelty gift items. However, I am also easily bored with myself and am constantly coming up with new ideas of things I’d like to try to create and sell. Usually I try these online through etsy. Some of these items end up in a retail location – a funky fun art shop across town.

Dan: How long have you been an artist?

Jen: Since conception. I’m pretty sure I was born an artist. My mother is an artist (just recreational usually) but she really encouraged me to make things or draw things whenever I felt like creating. The moment I realize I loved creating, that I remember most… I was about 7, I entered a coloring contest and won 1st prize. If I remember correctly, my prize was a $25 gift certificate for the shop running the contest… How cool is that? I was able to buy anything I wanted just because I colored something really nice, and my name was in the paper for winning.. That was delightful as well.

Dan: How long have you been a digital artist?

Jen: I was using Photoshop in 1992. In 1995 I was working as a Graphic Designer. I didn’t start really creating art as I am now, on the computer, until 2002 or so . Even then, I really didn’t get into digital illustration until 2005 when I starting using a Wacom drawing tablet.

Dan: So, tell me… how long have you had a business centered around your art? How did this all come about?

Jen: Around 2000 I started taking on client work for advertising, logo design/corporate identities, website design etc. I was originally working for a one man designer studio and soon realized that I wanted to be my own boss… So I just jumped in head first and tried it. In 2001 I started working for an online company, in addition to my client work, creating “fun pages” and greetings so my business design turned more into fun kids art.

After a few different transitions I ended up where I am now… One important transition was my side drawing that turned into this full time gig. I original had Lil’ Goodies (lilgoodies.com) as just “hobby” Lil is actually an acronym for “Love in Life”. This was a place I could post poetry and jokes and thoughts and eventually added my own art work. Then as I realized how much fun it was to sell my art online, I became official with “JGoode Designs” and the motto “inspiring smiles every day.” Now I only work for myself and I enjoy doodling every day.

Dan: Well, then tell me what are your tools of the trade? What software and hardware do you find essential for your art as well as your business?

Jen: For me I constantly play with new techniques and little gadgets, however I have a definite set of software I use daily: I use an Apple MacBook Pro – I’ve always used a mac of some kind. I do own PC, but Macs are my first choice.

Adobe Photoshop for cartoony/hand drawn designs and Adobe Illustrator for more crisp style designs.

For my business I couldn’t live without the internet, I need constant internet access to not only monitor my business and my sales, but also to maintain my websites. Tools involved with this include ftp software and text editing software.

Occasionally I will hand draw on real paper (yes, I still have pencils and paper) and I will scan the work in, but this isn’t common these days — with the drawing tablet, I draw directly into photoshop and then color.

Dan: You use Print on Demand (POD) services. Do you use one or several? Are their shortcomings or advantages you’d noticed about one over the other?

Jen: I use several POD services for a number of reasons. Each service handles its own business model a little bit differently. Each has a different set up of their own marketing, shopping cart experience and product offering. I focus my business towards CafePress because I’ve been working with them the longest and understand how to make their system work for me… However I do use others to either test their systems or offer product types CP doesn’t currently offer. So far, I have found Cp to have the most positive benefits, not to mention I personally know staff that can help me solve any issues.

Other companies I use for different reasons…

Zazzle. I just started playing with because they offer real time personalization tools. I can offer my customers my own designs to personalize themselves. They also offer greeting cards with a location for my own brand/logo as well as printed content on the inside of the card — This is similar to GreetingCardUniverse.com, however GCU doesn’t offer the logo spot.

Printfection, I have found a little success with. They are much newer and smaller than CP, they don’t offer nearly as many non appreal products, but they do offer a huge variety of colors of t-shirts and they are located right here in Colorado. I’ve spoken when them and love their eagerness to grow and improve. Also, I really like the idea of giving a little love to the local guys.

I’ve tried Imagekind, but feel my current design style does not lend itself to the poster/print exclusive arena… I do have plans to expand in that area, however.

