A reward to people who read the blog!

It's Thanksgiving today, and so we'll be giving thanks for many things that have blessed our lives today. And we wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. So to thank our customers for all their support we are giving 20 percent off your entire order today and tomorrow. Just use the promo code "givingthanks" at check out.
Hope you all have a great thanksgiving!

How sad.

Well, unfortunately we were not able to get the new stuff ready to release this weekend. So we will have to put a hold on the release of the new stuff. We'll still have a Black Friday sale though. New release date to come soon!

Time Management

In my opinion time management is one of the hardest things to master and yet of of the most important things to master. I still struggle with this in my life. It seems that most problems with time management come from spreading yourself too thin. This means that you are taking on too many task for what you are capable of doing. As a striving entrepreneur I fall into this category too easily. Having an idea is a great thing, but if you don't know how to manage your time, that idea will stay just that - an idea.
So what do we do to better our time management? Good question. Here are a few things that I think can help:

Write things down. Carry a pad of paper and pen with you. When you have a thought or know of something that needs to be done, write it down. Then you can look back at the things you have written down and decide what is most important. When choosing what is higher on your list of priorities, consider the difficulty of the job. I once heard that if you start with the most difficult thing, the rest is easy.

Learn to pass. Some things just don't need to be done. Take a look at your list. Are ALL the things necessary? Probably not. Scratch the unnecessary items off your list. Having a fewer amount of task will not only make your burden feel lighter - it will in turn, actually lighten the load. Or, pass your job to someone else. Delegation is a powerful thing. You may not only not have the time to do everything, some people may just do it better than you too. Utilize these people in your life.

Relax a little. Remember that no matter how bad a moment or situation is, it is always going to pass. Too many people get stuck in a moment. Anxiety, stress, fear, tension are all emotions that take control a situation, and when they do things don't usually turn out the way you want them to. When you are finding yourself in a situation like this, take a moment to relax. Remember, this moment in time will pass, and when it does will it really matter that much? Probably not. People that succeed in a highly stressful environment do so because they don't let their emotions make decisions for them.

I believe that if you take the time to work on these three areas of your life, you will end up with more time to work on the things that are really important in your life; therefore, bettering your life.

Save the Date!

So over the past few blog entries I've been writing about how to make Sentimental a success. In the last entry I wrote about a quality and consistant product. So to stay true to the last entry, I figured this entry would be perfect to announce the release of our next line, and we feel it will be some of our best stuff to date. The date has finally been set to release the new stuff! Plan on Black Friday. That's November 27, 2009. We're really excited about this new release; it's been in the works for far too long now. We'll be opening the release with a 24 hour sale! More info on the sale to come soon. Some of the new items to be released are already pictured in the pictures on the page background. We also have a few more items in the works - including a new hoodie! The cheesy shirt will be ready to ship aswell.

Making Sentimental a Career continued

Another thing that is essential for Sentimental Clothing to establish itself for the long haul is the product.. Since the beginning of Sentimental we have been focused on putting out a quality product. This is something that must be done in multiple ways.
The first thing we did to ensure quality was to print our shirts on a high quality blank. We print all of our shirts on American Apparel. Many clothing companies outsource their product to be manufactured in other countries. Outsourcing lowers the cost for the company, but it also lowers the quality. By choosing to use American Apparel, Sentimental Clothing has taken a step to a higher level. We are providing a shirt that fits well, is comfortable, and is made sweatshop free here in the United States.
Now, we could use the most comfortable shirt in the world, and we feel like we do, and still not be able to sell them if we don't print designs that people like. We've focused a lot of time on what actually goes onto the shirts themselves. And some have been good, while others, not so good. We are learning as we go, and we are listening to the feedback of our customers. Originally, we did a lot of designs ourselves too, we are now looking for talented artist to bring us the best designs we can get.
And finally, we need to focus on consistency. This has been an area that we have lacked in - not in quality, but in timeliness. We have not been the best at putting out new product in a timely and consistent manner. This is something we are working to fix. We plan to release new product more often. We are also planning to continue the diversity of clothing we provide. Stay tuned for more to come this winter - just in time for Christmas!

