Spot the problem(s)

Posted at 14:37 on Wednesday February 22, 2006 | Filed Under Personal entrepreneurship

From an email I got last year:

Ramit,
I see your DYSENTERY SHIRT is one of Busted Teee's bestsellers...do they give you a percentage of the profits or just the $150 flat fee. The reason I'm asking is that there are some shirt ideas I want to submit, but if they are going to make tens of thousands of dollars and I only get $150 it's not worth it. Any feedback is much appreciated.

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Comments (14)

1.: Too many to count!

Posted by jtc at February 22, 2006 03:09 PM

2.: They assume that they're gonna make tens of thousands of dollars and before they're gonna take any action at all, they want to be sure that they're gonna get a big cut.

Posted by Leon at February 22, 2006 03:52 PM

3.: created a barrier for himself already? your last post also went on about money versus exp.

whether $150 is really worth his time or not, is up to him I guess.

personally I'll do it, or head to one of those sites like spreadshirt.com and do it myself.

Posted by Cap at February 22, 2006 04:30 PM

4.: I think Leon hit it on the head.

They don't even have their name out in the market yet. These shirts can be a gem in their creativity portofolio. No matter who got more money, employers will see this guy has great ideas.

Posted by Jonathan A at February 22, 2006 05:16 PM

5.: He's also seeing it as a win-or-lose situation, instead of looking at how it can be mutually profitable. It's not him vs. the company.

Posted by Dave at February 22, 2006 05:24 PM

6.: He could take his designs and start his own t-shirt company, gain experience as an entrepreneur, and possibly gain a long-term source of income.

Posted by Ben at February 22, 2006 05:45 PM

7.: I vote that the problem is that he thinks $150 is too small a payment for the royal effort of... thinking up a witty shirt design and letting someone else do the work. I just thought of this idea: A picture of a stool (like the kind that you sit on) inside of a big zip loc bag with the words "stool sample." It would make a lovely t-shirt. I would wear it. Everyone would, of course, because I am a t-shirt idea genius. I came up with this idea three seconds ago and its articulation took me another seven. All told - 10 seconds of work, for which it seems I could potentially receive $150. Assuming I kept this up at the same pace 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, I'd be pulling in $1,872,000 a year. In other words, the payment of "just $150" is fine.

Sure, my logic here is utterly flawed, but I vote that the problem is that this guy's WAY KEWL shirt idea isn't worth the $150 he scoffs at, let alone more.

But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Posted by John at February 22, 2006 07:37 PM

8.: It's a legit question, Ramit. He's just another squirrel looking for a nut. Although, I am curious as to what your response was... here's my response on that as I was at the same position 3 years ago.

If you have good ideas, send them to tshirthell.com. They will pay $200 + 10 free t-shirts from their huge collection.

If you have REALLY good ideas, make your own goddamn t-shirt company (cafepress.com could be a start).

Posted by eks at February 22, 2006 08:28 PM

9.: Totally agree with the above comments. He would've been best off just leaving it as a simple question. I think he came off a bit cocky (okay, reading into it wayy too much).

Why would you make someone else feel like they got ripped off? Busted Tees site clear says $150 for the shirt, flat. An extra $150 for artwork blah blah.

How does he know your tee is a best seller anyway?

In a sense, he's right. If he can make more $$ somewhere else, more power to him. But if he can't, then he's an idiot for quitting. Either quit or start your own company, ha!

Posted by Yogi at February 22, 2006 11:21 PM

10.: My personal business philosophy is to always try to get my logistical/factual questions answered by some whose *job* it is to answer my questions rather than by someone who conveniently knows the answer. He could have gotten his question answered by contacting Busted Tee's himself rather than asking Ramit.

Posted by swajoed at February 23, 2006 05:18 AM

11.: Nice post, beautifully illustrates the theme of this blog. You hear this sort of thing frequently, and Ramit makes you think about it.

The guy comes off as wanting to get rich quick, creating barriers for himself like Cap pointed out earlier.

His business problem, as eks hinted, is a misperception that Busted Tee makes their money purely on the idea. In fact, the idea alone is worth a fraction of the ability to manufacture, market, distribute, and fulfill it.

Posted by Milind at February 23, 2006 06:44 AM

12.: I will try and defend this guy. Perhaps he's asking this not out of an inflated sense of the worth of his idea, or out of the fear that BT will screw him, but merely because he's wondering if he would be better off giving the idea to BT or actually producing the shirts himself and selling them on his own site. Of course, this may have not been his underlying dilemma - perhaps he wouldn't be sufficiently motivated to sell them himself. Nonetheless, it's a valid question.

Posted by J P at February 23, 2006 01:32 PM

13.: I love your blog. Came upon it only today. Wonder how I missed it. Great job! Cheers!

Posted by Naina Redhu at March 8, 2006 11:21 PM

14.: Absolutly agree with the above comments. He would've been best off just leaving it as a simple question. also think so

Posted by Mike at March 14, 2006 06:31 AM

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