Sharon's 30th Bday Halloween Party

This is unfortunately true for people who have dreams on becoming successful in life. The below was taken from Dobizo.com:

1. Because You Procrastinate. Yes this is definitely one of the more common reasons for most people to never excel in fulfilling their chosen field or business. Instead of taking advantage of every waking moment you make excuses on why you can put it off until tomorrow or put the "grunt" work off until later, which is usually the most important of your daily task. Many will complain about why they're not successful, but continue to put unimportant events ahead of what really should be a priority to anyone trying to better their situation or build a successful business and the answer is right in front of you and the sad thing is most know it, but fail to do anything about it.

2. Because You Blame What You Lack As Your Reasons For Failure. Nine times out of ten if you ask any person or entrepreneur why they have failed in finishing or accomplishing a goal their sentence will begin with Because I don't…. Depending on what field of business they're in many of us could guess how that sentence will end. The sad reality is that most of us lack one thing or another and many of our predecessors have overcome many obstacles and proven time and time again that where you live, your financial status, your race, location, height, and/or belief has no take on whether or not you will be successful and it is ultimately up to you.

3. Because your idea isn't as Brilliant and Unique as you think. I know this doesn't come as a surprise to most of you especially if you have ever started a business or had an idea that you thought was just revolutionary or unique with no competition, but once you do a little research or decide to launch you see ten other businesses doing the same thing. As I'm sure you have heard this before, but it is obvious most need to hear it again a successful business begins with a great execution and a failure is well…lack there of. Most ideas have been thought of or tried and tested, but many failed because of their execution and how it was brought about. There are many reasons why the same businesses fail while others succeed timing has a lot to do with it, capital, the person or entrepreneur, knowledge on the subject and much more.

4. Because some of your best ideas are just a memory or were never brought to life. I definitely think this is one of the biggest reasons most are never successful. Many of our best ideas that would have spread virally or been a necessity in life were never brought past the brainstorming process or seemed like one of them unobtainable goals, because most of the time the brilliant ideas are the hardest to accomplish or will have you facing the most obstacles to see them come to life. I read an article about how most everyday people think of at least two million dollar ideas on their way to work during a 5day workweek, but over 90% never put any of them into action pass the thought phase and without reasonable doubt I agree.

5. Because you're not patient. Many of us fall into this category and I was once a very impatient person when it came to seeing results with a new venture or goal I wanted to attain. I think the above title is why many of us fall victim to all of these get rich schemes we see in our email inbox everyday or on late night television infomercials. In reality there is no quick-legal ways to get rich or becoming successful anything that is worth attaining will take time to acquire. Many of us abandon a business before we give it time to get over the first years slump or automatically mark it as a failure before it has time to reach its full potential.

6. Because there is always somebody working harder than you. This article goes back to the first reason on procrastinating and not taking advantage of all waking moments. Every moment you sleep or take off for a break or make time for anything other than the goal you want to accomplish or business you want to be number one there is always another team of people or a person working toward the same goal. I think every time you decide to tackle an objective or start a new business that you want to succeed that you should definitely keep that in mind…there could always be somebody putting in harder and longer hours than you. Remember the number one spot or your accomplished goals wouldn't feel so good if you were the only one going for it, because it wouldn't be worth attaining.

7. Because you wait on luck or opportunity (Meal Ticket) to be given to us. In most instances opportunity is not given to you it is created and you're lucky if you are prepared. That is why it is important to always be prepared for the unthinkable, because opportunities usually arise when you least expect it and that is why in most cases we're not prepared and that is what we call bad luck. You can't wait for ANYTHING to come to you or for somebody to hand it to you. If you want financing for your business go out and get it, if you want to relocate to another city go do it, if you want to be a millionaire before 25 get to work today not tomorrow anything is attainable with hard work and being very persistent no matter how small or large the obstacles to success may seem.

