What’s the difference between a shirt people wear to brunch and one they use to wash their car?

That’s exactly what Marc Vila from ColDesi tackles in this episode of the CAS Podcast, joined by Melissa Commanday from Next Level Apparel.

It’s a deep, no-fluff dive into why the quality of your blank apparel can make or break your brand, your print quality, and your customer retention.

This episode is for you if:

• You’re tired of selling shirts that don’t get worn
• You’ve ever had a customer disappear without complaining — and don’t know why
• You want to charge more for your work but can’t justify it with cheap blanks
• You’ve invested in great printing equipment and still wonder why your output looks average

Here’s what you’ll take away:

👕 Why “freebie-quality” blanks ruin premium designs: No matter how good your artwork or printer is, cheap shirts kill the final product. Marc breaks down how using low-end blanks leads to poor wash performance, bad drape, and print issues — all of which your customer blames on you.

💰 Cost-per-wear logic that boosts your margins: Melissa explains why premium shirts — even if they cost more up front — lead to repeat wears, brand visibility, and more referrals. That $1 difference per shirt? It’s likely your most profitable upgrade.

📉 The silent killer of small business growth: Not all unhappy customers complain. Many just never order again. Learn how to gather meaningful feedback and turn “meh” into loyalty.

🎯 Real talk on rebranding and customer perception: Want your brand to be taken seriously? Then the tearaway tags, soft fabric, and retail-level fit of your blanks matter. Whether it’s your own brand or a client’s, people judge the final piece — not the price sheet.

👚How better blanks = easier selling: If your customers wear the shirts proudly, they become walking billboards. Marc shares how a personal trainer literally gained new clients just by wearing a well-fitted branded tee.

If you’re a print shop, designer, or brand selling merch — and you’ve been choosing your blanks based on what’s cheapest on the distributor site that day — this episode will challenge that thinking hard.

Because shirts are more than just products. They're emotional. They're identity. They're walking reviews.

Listen now if you're ready to stop selling forgettable merch — and start delivering apparel people actually love.

Intro: The Shop Struggle

• DTF is booming and more businesses are jumping in.
  • DTF is much easier than older methods like screen printing.
  • Barrier to entry is lower with 'production friendly' equipment under $15k.
  • Full-Digital Apparel that looks, feels and washes great is 'easy' to make.
• If you're feeling squeezed on price, overwhelmed by competition, or stuck on how to grow this episode is for you.

Why It Feels Crowded

• Custom t-shirt businesses are more common than even just a decade ago.
• People have a 'friend' or 'cousin' with a cricut.
• Customer expectations are all over the place a "Why is this shirt $30 when the guy down the street sells it for $15?".
• Social media makes everyone look busy, even if they aren't making money.

The Good News

• Just because everyone's cousin makes shirts, doesnt mean they are good at it.
• Most 'side-hustlers' give up or cannot deliver.
• The business isnt 'easy' so YOU putting in the work will be around when others won't.
• The barrier to entry to be profitable is still high enough that its not for everyone.
• You can still produce a high-quality custom logo apparel for the same price or cheaper than stores sell blank apparel.

Avoid Common Traps

• Racing to the bottom on price.
  • You will NEVER be the cheapest. "There is hardly anything in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper."
• Undercharging because they don't know how to break down costs and margins.
  • Know your numbers!
  • Consider other costs - website, accounting software, credit card fees.
• No Systems in place to make sure your business runs well
  • No workflows
  • No pricing structure
  • No Schedules
  • No delegation
  • No CRM
• Trying to do it all: artwork, printing, packaging, selling - without delegation or efficiency.

Competing the Smart Way

• Find Your Differentiator: Custom designs? Rush jobs? Better garments? Customer service? Find 1-3 core differentiators and talk about them all the time.
• Find Your Niche What is your ideal customer or product? Push towards that and spend less time trying to compete beyond.
• Charge What You're Worth: Because of the above, you can (and should) charge more than others.
• Tighten Production: Tips to streamline (pre-press setups, batching jobs, designated work zones).
  • Less mistakes
  • Faster delivery
  • Less waste
• Customer Experience
  • Personal delivery
  • Handwritten thank yous
  • Reorder reminders
  • Birthday / Anniversary

Growing in a Crowded Space

• Don't be Amazon / Walmart You can't beat the lowest price, but you can offer the best experience / quality.
  • People will want to buy from YOU / Your Business... because you are not the big business.
• Get Referrals Working
  • Script for asking for referrals
  • Remind people again
  • Give/Get program
• Leverage What You Already Have
  • Upsells / bundled product
• Be the best on the block
  • You would be surprised on how many people havent truly mastered their craft, be a master. Experiment, practice, play, learn.
• Invest in an Efficiency (repeat): Set goals for single efficiencies you can invest in (even if it's small.)
  • Additional heat presses
  • Accounting software
  • CRM
  • Ecom Store

Final Thoughts: There's Still Room!

