Business Blues

Business Blues

Blue is my favorite color and I didn’t even consider having my artwork put on a blue bag… my little sister Pooh suggested it and I’m glad she did, same story with the pink and purple bags. I know people like different colors- but I didn’t think to give more variety until it was suggested (At first I randomly picked the colors red, yellow and black). Thank you lil sisters Pooh and Tise and my girl Cleopatra for helping me expand my vision. Thanks to you guys there’s almost a whole rainbow of #BlackArtisans tote bags being carried!

#ReadTheFinePrint #Spoilage

Ok, so I’ve become somewhat of a stickler for reading fine print. After a few issues with failing to do this and realizing that if I had just read the fine print not only would I be informed on what I signed up for – but on a few occasions I probably wouldn’t have signed up for it! So I have made this a habit- BUT- I now know that I need to take things a step (or two…or more) further. That I must really understand the fine print beyond what the words are saying, I have to understand what they mean. So- case in point- I’m new to putting my artwork on tote bags- this is a brand spanking new experience for me. I know very little about screen-printing and before recently I knew ZERO about spoilage- WTF is that right? Well I guessed it meant anything ruined – well I got a real life example of what spoilage is all about. I show up at my local printer to pick-up my order- my brand spanking new totes – fresh from the printer – I don’t take the box, wave my thank you and roll out- no, I stand there, ask the printer to open the neatly taped up- perfectly intact box for me- she whips out her box cutter without question, we exchange a quick glance- and I gave my thanks once more. I pull out the tote on top, its black, looks go… I start to dig for my new colors (the hot pink, the navy blue, the purple). I’m happy, they look great, the colors are vibrant, the print job is on point. The something strange happens, I pick through my bags again, something’s missing. I start to count, ummm…. Ok….. I’m still digging…. I pull out the rest of the black totes (which is like 80% of the order) and no more purple in the box. So here I am staring at a few purple bags- I’m thinking to myself WTF, Seriously… where’s the rest of my bags? Well, the printer tells me she doesn’t know, that she will call the office manager over, here she comes, walking toward me- the explanation? Spoilage-

I ask, "Can you just reprint them?"
Her answer – "No, we don’t re-print for such a small amount, we will credit them back you."

Inside I was screaming, I was mad as hell, hurt, confused, I felt --- ahhhhhh I don’t even have the words. I have people looking forward to their bags, I was looking forward to delivering them, what was I supposed to tell my loyal customers? Half of these people pre-ordered and had been patiently waiting for weeks. All I could do was take my bags and leave. I had been presented with a new lesson.

I know there are many more lessons to come and I will take them in stride. Not stop. Not be defeated but take the lesson, learn from it and continue to move forward regardless.