Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Crux

We have been really busy lately. And I mean REALLY busy. As most of you know we decided last summer to venture off on our own and start a clothing company (Decclo). In the beginning of August we contracted the company Dogstar to create our website. With hardly any communication from them to us on what the heck was going on, they finally quit on us in October. They had subcontracted a portion of the project to a company in Maryland called Acadia Creative so when Dogstar quit Acadia fulfilled their contracted portion of the project, and chose not to take on the remaining items Dogstar had contracted. Our original goal was to be up and running by the holidays but we had obviously missed that mark by this point. Well, we were stuck and running out of a budget fast. That was a long story short right there, FYI. So as we went developer shopping once again it was suggested to us to go overseas. We found Classic Informatics over in India and they started from where we had left off and have been a dream to work with. This project is bigger than we were/are capable of and the guys over at CI have been awesome to work with. So now, 8 months later, we are planning on launching the site early April.

It's a blessing in disguise that this has been a slower process than we had hoped for many reasons. One thing we hoped to do was to eventually sell our product wholesale to retailers. In order to make this cost effective we thought we'd look into printing our own shirts. Once Jake started researching this option we dove head first and made the decision to print our own stuff and since we'd have all the equipment we might as well open a screen printing shop in Bremerton. This shop will be called Crux Branded Apparel and Screen Printing. We just finalized on a space over in East Bremerton this last week and Jake has started some small renovations while we wait for the mass of equipment we purchased to arrive. Turns out that the time we open doors at Crux will be about the same time we launch the Decclo website. I am also working part-time for Jake's dad and we are managing to make this all work right now. There is no way any of this would be possible without the help from our both sets of parents. They have all made a huge contribution toward our dream, cliche I know but there really is no other way to put it, with their time, energy and financial contribution. Aren't families the greatest? We are so lucky to live by ours.

So I guess this explains to our friends why we haven't been around much, to my readers who haven't had a whole lot to read other than boring running times and to the kids at church why we haven't had a party for them lately :) We are excited for this and it has been the best ride! We are learning so much about business, well Jake already knows a lot. I'm learning a lot more than I ever expected or thought I'd want to learn. Turns out I really like it and I think I have a niche for it. We've got a lot of interested prospects for the screen printing side of all this and our list keeps on growing. This summer will probably be full of late nights at the shop and hot busy days fulfilling orders. Keep your fingers crossed that Jake's efforts of this last year will pay off for him soon!!! We got bills to pay, lol.


TODAY'S TRAINING:
5K 26:51
The Spring it Forward 5k race is only two days away!!

3 comments:

Stacey said...

Will you need employees? I am not sure what I am going to do with my life after graduation... :) haha. BUT it sounds like you guys have things under control. It's amazing what you have done so far, you guys will be a success! I know it! Good luck with everything! Keep blogging!

Shama said...

Congratulations Rachel and Jason! I don't think that most people really understand the time and sacrifice involved in opening, running, and still loving your own business. I can't wait to see your new space! My advice is to make yourself a bedtime and stick with it, and don't take your lap top to bed...which is where I am currently writing this comment.

Scott and Stacia said...

Awesome! Sounds like such good plans! We have a local screen printer that is very busy. I am so excited for you guys! Hang in there, it sounds like it has been a bumpy ride :) Good luck with it all!!