A little more info about the show. Hope to see you there!

Hey people!
It's really important that we help Aggies for Africa get as many shoes donated as possible! They have a goal to reach 3000 pairs this year! We need a lot of help talking it up and getting as many people involved as we can so please tell your friends and donate your shoes!
And why not have a good time while you help out. Come to the benefit concert on THURSDAY!! It's the first Aggies for Africa fundraiser this year for Mali Rising. Proceeds from the show will go to help AfA raise $50,000 for a school in Mali.
Just a reminder about it, it's at the Lundstrom Center about (1250 East 1000 North by Snow Hall) music starts at 7pm, $5 or $4 with a pair of shoes to donate. Bring ALL YOUR FRIENDS the music will be great and it'll be a good time.

Rocking for a cause this thursday!

Sentimental and Aggies for Africa have teamed up to put on a benefit concert. This Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Lundstrom Student Center. This is going to be a great concert, and for a good cause. All the money will go to Aggies for Africa to help support them in their cause of bringing a better awareness to what has and is going on in Africa. We will also be doing a shoe drive to help out as well. The cost at the door is $5, or $4 if you bring a pair of shoes to donate. The bands playing consist of two locals; The Shuttles, and the Love Puppets as well as two touring artist; The Boy and His Machine from New York, and Same as Sunday, from Ohio. All four groups put on a great show. Please come and show your support and learn more about how you can help. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and music starts at 7 p.m.
Thanks.

How can Sentimental become a career and not just a hobby.

For me to make this business that I started a few years back into an actual career I have a to set and accomplish a some goals. So today I'm going to cover a few goals I have set, and how I will accomplish them. I will cover some of these goals in a series of post over the next couple of weeks.

First Goal - Graduate College.
I've been in school for entirely too long. I started late and have gone through it at a snails pace. Sometimes I even ask myself, "Why am I there? Especially when I plan on running my own business. Isn't school for people who want to work for someone else?" The answer to these questions is simple, and the same everytime I ask it. School is beneficial for a number of reasons.
The first that I like to bring up is that it is there as a backup plan. If my business were to fail and I needed a job, I would have a degree to fall back on. I actually know people who have tried starting up businesses and later needed to get a job bacause the business failed. Hopefully that is not the case with Sentimental.
Secondly, I am confident that the knowledge I gain from going to school will increase my ability to run a succesful business. No matter how much I would like to say that I could do it without school - and who knows, maybe I could, I would rather take my chances with a college degree to back me up. Many succesful business owners never graduated, but could they have done it better if they had.
So as I mentioned before, I have been in school for a long time. My goal is to get out of school - and not as a drop out. So to accomplish this goal, I plan on taking classes full time. If I do this I should hopefully graduate within two years.

Progress on the exposure unit.

After a little more time working on the exposure unit, we have accomplished a somewhat usable device. Well, the lights turn on now anyway. After getting the frame together with a base, making an actual box. We painted the inside silver to help reflect some light. Next was drilling holes and fitting in a base structure for the actual light fittings. Then we got the toggle switches in and wired to the lights, it was time for testing. The first test was a success. All the lights worked great. So now all that needs to be done is to have some glass cut out and placed on the top, and a lid.

Peach Days Report

Well, we just finished up Peach Days last night and boy am I glad to have it over with. Even though we were able to sell a decent amount of merchandise the weekend had its fair share of problems. Friday started off slow and hot. The festival starts at ten in the morning and last until ten at night. So the twelve hour day was mostly sitting around until six. I actually stood most of the time because I forgot to bring my chair (second mistake). So what was the first you say - I forgot to bring money for change. Wow! Anyway, six o'clock comes around and so do the people. And not too far behind come the sales. End day one with packing up the tent and making sure that the tie downs are secure to the bricks that are weighing it down. Because the tent was on concrete and not grass I was not able to use spikes.
Day two started off with a bang. I show up to my tent and see that the walls are all down. Not being sure as to what is actually going on, I walk up to my tent and all these vendors from other booths start walking up to me saying, "Your booth blew over!" I wasn't too worried about this because it has happend before. Well this time it didn't turn out well at all. The frame had bent, and I was not happy.



