How true it is, Managing the clients details will make you want to quit if you don't have a method to manage that info efficiently. Oh man the hidden cost will for sure break you if you don't stay on top of them. Efficiency Is what I'm most excited to tackle as I start growing the shop again in 2021. Thank you for dropping an amazing comment, you are the best -Cam

Do you outsource any of the work like Cam suggests? If so how does the exchange typically work? Do you pay up front, and hope you get paid by your customer or do invoice the customer up front? Also how do you deal with quality checks if you use outsourcing? If you end up delaying the order i'm guessing you just ate your profit and then some. But do the out sourcer print shops work with you on that if it happens?

@The Print Life I came from the HVAC wholesale biz, ran our commercial division for about 4 years and sales team for 1, got laid off back in March due to the rona, but I was able to learn quite a bit about running small businesses along the way because our success as the wholesaler is only as good as the contractors we were selling to(If they suck and can’t win jobs we don’t sell anything either). I got to see a lot of guys start out as techs, then break off and start their own thing; some failed miserably and some excelled, but so much transfers to any industry. I love your vids, and I started screen printing for fun recently and want to keep doing it for fun to get good enough to maybe run it as a side biz one day. I thought about a few things you might want to talk about if you make a video about getting things going and finally growing, because this is where a lot of people tend to fail if they can get the basics rolling. My customers who utilized some of these things below were much more successful then the guys who kept trying to wear every hat and really limit himself/herself. 1. There are so many automated/outsourced business services these days, do a little research and take advantage. One of the best ones we would recommend was Ruby Receptionist. It’s a monthly service that is an outsourced receptionist. They will answer the phone for you and basically act like they are part of your company. They can take orders, answer basic questions, etc. Once you start growing, it’s really hard to get jobs done or lock down new biz if you are stuck answering the phone all day for basic questions. 2. Get a CRM, especially one that tracks products/sales analytics along with customers. If you don’t know what that is, google it. There are a lot of options out there that can help you organize and track customers. They can automate a lot dynamic tasks - like email any customer that hasn’t bought from us in X amount of days + spent over $X amount of dollars in the past 12 months a 10% off coupon/free sticker/what’s up email/etc. Gotta stay in their minds so they can throw your name out to friends and staying fresh helps. Use the analytics part to figure out who is really paying your bills, where the margins are at, and make them feel special any way you can - offer the top ones some kind of elite level or vip club that gets them perks if they spend $X amount per year or has %X percent growth. I realize that’s a lot, especially for a 1 man shop, but at minimum keep an excel database of contacts and hit them up once a year with a postcard. 3. Don’t be afraid to try and negotiate with your suppliers. This doesn’t mean constantly beg for lower pricing on everything. Start out simply asking if there’s anything you can do to get a better deal. Forecast and get a ballpark on how much you think you’re going to spend on all your different supplies in a year, because most of them will go off this number to set your pricing. If they can’t do anything about price, see if there’s anything else they can help you with like cheaper or free delivery, marketing dollars, money towards uniforms if you put their logo on it, customer rewards trips, etc. If it’s a company you know you’re going to use and they won’t do anything they really might now be able to, but if you keep building that relationship you never know. They want you to be successful and help you grow so show them you are serious if you really are. That’s way more than I intended to type, but maybe it will help someone. Keep up the crispy work brah!

@@Josh62088 I never outsourced any work although it is great if you're getting the traffic. I feel this is a relationship you have to grow with other printers. How I would've handled it would be taking the job as normal and then I deal with the side printer. The customer generally doesn't care how you get it done as long as it gets done. I would literally walk into local shops and talk with them. If you're sending them 3 color front and 3 color back jobs... that might not be the most efficient and profitable scenario. If you told them you will send them your one color bulk jobs for example, they will welcome you with open arms. This is beneficial if you have a small press and maybe can't turn around a 200 shirt job quickly. Instead you give that 200 shirt 1 or 2 color job to a bigger shop and turn a little profit essentially being the middle man. This is just how I would have approached it.

