Hey brother, hang in there. I owned my screenprinting company for 26 years before I sold it. I started in my garage with a manual and a small dryer until I was told i couldn't run a business from home by the HOA. It was a struggle for many of the first several years making many mistakes along the way. I grew the company from just myself to eventually 3 automatics two manuals and many employees. Sales is key and lucky I was pretty decent in that department. I catered to all types of business small to large movie studios, theme parks, restaurant chains ect. After spending 26 years of running the business and never taking vacations really maybe a few, I burned myself out and decided I should sell it. Looking back now I see I should have had a better balance of my time working and taking time off. I truly did love the business and once you have a good client base of repeat customer things do get much easier and less stressful. Sales and delivering quality are very important and most of all not under bidding jobs just to get the work. I wish the best of luck. God Bless
Thanks for this! I'm in the same boat, kind of. I started researching and tinkering with a used press about two years ago and got serious last summer. Bought a new 4/1 Press with micros, got a nice exposure unit and flash dryer. Haven't purchased a conveyer dryer yet as it's just another big purchase that I'd prefer to wait until I make some money, so for now I use a basic heat press. I have my website built but not published which is good, because I think I'm going to do Squarespace instead of where it's built. For me, it's launching the site and saying "I'm ready for customers". I've had a lot of friends ask if they can share my name and I'm nervous to put it out there for fear I'm not doing it correctly or perfectly, like I'd like to do. I'm also nervous about T-shirt inventory being there too. I've done two small jobs so far for payment so I guess I'm almost there. Your video was well timed for me as you can tell by my babbling!
I love to hear it! I had a very similar setup for the longest time, I just recently (this year) upgraded my press and conveyor dryer. And I STILL get nervous about a possibility of getting an order that puts me in over my head, haha. But I also don’t think there’s ever the “perfect time” to launch, you just gotta pull that trigger! BTW I use Squarespace for my website and it’s been great. I’ve used Wordpress in the past and didn’t like it. I even manually coded my own for a while but that took waaay too much time/effort. Squarespace is more expensive but totally worth it IMO. Saves you time, takes no effort to update it. Good luck 👍
@@nca Thanks for the info on Squarespace! Currently I have mine on a free Wix site as I've only done one site on Word Press for a client and several on Wix and it's just easier. After seeing your video yesterday, I started thinking that I've got to get my site published. You've inspired me to get going!! I'll research Squarespace a little more and compare with Wix and see. Thanks for the video and keep them coming--I love ANY and ALL content with printers our size! Side note: is the conveyer dryer a game changer?? Is it 120 or 240? I am having an electrician come out at the end of the month to put a panel in so I can have heat in the garage (where my set up is) and want to be prepared. I think I can get by with a 120v for my setup.
That’s awesome, I really appreciate it! Let me know when you do, I’d love to check it out and follow your progress 👍. Us small printers gotta help each other out! Wix is great too, I think it’s basically the same as Squarespace. So yeah, my conveyor dryer is a Vastex D-100 and it’s totally worth it. A solid investment. I got the 120V (NEMA 5-15p) version, which basically means it can safely plug into any 3-prong outlet in your home.
Mate, keep working at this. I love your channel, your honesty, and what you are doing. We have gone through the ringer to get where we are, name changes, market differentiation etc. Feel free to shout out for some advice (which is always free from us). We are in Australia so no competition at all, would be happy to help.
another thing I do is create shirts I think others might like and then rent tables at local fairs or events and sell them at my table. give out my cards at those events as well and this too can generate more sales later.
Maybe one piece of advice is to delegate. It's not a smart idea to do everything on your own. Getting help with marketing/sales might be the way to go for you. It takes a lot of effort to do social media. However, you got to get yourself to become the master of screen printers as well.
