I think part of the problem with blogging is convincing yourself you have something worth saying for public consumption. I'm not really convinced that I do most of the time - even when it's relevant to Row West. Anyway, since blogs are kind of pointless unless you update them regularly, I'll give rambling a try and see how that works.
So, the 1.5 man show continues here in the midst of Fall madness with crazy deadlines and requests for new gear. I've had to develop a women-specific quickdry shirt design which has been pretty successful overall - a close fit in the upper body and looser at the waist - kind of opposite to what I'm used to with the spandex designs. If I had a decent female mannequin, I would post a photo of it. Mannequins - let me tell you - the perfect one doesn't exist. Emaciated weird body types are all that's available. Apparently athletic mannequins (especially female ones) are in very low demand because the only ones I've ever seen are the roid-monster ones at Sport Chek. The only nice mannequins I've ever found are by La Rosa in Italy and I can't really afford to import those. A market with a missing product - I'd do it if I wasn't getting killed by lack of sleep from filling rush orders for rowing gear (not complaining - it's better than being unemployed, that's for sure).
Finding good help is hard but it's universal from what I hear from other small business owners. I'm friends with Andy, the owner of Vancouver Island Salt Company and after just a few months of employing helpers, he's got a bank of stories to curdle the blood of any entrepeneur. I really need two more people - a fast serger jockey and a fabric cutter who has the necessary skills of head-math, spacial strategizing, and manual dexterity with a cutting tool. Ideally; people who like the kind of media I have on while working too. But that's a tall order since, aside from mainstream tv, I like cartoons, documentaries, audiobooks, CBC radio podcasts and sci fi movies.
If I can ever get my workshop finished enough that it's not visually embarrassing, I'll give a photo tour of the madness here. It's kind of like someone put a sweatshop in the middle of the matrix.
Anyway - Chris Clay at Digital Bloom just finished a sweet website update for me so I'll be back to adding products in the wee hours when I'm needing a break from sewing.
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I was thinking what you need is ANOTHER person who also works for themselves etc. and you kind of help each other but then I realized that this is more work for you. Do you know what you really need: WOOFRs. Word organization of organic farmers. They work on your "organic farm" in exchange for room and board. Ok, so it's not an organic farm, but hardly any of them actually do this and the people are pretty cool. One of my buddies runs a B&B in Newfoundland and is staffed entirely by WOOFR people essentially working for free. A lot of them seem to be Japanese actually. Anyway, you know, just an idea man.
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