The Bubucheek Story: Lesson Learned

Almost 5 years ago to the day my partners and I decided to shut down our company, Bubucheek Clothing. For those who followed the brand closely over the 6 years we were in operation thank you! Seriously. Thank YOU! For those who did not, I’m not upset, just disappointed I would like to provide a brief history of how Bubucheek started, the successes, failures, and the lessons I learned from my experience of running a small t-shirt business.

TLDR; If you put in part-time effort, you get part-time results.

Chapter One: It all began…

In 2008, I was working late at my full-time graphic design job in Cambridge, MA and my Blackberry® rang. It was my childhood friend, Austin. He had found my business card, knowing I was an illustrator, and asked me if I ever thought of printing my illustrations on t-shirts. At that point I had a lot on going on. I was working full-time for a culinary marketing firm, I was teaching design at my alma mater, and also freelancing on the side as a web designer. But, the promise of starting something new—something that was my own—especially one where my illustrations would be printed on t-shirts was incredibly appealing to me. When he asked if I’d like to start a company my response was a nonchalant, “…sure.” I didn’t want to sound too eager, but inside I was like, “Hells-to-the-Yeah!”

Chapter Two: Jump right in

A few weeks later we were printing shirts in my attic and I think we both realized we were missing something. The next serious conversation Austin and I had was about bringing on another partner, Austin’s friend Rich. Austin and Rich played baseball together for the Nashua Pride and won an Atlantic League Championship together (all while talking about “fresh kicks” and fashion). Rich was still playing ball for the Maryland Blue Crabs and residing in Florida, while Austin was running a baseball training facility in New Hampshire, but the two kept in touch. Rich was a natural salesman. I liked to say he was “The Mouth from the South” because he lived in Florida and proudly spoke with a bravado akin to his Italian-American roots. Austin and I knew we were admittedly missing that killer-instinct-salesman we needed to be successful. So we invited Rich to join the team.

Austin exuded a laid-back persona with sparks of greatness. He had a knack for operations. I had, with my graphics background, the production design skills and a general aptitude of the printing world that we needed to print shirts. So, with our combined qualities—Rich’s salesmanship, Austin’s managerial mindset, and my technical ability—you had Bubucheek.

Honestly, it felt like the 3 of us completed each others sentences in the early days. A triad destined for success.

From the very beginning, as is always the case, we believed this company would be a huge! We knew we had something special—and we would spend the next 6 years homing in on what our “special sauce” was. Even the naming process, as I recall, was easy. Austin said he thought of the name one day on a park bench. He just said “Bubucheek” and it felt right to us. I even scribbled it on a piece of paper and it looked cool to me.

Graphically speaking, those double E’s ending with a strong K looked great to me. I was down. To be honest, I was still consumed with the thought: “My illustrations will be seen on clothing that everybody is going to wear. How cool is that?!”

Chapter Three: Brainstorm & Create

The 3 of us talked almost daily via Google Hangout and 3-way conference calls. Rich knew how to setup the conference calls on his phone—somehow no one else could figure it out—so he would initiate them. We would spend hours defining the company, talking logistics, design ideas, and of course legal ramifications once we struck it BIG! That was truly the best part: brainstorming and creating new ideas. However, that is always the best part, especially if you’re at a startup working with friends and there are no investors, very little capital required, and not to many eyeballs on it yet. You can call it whatever you want. You can spend as much time defining it as you want. You can go back and forth on the merit of this idea vs. that idea until you’re red in the face. Once you factor in time and money, and more eyeballs, all of that changes.

We defined Bubucheek as 1.) a Northeast slang term for someone who is beautiful. e.g., Damn, that girl is bubu. or He’s a good lookin’ cheek. The definition would evolve over time to stand for self-confidence and positivity.

Before 2008 was over, we had received our first printed t-shirt samples. “Bubucheek 100% Creative Clothing” was emblazoned across the chest on these incredibly soft cotton tees. We had also begun the process of trademarking our logo and registering as an LLC in the state of Florida. Oh, oh! And, we had our domain parked on the world wide web proudly stating, “Coming Soon.”

Chapter Four: It’s alive!

By 2009, we began selling our tees for men and women. We held events (BubuBash I and BubuBash II) to get the word out and officially launched our online shop (bubucheek.com). We started small selling limited runs of t-shirts. We tried following fashion trends early on and even began to understand what it takes to run a company—more specifically, one that sells clothes.

Our first and second run sold out quickly. Quicker than we expected, actually. The success we talked and dreamed about felt like it was happening …albeit on a very, very small scale.

