To find ways to make money, you might come across the print-on-demand idea. Is it worth it? Yes, but it all comes down to how willing you are to learn and deal with the problems that come your way.
The fact is, you have to be lucky to start a print-on-demand business. But you can start one from scratch and make money.
It is important to point out that the method isn’t right for everyone. There are two groups of people who are most likely to succeed:
- A hard worker is someone willing to spend the time to learn the method.
- People who are good at art
You should be a professional graphic designer who works hard and wants to make money for yourself.
But even if you don’t like art, that shouldn’t be a reason to not do it. It’s not that hard to make your shirt with the help of online tools, like mockup generators. You can also work with a good graphic designer and start a business together.
In this case, you can get a Print on Demand licence.
Let’s say that you are the person who makes the goods. If so, you might want to think about taking a different path and making money by licencing your art to other, well-known print-on-demand brands.
Because there aren’t many great artists, some POD businesses have difficulty making money. Without an in-house artist, you will need to hire someone else. This is where your skills or hard work learning the art of design can make money.
Joining an already big market also makes sense because you don’t have to worry about building a site from scratch and competing with other people. Not only that, but if your platform already spends a lot of money on marketing and you are just one of the artists who come up with design ideas, you won’t have to worry about marketing as much.
You can make extra money by promoting your designs on social media and other places. Still, it’s not the only way to make money if you already have customers from a well-known platform like Amazon or Redbubble.
The game of numbers
It won’t be enough to come up with a few interesting designs. You might think that keeping the business going will be enough after you have a good start.
Getting carried by one or two very well-made t-shirt designs can only last for a short time. Gimmicks fade after a while. You’ll be left with nothing to show for all the momentum you gained after a good start.
It’s not that hard. You need to come up with new t-shirt designs often so that your customers can see how you’ve grown as an artist.
That’s right! As time goes on, the designs should get better as well. Otherwise, it won’t be long before the whole project is dead.
As a designer, you’re likely to run into blocks. If that happens, try to think outside the box and look for sources of inspiration.
In addition to marketing and finding new customers, you should also try to reach more people in more places. As long as you aren’t just selling your shirts on t-shirt platforms, you should be able to try selling them in other places, too.
Finally, you can look back at your old designs and think of ways to improve them. You can’t make something new from scratch, but you can still make it look different and new.
Instead of being unique, people follow trends.
As an artist, hearing that you need to design what is popular rather than what you want might be a little disheartening.
There is only one problem: You can’t make money if you only think about what you like. You have to think about what your target demographic wants.
That doesn’t mean that new ideas aren’t likely to make money. Chances are better when you know that there is a need for something.
You might check out Google Trends to find out what’s going on in the world. You can also figure out what the next best thing will be and make money off of it.
The Olympics or the World Cup, for example, are both big sports events that happen a lot. You can bet that people will be looking for different kinds of sports gear to show their support for the teams.
It’s good to look at the video game industry as another one. Keep in mind that the more people search for a big game on the internet, the closer it gets to its release date.
Creating a design portfolio for that time and then selling it sounds like a good idea. Afterward, you start over with the next big fad.
This guide should help you figure out what to expect if you want to start a print-on-demand t-shirt business.
If you’re a designer or work with one, keep in mind that the rules above apply to you.
