News w/ More to Come RSN

I've been busy working on my other blogs and stores (it's 9 pm already!), but I want to let you in on some news for now, with more later this week.

Check out the new feed from my primary blog - CHM Biz News Blog - which you'll find on the sidebar here. There's a CafePress sale!

It's a good idea to keep an eye on the CHM Biz News Blog, anyway, as it's the best information source about my business, with the possible exception of my monthly CafePress newsletter.

You may also want to check out my Music Stuff Blog, also found here, with a horizontal banner toward the bottom of this Page, not on the sidebar. There's some fun stuff I just put up there you might enjoy. Involving music, of course.

And, last, but certainly not least (and I should have mentioned this on the CBN Blog, but...later...), and that is...I think I have my price mess cleaned up. I'm not yet ready to signal the 100% all-clear, but all is looking good, and has for a few days now. CafePress IT is still working on the issue (I certainly wasn't alone with this problem!), when *they're* done, then I'll feel all is corrected. Just an FYI, especially for those of you who read my newsletter which referred to this.

Now, I'm off to dinner and the rest of the Emmies (or is that Emmys?).

: )

Poll: Family ties key to youth happiness

Poll: Family ties key to youth happiness - Yahoo! News (AP)

Interesting, important, and, especially if you're a mom, encouraging survey done by the Associated Press and, yes, MTV.

IMHO, these two together - AP and MTV - could come up with a pretty good overview of what's going on with today's youth.

Hey, some good news (for a change). : )

Keep cool.

Stopping By & Update

Hope all are keeping cool!

The "limited time" "Buy 3 Shirts, Get 1 Free" CafePress promotion is over now.

I have been hard at work re-organizing my CafePress premium stores, as you may notice, also adding new graphics and merch. Been busy putting together Back-to-School Features as well (which I had better complete RSN!).

I've been in the process of marking down my Value T-Shirts.

My Value T-Shirt mark-down is for two reasons:

1. CafePress will be increasing its price for printing on a second side later this month. What this means is that either we shopkeepers can pass along the price increase to you guys (!), we can cut our mark-up (!!), or we can remove the graphics on the second side (a ton of extra work on top of an already heavy workload at the busiest part of the online retail year). I most likely will do the first and third: pass along the mark-up, plus start removing some - but not all! - of the second graphics. What this means is that all my merch printed on two sides will be slightly more expensive, but you'll start to be seeing prices drop as I remove the second graphics from many items. BTW, I have many, many items (most?) which have only one graphic, so they will not be affected in any way, price or otherwise. So....to make a long story shorter, my offering the Value tees at a lower price, may compensate a little for the increased price of the two-graphic items. (I'm giving it a shot for now, anyway. Running it up the flag pole; seeing if it will fly.)
2. The economy. It's getting a little ugly out there. The stock market has been like a roller-coaster this year - you have to hang on tight, and it's starting to get a little sick and nauseating. Then there's all those "sub-slime" (thank you for this apt word, Jim Cramer) and otherwise screwed-up mortgages and other "creative" financing/credit crunch. Gasoline prices, higher food prices... It's not a time to expect people to want to throw around their cash. It's a time where someone might be more interested in spending $9.99 for a tee she really likes and can afford, while, perhaps, the more expensive shirts have to be passed up (especially those with that added two-graphic CafePress mark-up!). The more flush among you won't care, but I do have sympathy for those who are uncomfortable shelling out more than $9.99 for a T-shirt at this time.

Telling you far more than I should, it's good news/bad news for me when I sell stickers, buttons, magnets, Value Tees, and the like. Good news in that I made a sale and that someone has appreciated and is now enjoying my stuff. But a little disappointing in that I'm making only $1 or two on the sale. (The more expensive items bring me $5 or more...)

Anyway, I'm way long, too long here. Just updating you, and wishing you well. Keep cool!