• You don't need to be the best at everything, just the most dialed-in for your customers.
• Think efficient and excellent, not big and chaotic.
  • You don't need to be the master of an entire catalog of products, just be fantastic at a handful.
• If you are struggling to compete with lower priced competitors, consider changing how to are getting your business or what you sell.
  • Only offer premium quality apparel
  • Look for a niche or type of customer that is going to be less price concerned.
  • Purchase apparel from the 'cheap' competition to see how you can offer a better product (and sell against that.)

Challenge: What's one thing you can fix in your pricing or workflow this week?

We're also sharing insider tips on what to avoid, and what else you'll need beyond just the printer to actually succeed with DTF.

At the end of the episode we have specific advice tailored for beginners looking to start smart, and pros aiming to optimize or expand.

Understanding Printer Types and Key Features Print Width Options

• Letter / A3 Sheet (12-13")
  • Small format sheets for basic transfers
• 12"
  • Ideal entry into roll-to-roll printing
• 24 - 30"
  • Faster production for professional setups

Ink Systems

• Bulk Ink Systems
  • Lower ink costs
  • Requires maintenance knowledge
• Cartridge Systems
  • More reliable for light to medium use
  • Higher cost per print
• White Ink Circulation
  • Prevents settling and clogging in pro setups

Integrated vs. Modular Setups

• All-in-One Printers
  • Includes printer, shaker, oven in one unit
• Separate Components
  • Greater flexibility for upgrades and maintenance

Budget Considerations Entry-Level Setups

• Desktop Printer + Manual Shaker
  • Pros: Low upfront cost, real DTF transfers possible
  • Cons: 10+ minutes per transfer, inconsistent quality, no white ink circulation

Verdict: Not recommended for production-focused businesses.

Mid-Tier Options

• A3 Size Sheet Printers
  • Pros: Compact size, low cost
  • Cons: Slow production, not automated
• Compact Roll-to-Roll Systems
  • Pros: Automated, less manual labor, better consistency
  • Cons: Higher investment, learning curve

Verdict: Roll-to-roll is generally the winner at this tier.

Pro-Grade Options

• 24"+ Wide Format Printers
  • Pros: White ink circulation, fully automated, designed for production and ROI
  • Cons: Highest investment, requires significant space and power

Verdict: Bigger and faster is almost always better for serious DTF operations.

Essential Additional Equipment

• Heat press(es)
• Powder extractor or filtration system
• Emergency kit for clogs and maintenance
• Startup consumables and supplies

Reliability and Maintenance Daily Upkeep

• Follow manufacturer guidelines
• Maintain temperature: 60°F – 80°F
• Maintain humidity: 50% – 70%
• Keep a dust-free environment

Common Failure Points

• Printheads: Especially with white ink; discuss preventative maintenance with your vendor
• Powder Adhesive Curing: Adjust time and temp based on weather and material

Where to Buy and What to Avoid Choosing Vendors

• Trusted brands with proven track records
• Who supports you post-purchase?

Key Questions to Ask

• How long have you been in business?
• What is the warranty?
• How many printers/customers do you have?
• Can I see a sample print?
• Can we do a live or virtual demo?

Evaluating Test Prints

• Feel and stretch tests
• Wash tests
• Feedback from existing customers or focus groups

For Beginners

• Look for simplicity, strong support, and learning resources
• Avoid shiny object syndrome; focus on reliability
• Starter kits and bundles can help but verify quality
• Remember: It's better to over-invest in equipment than under-invest.

For Pros

• Buy based on current production plus growth goals
• Don't expect to abandon other print technologies immediately
• Set client expectations if changing print methods
• Educate clients on color differences between spot and process printing
• Upsell expanded color options to lock in clients
• Train staff thoroughly for day-to-day operational changes

Choosing the right DTF printer setup comes down to understanding your production goals, budget, and willingness to maintain the equipment properly. Whether you're starting with an entry-level setup to learn the process or investing in a full pro-grade system to drive your business forward, focus on reliability, vendor support, and scalability. The right choice will save you time, reduce frustration, and allow you to confidently produce high-quality transfers for your customers. Be sure to check out ColDesi.com and learn more about how Direct to Film printing can help your business thrive.

