Why I Started a Liberty Themed Merch Store (Trigger Warning: Cringe)

There's no avoiding the cringe these days, so I decided to lean into it. A failed libertarian presidential candidate with a 3D printer, a redheaded libertarian wife, and two French Bulldogs was destined for some form of cringe.

Let's be honest, most liberty themed merch is pretty terrible. If you go to Etsy for example, it's mostly just variations of that stupid porcupine over and over. The products are nearly always way overpriced, and unimaginative in design. It's time to change how libertarians are perceived to the public, and if I can't do that as a politician, I can do it as an entrepreneur. 

Several months ago I received a gift from a friend of an Ender Pro 3D printer, which I hadn't had much plans for at first, other than to print firearms. Printing firearms turned out to be more difficult than I thought. 3D printers mostly aren't just plug and play. I had to take time to experiment, learn and fail, and find the right combinations of settings to ensure that I was able to produce quality prints.

One day, I decided to print a George Washington Buddha, and the rest is history. 

When a friend offered to buy my Buddha from me for $15, I realized that was a profitable business model. And when the first line of Buddhas rolled off the line, and people immediately started hating on them as a golden idol meant to be worshiped, I knew then and there I had a hit. Since then, my wife and I have sold nearly a hundred Founding Father themed Buddhas, with more variations on the way. 

But liberty Buddhas aren't the only idea I've had. T-shirts and stickers and mugs have always been great ways to catch people's eye and send a message. Many people kept asking if I had leftover merchandise from my campaigns, and I finally found a way to accommodate them with the Mugs, Stickers, and other items in the Accessories part of our shop. Most importantly though, dozens of people who bought the Buddhas have conveyed to us that they've had interesting conversations started over people asking about the products. I hope to inspire thousands more conversations just like that. 

I come up with the designs, print the Buddhas, handle all the front end of the business, and my lovely wife Stephanie handles the backend; writing loving thank you cards and packing up all the products that we ship from our home in mid Missouri. We're a team and I couldn't do all this without her support. With her I am building not just a business, but a family. I hope that I can spread the ideas of liberty, with a lot of fun, make some money, and raise a liberty loving family. With your help, we can make it happen. Thanks, and here's to our success and the success of the principles of liberty, to which we are devoted.