8. Because the odds are against you. In most cases people want to be successful from starting a business whether it is online or offline. The reality is over 50% of small businesses fail within the first five years and out of all businesses started 85% fail within the first five years as you can see it is not in your favor to succeed. Many people who have weight loss goals will most likely not meet them considering that more than 65% of the United States population are either overweight or obese and it was up more than 16% from the year before. Your chances of being a millionaire are not as bad when compared to the other odds, because the average American has a 1 in 13 chance of becoming a millionaire and more than 741,666 become new millionaires every month.

9. Because life is too short. This reason basically takes into mind all of the above reasons for reaching for success failures and taking time for granted and what is presented to you. You should take advantage of every opportunity that is presented to you, make use of every free second you have available, read up on any topic relevant to any goals you want to accomplish, make no excuses for tasks or goals not completed, and realize that you have nobody to blame, but yourself for any failures that you have or goals that you didn't accomplish within your lifetime.

10. Because you will not make a change today. Even though this article stated in the beginning that "you will never be successful unless you make a change today" most of us will read it in its entirety and actually agree with its content, but will still go back to our same habits of procrastinating, blaming what we lack, putting together half-thought out ideas with poor executions, never bringing our greatest ideas pass the brainstorming process, being impatient and not persistent, letting someone work harder than you for that number one spot, waiting on our meal ticket, still understanding the odds are against you, but not working harder to overcome them, not taking advantage of all our time on this earth to see our dreams and goals manifest into something greater than we ever could imagine.

It is still in your hands whether or not you will become successful and defeat these odds. Just don't become victim to one of these common mistakes and reasons for not being successful within your lifetime.

Here's one of our favorite words of wisdom said by one of the most creative geniuses (creator of Kidrobot, Paul Budnitz).
"If you put everything you have into something (and I mean all your TIME and MONEY too, people flinch at that), then real things happen. You can't get anywhere without making a sacrifice and taking a risk. The secret is not to be afraid of falling because there is nowhere to fall to. The very bottom is really not so far away that it can hurt us if everything falls apart.

The other secret is not to be afraid of doing something stupid because, if it wasn't stupid, everyone would be doing it. Kidrobot is without a doubt the stupidest, riskiest thing I've ever done, which means it'll probably be the most successful and most exciting."

So we're looking for a quality and reliable toy manufacturer to produce toys for our company. We've been thinking about a number of different toys from vinyl, plush, poly-resin to even bobble heads. It's been an up and down ride just trying to find the right place to produce them. Deciding whether we should go straight to China or go through a middle-man here in the U.S. There's issues and concerns going through either one such as: cost (big factor), quality as well as reliability. Trust us, we've spoken with a number of folks from both regions.

We are hoping to establish a relationship with a "vinyl" toy manufacturer if anything since that seems to be one of the items that a lot of people want and like (especially myself). Check out "Kidrobot" (http://www.kidrobot.com) and you'll see why! They're vinyl toys are off the freakin' hook, man! Plush toys are cool too so who knows which one we are going to go with. Nevertheless, we're hoping to release a toy per design; therefore, the "can't park bastard" will be it's own toy along with "Freeloading/No Money" bastard etc... If we decided to go with vinyl, there's so many costs that are involved (mold charges, price per piece, package charges and the list goes on). One of our major concerns overall is making sure that if we decided on vinyl that the manufacturer isn't going to be using lead-based paint that can potentially harm people, especially children!

Stay tuned, we'll keep you posted on which type of toy we will be releasing in the future. Hopefully, we'll be able to get them out with the 1st phase/series in the next few months.

