Still Around

[Deege]

I come in and out, as some of you well know, but id like to give you all a recent update.
Your 16 yo. entrepreneur is still pursuing his dream! New job, T-shirt Designing and Slik Screen Printing, so basically i use one of my favorite skills, (Art and computer graphics) and well i made it into a small business.

So what i've done while i've been gone! I've learned how to function around a print shop and picked up knack for doing it, and have been getting better and better to the point where im able to print 6+ color jobs no problem (i dont know if you know the process, but it gets somewhat difficult). I now have about 4 hours a day/ 5-6 days a week of printing time and have turned it into a little business around my school and near by areas. The profits havent really come in strong yet, but i am very confident and will hopefully be getting a website up within the next couple months!

Well thats my most recent activity i'd love to hear from you all again!

Sincerely,
DJ

 

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[JayKim]

Sounds like you have a good plan going best of luck!!!! Thats like how marc ecko started out!!! ++SPEED

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Thanks for the update -- jobs are great pieces of educational material if they help you go after the real goal. Congrats and keep us updated especially if you start selling!

 

[Deege]

Thanks guys, I appreciate each persons input and +speeds =]. I will let you know when i start selling, and maybe ill post some designs in the mean time. I have a little twist in my business where i want to end up, but you'll have to wait till i unveil the website =].

For now, my next thing to do is come up with a name, very catchy and original is where im trying to go, to build my reputation on a name basis, as soon as i do so, ill get a domain name ready, and throw up my website. Im just trying to make it professional, i dont want to stand for poorly made shirts, and my time to work and make shirts is limited so i cant supply many orders quickly enough for the demand that may happen, especially 100's to 1000's of customers. Maybe all you wonderful business minds have an idea?

P.S. Just realized this was in the introduction thread still, if you would like MJ you could move this to the General forum or some place more appropriate.

Sincerely,
DJ

 

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[ChromeKase]

While you certainly minimize your cost by doing it your self, I'm sure your goal is to not be fully involved in the process rather the driving force behind the design and sales.

I'm not sure if your employer works with distributors or what kind of pricing your employer would give you for bringing business to him (no doubt he will still want his cut), but you may want to opt for a relationship with a vendor or distributor that could stock your goods and ship them from a central location.

I would say shop around for the shirts you want to screen on, and buy in bulk, the more you can save the customer and keep your margins up when starting out, the more likely you are to develop a strong foothold of capital to stand on, and also the quicker your brand will spread. I can't stress how important it would be to buy your stock shirts in bulk. You could easily bump up the quality or the style of a shirt just buy buying in bulk and still keeping your costs much lower than if you bought on an as-needed basis. It would give your customers something they feel is quality, not just something someone threw together and put in a box.

If you have the capital buying in bulk wither it is just the shirts to be imprinted at a later point, or the finished goods; along with choosing central locations to ship from (when anticipating having to ship to across the nation) are two huge and I would say often overlooked ways to reduce costs. The issue is in being a start-up it will be difficult to gauge what kind of demand you may face from the get go.

Plan ahead in your sourcing and shipping methods and you should be able to meet your demand while being able to keep your cost down and your turn around time to your customers up.

I'd be more than happy to do some numbers for you on what you could expect as far as total cost of finished goods if you had the goods produced in a mid-western locale if you would like. Just let me know how many items and what kind of volume you would be looking at for those items.

 

[wildambitions]

Hey congrats Deeje! Keep it up. Plan your work and work your plan. Way to go.

 

[imcmillionaire]

I come in and out, as some of you well know, but id like to give you all a recent update.
Your 16 yo. entrepreneur is still pursuing his dream! New job, T-shirt Designing and Slik Screen Printing, so basically i use one of my favorite skills, (Art and computer graphics) and well i made it into a small business.

So what i've done while i've been gone! I've learned how to function around a print shop and picked up knack for doing it, and have been getting better and better to the point where im able to print 6+ color jobs no problem (i dont know if you know the process, but it gets somewhat difficult). I now have about 4 hours a day/ 5-6 days a week of printing time and have turned it into a little business around my school and near by areas. The profits havent really come in strong yet, but i am very confident and will hopefully be getting a website up within the next couple months!

Well thats my most recent activity i'd love to hear from you all again!

Sincerely,
DJ

It's great to hear a young man like yourself pursuing a t-shirt business. Make sure you develop these characteristic if you are going to take this on long term

1. Positive mind
2. Faith
3. Healthy body
4. Perseverance
5. Specialized Knowledge
6. Positive association
7. Dream BIG then Great BIGGER

Keep your mind focused on how to think positive and you will become every thing you think about. Good luck homie!

 

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[bflbob]

Keep up the good work Deege!

 

[WildFlower]

Are you familiar with shirt.woot.com? I’m not in the t-shirt business but, I love that site! They sell a different designed shirt each day.

They have contests for graphic artists and the best voted on they sell the shirt. I don’t know if they print them.. or how the structure works. I do know that when I order the shirt (and it’s always $10.00.. and shipping is $5.00 – can’t remember if there is free shipping) I get it pretty quick. AND They sell out.. almost everyday… not specific to sizes.. so, either they are pre-printed or they print on demand. You have to check early in the day for good design. Like today’s design, I probably would have purchased IF.. my son didn’t have too many shirts already. Around Christmas and his birthday, Easter.. etc. I make it a habit to check every morning because they have some very original shirts and he likes to wear them!

 

[WildFlower]

Ahhhh oops... I was adding something and posted again.. please delete this and my first post in this thread.. sorry.

 

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[bflbob]

Ahhhh oops... I was adding something and posted again.. please delete this and my first post in this thread.. sorry.

You can edit/delete your own posts.

There is and edit button right below your icon picture.

 

[WildFlower]

You can edit/delete your own posts.

There is and edit button right below your icon picture.

Thanks! I hit the delete and it didn't work... I just needed to reload the page for the function to .. well function. Now it did!