Follow Me @ Smart $ Guides.

Follow me @ Smart $ Guides.

The Loser’s Club from the movie “It.”

I’ve seen this film twice and I think it’s now my top favorite horror film ever. I couldn’t help but draw them. You can order a print here.

Find Your Hacks & Workarounds

No matter what type of business we are running or what goals we chase - we all face apparently insurmountable difficulties - as for example

building a user base for your app although there is no interaction yet,

having to postpone some to dos although they are all crucial and diligent,

finding investors without having finished that prototype yet

or hiring the great but still affordable talents that help you to get done all that work

…

The Dutch bicycle manufacturer VanMoof had such a problem as well:

They sell almost 90 percent of its bikes online.

But as they shipped the custom made bikes to customers, it found that they were often arriving severely damaged.

The damage reports were a major problem for the company because the street bikes that it manufactures are at the high-end of the market… But even with the best brand and great marketing you CANNOT WIN, if the products is delivered to the customer in bad shape or even in pieces…

But then the company came up with a genius solution - dropping shipping damage by over 70 percent!

What was the trick?

Printing a graphic of a flatscreen television on the side of the packaging box - making shippers think that they were transporting flatscreen televisions.

(Source: http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/25/13048668/vanmoof-shipping-damages-dutch-bicycle-design)

A highly effective but yet cheap way of fixing the problem and giving the business the push it needed…

Innovate like VanMoof!

Always look out for solutions like this - practical, easy to apply, affordable but effective. Dare to try new paths, unconventional solutions, be creative. Find your hacks and workarounds.

your m

How to Start Your Own Clothing Company

A clothing company can be a huge income source if you’ve got the right creative eye. It can take a lot of money to start a clothing store though, doesn’t it? Not just anyone can make one…

Wrong.

If you’re seriously looking to create a brand of clothing, there are some things that I had to learn the hard way that could benefit someone just starting out. Here they are.

1. Do your research on the feel of clothing you want to create. Brands like American Eagle and Vans have a target audience that they know and cater to. Figure out who your audience is and what they’re already wearing. Design like that. Designing clothes you yourself would wear is a really good place to start.

2. Use GIMP to start out with if you can’t afford good software for design. Start each image out with the appropriate dimensions for the graphic. This will cause some research on your end, make sure you write it down on a post it on your computer. Typically they’re about 12″x12″ and at least 150ppi… These things can be set right when you start a new document. Save as .pngs and you’ve just created a t-shirt graphic!

3. Sign up for Shopify.com (This will cost $30 a month but they don’t take your first-born if you start making bank, just $30. Other companies take a percentage.

4. Match the theme and look of your website to your brands feel. This will create a great legit company looking website.

5. In the app section, download the Printful app. This is a company in CA that prints your shirt out and ships it to your customer. This takes out you having to front $200 to get 30 shirts from Vistaprint, etc… No inventory… No risk for bad designs (other than bad designs)… You sell the shirt for $21, they charge you $11 and you keep $10. You can even change those prices as high or low as you want. I would suggest getting a sample sent to you, so you can see your graphics in person.

6. When an order comes in, the print place handles the print and ship part… They’ve never missed a shirt or order in the year we’ve used them for thisiswhattranslookslike.com – Though you do need to pay attention, if an address is incorrect they’ll email you.

7. Use the profits from this adventure to purchase shirts from discountmugs.com, they’re the cheapest place I could find online and they’re good quality. The profit margin is considerably higher if you sell a shirt for $21 that you only paid $3 for instead of Printful’s $11… You’ll have to do the shipping yourself, but it’ll help increase your profit to expand however you see fit.

You can also just maintain the one website without bringing in inventory. They do shirts and tanks and hoodies.

Good Luck! I hope when you’re up and running, you consider advertising in the magazine!

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birdnhand20

7 years ago

Follow me @ Smart $ Guides.

15 LIFE & BUSINESS LESSONS FROM CHINA'S RICHEST MAN - JACK MA

He is the recently named China’s richest man - the man who took Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce business, to the biggest IPO in US history. His name is Jack Ma.

There is something interesting about successful Chinese entrepreneurs and leaders. I always find them to be much deeper and more humble than their American counterparts. After reading several articles about Jack Ma, I particularly admire him for starting out as an English teacher earlier in his life with no technical background, but great foresight, ambition, and determination.

Here are the 15 Life and Business Lessons from Jack Ma (translated from Chinese to English).

Your attitude is more important than your capabilities. Similarly, your decision is more important than your capabilities.

You cannot unify everyone’s thoughts, but you can unify everyone through a common goal. Let your colleagues and employees work for a common goal.

A leader should never compare his technical skills with his employee’s. Your employee should have superior technical skills than you. However, a good leader should have more foresight, higher tenacity, and higher endurance for failure than his employees.

Giving up is the greatest failure.

Only fools use their mouth to speak. A smart man uses his brain. A wise man uses his heart.

The world will not remember what you say, but it will certainly not forget what you have done. Don’t make complaining or whining a habit.

Adopt and change before any major trends or changes.

Your attitude determines your altitude.

A great opportunity is often hard to be explained clearly. Things that can be explained clearly are often not the best opportunities.

“Free” is the most expensive word.

When starting a business, you must have the ability to see, the ability to understand what is going on, and the ability to keep up with the pace.

When you’re small, focus and use your brain instead of your physical strength.

If you have a different mindset, you will have a different outcome: if you make different choices from your peers, your life will then be different from your peers.

The most unreliable thing in this world is human relationships.

Starting your company means you will lose your stable income. But it also means your income will no longer be limited, you will use your time more effectively, and you will no longer need to beg for favours from people anymore.

< This article was originally published in Chinese and was translated into English. Please share if you find this helpful.>

Tags

success leadership mental toughness

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