Michael and Austin break down how direct mail works, how to effectively use data to reach the right audience, and how you can integrate it with digital advertising for even greater results. Whether you’re a startup looking to establish your brand or an established business aiming for the next level, this episode will give you practical strategies to expand your reach and increase sales.

Topics Covered in This Episode:
✅ Why direct mail still works in a digital world
✅ How to use data to target the perfect audience for your business
✅ The cost of direct mail—how much should you budget?
✅ How to track results and measure ROI
✅ The best types of mail pieces for apparel and sign businesses
✅ Combining direct mail with digital ads for maximum impact
✅ How to start a direct mail campaign—step-by-step guide
✅ Common mistakes to avoid when using direct mail marketing

Listen now and learn how to use direct mail to take your business to the next level!

📩 Have questions or want to connect? email us at marketing@coldesi.com.

We’ll dissect a downloadable document that outlines six actionable strategies that have proven successful for startups across the country. From leveraging your personal network to making smart use of social media and local community engagement, we cover all the bases to ensure you're well-equipped to start generating business right away.

Join us as we reveal the secrets to turning referrals into sales, using everyday interactions as promotional opportunities, and why something as simple as a well-timed text message or a social media post can be incredibly effective. If you're ready to start making money by selling custom t-shirts, this episode will provide you with the knowledge and inspiration to hit the ground running. Tune in to transform these insights into action and start achieving your dreams today!

We'll explore the wide variety of materials you can print on with DTF and detail the essential equipment you'll need to get started.

Wondering if you should keep your screen-printing machines?
We'll weigh the pros and cons to help you make an informed decision.
Additionally, we'll discuss other important factors to consider during the transition, provide insights into the current DTF market, and guide you on how to obtain a sample DTF print to see the quality for yourself.

Whether you're a seasoned screen-printer or new to the industry, this episode is packed with valuable information to help you navigate the switch to DTF printing. Tune in and learn how to expand your printing capabilities and stay ahead in the competitive market.

The conversation begins with an overview of each printing method’s technical demands and operational scopes. Howard elaborates on the initial investment costs, ease of operation, and scalability potential of DTF and Screen Printing, giving listeners a comprehensive comparison.

Highlighting key factors like print quality, production speed, and cost-effectiveness, Howard shares his firsthand experiences with both methods. He discusses how DTF offers flexibility and precision with lower setup times, making it ideal for small to medium runs.

Conversely, Screen Printing is celebrated for its economic benefits in large batch productions and its lasting print quality.

Further, Howard addresses common misconceptions and challenges associated with each method, such as the steep learning curve of Screen Printing and the upfront costs associated with transitioning to or starting with DTF.

Listeners will come away with a clear understanding of which printing method might best suit their current operations and future growth plans, armed with Howard Potter’s practical advice and industry insights. Whether you're a startup in the apparel industry or looking to expand your existing setup, this episode serves as an essential guide to mastering these popular printing techniques.

Kicking off the episode, we tackle one of the most daunting questions for newcomers: "Which machine to buy?" We stress the importance of broad research and caution against getting tunnel-visioned on a single technology. The landscape of apparel printing is vast and choosing the right equipment is crucial for your business's specific needs and goals.

Growth is a central theme of our conversation. Howard underscores the necessity of forward-thinking, particularly in terms of spatial planning. Anticipating future expansion is vital; many businesses struggle because they run out of room or fail to utilize their current space efficiently. He offers practical tips on scanning your property and equipment regularly to identify items that can be repurposed or removed, thus making way for essential upgrades or additions.

Howard also introduces the concept of "temporary fixes" for immediate problems, but he warns against relying on these for too long. The discussion moves towards a critical analysis of production, time, and space utilization. He advises that operating at 95% capacity is a clear sign that expansion is overdue. Ideally, businesses should start thinking about improving their space or equipment when they hit the 70-75% threshold to avoid stagnation and ensure continuous growth.

Beyond the technical aspects of running a t-shirt business, Howard emphasizes the foundation of any successful venture: providing excellent service, treating people right, creating outstanding products, and committing to education and transparency. These principles, he argues, are non-negotiable for long-term success in the custom apparel industry.

This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone looking to navigate the challenges of starting or expanding a t-shirt business. Howard Potter's expertise and candid advice make it a must-listen for entrepreneurs eager to make their mark in the world of custom apparel.