Dan: What is your strongest method for exposing shoppers to your online stores? Paid advertising, Search Engine Optimization, viral?

Jen: Rain dances and praying to the fairy garden gods. Marketing is not a strength of mine. I really struggle with it and usually when I do do something that is successful, I am not sure what I did, how I did it or if it was even me. For me, the only thing I have done that I am sure is my own effort and skill is my eagerness to meet people and show them what I do. I let my business card show a little of my style and it usually sparks a conversation which I happily answer any questions about what I do. I also really strive for word of mouth advertising. I always try to leave enough of an impression that not only will people remember me, but pass my name or site or something from me along to others.

Dan: What are your biggest challenges in running an online, POD-oriented business?

Jen: Marketing, exposure.. Just letting people know I am here. I think this is true with any online business as much as it is for real world retail businesses. For me, I struggle with where to go and how to tell people. Again, I often let my images speak for me and hope that those that like them share them with others.

Dan: Do you have any formal training or education in art or as a business woman?

Jen: I have absolutely no formal business training.. Unless “marketing/advertising 101″ counts. In that case, that is my official business training. I’ve been drawing and creating since birth… Also. I do have an associates degree in graphic design… I have to laugh, it took me 6 years for that 2 year degree. I stopped to work and started up… A few times, but had to prove to myself I could finish it… so finally I did.

I have to say, however, I believe schooling helps only in teaching tools and building confidence. As far as any skills needs for the design world… school doesn’t offer much. A portfolio might get someone in the door to a job, but everything we need for that job we learn in practical uses.

Dan: Did you get any guidance or help along the way in establishing your particular business? Or, did you have to pave the way on your own?

Jen: I could say I paved the way all alone, but then I would be leaving a lot of fantastic people out of that spotlight. I’ve made quite a few friends along the way for the business I am currently in. Every one of those friends has taught me something.. Shown me some direction or given me a slight nudge somewhere. Of all the advice and info and trade “secrets” I have learned from others, for me its the encouragement and side by side motivation that has made the most difference. Peer-to-peer support to some extent. I really feel like anyone can jump in, read how-to info and try something out.. But without that little cheering squad in the background, it’s really difficult to stick it out and press forward. So if I may, I send out a THANK YOU! To everyone who’s touched my life during this big adventure.

Dan: Do you have a close relationship with customers, considering the degree of POD fulfillment by third-party companies? Or, do you maintain relative distance from day in, day out customer interaction?

Jen: I have very little contact with customers. I do offer contact information on my website, but rarely hear from anyone. I also offer a subscription to a newsletter that is tied into my blog.. But this is a very non personal form of communication. When I do receive contact from customers or site visitors I try to make sure they understand I am here any time they need me.

Dan: Regarding this, is that by choice or is it simply part and parcel of this type of business?

Jen: Both. I do not offer phone numbers because I’m not a real store with real business hours. The type of business allows me this freedom of time yet I would like the option to thank customers after purchasing — but due to the POD shopping cart, I am unable. I’m still looking for ways around this without becoming a 3rd party shipper of my own products.

Dan: Are there inherent challenges or hurdles you struggle with in your business? Especially with online and POD?

Jen: Yes, online sales always include some sort of anonymity, add in the 3rd party production of POD, versus my printing and shipping myself, it then becomes impossible for me to conduct any follow up customer service on my own behalf. I think this is an enormous issue when one stops to think of business growth. Return customers and referred customers, in my opinion, should be the majority of opens business and results in a strong growth.

The answer to this, from my view, would be to become my own shipper, order processor, customer service department, etc. at which point I would then be spending all my time with the business management and no time with the creation. There’s a no win type situation here… So for me, its a
compromise I am happy to deal with for now… I am able to bring to the public my work and sell it at reasonable prices while in control of what is offered, and for the most part, how it is offered. In return I give up the opportunity to meet my customers who are buying what I am offering. It’s not ideal but it’s much better than not offering anything.

