introspective

I haven't been writing much as I have had to really concentrate on my design business. Luckily it is busy. I feel like I'm at a turning point with my design firm. I could grow bigger, get employees, etc. or try to move it more into a specialized niche.
I really don't see growing it, just because I don't want to. I'm not a manager type. I don't really have a "vision" for my company. It is just what I do, and a lot of people like it and are willing to pay.

So, if I specialize- what industry? Wine and food makes sense since I already have a lot of clients in that area and I enjoy it. But I love my real estate client. And there is a potential new client that is more in the financial area who I would not be able to take. I think there is more money in other sectors.

I would love to get my business more streamlined so I can go back to focusing on shirts. I plan to do stationery. I think that would be really fun and I can do different breeds.

I am fairly amused by the amount of people who find this blog by googling "say no to pugs" or "I hate pugs". Oops, that probably will get me even more hits. I wish more people typed "cute pug tees".

Okay, well for friends and family: kids and I are off to the beach for a few days. J is stuck doing house repairs. And taking care of our diabetic cat. He has nearly died 3 times recently.

I don't think I've had a good night sleep in at least 3 days. The neighbor's dog barks all night. Then I wake up at 4:30am and can't go back to sleep. Kids don't go to bed until 11pm! It has been rough, and I have to get it sorted out since starting next week kids have to be out the door by 7:45am (roughly the time they wake up now).
Happy Fourth of July weekend!

Sidenote (don't read unless you have a strong stomach).

This doesn't have anything to do with pugs, or business. You have been warned.

When you are waiting with your 2 kids in the doctor's waiting room and your almost 4 year old daughter says she smells poop, you might want to investigate. For some reason it didn't register, and when the nurse called us back right after that, I totally forgot until an odor wafted up to me as my 2 year old was being weighed. Then I saw the glob of poop on the floor. Panic set in. The nurse left me alone to deal with it armed only with some tiny alcohol wipes, a diaper I mooched off her, and a red bio hazard bag. She stuck her head in awhile later. Leaving again after giving me some more tiny wipes, another larger bag, and an extra drape for the examining bed.
The visit itself was uneventful except for the awful smell permeating the office. The doctor was nice about it, but said G might be sick the smell was so bad.

We left and had to do the walk of shame, I was carrying the bio hazard bag in one hand, and my naked-except-for-a-diaper boy's hand in the other. Yeah, I always take my kid out in public dressed only in a diaper.

The clothes, unfortunately, were not salvaged and went to the garbage with everything else. I felt bad about it, I really did. But, I couldn't feel bad enough to wash them. And believe me, I have washed a lot of poopy clothes.

Moral of the story: bring a diaper bag with you at all times, even with the "potty-trained" older child. Um, and listen to your kids when they say they smell something.

Weekend at the beach- and doggie ringers!

We had a fun weekend in Cannon Beach. It was Sandcastle Weekend. I decided to dress Shayna in the pink princess doggie ringer tee. Now, I am being modest here, I was amazed at all the comments she got wearing that tee. I kept hearing comments about the pink shirt, princess... If you want your dog to get a lot of attention-even more than usual- just dress them up. I could say it was the ringer, and maybe it was, or maybe it was just a dog wearing a shirt.
Shayna was looking good.

Anyway, the weather was not really THAT warm mostly because of the wind, but of course there were a few people in bikinis strolling along like it was Hawaii. I just don't get it, and find it endlessly amusing to see the older people bundled up in their coats and hats while the younger ones are practically naked.

The kids flew kites for the first time. Luckily they did not blow away, weighing only 25 and 34 pounds each. Wow, it's been a long time since I saw that number.

If anyone is interested in the new doggie shirts, there aren't very many but we have them in both Medium and Large sizes. Medium will really only fit puppies and smaller pugs. For now, they will only be available at my etsy store. http://shaynashirts.etsy.com

pugs and what else?

I am working on a new website to replace conenbeach, it will be saybone. I don't think I should limit my designs to pugs since I really would like to expand my market. I draw pugs because I like them and 'understand" them. I will try to draw other breeds, but without having any extended contact with the dogs, I wonder if I can capture their personality.

