#business help

[paninidanini]

Anybody knows a cheap and good shipping service that ships worlwide?? Asking cause I really wanna make merch and dont wanna force my customers to pay 20USD in shipping to a 5USD pin T_T

[road-killdaydreams]

over the past two weeks I have been dealing with one of the worst experiences I have ever had with a community theatre.

I have a very strong suspicion that they are changing aspects of my design that they don't like without me there. As a designer I am offended by this. That's my intellectual property. I wrote that lighting program.

back in April I accepted a union position at a local venue - part of this agreement was to be able to design and operate a musical there. This show was opening the same night as a previous contract I had agreed to. (both would open the second week of june) As soon as I found this out I went to the producer of the non union contract, and let him know what had happened. I told him that I was willing to back off of the project because I was not likely to be available for evening runs during tech week. I offered to hire an assistant designer using the money out of my contract fee. He dismissed that offer and promised to be available to take notes for the runs and coordinate them with me, as long as I could be there during the day to do work notes. I agreed and continued to do all the paperwork and rehearsal prep that I could.

The set ended up being rather complex and the show required a good few specials, practicals, and an LED tape project. I have worked with all of these before but never had to tackle all of them on my own, but I was under the impression the producer would be willing to help me and be there. He was not.

I had to fight tooth and nail with my boss at the union job to get a day off to be able to be there for load in.

Anyway I am there load in day for 14 hours and dont even get to do a focus with my lights because the set is not complete. I focus on other things to do. As the set goes up I lose access to about half of my light fixtures. When the director comes in she tells me she would rather not deal with me at all that day and leaves before I can show her much of anything. When I leave that night my car battery dies.

Luckily my partner is able to take me into work the next morning to work for the community theatre, from 8am to 5pm, then I go to work the union gig from 6pm - 2am. I have a breakdown at the union gig cause I am stressing about how I am going to get both shows done with no car to get between the two.

basically the whole week is like this. I wake up early to go do community theatre, stay up late to do union work. on tuesday I am late to the theatre to get my car battery replaced. I am moving intelligent fixtures on my own on top of a ladder with wheels on the base (OSHA Violation). I am dealing with a data system the producer misrepresented his understanding of. the producer and director ar both over the age of 60 so they do not understand why I keep asking for them to record the rehearsals and they don't. So I am running blind on even the placement of people onstage.

Monday night they are just doing spacing so I give them just a full stage look. Tuesday I had a structure of all the blackouts and area lighting for the show. I let the stage manager know but she didnt hear me and just pulled up the same lights as the night before. On wednesday I text the director asking if the night had gone better on tuesday and she just said "a bit". I have no notes from the producer, because he has lost multiple operators and cannot take notes while filling in those roles. He takes no notes all week. The stage manager also does not take notes for me.

on thursday (the day before we open) I am finally given dark time to do my work. This is the first time i have been able to see my work under show conditions because the scenic team had to have all the lights on for safety. (that evening they throw a fit because I ask for more dark hours) I dont actually get that much done that day because the stage manager and i had JUST had time to sit and share cues and walk through the show (had to beg her to come in) the director was to come in and look at my stuff. She is over an hour late. When she does show up she is uninterested in what I have for her and talks the whole time about how unhappy she is to have had to come in. When she leaves I dont get to do any notes cause the scenic team is there and I can no longer keep the lights off.

Friday I complete all the notes. No one says anything and I feel really uncomfortable and I leave.

Saturday afternoon I get a text from the director stating that if I had watched the show i would have seen a million things wrong with it. I am very upset and send a screenshot to the producer who calls me and tells me he thinks the show looks great and that the director didnt mean it like that (gaslighting).

Monday night I get a call from him with multiple notes from the playwright about the looks that I had made. They claim because they did not see any of them till opening night that it was reasonable to ask for changes. I agree to some of them because they are basic illumination issues and some things I had also been unsure about if they would work for the scene. Others I can tell are just based on taste and spite.

on tuesday the producer texts me and asks if I can come to the theatre and do the notes. I tell him i have to be at my other job in an hour and I cannot come in. he says he will just do the notes himself. I tell him thats a violation of my intellectual property. He screams at me that it is his show and he will do what he wants with it. I tell him if thats how he feels he can pay out half of my contract and take my name off of the show. He screams at me he thinks I violated the contract anyway because of my absence at rehearsals. (he has not given me a contract)

I am absolutely over it at this point but I tell him I am willing to make some of the changes and i can walk him through how to do it over the phone so that I do not have to come in. He agrees and we do the changes I want to do. He says passive agressively "i guess I will go to bat for you with the playwright on the other changes" (this is his job)

The following day the performance report states that one of the gobos was obstructed during the final scene. These were one of the things the playwright wanted to cut out of spite and because of his bad taste in lighting. As a decent designer does I am talking to the stage manger about solutions when she abruptly tells me "it has been resolved". I email back asking how it had been resolved. Still waiting on the answer.

