Now, what sort of fun things can I/you/we do to attract more attention and get more business? Maybe instead of searching for new ways to become better, faster, cheaper, smarter, cooler, whatever-er… we should just start thinking a little bigger.

But then I drove off. Taco Bell was calling, and the busyness of life kicked in again. I practically forgot about the whole thing until coming across this completely awkward video today. I gotta say, my reaction to the rainbow wasn’t quite as dramatic as that guy’s. But I do sympathize with him.

Here’s the photo I took. Um, make that three photos, all stitched together and trying their best to do justice to what I saw that day. Like I said, it was huge. And in more than one way.

^ Click the photo to view larger.

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JJ:  What inspired you and Julia to start Craft Svcs?

TP: Part of what got us thinking about starting our own business was being inspired by a couple of retail stores we visited years ago. One was called AKAR in Iowa City, the other was SMASH, based in Des Moines. We loved how AKAR married design and architecture. SMASH was a unique T-shirt shop that did custom design work, too.

Then there was the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago that we attended five or six years ago. Think of young people making awesome screen-printed and hand-sewn crafts. Designed goods. Not your typical craft fair. Lots of tattoos… definitely not your grandma’s type of thing.

Also, there was a tad bit of frustration in submitting our T-shirt designs to Threadless that never got printed. We wanted to see them printed, so we decided to buy a screen printer and do it ourselves.

Beyond that, it really all started with the two of us just enjoying the process of drawing and working together.

How does collaboration between you and Julia work?

We’ve found that it works well for us to collaborate on our designs and patterns. For example, I will draw an axe and Julia will draw the pattern on it. We never work over each other’s shoulder. Instead we hand our work back and forth in order to take the designs in different directions.

When printing, I do most of the dirty work like pulling ink on the screens. Julia will align the paper or shirt. All of our two-color designs are hand-registered.

Speaking of designs, have you always had an interest in tree rings and antlers?

Those designs came out of a fascination with the new natural elements that we’ve been surrounded by since moving to Oregon. It’s a celebration of the Pacific Northwest, but it’s all a little ironic.

We probably have 20 new designs ready for printing, coming soon. Every single one of them seems to have a Pacific Northwest emphasis.

And you do this all from home? Tell me about your studio.

The entire house is pretty much our studio. Our laundry room serves as the print studio, where we’ve got a single-bed screen printer. Then we have a darkroom for exposing screens. Emulsion and stuff like that. We also have a separate drawing studio.

What sort of music inspires you while working?

Mostly roots-folk-rock type stuff. The Seedy Seeds, which is a Midwest indie folk rock band, Devandra Bernhart, Monsters of Folk, Matt the Electrician, who’s from Austin. All pretty relaxed, no Metallica.

Tell me about your online store. I see you’re using Big Cartel. Why did you choose them, and what other shopping cart tools did you consider using?

We considered Etsy, but it’s really too confined for what we wanted to do—not all that much design input is available for the store interface. I wanted a solution that I could shape how I needed it, and with Big Cartel I have full control over the HTML/CSS. Plus, there are fees for everything you sell with Etsy. The better you do, the more you pay.

We also looked at doing a home-grown merchant service, built from scratch, but Big Cartel was so much easier. It’s made for artists, and it ties into Paypal nicely.

Is Craft Svcs doing business apart from the online storefront?

Yes, last month we had a booth at Crafty Wonderland in Portland. Sold out of quite a few of the T-shirts. We also sold prints and some hand-stitched flags. That was sort of a personal thing of mine. You’ve gotta come see us at a show to get those kinds of goods!

We really enjoy the face-to-face conversations with customers, and we’d probably eliminate the online store if we could. At Crafty Wonderland we were able to meet up with lots of friends and others we don’t always get to see, and people we know through Twitter.

What’s next for Craft Svcs?

We’d like to move away from just doing T-shirt design and do more work with other local artists and friends. One idea we have is to collaborate with other husband/wife teams and couples like us, where we’d do a show together around a theme.

And, we’re booked for Crafty Wonderland’s holiday show in December at the Oregon Convention Center.

Taking us full circle, we’re also hoping to have our own booth at the Renegade Craft Show in Chicago this September. But we’re still waiting to hear if they’ll let us in.

