Set up my screen printing shop.

Just figured I’d mention on this goal, that I am not giving up on this. I know I haven’t mentioned much about it in a while… but believe my it’s still in my thoughts and I am working towards it, just more gradually than I expected. I feel like God is showing me pieces of His plan and this is one of those pieces, but I don’t think it is time for this piece quite yet. So I am waiting for His timing, and in the meanwhile, still working gradually towards this and some of the other things He is showing me.

Just wanted to make a note on here since I haven’t mentioned anything on it in a while.

Well, since I started working two jobs, I’m going to have more money coming in(which obviously was the point in the first place). So, what I’ve started doing is trying to gradually gather some of the tools/parts/etc that I’ll need when it comes time to build my equipment(while also setting a bit aside towards getting the next design printed).

I went early this morning for an application and interview.

They gave me a few tests to see what I would be good at(it’s a call center and they’ve got a few different campaigns but the one they’re really wanting to higher people for is tech support). It was interesting to see the looks on their faces when they saw the scores lol, I had nearly 4 times the required typing speed, about 1.5 times the required accuracy, and scored 100% on the tech support test. The guy doing the interview later looked at the scores as I walked in and then looked up and said… “I guess you’ve dealt with computers before then?” Unable to resist, I responded, “Once or twice…”

Anyway, the point is I think they would’ve stuck me out there to start working today if it wasn’t for the fact that I have to be interviewed by the company I’ll be doing tech support for and then I’ll have to go through a training class that starts on the 27th of this month.

That also means I’ve got a couple weeks to get my schedule worked out at my other job so that the hours don’t conflict. As much as I’m dreading talking on the phone all day(and I have to dress up to do it, how stupid is that?), it will probably be nice to have a set schedule for once.

I think from this point I’m going to (tentatively) say I’d like to quit both jobs by April 1st. I could actually probably quit sooner and just borrow more money… and that’s really tempting, but I think in this case it may be better to err on the side of caution and just save as much as I can by then.

Hopefully by that point, I’ll also have 2 or maybe 3 more designs for sale. I would love to do more, but each design I get printed up cuts into my savings that much, and I think until I get my shop completely set up, that is going to have to be the balance between making sure I’ve got new designs available and saving as much as possible. Plus, once I get completely set up, I’ll have more control over the quality of the prints and I won’t necessarily have to print a whole bunch at a time as long as I was printing enough to make it worth my time setting up and cleaning up. So with that in mind, the less inventory I have when I start printing, the better, because the less I have, the sooner I can start selling ones I’ve printed myself(and besides all the QC stuff, it will also cut out the profit I’m giving to that pesky middle man).

Anyway, my mind is now wandering on tangents too detailed to type out here, so that’s enough rambling for now I guess.

I’m very seriously considering getting a second job for a while. What does this have to do with screen printing? Well, I’m able to put some money back from each paycheck at my current job to go towards buying the stuff I’ll need for this goal. While it is a fairly large chunk out of each check that I’m able to save, it’s just not that much compared to how much I’ll need. Sure I’d get there eventually at my current rate, but I’d like to throw it in the fast lane. I figure since I can easily live off of my current pay and even put some back from that, then pretty much the whole check from the second job would be going into savings. That would definitely speed it up a LOT and would make my goal of setting things up fairly early in 2008 more realistic. I spend a lot of time sitting in my apartment planning and replanning things that’s all well and good, but I’m getting restless and spend too much time doing this. When I try doing other stuff in my spare time I get sidetracked and somehow my thoughts keep ending up back on this.

And of course since I can’t leave you without a bit of irony, the job I think it’s most likely I’d end up taking as my second job would involve me sitting there talking on the phone all day… That’s actually the reason I didn’t take that job over Walmart when I first moved here. I’m pretty sure they pay better hourly wages and also a commission on any sales, so maybe I can suck it up for a few months until I can quit both jobs and start with the fun stuff.

Also since my last post on this goal, I’ve decided that I can actually build more of my equipment than what I was thinking at the time of that post… and the bulb in question is more likely to end up being metal halide than mercury vapor… but that wasn’t really the point(and either one would work).

The mercury vapor light bulb that is. I’ve been doing a lot of research and I’m fairly certain I can actually build some of the equipment I’ll need(more specifically a couple of the things I’ll need in my dark room). One of the things I think I can build is an exposure unit(it’s used to make the stencils on the screens) I think for the same price, maybe even a little less, as what I would be paying for a pre-made one, I can build one with a higher quality lamp that would be able to do some finer detailed work and also save some time by doing the screens faster. It probably wouldn’t look quite as nice, but functionally I actually think I could make one better for less cost. I’m pretty confident in my handy-man abilities, so I don’t think the actual construction of it will be a problem(i.e. if I had the tools and materials needed and devoted a day to building it, I don’t think there’d be any problem getting it done).

On another note, I figured I’d add this goal since my “start an online store” goal is completed now and this is the next huge half(even huger than the last half).