Why Be Ordinary, When You Can Be Remarkable!
01] Name You Go By?
Rory Matier
02] Brand/Product/Business Name?
Classic Eggshell Moments
03] If you use social media, which ones? Where/how do people find you?
04] If you maintain any blogs/vlogs/forums, what are they called?
Blogs: The Tee Shirt Blogger, A Guy Called Bloke, Doodlepip’s Adventures
5] Are you a new business concept, or identity to the market? How long have you been established?
Classic Eggshell Moments has been active since November 2016, operating as a store front within Redbubble. As a tee shirt seller, yes this is a totally new adventure for me, although l was originally in retail merchandising and management when l was a younger man.
06] What is your identity/business/product about?
I offer for sale a range of products with my designs of which are specifically aimed at Autism, Aspergers, Mental Health , Taboo and Stigma, Environmental and Eco-friendly, Animal Welfare and Service dogs. The designs are mostly on tee shirts but also tote bags with a few other range styles available.
07] How did you come up with the concept of your idea? Did you have any previous experience with what you do, or was it completely fresh?
The idea for the brand name was principally because of my Aspergers, and the fact that so many people oft referred to the phrase ‘walking on eggshells’ with me, that l thought l would incorporate that into the concept. I was getting tired of not being able to find designs that l would personally wear, especially when it came to the likes of my Aspergers. What was available, was not something l found any comfort with, l couldn’t buy into the whole ribbon or puzzle piece design, as that simply didn’t describe me.
I had never worked with a print and demand supplier such as the likes of Redbubble, and only had experience working with actual merchandise when in retail.
08] Did you discuss it with others before launching or just ran with the idea and let it ride? If you did discuss the idea with others, what was their reaction?
I know l initially discussed the possibility of the tee shirt business with my partner and a few friends, and they were all in support of it, but mostly it was something l needed to do for me.
09] Do you use promotional or boosted or organic marketing techniques to raise the awareness to what you do?
Having spent years and years in advertising, marketing, branding and promotions l was and still am confident about my organic marketing approach and have not, will not and probably wont ever have the need to buy boosted promotions. I organically advertise through Twitter and Facebook, but predominately the former. I have managed several self employed business enterprises over the last thirty years, and all have been organically marketed, l don’t believe for me that buying an advertisement campaign is the answer. When you create your own audience, customer base or client database and have built it yourself through your own efforts, then there is more familiarity and more of a personal friendship to be acquired. I like to know my buyer.
10] Tell us about how social media has worked for you? [If at all]
Twitter is my more efficient social media for garnering successful results for sales and was the main reason l opened my first ever Twitter account in January [2017], purely so as to open up the brand and product ranges to a much larger and more commercial audience than l personally felt l wasn’t reaching with Facebook. A year on from business launch and l can confirm that Twitter was a good move for the brand. Also, a more recent move to WordPress l believe will also continue to raise awareness to the designs themselves.
11] Is your business unique or different in any way to your competitors or the next person along? If so, how, tell us about it?
Is my business unique? in so far as tee shirts – no, not at all. In so far as uniqueness for the designs? Yes, l don’t have many competitors that voice the thoughts the same way as l do and that is with reference to the Aspergers and to a degree the autism collections. I still hold a certain individuality with my other visual designs also.
12] Are you a quiet person naturally or are you very attention/publicity orientated
I am a very quiet person naturally, l am not a full on introvert, but l am a far cry from being an extrovert.
13] Is your brand you and you are the brand or is your brand separate from your personal life?
I am the brand, the brand is me, although l do have a personal life, but l am a very open person as it is, and do not believe in hiding behind falsehoods. My blogs are very open reads into me for those who wish to follow my journey and read my story.
14] Did/do you have a strategy/plan for achieving success? What was/is your end goal or achievement?
I have a five year strategy plan for Classic Eggshell Moments – as to goal. Mmm, well it would be nice to be hugely successful, but reality kicks in pretty quick and that says l am in an aggressive market, so be happy with less. I wasn’t particularly bothered about being a huge brand name, if it achieved success even marginally, l was going to be happy with that. I have never been overly bothered by being consumed by commercial consumerism.
16] At any point with your idea/product/brand did it look like it was going to fail? Did you make any preparation for this possibility?
Launching a new business of this nature and failures were bound to occur, l made some back up plans for this eventuality, but only in so far as understanding that NOT all the designs would be everyone’s cup of tea, hence why l devised the 5 year plan. within a short period of time l was able to established that some designs were simply ‘too out there’ and were withdrawn from display with perhaps a re-launch further down the line.
17] Is popularity or quality more important to you/your brand? [Or both]
I don’t care about popularity, never have done, although in previous business’s l have been and become immensely popular with clients, but l prefer quality over quantity
18] Does your brand receive the right amount of publicity/attention that you think it warrants? If not, what other tactics have you introduced to help it along? If it has, are you pleased with the results?