I will set up a poll on the new site, or if you'd care to comment, what new dog designs would you like me to do? I am thinking poodle, dachsund, chiuhaha (sp?) and maybe scottie or westie. I love labradors and retrievers, etc, I just don't think their owners are as into wearing clothes with their dogs on them.

Why is it that you can make a cute tee with a monkey on it and anyone will buy it, but when you put a pug on it, it has less general appeal? Too specific? I am afraid to start tailoring my designs too much for what I think people will buy, and want to just do what I like and hope my instincts are good.

Yeah, it's Friday!

There is not much to say about pug stuff. I had to take a break from it this week and focus on my design business.
This weekend we will be at home with no big plans for the first time in a long time. It is Rose Festival weekend with a big parade that we have yet to go to even though we've lived here almost 7 years.
Going places with two young kids is just not always as fun as you think it might be.

Next weekend will be busy with Sandcastle Weekend at the beach, my baby turning two and Father's Day.

Sorry there is no new pug-related information to share at this time (large doggie ringers due next week), check back in soon!

Not sure what to say

Some days I have my doubts about this business. It is just so hard to start something new when I am already 110% busy with my design business and family. Some days I just really want to get a nice highly paid job somewhere. I think I still could get that.
The only thing that keeps me motivated is that if I keep working on this, I won't always have to be doing what I am doing. I just don't know anymore.

There are just a lot of issues. I guess if it was easy, everyone would do it. Blah.

Introducing...

Voila the new logo/name! The new company name is Say Bone. That is the pronounciation for c'est bon, and means It's Good. Not sure about colors yet.

I guess I am making some progress, although I almost called this post "spinning my wheels". I visited my favorite pug Shayna in Cannon Beach yesterday. There was a terrifying 15 minutes or so on the beach where we thought we'd lost her. She doesn't like to walk in the rain, or very far (she is a true princess pug), so she headed off on her own to shelter. I took soem photos of her but had some trouble- worked best when she was bribed with food of course.

I will try not to focus on all that I feel needs to be done, and instead look at the good parts. I've had some sales of C'est Bon on Etsy which bodes well for the shirt's popularity. Etsy people have good taste generally. (-:
I have plans to do some networking with other people in the business. I have to really make an effort to do this since I work from home. It is so important to get out there and meet people.

I changed my comments setting so anyone can comment. Hint.

um, hello?

I am not sure anyone is reading this anyway so I will keep it boring for now. But, if there IS someone reading- stay tuned, you never know when something interesting may happen.

I did the things on my list today. Plus, I checked my cafe press store and saw that I have sold 4 black pug designs and 2 PJ pugs. So, the black pug will be on a list to be printed eventually. If you have a black pug and like the design, let me know and I can contact you when it happens.

I really want this idea to work, I have loved design all 15 or so years I have been doing it. But, I am getting tired of it. And tired of always trying to figure out what someone else wants, looking for new work, not taking vacations. I am really ready to do something different, yet still creative. We have to come up with our life goals for the business class I am taking. I am still working on mine but I am pretty sure it involves creating a business that would allow me to be creative, work remotely (travel sometimes), and create enough income to be able to travel, pay for kid's college...I might even dream big: dental insurance.

List for tommorow:
Design logo and start website design

Biz Progress

This is another boring progress report I do mostly just for me.

I think I came up with a name for the business! No, artsy pugsy is not it. Did you realize that would mean pug=fart? No way.
I will wait to reveal it until tomorrow or a bit later. I may have been a little too tired when I fell in love with it. Whatever. I reserved the domain since I felt strongly about it. Yeah, I'll be out a whole $9 if my instincts were wrong.

The other small step forward I made was to partially update the design for the conenbeach site with the new shirts- but don't all make a mad dash over there quite yet. I need our kind and wonderful (hint hint) webmaster to implement the changes I made first.

Tomorrow: Update etsy site and tell Screenprinter that princess colors need to be adjusted.
That's it. Boring. I'm a bit fried.

By the way, I'm a little bit obsessed with my pug shirts and it is scaring me a little. Either it means this is what I should be doing, or ?