First impression (Let’s rip off the bandaid): The packaging came in very standard. No branding, no custom polymailer. At first, that felt like a red flag. It looked a little cheap compared to more personalized packaging I’ve used before. Then I noticed they ship through stamps.com, which told me something important. They’re likely optimizing for commercially viable shipping at scale instead of aesthetics. Less romantic, more realistic. Personally, I do prefer branded packaging. MyMerchGuy nailed that part and it felt more personal. Might not be a big deal to you or your customers but that’s just my little pet peeve. However, the shirt itself changed the entire perception. - Print quality was clean and accurate. Colors matched the design closely, which is always a concern when customers are ordering something they’ve only seen on a screen. I’ve had it happen, shit sucks. - Front and back prints were equally sharp. No mismatch, no fading, no weird texture differences. - I did a stretch test. This is something I always check because poorly treated prints crack or split early. Nine times out of ten, that shows up after a few washes and turns into a customer service nightmare. This one held up, thank the holiday gods. Because of that, the initial packaging concern ended up being not as detrimental and more of a personal taste thing. Next step: I’m placing another small order, one shirt and one hoodie, before making any full promotional push or switching fulfillment services completely. No rushing. No assumptions, ya know? I wanted to post this here because at least how discipline for dreamers at least for me, looks like: - Testing before scaling - Separating emotional reactions from actual product performance - Making decisions based on repeatable results, not first impressions - Coming to terms with your own mistakes and making the steps to grow from them. Hope this helps someone who’s building in a similar lane and trying to avoid learning expensive lessons the hard way.

I’m reforming the company again, specifically how I handle merchandise, and this time the focus is on keeping things realistic and sustainable. Lately, I’ve been making sure I’m not oversupplying product when the demand just isn’t there. One of my endorsement partners recently shut down their entire program. Nothing went wrong maliciously and there was no bad blood on either side. The reality was that sales across the board weren’t strong enough to justify keeping it running. They were taking losses from discounts and storefront upkeep, and I wasn’t moving enough volume to make sense of keeping the store open. We ended things clean, with mutual respect, because it was simply a business decision. Honestly, it helped knowing this wasn’t isolated to one artist. It was a widespread issue, and sometimes that perspective matters. Because of that, this became the first year since 2017 that I had to find a new company to print my shirts. Instead of turning it into a why me moment, I focused on figuring out the next move and fixing the problem. Back in the early days of my music career, there was a company called Store Frontier. The concept was simple. You paid to have the design made, and from there they handled the printing, shipping, and fulfillment. There was no inventory to manage and no risk of overstocking something you weren’t sure would sell. That model made sense for where I was at back then. Fast forward to now, Store Frontier is gone, but one of the co owners has launched a new platform called MerchYeah. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been talking with them to see if this could be the right move as I restructure again. We’re starting with a test batch to see how things go. If it works out, I plan on sharing the experience here, including an unboxing once the shirts come in. My hope is that this helps someone else who’s building their fan base the same way I did, by growing with demand instead of sinking money into inventory before it makes sense. It’s not about what happens. It’s about how you handle it, right?

Week 8 commitments (Dec 7th - Dec 13th): MY focus this week: - Last week I got a few of the Christmas songs pulled in, and this week I need to decide - which to use, which I don't have time for, and knock it out. Since they have a 50% off per song through the 14th, that has to be the deadline! - Film at least one for Classroom content showing the process. If that's done and I'm in flow: - Track drums/guitar/bass/vocals for new song (targeting end-month completion). It has been brought up that some are finishing their week goals on Sunday, so Friday isn't as good of a choice to feel accomplished vs. feeling rushed and it not happening. Which way feels better? 1) Sunday to Sunday (post both last week's wins and this weeks plan on the same day) 2) Sunday to Saturday (adding a weekend day in so it's not only the week for those having day jobs and the weekend is when they *can* get things done. 3) Monday to Sunday (giving through the entire weekend so Monday starts as a win off of Sunday's accomplishments) I'm leaning towards "3", but open to the group thoughts. We're in this together! Your turn: What's the ONE thing you're finishing this week? Drop it below 👇

Week 7 commitments (Nov 30 - Dec 6): Last week was Thanksgiving chaos for most of us. I fell off too. Getting back on this week. It's not that we won't occasionally slip. It's all about getting back to it and not going back to old habits. MY focus this week: - Export/import/rough balance old Christmas album to rerelease with updated skills (originally about a decade old). Film at least one for Classroom content showing the process. If that's done and I'm in flow: - Track drums/guitar/bass/vocals for new song (targeting end-month completion). I'm making a modification as I realize this should be apples to apples. Client work and D4D admin are happening too, but that's "day job" stuff. This list is what moves MY music forward. Same rule for you - commit to YOUR creative work, not your job tasks. Still adapting as we go! Your turn: What's the ONE thing you're finishing this week? Drop it below 👇

After many years of focusing on producing other artists, it's time. First month is down. Minimum of one single a month from here on out. This month will be a bit ridiculous as well, as I also plan on remixing part of my old Christmas EP both for fun as well as marketing. Tis the season to promote Christmas music, and what better way to showcase how building systems speeds up workflow than to speed mix through a group of songs and still beat the old mix by a landslide? 😂 And so it begins! allbutdenied.bandcamp.com