Chapter Five: By the numbers

That first year we were doing 100-piece orders. At $20/shirt that is $2,000. Doing some back-of-the-napkin math: 2 runs/year = $4,000 in gross revenue. You would think that we be enough to turn a profit or at least end up with a few hundred bucks at the end of each run, but I was shocked that wasn’t the case.

Early on the three of us agreed that any profits would be reinvested into the company in order to fund inventory of the next release leading to bigger and bigger orders. Our largest single order was around 350 pieces for the fall/winter run in 2012—this was the height of our popularity.

Even with 350 piece orders, including hats, tees, scarfs, beanies, shirts and hoodies we only turned a profit once. In 6 years of operating the business, we only made money one time. It was in our 5th year. We each claimed $333 per partner. Now, if I were to tell myself in 2009 what I knew in 2014 I might not have invested the same amount of personal time, anguish, energy, sleepless nights, painstaking tweaks to individual vector points in Illustrator for an additional $333 of income.

That said, I’d probably do it again (with a few less painstaking nights) because I learned so many valuable lessons along the way.

Perhaps one important thing that I failed to mention before looking back—and this is very important—I was not, nor ever considered myself to be, in the t-shirt business for the money (See above: I just wanted to see my illustrations on t-shirts). It never seemed realistic to think that we’d sellout to a large department store for millions of dollars. It was a hope, but it wasn’t a goal for me. Critically speaking, we weren’t that well organized, nor did we have the infrastructure in place required for an acquisition like that. In reality, we were just 3 young guys who were dreamers and knew this was a labor of love. We also knew it was a fun way to learn how to run a small business. We focused on the positivity as much as we could and the buzz we generated from run-to-run with our dedicated and loyal fan base. (See “Bubu Celebrities”: Omar Vizquel, Vince Wilfork, Chris Meyers, Gio Gonzalez, Chaise Candie, among others.)

Chapter Six: What it meant to me

To me Bubucheek wasn’t a “hot chick” or “slang term.” It was my favorite shirt. When I see it in my drawer or take it out of the dryer I get excited to wear it because I know if I put it on I’ll have a good day. Alternatively, as a superstitious person, I still wear my Bubucheek tee to ensure I’ll have a good day. It is my sartorial good luck charm.

Seeing it in my drawer is like an epiphany or the sunbeam that serendipitously pokes through the clouds of your mind palace, you know? Too deep? Okay :)

To put it another way, the many learnings over the years and few successes we experienced as small business owners is most acutely apparent in the comfort and goodness of the product, the heartful messaging we put out into the world, and what it meant to our customers. Our graphic tees and hoodies were incredibly soft, printed on quality ringspun cotton, made mostly* in America.

*mostly, refers to the legalese we sifted through on our suppliers website to make sure we weren’t supporting nefarious suppliers.

Chapter Seven: How it worked

One of the most interesting and complex parts of Bubucheek was that we ran it like the band The Postal Service whereby Austin was in NH, Rich was in FL, and I was in MA. So everything from brainstorming ideas, to forecasting runs, to deciding on the designs, and even planning our events, was all done over the phone, via Google hangouts, or by snail mail.

From 2009–2014 we saw our business grow and shrink proportional to our collective level of interest. It was a direct reflection of the amount of time we each invested. As each of us got pulled away to our respective full-time commitments, jobs, etc. Bubucheek would struggle. This observation became painfully obvious toward the end—it became one of the biggest lessons to me.

The writing was on the walls. After 6 years we realized that in order to run a successful business you have to be 100% committed to it. Since Bubucheek shuttered it’s online doors I have started other businesses and the same holds true: If you put in part-time commitment, you get part-time results. There might be minor successes along the way, but those successes evaporate as quickly as they emerges. Perhaps Sir Paul McCartney said it best, when he said:

The more you give, the more you get.

Chapter Eight: The End

After Christmas 2014, we decided to shut down the online store. We let the domain name slip away. We divided up the remaining inventory and started paying down our remaining debt from the 6-year venture. At the time, I felt relief. I thought to myself, “Finally, I can do what I want now!” Bubucheek had become a model for how NOT to run a business, and I vowed to do it right the next time.

That “next time” came shortly thereafter in 2015, in the form of a graphic journalism-focused climate change company. This time, similar to the founding story of Bubucheek, the partners and I had deep connections and a voracious enthusiasm for the core idea—the why. However, unlike Bubucheek, everyone knew what it would take to make this specific type of startup work Day 1!

