This picture says it all.. It says "stop what your doing and buy this shirt!" Don't hesitate! Very limited edition print. 

Now that spring break has come and gone, I have a little more time to sit down and get back to business. Let me start my giving you an update on what I've been doing in the past few months. 

I am a senior in high school, which means thinking about my future. And man they weren't kidding when they said it was a lot to think about. I've been spending the last few months applying to colleges (I live in Hawaii and want to go to the mainland to study) and scholarships. In fact, today I am anxiously waiting to hear back from my "reach" school--USC. Currently I have acceptances to University of Washington, Santa Clara, Boston College, and Boston U. I'm also waiting to hear back from a few local and national scholarships. The costs of a year at these colleges is anywhere from $46k-60k, so yeah, I'm more anxious about getting some scholarship wins.

As I went through this process, I did a lot of research and got better and better with every application. I thought I'd share some pointers that might help future students with this arduous challenge.

Get a head-start: 

Many of the really great scholarships that I came across are actually for Juniors or even Sophomores. What?! If I had known that scholarships were available for all grades of high-school I would have applied a long time ago. For all you younger students out there, take advantage of the head-start. It will save you stress in the future because you'll figure out how the application process goes (they're all basically similar).

There are thousands of scholarships: 

There really are scholarships for everything and anything. The tedious part is finding them and making sure you're a right fit for it. Check out websites that I've found helpful like Zinch, or Fastweb. These websites connect and match you to scholarships specifically tailored to you. 

PS. Don't ever pay for a scholarship finding service. 

Double Check:

You should even triple check your application before submitting it. About 60% of students make a mistake in their app and still submit it. Making sure you have a flawless application instantly puts you ahead of 60% of your competition. Peer editing is a good way to avoid errors. Also many of your apps are dependent on your school (transcripts) and others (letters of recommendation) so double check that those things are on time and done correctly. It's up to you.

[I learned to double check the HARD way. I got into Santa Clara University with an early application, but they emailed me later. Apparently I got my own birthdate wrong! I put 1998 instead of 1995 and for a few days I worried the only reason they let me in was because they thought I was graduating high school at 14. All fixed, but it was a headache.]

Make a checklist: 

Creating a checklist for each scholarship has saved me so much time and confusion. Its crucial to organize all your applications and make sure you have exactly what you need. If you forget something, you could get DQ'd. Trust me it happens, I got disqualified for including an unofficial transcript instead of an official one. And on that note, YOU need to check and do so early. They won't notify you a lot of times if you're missing something or disqualified, so contact them. If you do so with time left, you can sometimes amend your application and still be considered.

Get materials ready in advance: 

It took me a few close calls to see the importance of this one. I still struggle with time management and am infamous for turning things in minutes before deadline. Planning ahead will help you get things done before the deadline. When a deadline nears for an online app, students from around the world will try and submit their work all at the same time, often crashing the website. It's the worst feeling ever, finishing an application and not being able to turn it in. Just be smart, don't do that. Also, remember that you should ask well in advance for letters of recommendations. Teachers and advisors are swamped at this time and a good letter requires time. Do everything possible to make it easier on them. They're really doing you a favor. 

While I know all these tips could seem like simple common sense, for many students they aren't very easy to do. And it's usually the simple things that we overlook when we're trying to find an edge. By following these steps you will have a much greater chance of translating all that hard work into actual success. 

For all you seniors out there, keep working. Graduation is nearly here. 

Here are a couple of good scholarships with deadlines coming up. If you have some good ones to share, hit me up and I'll include them. Good luck!

Doodle for Google

Viral Video Scholarship Contest

Emerging Scholars Award

The arrival of the long awaited Lawrence Seward wood mask T-shirt is finally here. The shirt brings together his classic wood grain mask sculptures and displays it in a way never done before-- on a T-shirt. I'll keep you updated on how to get your very own mask shirt soon. Until then enjoy some pictures of this very limited print. 

Hi Guys...Belated Happy New Year.

 

Been awhile. I just got back from an amazing and inspiring trip to Japan. It was my first time there and I was amazed by the fashion and culture. Oh, and the food, of course. I'll share pictures from the trip in a blog post soon.

 

I wanted to write about a new line of t-shirts I just started. It's still under the brand of a1000x, but it's not so much about art. This line is for entrepreneurs, marketers, and bloggers. It's called a1000x All Biz. I'm not quite sure if there's a market for this, but I was inspired to design some stuff based on everything I've been learning and trying to apply to my business. [Check out the designs here--anyone can buy them, but I don't know if everyone will relate to it.]

 

Entrepreneurship is a funny thing. Many people, me included, spend a lot of time learning and absorbing techniques, strategies, and theories. But often we don't pull the trigger and apply what we learn. Or we try to pull the trigger on many things all at once. Sometimes you're paralyzed about what to do next; other times you're overwhelmed. But there are times when you try something new, apply it, and start to see improvements in your business. Ah, those are "sweet spot"/"in the zone" moments that make entrepreneurship exciting.

