Ah I have so much content backlog. π So much for not feeling like blogging the last couple of months. Felt too tired to write about life so had to stop to smell the flowers too you know.
Anyway this is what happened during the 2nd week of this month.
Since April I have this variation of this image with other temp tatt pics pinned on my Facebook page plus shared in my other social media accts and apps.
I never expect a lot of orders at all since I'm also busy marketing condos or other properties and communicating w/ clients. I mean, if there's an inquiry I'd reply to it. In case someone orders I'd be happy to do it too. It's not everyday I get a large quantity order so lemme tell you what happened.
What Temporary Tattoo?
First of all, in case you haven't seen or used one, this is what my temp tatt looks like when worn on the skin. It's a shiny plasticky skin sticker used just for fun and not for pretending to have a real tattoo. π
This is not a sponsored post by the way. Would love to get sponsored if they would like to. Haha.
My temp tatts look more like a sticker than a fake tattoo actually. Doesn't matter though because it still adds memories and/or brand recall to any event/party anyone has.
Actually the one in the video is the first brand that ordered from me (January) this year. Nice eh? Hehe. And then I also made sample orders for a motel chain! Imagine that. Whew.
By the way, I don't usually do die cuts unless it's really needed.
It's not really wrong not to cut away the excess from the image. Some people prefer that and some people don't care at all. π€·
As for manually die cut orders, I charge a fee. If people decide they want to have each one cut to shape then I'll be happy to oblige.
The Sudden Influx of -Ber Month Custom Temp Tatts Orders
It all started in October when I noticed an increase in custom temp tatts orders. Previous months wasn't like the -Ber months at all. For some reason even without me promoting my service on Facebook, I was suddenly getting inquiries. (I do believe the "secret" app I was using was the main source of it. Hehe.)
Whenever I boost my Facebook post I rarely get orders so it's a wonder when I get some. (God is good! π)
Who was I to not accept any custom orders? I mean, thank you Jesus! π π My random customers ranged from KPop loving bazaar sellers to cosplayers.
Oh la la...
And then November came and somehow I felt I needed a break from doing temp tatts. π So I decided the final day I would accept orders would be last Nov. 30.
Before the end of November I finally got a big order. Well I think it's the biggest order I received since I started in 2016. I haven't checked which was the first one since my old laptop is dead. Ugh. (Computer viruses are the worst.)
Anyway I clinched that 1,500 pcs order and voila! The rest is history! Lol. Yeah of course it is. π
So What's Challenging?
Huh. There's more than one thing that happened while producing the order. The initial challenge was to finish all 1,500 pcs in just 3 days.
Now, I'm not one who likes to delegate much these days and I have no plans of hiring someone else to do my work. Guess if I did rise up to the challenge? π Of course I did, silly. π Not as perfect as I'd hoped but still managed to deliver everything before their event.
This is the biggest quantity and my most challenging order of the year. I posted this on my social media accts just to let everybody know I was busy working. π
Challenge Accepted! Let's Get It On!
So at first I was happy I got a big order. Hurray! I went into production easily... and then all sorts of things happened. π«
1. There were several sheets of misprints.
Changing printer suppliers is not good if you don't constantly check on the quality. Next time I know what to do with big orders. sigh
Ah new printer suppliers... My (suki and) previous one transferred to the province so I had no choice but to find another one nearby. I wasn't familiar yet with the print quality once it was constantly running. And so when I found out the misprints I felt sad. π
It didn't happen just to the first batch, a different issue happened to the 2nd print batch. Oh boy...
2. It took hours and days to die cut all 1,500 pcs
Well I only have two hands and 1 scissor. I'm not a machine and can't use the paper cutting printer size device because it won't match another printer's output. Come on. I'd have to waste time doing tests and all that just to match the print out to the cutter so no. Manual die cut it still was.
I rarely encounter orders that need a die cut service too on short notice. Now I know, next time I'll be better prepared if such a need arises again.
On top of this, I had an appointment to meet someone who will give me the Apostille and other documents from my US property client. Because of that, guess what I was doing in the jeepney and bus going to the meet up place? I was cutting temp tatts!!! π π π
And then of course I went back home after the meetup.
Here's the clincher:
Once I was done cutting about 700 pieces I found out most of them were defective! Geddemmit. π€¦ All that effort gone to waste. At least I found out earlier before I finished cutting everything. π
3. The adhesive of most of the sheets caused the problem
Just when you have a tight deadline all sorts of things happen. I rarely experience a final product that can't be separated from each other... I mean, look at this!
The temp tatts should be easy to separate from it's cover, like in the below part of the pic. However since most were like the top part of the image, I could not deliver it like that.
It's the first time any product I made was defective. That problem usually happens to old stock temp tatts, like if you don't use it for more than a month. I had to ask for a replacement of 29 sheets! Plus I had to reprint the misprints and print on the replacements. π
Instead of having enough profit, my mistakes plus the unexpected occurrences cost me a thousand bucks and some more. Not fun but I had to deliver good service, come on.
4. The client preferred perfect prints
Because I had a new print supplier, not all prints were as perfect as I expected. For transparency's sake, I showed pics of the most acceptable imperfect ones and the really noticeably different ones to my client.
And then I heard him softly say, "The prints have to be perfect."
Well, it's the first time I got a client request like that. Sometimes I wish I have a printing press but no I don't have the time. π
I'm a small (or tiny? π ) home based temp tatts supplier so the quality of my work is not exactly for those looking for utmost perfection. Also, slight print "defects" (e.g. super thin white lines, or slight ink "cracks" caused by printers) won't be super noticeable once it's on someone's skin. Unless of course you do a macro or close up shot. π
Because I knew he had clients who demanded perfection from them too, I explained the above to him. If there's one thing I learned in sales, most people don't care about quality and most things in general. π€· Of course I still reprinted a few more sheets to replace the really bad ones and produce the best prints. Quality is still mostly king to me.
I do know how it is to work in an advertising agency. Heck I spent more than a year in one and perfection is really one of the key words in the business. Quality is the priority so I could relate to his statements.
At least in the end we both came to an agreement since I also told him I would be happy to refund the money if everything got so bad. (That would have hurt my pockets if he opted for it. Huhu.)
1,500 pcs Order Challenge Met!
Suffice it to say even after all those production issues, I was able to deliver everything on time and met the extended deadline.
Good thing the event was on a Wednesday otherwise I would have had to refund parts of the payment and delivered what was available.
So there I finally got everything delivered! Oh yeah! No sweat! π π π
Hey, Look What I Found!
I remember my customer told me the day the order would be used would be on a Wednesday. Well I did a quick check online and this combo is the first thing I found on Instagram! πππ
Looking at more Instagram posts, looks like they invited celebrities and bloggers/vloggers to eat there first.
It turns out it was officially opened to the public on a Thursday accdg. to several online articles. At least I hope they did have time for some quality checking. Hehe.
Anyway I'm happy the event turned out to be successful. There was a veeeeery long line during opening day. That's awesome! Am grateful to have been part of the restaurant opening in my own small way. π
Have you ever eaten at this restaurant? I haven't been there yet. Hehe. Food looks good.
Anyway that's all folks! I will be opening and accepting custom bulk temporary tattoo orders again next year starting January 6, 2020!
XOXO,
@artgirl
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Β© Art x Stephanie Rue
@artgirl is a freelance writer/artist, online seller and real estate agent. My Steemit posts may contain referral/affiliate/merchandise links.
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And I shared this on Twitter too! Lol.
Well... too bad @ocd or @anomadsoul didn't see it in time. π«
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Oh fantastic!