Here is the list of tips for growing your business:

• Get the right equipment for YOUR business
• Consider the space you have to work and make sure you have room to grow
• If you are not using things or running out of room, be sure to scan your space and see how you can improve efficiency
• Consider your % output / % time / % space
  • If you are at 95% production / space ... you need to expand
  • Really you should be improving space / equipment at 70-75% rather than waiting
• Simple rules for growth
  • Provide great service
  • Treat people right
  • Create a great product
  • Educate your customer
  • Be transparent

Howard emphasizes the paramount importance of conducting thorough research to identify a trustworthy company. It's crucial to partner with a company that not only sells you a printer but also supports you throughout your printing journey. Equally important is considering the space your operation has available, as DTF printers come in various sizes and have specific space requirements for optimal operation.

He advises potential buyers to request samples from providers. This step ensures that the print quality meets your business's standards and expectations before making a significant investment. Additionally, Howard stresses the importance of investing in quality supplies, including inks and films, to guarantee the best output and durability of your printed products.

A central part of our conversation revolves around the challenges businesses might face, particularly concerning time management and staffing. DTF printing, while lucrative, demands careful planning and allocation of resources. Howard shares insights from his experience, noting that even the largest units are not overly complicated in terms of power requirements, which can be a common concern.

Highlighting the potential of DTF printing, Howard reveals an impressive fact: it is possible to generate more than $500,000 in revenue with a single DTF printer in a year. This statistic not only underscores the efficiency and profitability of DTF printing but also serves as a powerful motivation for businesses considering entering the space.

This episode is packed with invaluable advice for anyone looking to venture into DTF printing or expand their existing operations. Howard Potter's expert insights provide a roadmap for navigating the complexities of purchasing a DTF printer, making this episode an essential listen for those in the custom apparel industry.

Here are the top considerations before purchasing a DTF Printer:

1. Find a company you can trust
2. Consider the space you have to work with
3. Get samples
4. Look for a company that provides quality supplies with their machines

With a DTF printer, you have the flexibility to take on both small and large-scale projects. You can effortlessly create and print the same design on a wide range of fabrics, allowing for endless possibilities in customization. Unlike other technologies, DTF transfers require lower temperatures and shorter press times, making it ideal for more delicate fabrics as well as durable fabrics.

DTF prints boast exceptional color and detail, surpassing many other apparel decorating methods for apparel decorating with photo-realistic images, and the prints are highly durable, withstanding stretching and washing with ease.

Shopify is a leading e-commerce platform that enables businesses of all sizes to set up their online stores and sell products. It's known for its ease of use, scalability, and comprehensive features that cover everything from inventory management to payment processing, making it an ideal solution for entrepreneurs looking to start or grow their online sales.

ClickWear is a Shopify app developed by ColDesi that revolutionizes the custom apparel industry. It allows store owners to easily create and sell custom-decorated products online by simplifying the design and order fulfillment process. ClickWear streamlines operations, enabling efficient management of product customization and orders directly from the Shopify interface.

https://coldesi.com/clickwear-a-shopify-app-for-the-custom-apparel-business/

ColDesi OnDemand offers a robust solution for businesses looking to offer custom apparel and products without the need for inventory. This service provides the technology and support for on-demand production, from printing to shipping, allowing businesses to focus on design and sales while ColDesi handles the fulfillment. It's a scalable solution that fits a range of business sizes and needs, from startups to established brands looking to expand their product offerings.

https://coldesi.com/ondemand/

Small business owners in the customization industry are facing unprecedented challenges due to rising prices. This resource guide provides practical strategies to help your business thrive in a changing economic landscape.

Market Research and Competitive Analysis

• Research competitors and trends - Price shop around and see how you REALLY are in the market. Also ask about 'hidden' fees. Set up fees, art fees, delivery, etc.
  • Do you have a fee to set up my logo?
  • Do you deliver or do I pick up? Fees?
  • I am trying to budget this all out, what other costs should I expect to make sure I allocate the right money?
• Understand customer perception - ask other business owners you know if they have had price increases. How did they deal with them? How large were they?
• Define your pricing strategy
  • Do you want to be the price leader?

Keeping it Simple

• Avoid complex financial details.
  • Don’t break down the cost of your ink, paper, deliveries etc. This leaves room for holes in your pricing strategy. Just keep it simple - 'my costs are up, my retail is up'
• Offer added value.
• Confident price change communication.

Transparency Matters

• Be open about price increases.
• Consequences of non-transparency.
  • If you try to dance around the truth customers may see this as dishonesty
  • Insights from Harvard Business Review.
    • "Call the action a price increase, not a price adjustment, a price change, or another euphemism. While this may seem like a small thing, euphemistic messaging can cause serious harm, fraying the relationship with loyal customers." Many consumers are keenly aware of overall economic conditions, so when you tell your customers you’re raising prices, it just confirms their expectations, and most accept it.
• Use clear language.
• Postpone price increase for certain customers - let them know it’s coming, and why you are postponing for them.

