T-Shirts, Trials and Errors (Reflections on Early Attempts at Entrepreneurism)

First Try
The Idea
My best friend Jennifer and I were part of the Business Club at our all girls Catholic high school. There were 30 other students who wanted the similar item on their college resume. We came to a consensus to sell Finals T-shirts, pending approval by the administration for the non-uniform item. On AIM that night the ideas started to flow. The Survivor logo. After all, our school was ruthlessly competitive and Ms. Stasio's Calculus exam was the equivalent to walking through fire. Tagline: Outsmart, outcram, out ?

Outtahere. Yes. We wanted to get the hell out of there. Slyly subversive to capture student sentiment, yet tasteful enough to get Dean approval. I can come up with a good line, just can't draw one. Jennifer, who is now a successful freelance graphic designer, designed the logo to hand to the t-shirt maker. A girl clutching her Starbucks cup centered within the Survivor insignia. The shirts were navy blue and long sleeve with white print, as our school was frigid cold, navy complemented our uniform skirt, and one color was the cheapest option.

Marketing
On top the teen beat, at the height of OC's popularity, I felt the only clear option was for the nerd-sexy Seth Cohen (played by Adam Brody) to sell these shirts. So we copied a cute photo of him and posted flyers on lockers and bathroom stalls that said "Seth says buy a finals t-shirt." His orders were followed and 40% of the student body bought shirts. Mission accomplished. While profits exceeded $1000, Jen and I each received $37.

Swing, and a Miss
Every sports team had a small budget for T-shirts. As a proud member of the golf team (my friends do not consider this to be an actual support), what I lacked in distance I made up for in style. "Dude, Where's My Cart?" was a hit sophomore year. However, my "All Tiger (Our mascot animal), No Flakes" concept resulted in failure. At 17, I wasn't versed in copyright law, so instead of Tony the Tiger on the back of our shirt, the t-shirts came back with a poorly drawn cat.

Wayne Gretzky has a Quote About This
In mid-September 2008 I came up with a cool idea. Obama "08" basketball jerseys. No one was making them. A basketball player had one specially made to present to Obama at a fundraiser. Some awkward t-shirt company made Obama Punahou t-shirt replicas. These babies would have made a killing (according to a straw poll of about 12 guy friends - number 13 said he would have purchased one labeled 'McCain'). The election would be over in a few weeks, and by the time I had a chance to design it, raise capital, find a manufacturer, and sell them it was over. Of course Obama (the man, the myth, the legend) was going to win. I did not exactly consider the magnitude of the situation - how campaign material wasn't just fan material, but rather memorabilia for such a momentous occasion and would continue to sell weeks past the inauguration. I had contacted a friend who worked for the Obama campaign for help, but he was not going to make it happen for me. If I wanted to do it, I would have to get it done. That involves taking a risk, and going balls to the wall. If you don't shoot, you don't score. Lesson learned.