In case anyone else is wondering but just hasn’t asked, the Captain America shirt I’m wearing in the previous post is not something available in my t-shirt store. I created that shirt several years ago for a Halloween costume, seen in this post, and though it is totally cool, it’s not really my design to sell. The design is classic Jack Kirby of Marvel comics.

The shirt is actually two shirts, (a blue short sleeve one and a white long sleeve one), sewn together and hand painted with fabric paint. My mother-in-law sewed the shirts together for me, and I stenciled and painted the star and stripes. I’m really proud of that whole costume because it was “homemade” gear. The shield sits against the wall next to my desk, as seen in this post, and the shirt hangs on the closet door across the room.

So, sorry to disappoint anyone else who thought you could just buy such an awesome shirt. But it’s really not that difficult to reconstruct on your own. Go for it. It’s totally worth the effort.

Bullgrit

Last year, with my family’s support — helping me when they could, and leaving me alone to work when I needed the time — I added the t-shirt store to this website. This was a big and exciting step for us, but a rather obvious one, really. I mean, adding dad t-shirts to a website for my dad blog is a no-brainer. It was one of those things that we wonder, “What took us so long to do this?”

Designing dad t-shirts is just so dang fun, too. And then having people comment on my t-shirts when they see me wearing one is almost as exciting as selling one.

Speaking of selling the t-shirts, this has been our best selling design so far:

I rather like it myself, and wear mine fairly often. For a little piece of trivia, that minivan in the design is drawn from our family’s actual minivan.

That hero standing in front of the minivan in the t-shirt design, is that me you may wonder? You be the judge:

. . .

Naw, it ain’t me. I’m just a dad, geek, and good ol’ boy; I’m no superhero. The closest I’ve come to mutating a power from radiation is keeping a farmer’s tan even into the winter.

Anyway.

Our t-shirt store is growing. We’re marketing, we’re selling, and we’re building, (virtually, electronically). And we’ve discovered an unexpected fact about selling dad t-shirts: it’s the ladies who are buying them. By a margin of 2-1, women are buying these shirts more than men. Presumably, their buying for their men, but who knows, maybe these t-shirt designs are more unisex than I thought.

I’m looking forward to this new year. More dad blogging, more dad t-shirts, more work, more play. We have a lot of fun and effort ahead of us, and we’re ready to go. I expect 2012 to be a glorious year.

Thank you very much for visiting and reading and shopping.

Bullgrit

Happy New Year, everyone! 2011 was a pretty good year for my family, and I really hope it was for yours, as well. 2012 has the potential to be even better, and we’re excited.

I’ve been writing this dad blog since 2007, and I’ve really enjoyed writing every post, (almost 1,300), and I’ve appreciated every comment anyone has left, (over 2,000). I love writing, and would do it even if I had no audience, but I gotta admit it really is more fun knowing people do come here and read my work. Thank you, very much.

Y’all come back, now. Ya hear.

Bullgrit

By Wifegrit

My husband, Bullgrit, started this blog in 2007. He started the blog as a creative outlet, as a hobby.

He has a degree in English and is a writer/editor for his full time job but he doesn’t always get a chance to do creative writing.

Last year he added his t-shirt designs/store to his blog. Now his goal is to make this his full time job and work out of our home. Selling his tee shirt designs and writing his blog is his dream job. His tee shirts are hilarious and he gets positive comments every time he wears them. Yes, people actually stop him and comment on his tee-shirts. At the grocery store, Target, the airport, even at Walt Disney World and The Great Wolf Lodge. It is so much fun to see people’s reactions and hear their comments!

But I don’t hear all of them. When we are out together, I often miss the comments. Yes, I have heard some, but between dealing with the boys and shopping, I miss others. I miss enough that it has become a running joke with us that he claims he only gets comments when I step away from him for a moment.

So the next step into turning this into a successful business is to start marketing the website/shirts . You can have the coolest product in the world, but if no one knows about it, you can’t sell it.

He is working with a great, local company, Triangle Direct Media, for guidance and advice. Because we have no clue about marketing.

Starting your own company is not an easy task. It takes so much time and effort. It is a huge commitment. Bullgrit comes home from his full time job, spends some time with us, then goes to his home office and works on his website. He also spends time on the weekend working. He really, really enjoys designing t shirt slogans and writing his blog. He loves it. I am confident all his hard work will pay off in the long run for our family.

Why are you reading my thoughts and not his? I am trying to give Bullgrit more time to work on getting this business up and running.

I want to thank you for reading and following my husband’s website. And taking time to read my thoughts.