How we do it

The first thing people usually say when they see our products are "Wow, you guys make these all by yourself?" and I tell them "Yeah, we actually do." and then they always, always, always, follow it up with "How!?" People are usually surprised. and it's a good question. I'll answer it in a minute. 

Think about this first - for most people, when they go to the grocery store to buy something they don't care how it's made, or where it comes from. We know it ends up at the grocery store and then ends up in our kitchen. Me personally, I couldn't care less what went into creating the can of Busch's baked beans I'm about to buy. It's never crossed my mind and it isn't important. BUT, if I was buying baked beans from someone I grew up with and who I didn't know made baked beans, I would be really curious how they did it. I'd want to know how they figured out how to make and sell professional baked beans. 

It's the same with us, except for coupons. And then I have to explain that we don't really make the coupons all by ourselves. I'll explain. 

I start off with a concept for something I think would be funny. Some times it's actually funny, and sometimes it's only funny in my head. I don't know until I start writing things down. Most of my time and energy goes into writing the coupons. each one is a little different, but it follows the same format. I enjoy writing and will often go through 2 or 3 revisions of each coupon booklet until it has the feel that I like. Once the text is done I send it off to the graphic designer. It's important that he gets the feel for the coupons. Feel is everything because at this point it's just words on a page. It's harder than it sounds. On top of that, finding a good graphic designer who could bring to life the coupons I envisioned was really really hard. It's like trying to find an actor to fit a specific role. Lots of people can draw and design, not everyone can do it the way that you want. The design process usually takes a few weeks. There's a decent amount of back and forth for each one, and a dozen little things we only think of changing after we have a nearly finished product. Thats just how it is sometimes, but we try to spend no more than 2 weeks in the design phase. 

Once the design is complete I send it off to the printer. Not the one in my basement. Similar to finding the designer, there are places that can print anywhere. Locally, and online, there are many people that will print. Finding someone who can print quickly, affordably, and consistently is another challenge, but we were fortunate after lots of searching, to find a reliable place. The print shop usually gets the individual coupons back to me in about a week, and at that point it's on us to assemble. 

The assembly is quick. It involves pressing, gluing, cutting, and taping until the product looks finished. This was another part of the learning process that went through multiple iterations until we got it dialed in the way we want it. Today, we can go from start to finish with a new idea in a little over 2 weeks.

When you look at it as a finished product, it's hard to picture how it came to life, but as you break each step into it's individual components it becomes much more manageable. Hopefully you found that interesting!