Dan: Any special benefits to your business, or being online in a POD-driven business, that make your life easier?

Jen: I don’t HAVE to do much of any of the business side besides being the artist creating and then shouting out “here I am”. I do not handle returns or production or product inventory or billing and taxes. I love that… Who likes that side of business?

Dan: Working from home… are there more challenges or more freedoms? What are they?

Jen: More freedoms for sure. I’ll never be one to work in an office for long. For me the biggest challenge of working from home is walking away. I rarely have a day I don’t sit and work a little. This is also a benefit.. Any time I have an idea or what to check something or change something, it’s all right here. I’ve been working from home for about 10 years and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am able to be here to talk with my kids… I’m here when they get home from school and I can be here when they need me. On the down side, they’ve learned early on that mom works a lot… but I think, at least they see me and know working doesn’t’ have to be a grumpy thing.

Dan: Working from a home office… what positive or negative surprises did you encounter that the typical “go to work” person might be surprised to hear about?

Jen: I don’t even know, I’ve worked from home for so long. Maybe, that instead of a lunch break I take “make banana bread” breaks and then I get to eat it in the middle of my work day. We also have sit and work with mom days where I might be drawing/working while my kids sit and draw their own masterpieces next to me.

A negative surprise… I had someone call my home number, after I told them I work from home and it was my home number they were calling, and they were irritated I didn’t answer my phone during the business hours that day… I wasn’t home.

Dan: What are some of the things you enjoy most about your business?

Jen: I love that I can wake up every day and create.. I can create what inspires me, what comes to mind. If I want to get up and make a bowl of smiley ice cream, that’s what I do and it makes me happy. More importantly I love hearing from site visitors, customers and friends that my art makes them smile… that’s the goal.

Dan: The penguin. Who is he? Where did he come from? Is it, indeed, a “he?” Tell me everything about that little character. He seems to play a large role in what you do.

Jen: [quoting]
“Born from the combination of quirky and cute mixed with an abundance of late night computer time, the penguin is a critter with a lot of character.

The Penguin is a continually growing collection of characters ranging from “Fishing Penguin” to “Bride Penguin” – a penguin personality for everyone.

The Penguin represents a variety of things to a variety of people, but in a nutshell… whatever or whomever you want the penguin to be.

WHAT IS THE PENGUIN?

The Penguin is any gender.
The Penguin has no specific ethnicity nor racial ties.
The Penguin is who you think it should be.
The Penguin is what you love and what you love to do.”

I can’t tell you EVERYTHING… He too is still evolving. I say “he” yet some versions are she.. He plays a major role because he seems to be the most recognizable to everything and I don’t love my version of the monkey as much yet… not to mention the cow doesn’t wear clothes.

Drawn in illustrator, my approach was the same type of character, in a looser style. The penguin was created because I didn’t have one yet in my animals shop but originally looked like this.

Then this.

…and then. I prefer this egg shaped body because it’s quirky and fun to draw around… and his expression still makes me laugh.

Dan: You have a clever and strong marketing approach with the penguin – including photos of him/her traveling around the world. Was this a novelty that became a brilliant idea or did you set out to create this marketing move?

Jen: Both I think. A year or so ago I had an entire elaborate plan to introduce and make aware to the world, my penguin character. The original plan was a series of websites that merged into each other and only relied on the cartoon version. The plan never really evolved – I became pregnant with my 3rd child and didn’t want to be near a computer for months – I moved on to other things – clay figurines of the penguin, among other things.

Long story short, I ended up creating this little plushie penguin as an item to sell on etsy, but before I got that far, I went to a convention, took my sample penguin to show a friend (just for fun) and found myself taking pictures of people as I met them… turned into a great ice breaker and a fun game. It was so much fun I kept the idea going. Little known fact: I started the website for this traveling penguin while I was at the convention!

