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Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

snowday2011.com

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Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#101

Post by guynamedloren »

Jem wrote: post #94
guynamedloren wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right now I can tell you I didn't do much to market except designed a good product, a good presentation, and took advantage of the ridiculous amounts of traffic going through the Facebook events mentioned in OP. No magic or silver bullet here. Will go into more detail with a blog post soon. Madebyloren.com

You should link madebyloren.com from the footer of your t-shirt page - the benefit to your blog because of a link from a viral page will outlast the t-shirt sales. :)

Thought about it, but decided against it. First, there is absolutely no content on my blog as of right now, so no reason to return ever. Second, I don't think general demographic that visits snowday2011.com would necessarily benefit or appreciate the content that will eventually be on my blog (startups, programming, design, hacking). Third, I've planned on posting a detailed account of the project (including hits, rough financials, etc) since inception, and I don't know if I want this information to be readily available to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who happens to stroll through the site.

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#102

Post by guynamedloren »

komlenic wrote: post #55

Wow on the idea, wow on the execution, and wow on the design! Out of curiosity: Domain Name: SNOWDAY2012.COM Created Date: 03-Feb-2011 Expiry Date: 03-Feb-2012 Registrant Name: Paul Jefferiesr

Thank you for the kind words. I guess that means the years of hardwork are paying off, even if the direct time investment was a few hours.

HA! I can't believe somebody registered that domain name. Too funny, it didn't even cross my mind. Snowday2011.com was my backup - I really wanted snowpocalypse.com!

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#103

Post by guynamedloren »

Tycho wrote: post #96

What did you use to build the page, if you don't mind me asking? I've been wondering for ages if pages like that share some common tool/template, or it it's just that the 'full width' idea makes them look cut from the same cloth.

No templates or tools, unless you count Illustrator. This, along with all of my other projects, came straight from my crazy little mind, everything from design to code. I am a big fan of the "full width" style, and it definitely works well here.

Re templates: I'm sure they exist (especially on wordpress theme sites), but I really just prefer to create things on my own. Even coded my blog from scratch =]

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#104

Post by guynamedloren »

naithemilkman wrote: post #99
guynamedloren wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, this one was just straight up css and html. Nothing fancy here - no reason to, its only a single page :) oh and its hosted on whatever my cheap web hosting is. Is it sad that I don't even know the tech specs? Maybe that's s reason for the success - only focusing on what matters.. now there's a good takeaway point

So when someone orders a shirt, where does that data go? via email?

Paypal takes care of everything. They send an email when an order goes through and also have all order details available in the Paypal account dashboard. Doesn't get much simpler than that. I've always used paypal, but for once in my life I actually feel that the paypal fees are worth it. Good value and good service for a fair price. No complaints (yet).

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#105

Post by lessthanideal »

guynamedloren wrote: post #98

For what it's worth, I just remembered two somewhat interesting points: 1) There were several copycat shirts that came out on Cafepress/Zazzle shortly after mine started gaining traction. The shirt concept itself is not completely unique as we've all seen "I SURVIVED ..." shirts before, but the copycat shirts used the same font, word placement, and everything. Am I upset? Absolutely not. Those just validate my idea.…

I think you would be very surprised as to what does and doesn't sell on CafePress. Are they doing as well as you are, I doubt they are, but are they doing anywhere near the work you are, no way in hell. They are likely targeting an entirely different market than you are. You're going with viral marketing centered around Facebook. CafePress is largely populated by middle aged women. I would guess the cross over for those two groups isn't that large.

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#106

Post by noonespecial »

patio11 wrote: post #91
unshift wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i wouldn't call it exploitive, rather i would say it's very savvy. even if it's a one-time shot, it's real money and you're not doing anything shady to earn it. that's how people build wealth -- seizing opportunity. congrats on the success.

Total agreement. There is no rule, law, or moral stricture against earning money efficiently. (Some people seem to accept that a lawyer can bill $4,000 in a day of work but an engineer who does the same thing must be cheating somehow. I've never understood this.)

