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Ben Scrivens
My name is Benjamin Scrivens and I am 32 years old. I started Fright-Rags in
September of 2003, when I was just 25 years old. Let me preface this by saying
I NEVER expected to be where I am today - but I did often dream of it.
I started Fright-Rags mainly as a way to do something creative in my spare time.
My day job, while in graphic design, was not as fulfilling as I had wanted it to
be. And I am the type of person that, if I’m not satisfied with something, I pretty
much seek out anything and everything that will offer a way for me to channel
my passions into something that challenges me. So I spent most of the summer
of 2003 looking for just that... something I could do that gave me that sense of
personal satisfaction.
Channeling the Passion
Horror was a natural place to start, as I have been an avid fan of horror films
since the tender age of 4. I had always been into them, and it was something I
constantly went to for a source of entertainment, inspiration, etc. As for t-shirts,
that was pretty natural as well. I’ve always been fond of “off the wall” shirts,
and had collected quite a few while growing up. But, I never had any horror
shirts. And when I started looking for them, I found many of the same types of
tees out there...and ones I really didn’t care for.
So, I thought I could do better and one day on my lunch break I started sketching
out ideas for designs. The first idea was for our WWJD? shirt, which was a
parody on the “What Would Jesus Do?” craze... only, instead of the “J,” I drew
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a hockey mask to signify “What Would Jason Do?” The idea seemed so simple
that I assumed it had been done before. But after some research online, I
couldn’t find anyone with the same idea.
The next thing I did was show that and a couple other designs to some friends
of mine on an online horror forum to get their opinion. Everyone seemed to like
my designs, and many said they would purchase t-shirts if I produced them.
Based on those reviews alone, I used my credit card to purchase $600 worth of
shirts. Over Labor Day weekend in 2003, I came up with the name, basic logo,
and first incarnation of the website to set it up to take pre-orders on the shirts
I was waiting to get in.
Using Passion to Keep you Going
From then on, I just kept at it. Every dime I made on t-shirts went into printing
more and releasing new designs. Since I already had a job, I wasn’t relying on
this for income...it was just something to do for fun. Not only did I have a passion
for it, but the response from customers was gratifying and made me feel as
though what I was doing actually had some impact on people. But I will admit
it was slow-going.
If I didn’t have that passion or customer feedback, I would have thrown in
the towel years ago. In fact, I almost quit it a few times... A couple years after
starting it, I had gotten married, moved into a house, and started thinking
that I should spend my time differently. However, every single time the
thought came into my head, an order would appear in my inbox. I took these
moments as a sign to hang in there. And doing that has paid off in ways I could
have never imagined. Granted, running a business is never easy, but I’m lucky
enough to have made this my only “job” (I use the term loosely) and to have
employed my friends as well.
My Breakthrough Moment
It came to me in January of 2005. I had been running the business for just over
a year and while it was fun, it wasn’t really growing all that much. I was stuck
in traffic on my way home from work and started to think about my life, where
I was at, and where I wanted to be. I knew that I no longer wanted to work at
my current job and the only option was to update my portfolio and resume and
start looking for another job. I also knew I would have to put Fright-Rags on the
back-burner, or quit it altogether, if I were to really focus on getting a new job.
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