Hiring new employees is probably the hardest thing any small business will ever do. Attracting the right employees and retaining them is as important if not more than attracting and retaining customers. These employees not only will be interacting with you and the rest of your staff, they will also be interacting with your customers and other stakeholders, so finding the right fit at all levels of jobs in your company is crucial. Yet, the act of hiring new employees is many times and after though and just something that is done when you absolutely need help. Here are a few tips:
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All-Over Dye Sublimation – Why, How and What
As a relative newbie in the garment decorating industry (only 16 years so far) I find that sometimes discussing decoration with the veterans (old guys as my friend Terry Combs, who is an old guy, likes to say) can be an interesting conversation. Many are hardcore screen printing or some will even dip their toe … Read more
Dealing with those Pesky Transfer Lines
There are tons of great benefits of working with sublimation and 100% polyester garments things like moisture wicking, durability, soft hand, and beautifully bright, vibrant colors are just a few of them. Unfortunately, there is also a little drawback: those little transfer lines can ruin a perfectly good sublimation shirt.
Fortunately, several steps can be used to eliminate those transfer lines, and typically some combination of the steps or using all of them combined will solve this issue. You need to test to see what method or methods will work best for you and your setup. There is no magic button as there are several variables in this, like the type of shirt, your heat-press, the pressure and temperature used, and other issues that could be causing the transfer lines.
Sales Tip – Basing your sales call goals on getting told NO!
So you have read the title of this blog and you must be thinking I have lost my mind, but this is not a new sales tip. Throughout my career in sales and marketing, I have heard this strategy in several different variations. I am not sure who originally coined it and definitely not taking credit for its invention, but I think it is very beneficial technique to generate business. Personally, I compare this approach to a similar strategy for playing Blackjack. Side note, I’m a horrible Blackjack player and seem to be the guy who can have a 20 with the dealer showing a 6 and inevitably the dealer will pull a 5 card for 21! But…I am not crazy; this really is a good sales tip. I have heard it from other professionals and it makes sense.
Heat Printing Types
I get to attend dozens of trade show every year. At these shows I learn something new each time, but I also notice that for the 17 years I have been attending our industry trade events most people have some of the same questions, just worded a different way. Many of the people attending are new to our heat printing industry. One of the biggest questions that I get from those folks is what are the best heat printing types to use for printing garments? The answer to this questions can be a bit of a challenge as there is not one magic bullet set-up that is going to decorate all types and colors of garment. Each process has its pros and cons. I typically answer that question by asking them what their target market is and going from there. Since this is a blog and starts out as a one sided conversation I figured the best way to answer that question would be to give you a brief rundown of the 5 main heat printing types.
Success in Apparel Sublimation
One of the real areas for Success in Apparel Sublimation is in the value proposition. Like it or not, polyester is here to stay, and the ability to sell a polyester garment at a premium draws most people to sublimation for apparel decoration.
Success in Apparel Sublimation
One of the real areas for Success in Apparel Sublimation is in the value proposition. Like it or not, polyester is here to stay, and the ability to sell a polyester garment at a premium draws most people to sublimation for apparel decoration.
Digital Transfers onto Performance Fabrics
When I was primarily involved with screen printing and direct-to-garment printing, I was a huge proponent of 100% cotton t-shirts. I didn’t think I could ever come to love those polyester shirts. But due to companies like Vapor Apparel, Under Armor, and others, polyester performance wear has started to take hold of me. Now that my days are filled with sublimation inks and vinyl, instead of pretreatment and plastisol, I have been exposed to so much more polyester fabric that I almost feel like I nearly missed the boat. Using digital transfers on performance fabrics is a broad subject, so let’s start by talking about some of the many types of garments that are polyester based and the types of material you can use to decorate those items.
Email Etiquette
Emails have been a topic of conversation at the office recently. We use emails for internal and external communication on several different levels. For example during the week of May 11th, my stats are as follows:
An average of 200 received emails and 50 sent emails a day just for me! Given the large quantity of information in a short period of time, I thought it would be a good idea to share some tips gathered from several Internet resources to help us all make the most of email as a business tool in today’s society. Please note, that the resources I referred to below are referenced at the end of this blog.
Top 3 Things Every Small Business Must Do
When talking to people about how things are going in their business, I have discovered some common tasks. People who have successful businesses are doing certain things on a regular basis that appear to be similar. Also, it seems those who are struggling are not doing these things. In addition, I have noticed that sometimes … Read more