-Jon and Sharon (Bastard and Friends)

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PLEASE READ!!! MRE BRAND STUDIOS & MICHAEL REED ARE SCAMMERS

MRE Brand Studios or Michael Reed describes his business as a complete Fulfillment Service where he offered us screenprinting, heat transfers (for our upcoming apparel line), labeling, relabeling, tagging and bagging. Michael Reed or MRE Brand Studio is located at 2634 Humboldt Street, Los Angeles CA. Michael Reed contacted us on New Year's Day indicating that he would like to be apart of our business by helping us cut cost to our current screen printing needs. He scammed us by offering his heat transfer service where we offered our artwork of our t-shirt designs and promised to order 600 heat transfers for us. On 1/18 we met at his warehouse where he said he does fullfilment services. We went there thinking that his office was a little empty but he lead us next door which he proclaimed as his warehouse..Come to find out later that the warehouse next door was not his, instead is owned by H2OLabs which is not even affiliated by him. He took us to H2OLabs and said it was his, he introduced us to the staff as "his" staff. I later found out that they are not affiliated and that Michael Reed lied to us by saying that was his warehouse and screen print. He only owns the "supposed" fullfillment service where he just tags and bags apparel and ships them to stores. He does not do any screenprinting at all. Anyway, he told us that we had to give him a 75% deposit and a check would be preferable, we paid him in good faith. After that, he promised to deliver the heat transfers to us in 3 weeks. We also left him 60 blank t-shirts as well as our own labels, hang tags and PVC tags for him to use when the 600 heat transfers would be done. It is now 2/19/2008, we have not heard from him. We have left him numerous messages, calling him daily, texting him daily, emailing daily. I got a chance to speak with his assistant Grizelda Garcia. She promised to have Michael Reed call us. He never did. He left a message once indicating that he will call us back. We have yet to hear from him. He cashed the check that I wrote on 1/22/2008, just days after I wrote it. We have spoken with a number of his current and previous customers and they are all not satisfied. They have either left or are about to surrender services with this company. We believe we will never see our 75% deposit again. Please be careful of MRE BRAND STUDIOS or by the man named Michael Reed. The sad part is that we really thought he was a great guy, we took him and his fiancee to dinner. We all had a great time. Little did we know, he was feeding us lies and bullcrap. Please be careful of him. He will take your money and run. I know you guys, my friends here on myspace have asked about referring you to a good screen printer and fullfillment service, never again would I refer this place as they have scammed us and took our money. Please spread the word and help us blog and repost this everywhere. I have many friends on my own personal myspace page, by you helping us we can make sure that nobody gets scammed by these guys like what happened with us. =) So for those people waiting for our line to come out.. It's been pushed back because of these scam artists. Our line will be launched soon because we found a much better and more credible screenprinting/fullfillment service. I know I promised you guys some samples and you were all excited, but we're not going to let Michael Reed and his scamming staff bring us down. This is why we created Bastard & Friends because of bastards like them! Aint nobody gonna hold us down.....and remember guys, "Don't Be a Bastard!"

Here are the things that are still in the works for Bastard and Friends before we officially launch the website:

* Working with cartoon animators to animate the first series of Bastards! Watch out, we're making the Bastards come to life! haha You're gonna love em' and we're sure you'll relate to at least 1 or more. They'll be 6 short films developed that will be put out on the media market along with our website. When we were writing the script for the animation, we couldn't stop laughing so hopefully, when you see the short films, you'll be laughing your asses off also!

* www.bastardandfriends site still under development. Should be up and running around March or so depending if we're satisfied with everything! And, we mean everything!!! Sorry, but we're not going to release anything out to the masses if they're 1/2 ass or just plain shitty!

* Looking for place to throw launch party! Will be somewhere in SF. Still working on the plans and layout!

* Re-doing current back of the neck labels and also hangtags. You're gonna love the look and feel of the new ones! The first runs were good, but didn't completely satisfy us!

Nothing but fun and excitement!
Ever since the concept of Bastard and Friends sprung to our wacky minds, we've gone through many runs of blank shirts, labels, tags, stickers, phone calls to manufacturers (both domestic and international), trips back and forth to Southern California to meet with various manufacturers/suppliers, screen printers, trade shows etc... But, we have to say that it has been nothing but fun and exciting!!! We're always hooking up with "Great" folks every trip as well as every conversation over the phone. Even though this business is running through our minds 24*7 it never tires us out!! There are days when we'll be having conversations from the time we get up in the morning until midnight trying to establish relationships with various folks as well as trying to make sure the project is still moving forward as planned! Whether it's talking with our Webdesigner (Sean UMIDESIGN), talking to our artists here in the Bay Area or in Italy, speaking with legal folks, getting together with animators, and manufacturers...we never run out of gas!