It did not. In fact, it didn’t even last 2 years. Again, the biggest lesson held true, not everyone was able to dedicate their full effort to the project. And it folded.

Chapter Nine: In Closing

There is a silver lining though. It would be silly to think that a lack of dedication is the only reason my two attempts at creating successful co-founded ventures folded. Rather, I view it as a barometer of long term success. If you are honest with yourself and can realize early on what level you are willing to give to this project then the chances you will be rewarded with lasting, lucrative happiness is much higher.

Nowadays I’m content to work a one company, full-time. I have a wife, and a child on the way. I’m not 26 years old. I’m 36. Though I take illustration commissions outside of my full-time job I ask myself before committing to those side jobs if can dedicate my full energy to it? More importantly, will I be able to dedicate the time it requires of me? This simple reframing has allowed greater focus on higher quality work and the ability to deliver a better product to my clients, colleagues, and friends I work with. There is also the added benefit of being able to share these lessons, and others like it, with young designers and other creative professionals.

Epilogue: One last thing

I still get comments about my Bubucheek tees. When I wear them people still say, “Oh, that’s a cool shirt!” and then I think to myself, “…maybe it was all worth $333 …maybe?”

This was a story about my attempts to create successful part-time businesses. Thanks for reading and if you’d like to work together, let’s talk.

[Archives] A drawing of Sara

[This story is from a few years back …but had to dig it out of the archives. Enjoy.]

A drawing of my wife — We have been married for just over a year now and she had been bugging me to draw her, and (shame on me) and I had not. Recently though I got the chance. Procrastinating on another project I came across the perfect photo of her outside Harvard Square with me. I grabbed my sketchbook, sharpened my Derwent and started scribbling.

A half-hour went by and I got this odd feeling, you know, that funny one you can’t help but feel uneasy about. Creative folks experience this when they are in the zone. It’s that feeling of pride! I immediately tried to ignore it, but couldn’t.

“I’m only halfway complete, you can’t feel that now,” I said to myself. But as I sketched, the lines of her hair turned the portrait into not just a drawing that resembled a female, but someone who looked just about like my wife!

I put my pencil down and began snapping Instagram photos so I could share the drawing with the world…and my wife because she was sleeping. I even left my sketchbook open near her desk. She woke up in the morning and didn’t say anything about the portrait. A few weeks went by. Then, just this weekend she turned to me and said, “Why don’t you draw me anymore?”

The Breakfast Sandwich—Why?! Have you had one lately?

Okay, perhaps this object stretches the bounds of what most consider worthy of high art or beautiful design praise, but the breakfast sandwich, when compiled correctly, is a thing of beauty. Even the great Bauhausian professor László Moholy-Nagy would attest (Google it).

Breaking it down: 2 eggs smothered in melted cheese topped with your choice of meat (vegan or otherwise) with a tomato (and sometimes an avocado) between an English muffin is not only the best way to enjoy a morning coffee, it’s a design task that starts every day for me off right the way. Simple.

Running a Successful Internal Design Meeting

The ability to collaborate and share your designs is key to being a successful designer. More often than not presenting your designs is not just attaching them in an email, posting them in a Slack channel, or shooting them over to your client directly. The design process involves meetings. Meetings are an important step in the collaborative process. They are a place to talk about your designs and more importantly your ideas. Talking through your designs with other designers or team members are what make good designs great. Here are a few tips when preparing for your next internal design meeting.

 

Start of the meeting
Always set yourself up for success (1.) by providing the type of feedback you’re looking for from each participant …and be specific, (2.) what type of information can they provide you that would be most helpful in solving the overall challenge, and (3.) an overview at the start of the meeting about what you’ll be covering—aka, an agenda This is where you can tell the kind of feedback you want and when they can expect to provide it.

For instance, after welcoming everyone you could say, “I’m looking for general feedback on these three directions: A, B, and C. I’m going to briefly explain each of them and then I welcome your feedback on which direction would work best and why in order to solve the client’s objective, which is X.”

During the meeting, make sure your design journey has a clear start and endpoint
After going over what you’ll be covering, reiterate the problem you are trying to solve with each example, direction, or approach. Whether it’s for a client project or an internal check-in remember to explain your thinking in the simplest terms. Take them through you’re thinking at a high-level first—here’s where I am now and here’s where I started, or visa-versa. You do not need to show every iteration unless you get a sense they are hungry for more details, in which case be prepared to show your process. Just remember, only present visual examples that support your design journey and provide clarity.

