Part 7 - Friends and Family

Anyone who has started a business can testify to the importance of friends and family. When you launch they are firmly behind you - they'll be the ones sharing FB posts and buying up T-Shirts and other merchandise.

Often that leaves you with a pang of guilt - are they just buying stuff just to be nice? Or do they just want to show some support and encouragement? Maybe they actually like the stuff??

I imagine its a combination of all of that. And that's fantastic! The first days and weeks of launching are fraught with self doubt and over analysis. I liken the support to them cheering you on at a fun run - we all know i'm no Olympic champ but they'd cheer me on anyways. Not that i'd ever run - running is for 2 things, being chased or chasing. 2 things i hope i don't have to do anytime soon. Anyway, where was i?

So once the excitement of that first week dies down you get the fear. Where is the next sale going to come from? 

I can't over emphasise the excitement of a new order coming in. This goes ten fold when its a complete stranger. Someone has found you, somehow, and has parted with their hard earned cash. 

So the first month you get a pass - the second month and beyond? Anyone's guess.

Part 6 - Aprils Fool Day

Where was I?

Oh aye, it was around February and things are heating up! 

The great thing about the skateboarding community is that on the whole its pretty supportive. It seems to have a large proportion of creative types - whether that's music, some form of visual art or design. So during the months of trial and error i've let a few folk see the logo and designs and shared the general ethos of Doric Skateboards (a celebration of the language and culture of the NE of Scotland and a nod to the architecture that gave skaters the streets and obstacles the platform to express themselves). The response was good - i'm not the type who'll take criticism or compliments too seriously. Doric Skateboards wasn't going to be a company created by committee but i know when to take advice and when to have the courage of my convictions. 

Around this time i decided to contact the local paper to help generate a bit of publicity. Essentially i wrote the article and provided some example pics. This was supposed to be followed up with a wee chat and actual pics but to my horror they printed it anyways. The pic wasn't great and it added a wee bit of pressure but after the dust settled i was happy enough - a full page advert for free.

Things were hotting up - a longtime well known skater, Zee Yule, who has his own Zine had contacted me asking if i wanted to be featured in a future issue alongside other Scottish Skate brands. Yes. Yes please. And did i want to sponsor the Scottish skate comp War of the Thistles. Yes. Yes please. The comp was April 1st. So i had to launch by then.

And i did. We did. March 31st Doric Skateboards went "live" on the website, FB and IG. 

Seems like a long time ago now. ; )

Part 7 - Order. Coming soon.

Part 5 - Muscle Memory and Experimentation

So its post Christmas and the New Year has been and gone. I'm months passed my original launch date but that is ok.

No pressure. Just crack on and get going. I vaguely state Q1 2017 as the date to go!

Tee shirts are done, Stickers are done. I really need to get some decks to sell.

And so i approach the printing rig and materials with a little trepidation. Lets get this done. All the decks now have logos printed topside and under. Just the Annie image to do now. 

I've reduced the size to help cope with the concave and the size of my squeegee.

First attempt. Not perfect. Not really bad though. I wipe off and do it again.  

Looks good! 

Ok, target for today is 5. Lets do 5. 

I keep going. I end up at 20+! 

At some point over this journey i am remembering the pressure to press with, the speed to go, the angle of the squeegee and there is something like instinct telling me when its going to work and when i need to clean out the screen and start afresh.

This. Is. Good.

I can start to plan. 

Join me in the next episode - Part 6 - Aprils Fool Day

Part 4 - Drawing Board

So its back to the drawing board. 

The images i'm using are ok. But ok isn't good enough. They need revised. The printing rig is a real problem though. The deck won't stay in place as i apply pressure and print. This movement causes mistakes. Frustration is setting in.

One solution. Take everything apart and start again.

So that's what i did. I sketched out a new design and re-used all the wood with a few new additions.

Rig all sorted. Screens re-done with the Annie Lennox image in half tone (or lots of dots as i called it!). Now i'm ready to go.

Ink? Check.

Squeegee? Check.

Screens? Check.

Blank Deck in rig - secure? Check.

Let's go.

Dear God - its still not working. 

So here i am - its approaching Christmas 2016 and i've missed my initial launch of November. I've been back to the drawing board already and it looks like i'm going back again..

My partner (such a sterile word eh? Lets say Girlfriend!) Nicola helps with focusing my perspective. Walk away and go back the next day. 

And then i have a night. A night that inspires you and pushes you on. 

I start with the logo on the topside. Its not been happening but i experiment, mostly with the amount of ink, pressure i apply and the angle of the squeegee, and at some point i get it right. And i get it right again. And again. Before i know it i have 20+ decks all printed with the top logo! 

