Another day in paradise.

Today was a day of relax and recovery... lol yeah right.

Today I did relax my mind from the design aspect but spent the rest of the day under my truck. It seems to be both my money provider as well as my money spender. With all the work I have been doing for the king of trucks show coming up I have been aching to put some time into it. Right when I thought it was going to be a great summer with me being able to take it out of the garage I find out that it is in no way ready to be my all around vehicle. Especially with a show coming up next week that it is going to be appearing at promoting King of Trucks, I needed it to be in the best condition that I can get it.

After spending the time looking over all the little parts of the truck I notice that this is in no way going to be a little project. If I want something to be proud of I might as well go all out. At least I have a good start with a great base model with already done after market parts. This is my new base model.

I have been thinking like this a lot lately. Not just about vehicles but all aspects of life. The job I'm working, the place I'm living, the area that surrounds me, the people I hang out with, the direction of my life. I am too young to be set into a set path and too old to expect it to drop right in front of me. One thing I have found out is the best thing you can have in life is a network of people that have your back.

On that note I'm going to go hang out with a couple while trying to make new ones.

Keep the thoughts flowing

I have found out that the best way to get work moving forward is to keep writing down my thoughts. I have been branching off to my past contacts for ideas and networking possibilities. With my friends and classmates the contact list is stacked with ideal partners. Now I just need to get everything organized.

As I find my self in a position to get my own work going I am thrown into a world of situations. I am currently working with Right Coast Association doing design work in all aspects. With this brings a laundry list of abilities and connections.

I have been working more with web based designed including css, php, dreamweaver, javascript, and other design/layout tools. This not being my strong side is only strengthening my trade. Working with all the tools and designs that this company handles branches me out to multiple tasks. These tasks both small and large make this company what it is.

With my last encounter with small business I noticed it is the look and task of the business that sells it. Meaning your end game is the money maker but the main draw to the company is how it looks. Any one can get a mower and go mow lawns but to create a business its all about getting your name out there. And that is the main thing this place is missing. All the business in this area with no networking and not even a thought of trying it. Small business will always be small business when it decides not to expand. I'm talking posters, banners, billboards, websites, you name it. I was just told McDonalds has its own brand band-aids for employees. Why spend money on band-aids if you are a company not even close to that trade? The answer is the be self contained and cut expenses. Then as soon as you get to be a larger corporation branch out and then sell to all them. Same idea, say I run a print shop that deals with large quantity runs. As soon as I can get the chance I start a sub-corporation in that company that sells paper. I sell my paper to my print shop and make profits on both ends.

Ideas are a means to an end. Take an idea and form it into something that you can retire on. But who really wants to retire? What about us that just want to dig our way out of the hole we were put in. Or the hole our society puts us in.

Just a few of my thoughts. Time to go work on something... Be back soon.

First Post

Welcome to the introduction to theBOUGHTONcollective. 

This was an idea I have been working on for a couple of years now ever since college. While I was in my senior year at college I developed a student created and operated store that was geared towards the art majors. Although it was geared towards the art majors themselves, in no way would I turn down other fellow students. My goal was to make a place where we could take what we were learning and turn it into physical pieces. Then in turn take our art and sell it. Going to college is supposed to give us the education to be able to make a living for ourselves. With all of this in mind I created Digital Signature. We worked with other names but since the bulk of the work that was being produced was digital based this seemed most fitting. We were placing our "digital signature" on the world.

This store ended up including just my buddy Dan and my own work. With a lot of help from another friend Jeff, we created a ton of t-shirts and prints via screen prints. This was our back bone. Along with a digital website and some other store attributes we were ready to present the night of our senior projects gallery which was placed in the library. Sales went well but that wasn't the true goal of the store. I was kicking myself for not starting it sooner. It was the taste I needed at that school to make it all finally seem worth it. The combination of artists to create work that was physical and could be spread out into the world.

The best feeling in the world is walking down the street and you see a poster you designed or a t-shirt you printed.

This is my goal. Join me.