Remember, to make sure your explanation is simple and easy to follow. The participants should be able to clearly see the link between where you started and where you are now in order to give accurate feedback.

Queue up places where feedback is welcome
Now that you’ve introduced your ideas and everyone is on the same page, now is your chance to reiterate (1.) the type of feedback you’re looking for and (2.) the kind of feedback they can provide you that would be most helpful to solve the problem.

During the discussion
A healthy conversation is filled with questions (so be prepared to answer them). Often the best way to elicit feedback is to have questions that you are curious about. Queue up a few yourself prior to the discussion. Often your questions and your audience’s questions will be similar and your preparation will show your thorough understanding of the problem.

Listen first
A heathy back and forth is often 2/3 listening, 1/3 answering. In order to be heard you must listen to your audience’s questions. Be thoughtful. Repeat them if necessary and play it back to them so you are on the same page.

Be welcoming
Great conversations can lead to hard-to-answer questions. Often those questions do not have the most obvious answers. Allow each participant with a question to be heard and met with the same level appreciation that they’ve shown you by attending. If a question does not have an immediate answer, don’t be afraid to be honest and simply ask them to rephrase or simple say, “I don’t know off hand, but I will look into that,” making note of their point. Even providing additional time to allow any lingering conversations to spill over after the presentation are okay.

At the end of the conversation
As the meeting owner, you’re the one steering the ship. Attendees are looking to you for when to go and when to stop. If more time is needed make it clear that you are extending the meeting, for how long and why. If you’ve concluded your discussion and feel good about the feedback make it clear that the meeting is over, reiterate the feedback that you received, and thank everyone for their time.

Healthy discussions build trust and confidence
Build trust with your audience through healthy conversations and, in turn, they will have confidence and trust in you. Confidence comes with a trusting audience and thoughtful, clear presentation—as well as practice. Lots and lots of practice.

Tools & References

UX References

Cheatsheets and Tools

UI Sites

Content Marketing Strategies You Should Be Using Today

First, I trained as an Illustrator because, well, have you drawn lately? It’s great. Enriching. Difficult. Constantly challenging. And most important, good clean fun…except when the paint starts flying!

Then, I trained as a Designer because, well, it pays. Also, it’s great. Enriching. Difficult. Constantly challenging. And most important, good clean fun.

Now, I find myself in-training again. This time as a marketer.

[Insert your soul here.]

Just kidding. It’s not that bad.

I swear.

In my training I come across articles and blog posts that stick out to me either because of the author’s adept ability to breakdown seemingly complicated systems or simple lists that are easy to recall and incorporate into my own business strategy. Recently I came across a post that accomplishes both.

In this article, Jeff Bullas focuses on 6 underused content marketing strategies that get results. I found his strategies useful for any type of business, though specifically for journalistic or editorially-focused initiatives—similar to our client work at AMS. Here are key quotes that resonated with me:

  1. Perform a content audit
    “Ask yourself, ‘What is the 20% of content that is producing 80% of the traffic?’ Optimized that 20% by adding additional keywords or content upgrades…and improve or remove the 80% that isn’t producing any return.”
  2. Relaunch old content
    “It’s not always neccessary to create new content. Go into your Google Analytics and…Ask yourself: Is it re-launchable? Could I rewrite, update or improve any of it? If so, how? Could update its images or stats, or add a case study?”
  3. Repurpose your most-popular content
    “With so much content being published every day, people are bound to miss a blog post or video once in awhile. However, through repurposing, your audience may come across your content after it has been altered, through a different channel. Whether you repurpose your content into a Slideshare presentation, an infographic, a video, or any other medium, content repurposing expands the life cycle of your content even further, making it evergreen for years to come.”
  4. Syndicate your content
    “Go into your Google Analytics and identify your highest-performing content. Then, pitch it to domain authorities in your niche with audiences similar to yours.”
  5. Add content upgrades to your content
    “Content upgrades are everywhere. So, how do you get noticed in a busy online marketplace? You use content upgrades on other mediums. How could you use them in way others haven’t considered?” [There’s a great example of this on the post.]
  6. Write case studies
    “Case studies aren’t just an under-utilized type of content; they’re an integral part of helping your prospects move through the buyer’s journey, too.” Also, Jeff FILLED this strategy with conversion stats. Highly encourage you to read on his site.

Jeff’s site features free downloads and other resources to aid in developing your own marketing strategy that works for businesses large and small. This is NOT a paid endorsement. Just an appreciative repost of his helpful and informative content.

See more: www.jeffbullas.com