It's hard work I must say! Nothing is easy. I think if we knew what we were in for before we jumped on the project, I can honestly say that we probably wouldn't have pursued Bastard and Friends! However, taking risks (a lot of uncalculated ones :)), having determination and simply having "FUN" while doing it keeps us going everyday. And, I mean everyday...there's no Mon-Fri for us!

Just wanted to write something about the guy...
One of the coolest and most humble guys you could ever meet. We had the opportunity of a lifetime to come face-to-face with one of the funniest people on film today in my opinion. We attended a preliminary movie premiere (if that's what you want to call it) called "The Chosen One" on 1/27/08 -- which will be released on Thanksgiving. It was one of the coolest experiences; literally, there were probably no more than 25 people in an office/loft type of setting held over at the producer's place in San Francisco. The layout was just like watching TV with your family in the family room. I mean it was so "surreal." We couldn't believe how close and interactive we were with the guy. BTW, the producer's name is Joe Bretz (cool cat as well!!). Anyhow, without going into too much detail...the film was unfinished. Therefore, you would have scenes that were missing, show green screens, show cables holding Rob etc... AWESOME to see this before it was even out on the market!!! When the scene was missing, Rob would talk about what was/is suppose to happen.

As far as Rob, the guy overall was "GREAT!" He signed a bunch of stuff, took pictures with us, held conversations and most of all... acknowledged "Bastard and Friends!" We gave him and his niece (awesome girl named "Crystal") a box of Bastard and Friends goodies (shirts, belts, stickers etc..) to rock out to...hopefully, he'll rock one of the items in his next funny film! He even gave us a bastard idea..."the bastard that leaves the toilet seat up!" lol We'll definitely have to consider that along with the rest of the hundreds of Bastard ideas that have been presented to us. :)

Definitely have to say that his family..especially his mom (Pilar) were cool! Remember her on "The Animal"...Mrs. Delarosa and also the lady towards the end of "Hot Chick." She and my mom talked from start to finish the whole night we were there. They probably parted ways once. It seemed like she was family that night. My mom really enjoyed her company :) AWESOME Lady! I can't say enough!!!

Thanks to Allan for setting this up with producer Joe Bretz!

Testing blank t-shirts before the screen print process is extremely important. Not only is it a crucial element to factor in before screen printing, but most of all...to be very blunt, you don't want to sell a crappy product to the customer. The last thing you want is for a customer to wash your product and in the end result, wear your shirt or sweater that is 1/2 the size you originally bought it, fade, or worst of all create that box /squarish look.

We've went through various apparel companies in order to pin point which company suited us best in terms of quality (fit, feel, shrinkage etc..). So here are the companies we've ordered and tested with:

American Apparel
Cygnus
Alternative Apparel
Alstyle
Next Level
CR Apparel
Independent Trading

We tested our shirts with various washes such as: cold, hot, warm, delicate, perm press etc...We even went through various drying modes as well: hot, perm press, low, and air drying. In the end we found that the apparel company that we're going with for the blanks should be cold & delicate washed and low dryed! Seems like a no brainer doesn't it...of course it is, but believe it or not the above company's items all react differently even using the same type of wash and dry method. Unfortunately, I won't say which company's we are going with...I'll just have to be my own Bastard for this one. :)

Hopefully, you bastards will follow the care instructions on the neck label and not just throw the product in hot water and then bake it in high heat in the dryer then wonder why the shirt/sweater shrank so much....Don't be a Bastard!

BTW, pre-shrunk doesn't necessarily mean that the product won't shrink because it does. Therefore, expect all products that say this to have a shrinkage rate of anywhere from 5-12% depending on the drying cycle.

- Bastard and Friends