Dan: As a successful business woman and entrepreneur, what philosophies have you settled on that you feel make you successful? Have your philosophies changed since you began to where you are now?

Jen: I’ve always been a “go with the flow” kind of gal. I think this adaptability is the key to my own success in everything I do. I don’t fight how life happens. I do, however fight for what I want to happen. Sounds contradictory, but really… I set an end goal but I don’t put the plan/path to get there in concrete. Sometimes the path changes so much the end goal does too.. But I’m always striving for something. I change techniques or ideas or approaches bases on what I learn or how life moves along. Foremost I’ve always believed that you really do have to love what you do – you spend enough time in your life working, it better be something you love.

To add to that, just this year, santa put a fridge magnet in my stocking that sits on my fridge right now. It says “whatever you are, be a good one”. Hear, hear, I say!

Dan: Alright then… words of wisdom to others… what essential things would you like others to take with them, those who might be wanting to work from home, develop an online business (possibly using POD services) that would carry them through the challenges and hurdles? What were your most important lessons learned?

Jen: Believe in yourself. Your worst enemy, your worst critique and your worst competitor is yourself… so be good to yourself and you will get through. I also recommend using a little creativity in what it is you choose to do. If you want to work from home, you can – be creative in how you approach it. This doesn’t mean you have to be an artist or even a doodler. It means think outside of the box just enough to make your business different… unique… something others will remember beyond all the others out there.

As far as challenges, I don’t think there is one single set of challenges, but I do think that if you surround yourself with people that support you and resources that can help you, you can make it through any challenge. Don’t try to do everything all by yourself all the time. Known when to ask
for help and know when to let others help. This is a hard one for me as well.

Most importantly, know when you need to take a break and allow yourself to do so.

As far as my most important lessons… I’m still learning and I learned that pretty early on, but I still have to remind myself regularly.

Dan: Jen, I’d like to thank you immensely for the time you’ve taken to discuss what you do. Any final, parting thoughts?

Jen: Thank you again! Having to stop and really think about how I’ve gotten to where I am or what roads I’ve taken along the way is something I hadn’t done until now. I appreciate your asking and have thoroughly enjoyed this!

Just remember: love what you do and eventually what you do will turn around and love you right back.

Interview Copyright © 2008 by Daniel D. Mowry. All rights reserved.
May not be reproduced without permission.
Some material reproduced by permission of copyright owners.
All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

Don’t get caught using a screwdriver when you need the hammer. You have a full toolbox for a reason.

I performed my checklist:

1. Coffee? Check.
It’s a mild, Ipanema Bourbon from Brazil.

2. Breakfast? Check.
Whole wheat bagel and a Chocolate Myoplex. Mmmm.

3. Full moon? Nope. Check.
It’s daytime.

So, I’ve eliminated potential grumpiness as a possibility so I guess this qualifies as a legitimate and necessary rant. Wow, I finally get to rant on my own blog! Happy, happy, joy, joy!

I shall proceed.

Are some online POD users living in a bubble? I fear they are.

This isn’t the first time but it’s the most recent string of multiple times I’ve encountered fellow Print on Demand (POD) retail sellers missing out on opportunities because they didn’t think outside of their established bubble. In particular, the recent subject (but not the only one) was about a chance to sell a large, bulk order to an organization but it was not practical given the lack of cost-effectiveness in using a POD service. It was suggested that the POD company was at fault for not being cost-effective to make their opportunity worthwhile.

Print on Demand services have come a long way. They’ve come so far that practically any person can produce products for sale online without a modicum of talent, business acumen, or experience – and potentially make money. It also means that talented, experienced, and driven individuals can really do well if they learn to bring-to-bear their skills, too. In other words – anyone can try and succeed on an equal playing field and that’s unusual in many business models.

The problem is that POD’s can often give an illusion that business is easy and that everything should be able to be done within the scope of that one service. Granted, a great many things can be done within a single POD service: varied products, online ecommerce website, analytics, promotion, advertising, awareness, production, fulfillment out the shipping door, customer service, hand-holding, you name it.

