Friday, January 07, 2011

New year, big changes!!!

With the new year comes big changes here at 1lesscar.

With the growth of Bates Crates and the continued support for 1lesscar, it was all starting to be too much for me to handle alone. I was printing the shirts here in Chicago for two weeks a month, and then would have to catch a train to Michigan and build crates there for two weeks. Needless to say things were starting suffer.

I felt I was giving less attention to 1lesscar then it needed, and not enough to nurture the development of Bates Crates. That, and I was starting to pull out my hair. So, over the last month I have put a plan in action.

First was to start building Bates Crates here in Chicago. Bates Crates is selling enough crates for me to believe that it's working, and I can invest some money into buying new equipment and starting building crates here in Chicago.

The next step was that I can't build crates and print shirts in the same work area, and renting two separate spaces just seemed financially irresponsible.

You may already know that Brandon is my right hand man around 1lesscar, and he has done so much to get 1lesscar where it is- it only makes sense to put him in charge of the day to day stuff at 1lesscar.
So at this point, I have newly acquired woodworking equipment just waiting for the space to work. Brandon will be coming down next week and we will spend the week printing, filling orders, and making screens so he can see how I do this. I'm excited and scared for this to happen (me too! -B).

I've been working on 1lesscar for 5 years now. I've been up late most nights and riding my bike in freezing weather to ship orders, and as much as I was wondering “what am doing” at those times, I still loved every second of it. I'm confident Brandon will be great at this (possibly better then me), and I know he will take care of my baby.

Making this switch will give me more time to grow Bates Crates and do something I really love, which is woodworking. I will still be involved in 1lesscar, and to most people you won't notice a change around here. The only thing you might notice is when you email us you will see Brandon’s name at the end of the emails and not mine.

I'm hoping this will give me more time to post on the blog and maybe get on my bike more, because that’s what this whole thing was about in the first place!

So there you have it a new year a new direction... Thanks for all you support in 2010 and we hope to see you again in the years to come!

Cole

1 comments:

Ms.Ding said...

Great news Cole that Bates Crates is taking enough to warrant more of your attention! I know that I tell people about your fabulous crates all the time! Good luck in 2011