Similar situation here. I spent a lot of time getting the equipment together. But it seems like one step forward and two steps back. I've been practicing and I think I've made every mistake you can make, I've screwed up a lot of shirts. It's making me gun-shy to keep trying. Then there's the socials. I hate using social media, even though I know it's essential these days. Have you tried Instagram? Anecdotal story, about two years ago I was talking to my bookkeeper, and she told me she started posting the business on instagram, last time I talked to her she said she gave it up. She had too many new customers, couldn't keep up, didn't want that much work, she's opened a second location and hired 5 new employees. She's a friggin bookkeeper. I wouldn't think something like that would fly on instagram, but what do I know. Look at somebody like Lee Stewart. I saw him in an podcast/interview and he says 80% of his jobs come from people seeing his youtube videos. Advertising and promotion has changed so much, and so quickly, it's hard to know where to put your efforts.
I’ve messed up so many shirts, it kills me every time! And yeah I’ve been trying Instagram and TikTok but keeping up with it is exhausting. I don’t know how people do it, cause it’s definitely a whole other skillset to master. But I’ve heard similar stories where people essentially end up making a solid living from that kind of promotion. Lee Stuart is on another level haha
Yeah, I can relate. I’m getting deeper into screen printing which I enjoy but also feel pretty hopeless about it in some ways. My only jobs have been for the local womens club that my friends mom is in, one job for my friends band and one from my friend who tattoos. I think that physically going into businesses you think you could make things for and leaving them with a sample of your work and a card with contact info may be a good move. It’s not easy for me to take on that roll like a salesman (especially with looking more like a punk than a salesman) but I’ve done that before trying to sell decals and buttons and I got a little work out of it… I also do some tufting like you- Keep it up bro, you’re doing cool stuff
I also suck at the business side of this stuff. Been doing it for maybe a few months longer than you. I've paid myself back for my upfront investment mostly from doing markets selling my designs. Done a few small jobs but I honestly don't like printing for other people. I get a lot of interest from people about printing for them but it usually doesn't go anywhere. I also don't care about money and I'm not a capitalist so maybe I'm just not hungry or driven enough. It's just fun to print the stuff in my head and really cool when people dig what I've created. I also suck at social media which is how the world works these days so that's not helping me either.
What kind of markets do you sell at? I’ve been wanting to try getting booths at local markets/festivals but they are either way too expensive or I keep missing the application deadline 😅. But I hear ya, I hate the social media side of it too. But glad you’ve been able to make your investments back, that’s like half the battle!
@@nca mostly vegan specific type markets but any kind of maker markets I can get to. I still work full-time unfortunately so time isn't always on my side. What I really suck at is knowing what's cool. I'm completely out of touch with pop culture so I get hyped on something that doesn't resonate with a lot of folks. I'm also not a trained graphic designer so I'm learning as I go. You actually just "liked" a design I made with Ed Norton in Fight Club.
Oh yeah that print was dope! I think people would totally be into those kind of prints. The hard part is getting them in front of the right audience. But I work full-time too, some weeks I just don’t have the energy haha
i think its because your page doesnt look that professional. the logo, the page and photos look low qaulity. how much do you charge for a 3 color design? and whats your minimum
I have a DTG business and my own Apparel line. I've been at this for 2.5 years now and about 6 months ago I took the plung , quit my job and went full time. Much like you its a non stop battle to make money. In short, I rebranded 3 times now and changed my sales tactics over and over till something worked. ( walking door to door in business sectors mixed with entering craft fairs, putting adds in local papers, adds on bilboards, and everything possible on the social media side of things.. and even now my chances of staying full-time are looking slim.
Bro, Im a retired manager that has saved many companies so. I put so many companies like yours out of business. A website is not a business A website is a business card (thats all). Show me a sales crew and I'll show you ROI.. Part time ALWAYS loses to full time.
I think I’ve learned that truth the hard way. I’m honestly going to try and hire/outsource someone for leads/sales. Not sure exactly how to do that, but worth a shot.