That is awesome to hear. Keep me posted as you start printing for yourselves. Little tip even if you only print 1 color stuff and get a contract printer to handle the more complex stuff if you get that tpt you will be able to save a ton buying blanks from wholesalers and supplying them yourself.

Thats what Im talking about.

Great advice, I know a very large and super talented printer whos entire business was and is built on word of mouth alone.

Thank you for always dropping a comment. That what im talking about.

@@ThePrintLife No problem. 🤘

You are welcome, Im just about done with this intro to screen printing stuff for awhile. a few more topics and we can get back to real screen printing stuff.

The Print Life know it is appreciated. I am new and there quiet a few of you guys who have v-trained me.

For sure this whole thing is getting out of hand.

Yes you provide the shirts, some shops will want seps other will only want the original art file,

Better late than never they say. Thank you for hanging in there. It has been a huge undertaking for me and my Dev Team.

@@ThePrintLife no problem man I enjoy the videos even the backpacking one and the gun one

Hey! Did you set up as a limited company or just as a sole trader? I've been mulling over the options recently but a bit unsure of the right path to take. Any advise would be much appreciated :)

@@bridiel874 I'm still setting up so haven't launched my site yet so haven't done ether. You can earn £1k before having to do any. If sales are fast I'm gonna go LTD. IF not I'll go some trader and do it part time

110 colors 230 white 156 hes done videos on this hope that helps

Also, On the outsourcing part.. Do you typically put fourth the capital ahead of the client's payment for the shirts? How often do you end up eating the cost of customers not being able to pay for their orders if this is the case?

Haha you caught that hu. It will work with elementor, The system is two parts a cloud based management, quoting and invoicing system, with a wordpress plugin that your clients can use to browse products, quote and invoice themselves. You don't have to use the plugin but its a super powerful option. Right now the only payment processors are stripe, payjunction and paypal but I will add more options a few months after we launch. Those payment processors are super expensive to integrate. So I need to see if shops are actually going to use this before I throw more cash at it.

@@ThePrintLife Interesting! If Paypal is an option then I could probably use that anyway. Or, alternatively, could it be setup to use another plugin for payments (There are already other Square plugings, for example)? Or even just turn off the actual payment function and we could handle that externally or something? I'm going from memory since the website was flipped to the just 'contact us for beta testing' version, but if I recall correctly it straight up wouldn't work without one of the default processors....I think the jump from screen to embroidery isn't as far as it might seem and I'd way rather support software like this than some of the other options out there as they're frankly overdone imo...

You can if you want. That is entirely up to you, if you get a large 1 color order, you certainly should consider it. Great question thanks for the comment, you are the best :)

Mostly adobe illustrator.

@@ThePrintLife Love my illustrator

Thats what I like to hear, I hope it can help you manage and grow your shop. I think it will be the industry standard after we add a few more features.

Yes here also. Don't have anything now. PITA to bill with my printer software

We put it on hold because our focus was on other projects, after my software is launched we will pick it up again. Thank you for dropping in, you tha man.

Yea those will work nicely

OH man I cant help with caribbean stuff. but I'm sure there are wholesalers near you.

no the ein is you company's social security number. I have a video on that exact topic somewhere in here. it called start a screen printing shop in 5 steps I think,

I think starting now is awsome. You can start putting things in place so you are set when people start buying again. However be very realistic when it comes to starting a t shirt line. The market is very saturated so you better have something special to set your self apart.

@@ThePrintLife that's will said man, I'll keep that in mind

you got a page or anything you can link me to to peep your work?

Thank ya

First is best, You are awsome.

you need to figure out how many people want your product, print on demand (meaning you print it as you sell them, or have a couple done at a time ready to ship) or actively learn to market your product to drive your own sales or hire someone to sell for you

-He try to explain to search some help (form local screen printing shops) like they will give you some paints, screens, etc, and you will need to pay a percentage of the money you gain from your brand.

Can you get a tpt without it?

@@ThePrintLife In California we get a business license and a resale permit and you do not need a LLC for either.