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How Do I Do It?
People that know me are aware that I’m blessed/cursed with an insatiable curiosity with learning something new. I’m always reading a book, a blog, someone’s post or Twitter feed. Like a worker bee...
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Jumpstart Your Sales with QR Codes
Want to boost your company’s sales with an easy and value-add idea? Adding a QR code sales program just might be the ticket. Below I’ll give you a brief explanation of what the heck a QR code is,...
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Keys to Success – Building an Accurate Production Schedule
Hopefully your sales are at a point where your production schedule is crowded and full of orders to produce. As everyone knows, it’s pretty easy to prioritize work when there are fewer jobs to sort...
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Why a Sustainability Program Makes Economic Sense for Your Shop
I could easily write an article describing the myriad of ways that every apparel decorator can contribute to the “greening” of the industry. You can’t pick up a newspaper, magazine or watch a TV show...
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20 Biggest T-shirt Shop Mistakes & How to Avoid Them
I have over 25 years in the apparel decorating business, and I’ve seen a lot of challenges come and go. I’ve also heard my share of horror stories from other decorators from hanging out in trade...
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Don’t Be That Customer
Let’s face it, if you’ve had any sort of longevity in business you’ve probably had your share of really great, and also really bad clients. When we are sitting at our desk in the morning, with a fresh...
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12 Ways to Resolve Any T-shirt Shop Problem
One thing is clear in running a t-shirt shop is that there will always be a problem handed to you. Sometimes these challenges are something that you create. Sometimes these challenges are something...
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What is the Voice of the Customer for T-shirt Shops?
Let’s pretend that you have some sort of science fiction mental telepathy mind meld with your customers. (Uh, you mean you don’t already?) You can see and understand their every thought, just like...
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Shop Owners – Train Your Staff So That They Are Decision Makers
A frequent discussion I have with my consulting clients is that they spend an inordinate amount of time solving seemingly minor problems in their shop. You know the drill, there’s a problem on...
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Managing Your Shop Floor – First You Need Leaders
This time of year most t-shirt shops around the country are getting tested every day by a higher than normal percentage of new orders arriving. In our shop, we’re about 20%-30% above our historical...
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10 Tips to Getting Your Design Approved Faster
As designers we’ve all been there. You crank out design after design in a busy week, but a couple of your creations just don’t get approved by the clients quickly. Your production team needs to get...
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Sustainability Challenge – Embroidery Stabilizers
If you embroider apparel you are very familiar with this problem. After your machine has completed the run, the next step in production is to remove the excess embroidery stabilizer (or pellon,...
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The Future of T-shirt Printing – Magic Crystal 8 Ball Says Digital
Recently I had a conversation with someone regarding the future of the t-shirt printing industry during a shop tour of Visual Impressions. The whole digital vs. traditional for t-shirt printing is...
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The Difference Between Strategy and Tactics
One of the most apparent challenges that I see from my coaching seat is that for many shops, there is some confusion between Strategy and Tactics. The meaning of these words to some people are...
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Sharing Your Prized Seed Corn
Just what is prized seed corn? How can the concept of farming be comparable to the decorated apparel industry anyway? Here’s a parable: “There was an old farmer who grew exceptional quality corn. It...
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Are You Busy Being Busy Or Busy Being Profitable?
Quick question: Are you busy being busy or busy being profitable? It is a probing question that you should answer. Your goal for your business should be to maximize the profit as much as possible,...
View ArticleShirt Lab Rocks!
Shirt Lab Rocks! There. I said it. I’m a little biased because it was my baby. But about fifteen minutes before the official start time last Saturday I thought I was going to throw up. Those...
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What Is Your Truth?
One question for you about your business…what is your truth? Not what you tell yourself or hope to be. The real deal. Lately, I’ve been coming across many businesses in the decorated apparel industry...
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Jedi Mind Tricks for the Decorated Apparel Industry
Don’t you wish you could pull off some “Jedi Mind Tricks” in your shop? “Sorry, but these are not the stupid-low-prices you were looking for. You will happily pay double.” Believe it or not, you can...
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Together Is Better: Notes from ThreadX19
ThreadX19 in San Diego was a smashing success at generating an avalanche of ideas and networking opportunities for garment decorators. During the last three days, I asked many attendees, “Why are you...
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