The frustration i've felt at this point isn't a commercial/money based one. I'm not interested in being the next Stacey Peralta. The frustration and pressure is all purely self inflicted and based on my own expectations. Lessons learned at this point:

• Its great to have standards but don't be too disappointed when you fall short - just crack on and keep going;
• Don't let pressure dictate. This is supposed to be fun and feed the creative side of me.
• Throw out the schedule. Oddly my day job involved being a planner. Schedules are my bread and butter - but sometimes you just can't plan everything out. 

Reference Donald Rumsfelds famous quote (although this quote has many origins):

"there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know"

Unknown unknowns. Damn them. But sometimes this can lead to positive outcomes.

Join me in Part 5 - Muscle Memory and Experimentation, coming later this week!

Part 3 - Don't Fear Mistakes

To get the timeline correct lets imagine its around September time. 

So the Logo is complete! My brother has done a cracking job. Its clean, symmetrical and like all good logos contains some hidden/clever stuff! 

The first graphic is all good too - a line drawing image I've done of Aberdeen's Annie Lennox - strap line, Street Dreams. A wee play on the Sweet Dreams song referring to the street element of skating.

Down to Peacocks and off i go emulsioning my screens (freshly purchased online) and exposing them to burn the images on ready for screening onto my decks. 

Prior to this i've been squirrelling away in our loft - or Studio as i like to call it when i feel a bit pretentious. I've taken some scrap wood and bought some screen hinges and am setting about making a rig that will hold a deck in place and allow me to place the screen over the top and then go about printing. I've even got some old carpet to help make it safe for the precious decks.

So, screens are done (James has shadowed me thankfully!) and now i have a rig to place a deck and hold the screen. 

I have ink. I have squeegees. What could go wrong?

Well to be honest, nothing dramatic on the first go. I get the logo on the topside (albeit a wee bit squint) and then set about getting the main graphic on. 

On it goes.

Looks ok. 

Add some colour.

Still looks ok, hey this is easy!

Add some more colour.

Not too sure that works but its ok. This is just a test. Although in my naivety i haven't considered that i would be using up decks as practice. My ignorance told me that i would print it first time bang on. 

How wrong i was.

So the next night i pick up Deck no.2 and set about printing.

Nothing goes right. And i mean nothing.

Ink smudges, or doesn't come through the screen. The deck moves around on the jig making it impossible to print on. 

Its at this moment that i have a minor panic attack/meltdown and realise that if the loft, sorry Studio, had a window then there is a good chance that a large amount of skateboards and printing stuff would have been launched out of it. Might not have even opened the window.

So its around then that i am coming to terms with the idea that you can' be afraid to make mistakes. Its ok to do that. Its how you learn. I'm not a perfectionist by any means but i needed to rid myself of the idea that i would be knocking out decks for sale by November. 

So now its back to the drawing (skate) boards. 

Join me for Part 4 - Re-design & Breathe, next week! 

Part 2 - Learning

Where was I? 

Oh aye. Got the name, got the thinking behind it, got the idea for the first graphic. Logo is being designed. 

Need to learn to screen print. Just a small minor detail eh? ; )

Lucky for me i have a brother who has experience in it and a fantastic facility in the city - Peacock Visual Arts Studio. For a very small fee you can use the equipment there for a variety of artistic endeavours. But first you need to know what you are actually doing. 

I set up a one to one session with a chap there called James - he's patient and answers questions without you feeling daft for asking! After a 3 hour session i walk away in a bit of a daze trying to remember everything thats been said and done. He promises to be on hand to shadow me when i'm ready to go with my own designs. I fear it will be a less shadowing more me clinging to him for dear life..

One thing is clear and its something i suspected from the beginning - i can't screen print decks down at Peacocks. The shape and size of a deck and the method of lining it up to print (or "registration" as i would learn to call it!) means i need to build something bespoke. 

In the meantime I've also ordered the first batch of blank decks.

So, like the threads of a complicated film things are beginning to come together. Or so i think at the time but like all good films things are not always what they seem, and there is a Marvel-esq post credits sequence waiting to bite me on the arse for this first part of the journey.

Join me for Part 3 - Setbacks, where i'll consider why the lack of a window in my loft space was a good thing.

Begin

Where to begin? 

The start is the usually the best place but that was a long time ago now. Almost a year ago now that i first came up with the idea of Doric Skateboards. At that point i knew what i wanted to do and thought i knew how to get there. In some areas i was right - in a whole host of areas i was wrong! It took nearly 8 months for us to launch from inception. Definitely a few moments on the way that i thought "this ain't working" but also more than enough breakthrough moments where you get that extra buzz to keep going. 

I'll use this blog to document that process and hopefully share some of what i learnt and still to learn on the way. 

Part 1 coming next week.