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One of the cool new features of our T-ShirtForums newsletter is the "Featured Member" section.
(not to be confused with our yearly MHM awards starting soon)
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This section is our chance to showcase some of our helpful and knowledgeable members from all over the world. Hopefully this will help the community get to know a bit more about the helpful "faces" they see here at T-ShirtForums.com
Our next Featured Member is Jane, known on the forums as lizziemaxine.
Do you remember when and why you originally joined T-ShirtForums.com?
Found it through Impressions Magazine. Joined to learn and share.
What type of t-shirt business do you run?
Custom decorations - embroidery, rhinestones, transfers.
Do you have a website?
Yes. www.swanthreads.com
How long have you been in business?
I started part-time in January of 2002 and went full-time in November of 2004
What was your reason for getting into the t-shirt business?
Started as a hobby but people kept wanting to pay me to decorate things for them.
What was one of your biggest obstacles and how did you overcome it?
Making my husband understand that this business is a real job. While my husband was unemployed and home for a few months he began to understand how my business works. He thought that if he didn't hear my embroidery machine running I wasn't doing any work. Finally he realized that a lot of my work is on the computer (design, research, bookkeeping) and that just because it is quiet doesn't mean I'm taking a nap in the front room.
What's the best piece of advice you've given or been given?
Advise I was given and I continually give to others is continue to learn, be open for new ideas, and practice, practice, practice.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I never thought of myself as competitive, but, since getting into the decorated apparel business I have become very competitive and love it. The first time I won an embroidery competition I was inspired by someone who said "you can't stitch that logo in thread". Along with a great digitizer and many sew outs I did stitch that logo in thread. My customer was happy and the work was on the cover of a national trade publication as the winner of their competition. Since then I have been on the cover of that publication again and featured in other publications. This is a fun by-product of decorating. Now I tend to look at a logo for its potential to be entered into a competition. Give me the weird design and I am a happy decorator.
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Feel free to use the replies area below to say Hi to Jane or to ask any follow up questions about her answers or company.
Got some great interview questions you'd like to see in future features? Post and vote for them at: TwenTEEQuestions
(not to be confused with our yearly MHM awards starting soon)
This section is our chance to showcase some of our helpful and knowledgeable members from all over the world. Hopefully this will help the community get to know a bit more about the helpful "faces" they see here at T-ShirtForums.com
Our next Featured Member is Jane, known on the forums as lizziemaxine.
8 Questions with Jane from SwanThreads.com
Do you remember when and why you originally joined T-ShirtForums.com?
Found it through Impressions Magazine. Joined to learn and share.
What type of t-shirt business do you run?
Custom decorations - embroidery, rhinestones, transfers.
Do you have a website?
Yes. www.swanthreads.com
How long have you been in business?
I started part-time in January of 2002 and went full-time in November of 2004
What was your reason for getting into the t-shirt business?
Started as a hobby but people kept wanting to pay me to decorate things for them.
What was one of your biggest obstacles and how did you overcome it?
Making my husband understand that this business is a real job. While my husband was unemployed and home for a few months he began to understand how my business works. He thought that if he didn't hear my embroidery machine running I wasn't doing any work. Finally he realized that a lot of my work is on the computer (design, research, bookkeeping) and that just because it is quiet doesn't mean I'm taking a nap in the front room.
What's the best piece of advice you've given or been given?
Advise I was given and I continually give to others is continue to learn, be open for new ideas, and practice, practice, practice.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I never thought of myself as competitive, but, since getting into the decorated apparel business I have become very competitive and love it. The first time I won an embroidery competition I was inspired by someone who said "you can't stitch that logo in thread". Along with a great digitizer and many sew outs I did stitch that logo in thread. My customer was happy and the work was on the cover of a national trade publication as the winner of their competition. Since then I have been on the cover of that publication again and featured in other publications. This is a fun by-product of decorating. Now I tend to look at a logo for its potential to be entered into a competition. Give me the weird design and I am a happy decorator.
==
Feel free to use the replies area below to say Hi to Jane or to ask any follow up questions about her answers or company.
Got some great interview questions you'd like to see in future features? Post and vote for them at: TwenTEEQuestions
