Holy POP!

   I have been quite busy for the last month. My employer for the last ten years, "merged with another sign company*".  Part of this deal was my former bosses liquidating basically everything that wasn't nailed down in the old store (and some things that actually were literally nailed down), as the new owners already had everything they needed to run a productive sign company.  Our two wide format printers: gone.  Three 4'x8' work tables: gone.  Shelves, ladders, tools, everything.  Gone.  I won't say the last day was bittersweet, because there was nothing sweet about it.  I really loved that place, and I didn't want to leave on that last day.  Although it's only been two weeks, I still wish every morning on my way to work that I was going to work for Bill and Diane.

But that's not what this story is about.

Part of what was sold in the aforementioned liquidation was the plotter, all of the vinyl stock, and a computer with design software.  Yeah, that part was sold to me and my brother-in-law.  Actually, that very computer is what I'm using to type this right now, after a night of design and a little production work in my basement's former-band-room-turned-production-workshop.  We have started a business called POP! Graphics, and while things are not going nearly the way I expected them to, I couldn't be happier about the whole thing.

My idea was to, for lack of more sophisticated words, come up with silly car decals, find one or two that became amazingly popular, and sell a million of them (not unlike the "stick figure family" idea).  As my brother-in-law Andy became involved, he saw much different opportunities within the local athletic organizations.  Seems every kid's mom has one of those clear, plastic, screw-top tumblers.  Most of them have something cute on them - polka dots, an initial, something.  Well, what if all of these moms had tumblers with their son's football team logo on them?  What about their full name?  What about their son's name?  What if we could offer anything they want on these cups?  What if... what if we offered anything they want AND offered it for about half the price of the competition?  Hell, it's worth a try.

 We came up with the name and a logo.  We started a Facebook page (if you haven't already, go check it out at facebook.com/pop1graphics).  We ordered 100 tumblers.  We then made a few samples.  We (my sister-in-law, Kristen, really) took those samples to a football game, and the moms started noticing it and asking questions.  Then, just like that, the orders started coming in.  We have been talking with team mom coordinators and setting up fundraisers.  Word has started spreading in the "Football-Cheerleader-Baseball-Dance-Mom" circles.  In a week and two days, we have sold like 98 of the initial 100 tumblers, and our second shipment of 100 should be arriving by the end of the week. I knew we'd sell some of these things, but I am amazed at the rate we have been selling.

We're not getting rich off of this thing - far from it, actually (remember, we're selling these for half the price of the competition).  We still have our initial investment (the equipment from my former employer) to pay off before we actually can take any money from it.  However, at the rate we have grown over just this short period of time, it is exciting to see just how successful we can make this operation.  More than anything, though, I'm having a blast.  It's so much fun to have, for all intents and purposes, a sign shop in my basement.  During the day, I'm an employee for a local sign company.  But by night, I'm a small business owner and my own boss.  That has a nice ring to it.

And I'll eventually come up with my own personal "stick figure family".  It's just a matter of time...


*My bosses retired and sold the business - but not the actual assets (equipment, etc), just the customer base and design files.  Keeping the same customer base, the new boss wanted to keep the name as well.  Thing is, he wanted to keep his previous customers, so he kept his name, too.  It's really kind of confusing.  I now work for a company that has two interchangeable names.  It doesn't make much sense, and it confuses some of our older, slower customers.

Remembering

I was flipping through the iPod this morning, looking for something I could be in the mood for listening to on my way to work. I came across a band that Anthem used to play with years and years ago. The band was called In Stereo (and had previously been called Lights Out). I had one EP from each of the band's incarnations. I listened to each of them on the way in, and it threw me back in time about 9-10 years. I loved that band back then, and I still love the songs today, even though I'm sure the band is long gone.

It made me wonder if those guys had any idea that anyone still listens to their recordings and enjoys them. Then I wondered if anyone still listens to Anthem's music occasionally (other than actual members of Anthem, that is). My guess is probably not.

I stated a year or so ago that my only real regret with Anthem was not pushing more, playing more shows, trying to tour, etc. I believe I have changed my mind on that. My real regret is not having recorded as much as we could/should have. We have plenty of recordings, and they're certainly fun to listen to and be nostalgic. All of those recordings, however, are of a fairly poor quality and were done by beginners who were still learning the ropes.

That's one of the things I love about The Last Chucks. We record in a real studio with professional gear by someone who has enough experience to make the stuff sound awesome in the end. Granted, this costs money. Thankfully, this is money that does not come out of my pocket, because if that were the case, this would not be able to happen. To Mike, who pays the man, I am very grateful.

I just want to have something I can listen to in the future and pay attention to the song itself rather than the sound quality. Thankfully, with The Last Chucks, this is the case. Sadly, with Anthem, it is not. Maybe Jason (from Anthem - who, over the years, has become one of those aforementioned experienced studio guys) will get a wild hair one day and decide he wants some quality recordings of past Anthem songs, too. Maybe we'll get together just for fun and put something down. Maybe not. Who knows...

Oh, also it occurred to me this morning that Anthem has now been broken up for longer than we were together (more than 6 years).