Hey brother, hang in there. I owned my screenprinting company for 26 years before I sold it. I started in my garage with a manual and a small dryer until I was told i couldn't run a business from home by the HOA. It was a struggle for many of the first several years making many mistakes along the way. I grew the company from just myself to eventually 3 automatics two manuals and many employees. Sales is key and lucky I was pretty decent in that department. I catered to all types of business small to large movie studios, theme parks, restaurant chains ect. After spending 26 years of running the business and never taking vacations really maybe a few, I burned myself out and decided I should sell it. Looking back now I see I should have had a better balance of my time working and taking time off. I truly did love the business and once you have a good client base of repeat customer things do get much easier and less stressful. Sales and delivering quality are very important and most of all not under bidding jobs just to get the work. I wish the best of luck. God Bless
Thank you for this video. Many entrepreneurs go thru the same phases. Good luck!
I too am fairly new at this, and I have found the same issues as you for the most part. Just can't give up.
Thanks for this! I'm in the same boat, kind of. I started researching and tinkering with a used press about two years ago and got serious last summer. Bought a new 4/1 Press with micros, got a nice exposure unit and flash dryer. Haven't purchased a conveyer dryer yet as it's just another big purchase that I'd prefer to wait until I make some money, so for now I use a basic heat press. I have my website built but not published which is good, because I think I'm going to do Squarespace instead of where it's built. For me, it's launching the site and saying "I'm ready for customers". I've had a lot of friends ask if they can share my name and I'm nervous to put it out there for fear I'm not doing it correctly or perfectly, like I'd like to do. I'm also nervous about T-shirt inventory being there too. I've done two small jobs so far for payment so I guess I'm almost there. Your video was well timed for me as you can tell by my babbling!
I love to hear it! I had a very similar setup for the longest time, I just recently (this year) upgraded my press and conveyor dryer. And I STILL get nervous about a possibility of getting an order that puts me in over my head, haha. But I also don’t think there’s ever the “perfect time” to launch, you just gotta pull that trigger!
BTW I use Squarespace for my website and it’s been great. I’ve used Wordpress in the past and didn’t like it. I even manually coded my own for a while but that took waaay too much time/effort. Squarespace is more expensive but totally worth it IMO. Saves you time, takes no effort to update it. Good luck 👍
@@nca Thanks for the info on Squarespace! Currently I have mine on a free Wix site as I've only done one site on Word Press for a client and several on Wix and it's just easier. After seeing your video yesterday, I started thinking that I've got to get my site published. You've inspired me to get going!! I'll research Squarespace a little more and compare with Wix and see. Thanks for the video and keep them coming--I love ANY and ALL content with printers our size! Side note: is the conveyer dryer a game changer?? Is it 120 or 240? I am having an electrician come out at the end of the month to put a panel in so I can have heat in the garage (where my set up is) and want to be prepared. I think I can get by with a 120v for my setup.
That’s awesome, I really appreciate it! Let me know when you do, I’d love to check it out and follow your progress 👍. Us small printers gotta help each other out! Wix is great too, I think it’s basically the same as Squarespace.
So yeah, my conveyor dryer is a Vastex D-100 and it’s totally worth it. A solid investment. I got the 120V (NEMA 5-15p) version, which basically means it can safely plug into any 3-prong outlet in your home.
Mate, keep working at this. I love your channel, your honesty, and what you are doing. We have gone through the ringer to get where we are, name changes, market differentiation etc. Feel free to shout out for some advice (which is always free from us). We are in Australia so no competition at all, would be happy to help.
another thing I do is create shirts I think others might like and then rent tables at local fairs or events and sell them at my table. give out my cards at those events as well and this too can generate more sales later.
Maybe one piece of advice is to delegate. It's not a smart idea to do everything on your own. Getting help with marketing/sales might be the way to go for you. It takes a lot of effort to do social media. However, you got to get yourself to become the master of screen printers as well.