I have been vibrating with anxiety at the prospect of havinng to go to bat for myself with these people who have shown themselves to be both liars and passive aggressive. I want to just walk away entirely, but I dont want to have gone through all of that without getting somewhat paid for my work. I also left my tool bag there and it wouldnt sit right with me to not be there to strike the show.

My heart hurts a lot, and I feel very taken advantage of. My friend in the industry just keeps telling me to leave them in the dirt behind but I think its because she doesnt want to engage in actual problem solving with me. I feel so lost on what the right thing is to do. I dont want to deal with this producer anymore, and I am considering going to his board but I do not think they would even understand the situation

[nissaanimist]

Trying to open my own LGS

Quick clarification, what kind of LGS I'm talking about trading cards (Magic: the Gathering, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh), table top RPGs (Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu), board games (not your father's board games, stuff that gets a start on Kickstarter), and Miniatures (stuff like Warhammer 40,000)

So ever since I picked up card games in my teens and set foot in a Game Store. I knew that I wanted to do something like it. But for me it's not about making money (though being my own boss and such is a plus) what I want to do is create a space for people of all ages to gather and bond and have a great time. Because I never had that growing up. I had two or three friends that we sometimes had a sleepover and stayed up playing video games. Never did I go out and make friends, it was hard for me.

I wanna change the fact that there isn't a place for people like me and kids growing up like I did. I want a place for a community of people to be able to buy what they want exactly, and then play with their friends or make new ones. I know me personally I hate giving my money to places like Walmart for these kinds of products cause it almost feels a little hollow. Cause I'm just getting product with no interaction with a store owner or other customers saying "Oh hey you like that game too!"

I am at square zero, I've just been digging around online like a dog trying to find that bone he buried last spring. I'm taking notes on what I can and trying to figure out what I need to do and the steps to get there. I have read many posts all over the place, but I figured it was time to go in and ask myself to get the specific answers I've been looking for.

[kmwoodson]

Want somethin' specific written? DM me.

[fly-chicken]

A Pragmatic and surprisingly comforting perspective about the Trump 2nd Presidency from the ACLU

***Apologies if this is how you found out the 2024 election results***

Blacked out part is my name.

I’m not going to let this make me give up. It’s disheartening, and today I will wallow, probably tomorrow too

AND

I will continue to do my part in my community to spread the activism and promote change for the world I want to live in. I want to change the world AND help with the dishes.

And I won’t let an orange pit stain be what stops me from trying to be better.

A link to donate to the ACLU if able and inclined. I know I am

[aowork2live]

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[phantomrose96]

I think we should have a turn of phrase for "I'm not in the right, but I AM annoyed with this situation, so I just need to go bitch to a friend about this before I suck it up and go do the right thing" because more and more I'm finding this is a critical element of functional adulthood.

[vitalis-crucifix]

does anyone have tips for starting a business for like stickers buttons etc . I wanna sell my art but clueless and I don’t want to use Etsy bc they suck.

[un1k1tty-m0rn1ngstar]

guys how tf do you start a business help

[moment31]

Don't forget your local businesses! How can you help?

A bad start in 2020 Everyone this impossible situation we are all dealing with will end soon. Local businesses struggling with Covid-19 shutdown nationwide in fact worldwide. We will find our way back to life as we knew it. We hurt we cry but we don’t stop. It’s in our nature to get back up. During the pandemic everyone is suffering but everyone is also trying to lend a helping hand. Our…

[chloesimaginationthings]

Vanny's type in FNAF is so obvious...

[marisatomay]

It's so funny that everyone immediately called Eddie gay for doing the Risky Business dance and he is but he also just beat for beat recreated what Tom Cruise did in Risky Business and. well.

[apollos-olives]

before october 7th this blog was a meme page btw.

[kmwoodson]

Currently needin':

An apology letter

Help with a speech

Help writin' a business pitch

Help with a research paper

Ghostwriter

Then feel free to message meee 🙂 We can talk specifics and terms!