Hopefully the damages will be covered under warranty. Back to the better parts of the weekend. I had the opportunity to meet some really cool people from out of the valley. Had a great response from customers and I'm looking forward to our next opportunity to get our and meet people and sell more clothes; Fall Fashion Stroll here we come.

Getting things moving again!

Hey everybody, it's been a long time since Sentimental has done anything new online. After almost a year in idleness we are finally moving things again. So we figured what better way to get back into things than with a new shirt and a killer sale!
We're doing a presale for one of our newest shirts - "The Cheesiest."



And to add to the excitment we are having a 09/09/09 Sale as well.Select Tees are on sale for $9.99 One day only. Starts at midnight.

Kicking things up a notch.

So I don't know how many of you know that we do custom screen printing as well as selling our own line of shirts. Well if you didn't, you do now. Over the past few years we have been building our own little print shop in our office. We have been printing shirts for our line and we manage to do a few custom orders from time to time. Well our setup has been somewhat lacking in some areas; especially when it comes to exposing screens. For some time I have been wanting to update our exposure unit, but it is a pretty expensive thing to do. I found this unit online and would love to have it. The only problem is the price tag of $1500.

So I've decided to make my own exposure unit for a fraction of the price. I was able to get started over the weekend. I will be posting pictures as progress is made. I'm pretty excited to get this done and working.

Also, just a quick note. We'll be having a sale on Wednesday; select shirts for only $9.99, as well as a new shirt available for pre-sale!

What do professional Blogs do for business?

As I have previously mentioned I am going to try and write on the blog more regularly. Coincidentally I'm currently taking a business writing class in school and one of our assignments is to keep a professional blog. To get an A on the assignment I must post at least two times a week. My first assignment is to write about what a professional blog can do for businesses.

If a blog is written well it can be a great way for a business to keep their readers up to date with what is happening with the business, if written on consistently with interesting articles, a blog gives readers a reason to return. Blogs also give a more direct connection between a business and its clients. Clients are able to connect with the business and vice verse. This can be a benefit to both the business and the client. For a business to be successful they must provide a product or service that their target market is interested in. The interaction that can be provided by a decent blog can allow customers to give feedback on products, as well as ideas for new products. This has been, and will be one of the main focuses of Sentimental. We hope to build a genuine relationship with our customers and welcome criticism. Hopefully over the course of the next few months we'll be able to build a blog filled with interesting content that will give our customers a reason to comeback and see what else is going on.

New page, new logo, peach days, and the worlds largest Bannana Display.

I'm updating the web page right now. A whole new look! Should be up and running by the end of the day. Then the new shirts will be for sale online starting next tuesday morning at 12am.



Also we have a new logo in the works - Excited for this, be ready for the new look of Sentimental.



And it is now official, we are selling at 'Peach Days' in Brigham City on the 11th and 12th of September. We look forward to seeing all the new faces there.

















The worlds largest display of Bannanas - Over 66,000 pounds! Cool Eh.

What's new for fall of 2009?

Here are a few pics from the new fall line. Coming this September.
Facebook Fans have already seen them.

New Fall Line coming in Sept!

I know it has been a long time coming, but we have been working on a few new items for Sentimental. Stay tuned for our fall line up release to take place this September!

We are not Dead!

I know I rarely ever update this blog; but truth be told we are alive and kicking. We have actually had a lot going on in the past few months and have more to come soon. I keep the facebook fan page updated a lot more regularly so please stop by, become a fan, and contribute.
Thanks.
here is a link http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#/pages/Sentimental-Clothing/22424361392