Yes it does, but when you are organically marketing your brand, it all comes back down to you. So if l push harder one week than the next, and the next week l push softer the results reflect upon me. I am pretty laid back and firmly believe in the ‘build it and they will come‘ philosophy so am not over enthusiastic to do a continued push each and every day.
19] How long does it take you to prepare or finalise product or content for the end user?
Content from start to finish. Well the designs are all done, so they are easy now. Writing in the blogs can take a little longer and the biggest problem l might face is writers block, but l have usually got enough pre-prepared literature lying around to post most days. so for me, again it’s reflective upon what l am doing.
20] Have you found that social media has embraced your identity willingly?
Yes of course, l have been lucky, but l am pushing both myself and the concept as one brand, so it makes it more relatable and personable. I have had a few hecklers, but nothing that worries me.
21] Have you found that your ‘different approach or quirky style’ has ever hindered what you do?
I am naturally quirky or Kwerky as l prefer to class it, has it ever hindered me? Yes of course, but l am of the philosophy that it matters not, l don’t deliberately try to offend or insult people, as in l don’t go out of my way to do so, but as an example some of my designs/writing are a little on the edge of inappropriateness, but hey one of my concepts at the start was to raise awareness through both the designs and the slogans. I see humour in a lot of what people don’t and this alone can cause upset with some factions. I can only be me, and as long as l am not being illegal or specifically rude and offensive, then l follow my path.
22] How do your customers/clients/readers feel about you or your business, brand or content?
Not all the designs are embraced by the crowds, but l never intended them to be, but l do achieve some quality success with most of the collections – some designs l knew would NEVER sell, but they serve other purposes and that is mostly when writing. they are there for raising awareness and delivering an impact. They get attention. I think in the main, that mostly the designs are well received.
23] Are you ever worried about upsetting your client base or do you think that a little ‘tilt’ occasionally helps who you are and what you do?
Have l ever been worried about upsetting the apple cart, tilting when perhaps l should not have leaned? NO, most assuredly not, l think when it comes to raising awareness on certain topics, be this written or visually, that you do what you can to attract attention to certain issues. Some people are easily upset by the simplest of things, it’s the luck of the draw as to what.
24] Do you have a favourite quote or phrase or term that you always use to describe who you are?
Matthew Lesko has a beautiful quote “If you don’t piss some people off, you’re not doing anything. You’re not interesting. When you’re not interesting, you’re like everyone else in the middle”. I think this is probably the best quote to use to describe me, it’s me down to a tee.
25] What would your epitaph read? How do you want to be remembered?
My partner says that she is going to put on my tombstone “Be Right Back!” She says it is one of my most annoying quirks, as l am always saying it – because my brain is at times always afire with ideas. Preparing dinner and suddenly ‘Be Right Back‘, just going out ‘Be Right Back‘, and so on. As to how l would want to be remembered, probably ‘That He Did Something About It!’
26] Do you have any annoying habits?
I have way too many annoying habits, not just the one above, l pluck my eyebrows when l am thinking hard and look like a twit when done, as l am usually missing my left eyebrow and then have to pencil it in using my partners’ eye liner pen!!!
27] What is your biggest regret or your greatest achievement to date? [Or Both]
Biggest regret, well we all have them, but l live with them. But it’s the fool who says they don’t have any, cause we all do. It’s what we learn from them and how we move forwards that displays us who we are to ourselves. Greatest achievement, well l have so many; l am not dead, so suicide can kiss its own butt, l stopped self-harming, l moved myself out of a dark depression, l created a totally unique broker business and held it for nearly 2o years, l sat with a huge consultation group of the political husbandry of primates – means nothing to most readers if any at all – but it and those are huge achievements to me.
28] What do you do to relax?
Relax – what does this word mean? No, seriously it is hard for me to relax and can and have never achieved the status fully – but l read, write and game.
29] Where about in the world are you to be found? [Country]
Kent, United Kingdom.
30] What are your best qualities?
Doggedly persistent, friendly, cynical, both a realist and a pragmatist, hate authority and questions everything and everyone.
31] Do you think, with what you do that you have attained ‘That Gal, That Guy’ status yet or still working towards it? Is it important to you?
I have been That Guy on many occasions from my college days, to business to self employed business, to writing and many other things, but it’s not overly important to me, and besides it is not my main driving thought to be That Guy, it is always down to others to think that of you and over the years, many have.
32] Why do you think you/your brand or concept is different? Or are you no different to everyone else?
I am different to the next person anyway, but l am the same in some respects to many of us who already think differently, because we share a unity in trying to make a difference!
33] If you were an animal what would you be?
I would be a wolf, l can be alone with my own company, but friendly enough to be in my own pack.
34] What sport would be the funniest to add a mandatory amount of alcohol to?
I am going to be boring and say chess and alcohol, because suddenly your genius moves are just questioned by everything you think! Funny results can be achieved!
35] Finally tell us something unique about you that the questions haven’t asked.
If you want to know more, then read about me in my blogs, look at my designs and follow my story, my journey.
Thanks for reading!
Rory Matier – The Tee Shirt Blogger
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