Similar situation here. I spent a lot of time getting the equipment together. But it seems like one step forward and two steps back. I've been practicing and I think I've made every mistake you can make, I've screwed up a lot of shirts. It's making me gun-shy to keep trying. Then there's the socials. I hate using social media, even though I know it's essential these days. Have you tried Instagram? Anecdotal story, about two years ago I was talking to my bookkeeper, and she told me she started posting the business on instagram, last time I talked to her she said she gave it up. She had too many new customers, couldn't keep up, didn't want that much work, she's opened a second location and hired 5 new employees. She's a friggin bookkeeper. I wouldn't think something like that would fly on instagram, but what do I know. Look at somebody like Lee Stewart. I saw him in an podcast/interview and he says 80% of his jobs come from people seeing his youtube videos. Advertising and promotion has changed so much, and so quickly, it's hard to know where to put your efforts.
I’ve messed up so many shirts, it kills me every time! And yeah I’ve been trying Instagram and TikTok but keeping up with it is exhausting. I don’t know how people do it, cause it’s definitely a whole other skillset to master. But I’ve heard similar stories where people essentially end up making a solid living from that kind of promotion. Lee Stuart is on another level haha
Yeah, I can relate. I’m getting deeper into screen printing which I enjoy but also feel pretty hopeless about it in some ways. My only jobs have been for the local womens club that my friends mom is in, one job for my friends band and one from my friend who tattoos. I think that physically going into businesses you think you could make things for and leaving them with a sample of your work and a card with contact info may be a good move. It’s not easy for me to take on that roll like a salesman (especially with looking more like a punk than a salesman) but I’ve done that before trying to sell decals and buttons and I got a little work out of it… I also do some tufting like you- Keep it up bro, you’re doing cool stuff
I also suck at the business side of this stuff. Been doing it for maybe a few months longer than you. I've paid myself back for my upfront investment mostly from doing markets selling my designs. Done a few small jobs but I honestly don't like printing for other people. I get a lot of interest from people about printing for them but it usually doesn't go anywhere. I also don't care about money and I'm not a capitalist so maybe I'm just not hungry or driven enough. It's just fun to print the stuff in my head and really cool when people dig what I've created. I also suck at social media which is how the world works these days so that's not helping me either.
What kind of markets do you sell at? I’ve been wanting to try getting booths at local markets/festivals but they are either way too expensive or I keep missing the application deadline 😅. But I hear ya, I hate the social media side of it too. But glad you’ve been able to make your investments back, that’s like half the battle!
@@nca mostly vegan specific type markets but any kind of maker markets I can get to. I still work full-time unfortunately so time isn't always on my side. What I really suck at is knowing what's cool. I'm completely out of touch with pop culture so I get hyped on something that doesn't resonate with a lot of folks. I'm also not a trained graphic designer so I'm learning as I go. You actually just "liked" a design I made with Ed Norton in Fight Club.
Oh yeah that print was dope! I think people would totally be into those kind of prints. The hard part is getting them in front of the right audience. But I work full-time too, some weeks I just don’t have the energy haha
@@nca thanks! I'm an atari guy living in a 3D virtual reality world but I'm trying
i think its because your page doesnt look that professional. the logo, the page and photos look low qaulity.
how much do you charge for a 3 color design? and whats your minimum
I have a DTG business and my own Apparel line. I've been at this for 2.5 years now and about 6 months ago I took the plung , quit my job and went full time. Much like you its a non stop battle to make money. In short, I rebranded 3 times now and changed my sales tactics over and over till something worked. ( walking door to door in business sectors mixed with entering craft fairs, putting adds in local papers, adds on bilboards, and everything possible on the social media side of things.. and even now my chances of staying full-time are looking slim.
Bro, Im a retired manager that has saved many companies so. I put so many companies like yours out of business.
A website is not a business A website is a business card (thats all). Show me a sales crew and I'll show you ROI.. Part time ALWAYS loses to full time.
I think I’ve learned that truth the hard way. I’m honestly going to try and hire/outsource someone for leads/sales. Not sure exactly how to do that, but worth a shot.