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Find Truen and Craft Svcs on the World Wide Web:

» @designiscrafty

» Facebook

» www.truenpence.com

» www.craftsvcs.com

I just stumbled upon an article from CNN Money called Health Care Law’s Massive, Hidden Tax Charge. The author reveals a tiny detail in the new federal healthcare overhaul bill—recently signed into law by Pres. Obama—that will affect anyone who’s self-employed. Whether you’re a freelance web designer or drive your own ice cream truck, this law impacts you.

Freelancers are familiar with the current way of doing things: Federal law requires businesses to give a 1099 form to any freelancer/contractor paid for services exceeding $600. At the end of the year, the freelancer then tallies up their 1099s in order to report their income to the government.

What the new law says: Begining on January 1, 2012, 1099 forms will no longer be just for services. They will be required for reporting goods, too.

How this affects you: If you’re an independent contractor and plan to spend more than $600 on say a new camera or computer—or even presumably plane tickets for business travel—the new law requires you send a 1099 to the store/company you did business with. According to the article, “if a freelance designer buys a new iMac from the Apple Store, they’ll have to send Apple a 1099.”

The Senate Finance Committee responsible for the coming gush of new paperwork apparently thought this would be a good way to find hidden taxpayer dollars to help pay for the massive healthcare bill. (Funny thing, I don’t recall small business owners asking for that, either.)

Fortunately there’s still time to strip the new 1099 requirements from the healthcare bill before this portion of the law kicks in. Here’s hoping Congress will do just that.

Truth is, Tara did most of the work (like, um, flying across the country to actually deliver the presentation for 600 attendees), and I chipped in with design, layout, and concept support. Together we created an 18-page booklet that her ever-more-productive pupils were able to use during the half-day session.

Tara’s client handled the printing, so we were limited on ink colors and binding. Nevertheless, I think the piece (below) turned out OK.

Thanks for the opportunity to lend a hand, Tara. Remember me when you get all famous and stuff.

Bill Zipp is a sales and marketing veteran who loves to help independent business owners master the business side of their business. Apparently he also loves to write, and we’re soaking up every bit of it. Bill’s brand name is Summit Small Business, and here’s his Matchbook profile.

Ali Smith is a terrific portrait photographer who does business under the name Thistledown Photography. Ali has a background in textile design and hails from across the pond. Listen closely and you might hear a hint of that great British accent. Here’s Ali’s Matchbook profile.

We’re excited to have Ali and Bill join our group — two more nice people who do good work.

In my paper I wrote about how the outcome of any negotiation hinges on both leverage and power. To become a successful negotiator one must first understand the similarities between leverage and power as well as how their roles differ in the negotiation process. This involves learning how confidence affects the amount of leverage and power each party brings to the negotiating table.

I’ll spare you a copy/paste of the entire paper, but thought I’d share a few thoughts on something called a BATNA—what it is, and how having one will give you confidence (and power) when negotiating.

I have to admit, before enrolling in the course I had never heard of the term BATNA, or Best Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement. But the concept is simple: it’s whatever you’ve got in your back pocket if the negotiation goes south. A BATNA is your Plan B.

Whether you’re shopping for a new car or a new job, knowing your best alternative to taking the deal is critical for walking away happy. Why? Because having a plan B gives you the confidence to say “no thanks” if you need to. When you know you’ve got another good option (or two), there won’t be feelings of desperation or settling for less. Sometimes walking away happy means leaving the deal on the table.

And while finding your BATNA is important, don’t stop there. Do what you can to find your opponent’s, too. Remember this: whoever has the best BATNA has the most leverage in the negotiation. So do some detective work. Ask questions. If the other party is being stingy with information it could be a sign that their BATNA is weak. Or, if you have a good poker face, they may just think you have a stronger alternative to the deal. Either way, the advantage is yours.

And if not, well, there’s always plan B. Or at least there should be.

I’ll start: Duct Tape Marketing, by John Jantsch

Your turn!

This Friday, April 23, the MAC is having its first-ever office furniture and electronics sale. We’ve gathered a bunch of stuff that’s been collecting dust… er, uh I mean quality, valuable items that you probably can’t live without. Read all about it on Craigslist… and we’ll see you Friday starting at 10am.

Welcome aboard, Kevin! We’re happy to have you part of the crew.