A great many people also think that what the lawyer does is exploitative. It has just become an accepted social fiction that law is an exploitative profession and its to be expected of them.

"Well sure lawyers do it, but engineers?! Come on, they're supposed to be the good guys!"

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#107

Post by DeusExMachina »

guynamedloren wrote: post #3

I know this is not the norm for projects here on Hacker News and I realize that it may be seen as rather exploitive, so here's a very very brief background and my thought process: - Idea was conceived around 2am this morning. Saw a few events on facebook picking up speed (hundreds of thousands of attendees) so decided to leverage that instant-market - Wasn't sure whether or not it would work, but I didn't have too mu…

It was a great way to seize an opportunity and I think you should reiterate it.

Next time you see a huge trend like this, design another t-shirt and create another website. You have already all you need: code for the website/order infrastructure and contacts with some t-shirt maker. It will require even less than 4 hours ;)

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#108

Post by Jem »

guynamedloren wrote: post #101
Jem wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should link madebyloren.com from the footer of your t-shirt page - the benefit to your blog because of a link from a viral page will outlast the t-shirt sales. :)

Thought about it, but decided against it. First, there is absolutely no content on my blog as of right now, so no reason to return ever. Second, I don't think general demographic that visits snowday2011.com would necessarily benefit or appreciate the content that will eventually be on my blog (startups, programming, design, hacking). Third, I've planned on posting a detailed account of the project (including hits, ro…

You're thinking users, I'm thinking search engines.

The people who are visiting & buying the tee probably wouldn't even notice the link.

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#109

Post by sambeau »

guynamedloren wrote: post #27
endlessvoid94 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This IS awesome. Could you please provide details about the logistics behind the tshirts? Are you using Zazzle/CafePress? Do you have a contact in the industry that allowed you to very quickly start printing and shipping them? I think that's the part most hackers will be interested in. Congrats on your success!

No zazzle or cafepress. I'm building up orders for a bulk wholesale order of good quality screenprinted tees. Haven't started printing or shipping just yet, as is explained on the site. I don't have a "contact" per se, but I have dabbled in the indie t-shirt world quite a bit so I have printers that I've worked with and I've gotten packaging/shipping down to a science. I can ship shirts in really nice, secure packagi…

I'm a former professional T-Shirt designer. Here's a few pieces of advice for people thinking about doing something similar:

1. Reduce the size of the design - while it looks great on a flat t-shirt (and perfect for the promo picture) you need to add room for a human body at the sides (surprisingly more than you think). My rule of thumb is to measure from your left nipple to your right nipple. Try sticking printouts to your chest and you'll see what I mean. A logo could probably fit on a large post-it note (roughly the size of the of an iPhone).

2. You need to position the design so it floats in a woman's cleavage. The most popular t-shirt I did had a small duck that looked like it was sitting on a woman's chest.

3. Screen printed t-shirts are printed light-colour to dark colour (like an oil painting). If you put a full print of white under the other colours they will look more vibrant - even black. But remember that t-shirts have bleeds measured in mm! getting accurate registration on cloth is tricky.

4. Large designs with many layers of solid ink can get very sweaty to wear. Try to keep things small and have gaps in the design. The recent trend for grungy, worn & badly printed designs were naturally less sweaty.

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#110

Post by KedarMhaswade »

guynamedloren wrote: post #3

I know this is not the norm for projects here on Hacker News and I realize that it may be seen as rather exploitive, so here's a very very brief background and my thought process: - Idea was conceived around 2am this morning. Saw a few events on facebook picking up speed (hundreds of thousands of attendees) so decided to leverage that instant-market - Wasn't sure whether or not it would work, but I didn't have too mu…

Can't believe it. When I was getting bored of discussions like "trying to hire an igloo", "move to California" over the snow-storm, this HN came along and made my day/night. Hacker of the year award! Maybe YC should start such an award if it doesn't already exist.
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