I’ve moved the site to a new server. I actually control the server now instead of using a hosting company. For those that are interested the box is running FreeBSD as the operating system. I’m using NGINX as the webserver in front of PHP-FPM. Overall the site should be much faster now. Further delving into the technical side the DNS for the site domain is now handled via DNS servers located around the world. I highly recommend DNS Made Easy if you’re looking for DNS hosting for a domain. I also switched to a different SSL certificate for added security (even though credit card processing is handled through Paypal).

I’m also working on doing a new layout for the store and blog although that’s a few weeks off. I’m still figuring out what the new layout should look like but I have some different ideas. If anyone experiences any glitches with the store just let me know.

It’s been a crazy couple of months. I ended up moving to a new place and let me tell you moving is never fun. Although on the plus side I now have a much better internet connection. I also ended up getting a new computer. It wasn’t really by choice though. I was relaxing late at night watching Breaking Bad Season 2 and all of a sudden my computer just totally shut down. I checked all the power cables and connections and couldn’t get it to start up again. I tried putting in a new power supply to no avail. It was a few years old though so it wasn’t really worth trying to fix it. So I just ended up going down to Fry’s the next day to pick up all the parts needed for a new computer build. Overall it went pretty smoothly and and I can now play the latest games with max video settings.

As far as the shirts go there is a new design up, Ozzy & Batman – The Dark Bite. This is a really funny design by Rodrigo Ferreira. Oh and speaking of Batman I highly recommend the game Arkham Asylum. Any way different shirt designs have been selling and I’ve been happy with the results. Especially since I haven’t spent much time promoting the site due to how busy I’ve been. But I’ll be ramping up publicity for the site.

So I actually got my t-shirts last week and they turned out great. You don’t really think about it but it takes a while to actually fold and bag about 200 t-shirts. Although part of that is the time I spend to inspect each shirt to make sure it’s up to my standards. A few are bound to have minor issues due to the nature of screen printing and I make sure that those get pulled out and won’t be sold. Not much else going on. I’m going to start ramping up publicity for the site shortly. I’m actually really nervous just because this is kind of the start. I know it’s going to take a while to get word out about the site but I plan to take my time and do things right. If you do find any of the shirts on the site funny spread the word! After all everyone loves a good offensive shirt that makes them do a double take and smile at the same time.

Nobody said this would be easy. It’s a rather long story that I won’t delve into too much. But basically when I received the shirts from the screen printer they had some problems. Some shirts had a color misaligned, there were blemishes in certain spots, things like that. The screen printer apologized profusely and agreed to reprint the shirts. Unfortunately when I got the reprints there were still some designs that had problems. This was rather surprising since the screen printer I used had a good reputation. I was really looking forward to getting the t-shirts and it was immensely disappointing to keep getting stuff that didn’t look right. These problems were totally unacceptable and I’m never going to skimp on quality. I had to box up all the shirts and UPS them all back to the screen printer so I could get my money back.  I had to pay for that out of my own pocket which sucked.

So while all this was going on I started looking for a new screen printer.  I contacted a lot of places and asked a lot of questions to make sure I found the right place. One screen printer that’s pretty close to where I am simply said “we won’t be doing business with your company” as soon as they saw some of the artwork I wanted printed.  I thought that was pretty funny. I guess some people lack a sense of humor.

I’m getting the shirts reprinted at another company right now.  I’ve talked to the owner directly and asked plenty of questions. I’m much more comfortable with this new screen printer. Unfortunately this has caused a major delay in being able to launch the site and start selling t-shirts. I should have the shirts in the next couple of weeks and then I can open the store.

On the plus side I’ll be offering the Bert & Ernie shirt in both brown and asphalt since I know some people aren’t big fans of brown t-shirts.

The UPS guy dropped something off today. I won’t say exactly what it is but I did have some problems getting these top secret items printed. The first place I found actually refused to print it because they classified it as pornography. It was pretty funny because after I submitted the artwork to the printer I got this email that just said “we cannot print this type of artwork” and to send another file that will be better. So I decided to call them to figure out what exactly the problem was. This really nice sounding woman answered the phone and I explained the situation. There was this long pause and then she goes that they can’t print this type of artwork since it’s pornography. I don’t really think it’s pornography but the whole ordeal was rather funny and it reminded me just how uptight people can be. It did end up working out for the best though since I was able to find a place that does better quality work. I’m pretty happy how the items turned out. Every person who orders a t-shirt will get one of these mystery items.

The whole incident actually gave me some motivation because although every company can refuse to print something I just found it totally ridiculous. With everything that goes on in the world I find it absurd that people would be so uptight about some risqué humor. That’s really what I’m fighting for with these t-shirts. It’s time to stand up and say, “hey dipshits enough is enough with this political correctness bullshit”. Don’t get all high and mighty it’s ok to laugh, it’s a joke. Some people may think these are just t-shirts but rich or poor t-shirts are there, everyone has one. It’s the ultimate form of free speech and the perfect medium to get jokes out there that can affect society. It’s time to let people know we’ve had enough of these people that get offended by everything and more importantly they aren’t the majority.

I’ve been working on tweaking the look of this blog. The blog is actually run with wordpress which is different than the store backend which means doing a totally separate theme template for the blog. It’s starting to look better but I have a few more things I need to change.

The screenprinter let me know that my t-shirts should be printing today or tomorrow at the latest. Apparently they have been backed up which is why it’s taken so long. I had hoped I would get the shirts this week but it looks like with how long shipping takes I won’t get them until next week. That’s a little bit of a bummer, but it does give me more time to continue to refine the site. From the website to the packaging I want people to see a quality product.

So I figured I would start a blog about not only getting things up and running but also the ongoing operations of this site. I run this thing all on my own. Things are getting much closer. I’ve been working on my to-do list and the vast majority of items are under the done column. Last week I went all over the place to get my business license, license for a fictitious business name, and resellers permit. Right now the main thing I’m waiting on is getting the actual t-shirts. I’m at the mercy of the screen printer but I’m hoping they will ship out soon. I really can’t wait to see how they turn out.

There are a ton of little things you have to worry about when starting up not only a business but also a store that’s going to ship products. I’ve got shelving for the t-shirts, a bunch of material for shipping the shirts, a label printer, and a scale. I’ve also been working on some top secret freebies to include with the shirts. If you order a shirt I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. My goal is that when someone get’s their t-shirt in the mail and opens up the package they should get a big smile on their face. I want it to be like Christmas.

Last Saturday I went to a family get together for Easter. This was the first time most of them had heard about me starting up a t-shirt business. For the most part the reaction I got was “that’s interesting”.  I’m pretty sure most of my family thought I was batshit insane once they saw the designs I was planning to sell. I really think they just don’t get it. It’s not really their sort of humor.

I’m very excited that things are getting so close but I also have that feeling of terror. What if absolutely nobody buys any of these t-shirts? I’ve gotten positive reaction from the people that have seen the designs for the most part but you never know. I’ve sunk a bunch of my own money into this with no real guarantee of anything. I’m having a ton of fun doing this though and I don’t have any regrets. It would be a dream if I could make any sort of money from doing this. Sometimes in life you have to push all your chips in and go for it all and that’s what I’ve done to get this up and running. It’s not often in life you get a chance to see a dream put into motion so even just working on getting this started has been a ton of fun.