 

By the way, part of the inspiration for this line of t-shirt designs was my own poor effort of trying to grow this business while also applying for colleges and scholarships. It's been a somewhat dismal attempt to juggle many things and it made me think of the 80/20 principle. That in turn, made me optimize my workflow a bit and I thought that reminding myself of this principle (which almost every entrepreneur is familiar with) was helpful. There is a common language and bond between entrepreneurs--shared learning, shared ideas. And hey, maybe a t-shirt design would be a way to keep reminding myself and others to keep the important concepts in mind.

 

 

 

 

You'll notice that some of the designs aren't inspirational though. The more I thought of ideas, the more I also saw some of the humor in what we do. This line is an homage to people who, despite failure, and the sometimes misunderstanding (not to mention occasional ridicule) of our family and friends, keep going on a path to their own personal freedom. Keep it up. Stay in motion. I hope you like the designs and I would appreciate any  feedback. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Thanks, Jack

 

P.S. A portion of profits from this line of t-shirt designs will go towards the a1000x Scholarship program I'm trying to get off the ground. These along with our scholarship shirts will help support student artists. And yes, we are going to be launching scholarship t-shirts again very soon!

 

 

I know its been a while since my last blog post! I know all of you have been busy during the holiday season, just like we have been. Definitely late on this one, but last week I was honored to be featured on the blog Sweet Lychee Productions! It's the brainchild of Kristen Oshiro, an inspiring blogger with a passion for all things art. If you want to stay updated on the newest and coolest scenes in Honolulu then you have to follow her.  

Please check out the a1000x feature here! 

Luxury Row hosted its 7th Annual Celebration of the Arts last night to highlight the work of "Hawaii's Modern Masters", including a1000x's very own John Koga and Ryan Higa. 

These exclusive pieces of work from Koga and Higa (Gruntled Funk) were displayed at Waikiki luxury retailers Chanel and Coach, respectively. Last night's opening was something spectacular and I can't wait for next year. If you missed it, all the amazing work will still be open for display from Nov. 1st to Dec. 2nd. 

For your viewing pleasure.

You guys might have heard about our recently started our Scholarship Tee Campaign to raise money toward our Student Artist Scholarship. 

Hey Everyone,

It's been awhile. I've been busy trying to figure out my next steps in life--took my SATs a couple weeks ago, waiting to take my ACTs in a week, finished my college essay!, started applying to schools all over the U.S. and looking for scholarships. 

Needless to say, the business has taken a little hit. But there are so many things going on with a1000x that are keeping me energized. We've had some great, and FREE, press lately, and I'm super excited about a few collaborations that have started or are being planned.

About a month ago I started thinking about how to make a difference with a1000x.com. So with my own college experiences starting, here's what I came up with for our focus for the charitable giving side of things. We've decided to start a scholarship program for student artists, and we're really excited about this.

We've teamed up with our friends at TeeSpring.com, which is a crowdfunding service for tshirts (similar to Kickstarter.com). In the next few months we will be introducing special Scholarship Tees to raise money specifically for the a1000x scholarship program.

Why Partner with TeeSpring.com?

[Things always have a way of falling into place. I was thinking about starting this scholarship program when, BAM, we got a whole lot of press on MSN.com. The guys at TeeSpring called me up and we set up a partnership. At the same time, with all that press, we have been getting a steady stream of artists and students looking to become part of a1000x. We can't take everyone because we're still so small, but artists are wanting to get their designs out to the public and to keep making a living. TeeSpring is a great way to do it because the artist doesn't put out any money up front and they get to market their designs to potential customers! a1000x.com will now be offering a quick gateway to TeeSpring.com for any artists that want to start up on their own. Win-Win.]

Here's our first Tee:

We hope you like it and will commit to supporting this cause. We need 200 orders in the next 10 days to "tip" the campaign into production. If we don't reach the goal, you won't be charged and the shirt will DIE. 

 

$20 pledge gets you this cool design on a mens or womens style tshirt. Makes a great holiday gift, yes?!

ALL profits from these Scholarship Tees are going toward the a1000x Scholarship. I'll explain more about the program in another post, including how you can help us identify student artists. The entire scholarship tee thing is a great fit for us--first, we make tshirts, and second, we're not a non-profit so it's hard to ask people to donate to a scholarship when they can't get a tax deduction from us. At least this way you get a -tshirt (a t-shirt with the added benefit of making you feel like you did a good thing).

Oh, and if you don't like this particular design, no biggie, we'll be making more designs in the coming months.

So go to: teespring.com/a1000x to help. Again, you won't be charged unless we reach our goal. We're also giving all donors a 20% discount code to use at a1000x.com. And if we double our quantity goal (i.e. reach 400 shirts) by our deadline we'll give every donor an additional cool mystery gift. Oh, yeah. 

And please like it, tweet it, pin it, and suggest it to friends and family. 

Thanks for supporting a1000x. I think this is the beginning of something great.   

New stickers, decals, and lanyards are in and ready for sale! Perfect way to start off the new year right! Support a1000x

Yup the store's not up yet. Still working out the details of artist contracts, profit sharing, and ways to give back.

But we're going to carry cool tshirts, hats, art prints and displays, and vinyl art. We'll also have some knick-knacky stuff--lanyards, maybe toys, stickers, temporary tats. We'll see.

a1000x will have it's own brand of tshirts and gear too and those will probably launch before the artists' stuff. We got this cool new icon for our brand.


We'll keep you informed.