That’s the thing – it’s too easy for inexperienced business people to get comfortable operating within this vast, convenient system. They forget (or never realize in the first place) that many businesses reach, grow, develop, spread, and expand – and I’m not talking about the POD service I’m talking about our business as the online seller.

The best example would have to be myself.

I began using a POD service because I wanted to print promotional items for my other business of the time. I wanted a few tshirts and coffee mugs – and maybe the odd mousepad to give away as promotional items and gifts to help spread the word of my business. In the end, for other reasons, I sold the first business and was excited at the prospect of using POD services to start another business – which I did.

However, over time, the fact that my origins are in physical, offline marketing and “pounding the pavement” I came to find business opportunities in the brick and mortar world. Actually, I came to find more and better opportunities than I did online – not that online hasn’t been good. It’s just that my tendency is to deal with people more than pixels… it’s just my default.

So, it wasn’t long before I had sales opportunities that couldn’t be handled through my online POD resources because the very things that made a POD so appealing were also the weak points for these other sales. Sometimes PODs are great because they help unfunded startups set up shop right away with no cost, no prior skill set, no experience, and still have a fighting chance of making money. However, PODs, in order to make that work, have to instead pad their prices on each sale to account for their initial expenses.

By contrast, established print companies are set up differently – on entirely different business models to be used for entirely different sales types: bulk.

When I first began getting orders for hundreds of shirts it was obvious from the start that a POD would be painfully low-profit due to the higher cost-per-unit and shipping expense. Bulk printing by a company that specializes in this was far, far more lucrative for me – but I was a newcomer and really wasn’t in a position to bargain my way out of the initial investment. So, I bit the bullet and used my credit card to pay the few hundred dollars to the printshop to complete my order and I also got them to agree to package and ship for me – not an unusual service these days and one I’m very glad to see offered. Yes, I made sure the group making the order (a 10 year class reunion committee) was contractually committed to the sale and that I also got a sample shirt first to sign-off on the final product before shipping.

I had already done the easy math to determine that the money I spent upfront would be justified because the due-date and payment-by dates were such that I’d only be “out” that money less than a month and it’d obviously bring me better profit than the cost-prohibitive POD alternative. These were details I worked out with the print company as well as the reunion committee before hand and I was sure I’d make my profit early on so my initial expenses wouldn’t be on my shoulder longer than a week or so (well before my monthly credit card payments were due).

It was all about using the right tool for the right job. In the end my business still provided the service and made the money, I took my profit, and a customer that found me got what they wanted. It was just a matter of not being tunnel-visioned and using available services that fit the job rather than trying to cram a square peg into a round hole with a POD service.

To this day I sell more bulk than I do single POD units. It also didn’t take long to establish a line of credit with my printshop because they knew I had paid upfront or on-time and established myself as a long-term customer. They were happy to work with me on a credit basis to allow me to keep my cash flow favorable knowing it meant I’d regularly use their service. This was another benefit of working with a service that operated under a different business model than a POD must.

I’ve since branched out when the need arises by using printers in Canada or England for the occasional non-US sales. I still must operate under pre-payment but that’s to be expected. I still make a profit in the end and eventually, I hope to improve my relationship with their services so I can begin operating with a modest line of credit or better payment terms.

It pains me to hear about lost-opportunities because someone didn’t think to find the right tool for the job or were, perhaps, afraid to step out of their comfort zone of familiarity.

We all would agree that a “successful” business is what we desire but successful often means it lives on a diet of not only perseverance and commitment but also expansion, branching, diversifying, adapting, and growing beyond single resources.

It’s with this that I hope I can help you further develop your success by sharing my experience (and of course answer any questions you might have). Success is a process of building and growing – not remaining static and confined.

Thanks to Mary for the heads-up.

Link to Spreadshirt announcement.