Customer Satisfaction is #1

• Prioritize customer satisfaction first.
• Satisfied customers accept higher prices.
• Price-sensitive customers are likely to stay if satisfied. If they still won’t stay with higher prices, you have to decide if they are worth it.
  • e.g. a low maintenance customer may be worth keeping at a lower margin. However a customer that is constant trouble, no referrals, frequent returns, frequent complaints… might not be worth it.

Additional Pricing Strategies

• Target new customers - Go after more unique niches or higher end customers
• Offer contract discounts - Can you get customers to commit to months or a year of service. e.g. make updated uniforms for their business every season, or update signs on storefront for each holiday.
• Create bundles - price of shirts is up, but if you do shirts AND hats you get a discount.
• Selective price increases - only price increase certain items. Maybe your low-price leading items stay the same, but your upsells increase.

Handling Customer Objections

• Address objections with confidence
• Brainstorm with your team or other business owners
• Practice the conversations
• Understand most customers will understand why this is happening

Conclusion
You empower your business when you control your prices. If you are racing to the bottom or let fear control your pricing, you will eventually start suffering consequences. Increasing pricing doesn't mean you are greedy, you are doing your best to stay in business and reach your financial goals.

Diversifying your product lines is a great way to level up your business and make more money

1. You can sell to current customers
2. You can find a new customer base
3. You can become more stable (as one product line slows down, another might grow)

Types of business diversification

• Product diversification: you primarily sell clothing but you want to expand into other items that will create value for your customer like home goods and accessories
• Market diversification: you have a local business and start selling online or you open a new location across town
• Industry diversification: take you knowledge to a different industry or target a new niche
• Service diversification: you may only offer finished products, but may want to start doing training on how to make those products
• Merge or Acquire: a business that has a different product, service, market or industry

Why you would want to diversify:

• Want more revenue.
• Core business is in decline or getting saturated.
• Less economic risk
• Increase competitiveness – offer a wider range of products to attract new customers and reach new markets that competitors can't or don't

Examples:

• Amazon used to be an online bookseller, then moved on to sell video games and other multi-media and before long, they sold computer electronics, software, homeware, toys, and more
• Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy in the 90's and launched the iPod and iTunes software and a few years later the iPhone

Steps to Diversify:

• Do your research – have your customers suggested diversifying? Are they asking for more products or services? What can you do better than your competitors in your current or new markets? What type of diversification would suit your business?

• Assess your risks – while diversifying can help generate sales and increase your market share, you have to find a crucial balance between finding the time and resources to focus on the new venture without neglecting your core business. Diversifying with similar products in a familiar market may carry less risk than developing a brand new product for an unknown market, but both would create a safety net which will allow you to recover if one of your products or services fails.

• Audit your resources – what do you have and what do you need to invest in

• Plan – in many ways it is like starting a new business. You will need to understand your new market, your customers, competitors, and the new dynamics just as you would for any new business

• *What does your equipment do?**

• You have an embroidery machine.
  a) Do you sell hats?
  b) Patches?
  c) Uniforms?

• You have a DigitalHeat FX printer?
  a) Ever used hard surface paper?
  b) Printed on cardstock?

• *What adjacent equipment you can add?**

• If you have a a sublimation printer, adding a hat press is an easy upgrade

• If you do digitalheat fx, might be good to ad a sub printer or a cutter

• If you do embroidery, going to a cutter and press.

You are looking to start or grow your custom apparel business. There are a ton of challenges with choosing the right equipment, making sales, pricing your apparel and so much more. However, a topic not often discussed enough is the apparel you use.

Choosing the right blanks is a core part of your success. This is similar to a great chef. If you learn about great chefs, it's not just about the best pans and recipes, but also about the best ingredients. More so, it's about the best ingredients for their particular recipe.

The same thing applies to the custom apparel industry. You must pick the right apparel for your business. The idea of 'what is the best t-shirt' is a fallacy, just like the question of 'what's the best chocolate for a dessert'. It depends!

In this podcast we will discuss the idea of 'the best shirt' with an industry expert Mike Putnam. Mike has been in the apparel industry for over 30 years working in the apparel, sportswear and equipment industries.

Some of the questions we’ll answer in this episode include:

What is the best technology for your custom apparel business?

What type of T-shirts should you sell?

What problems should you expect?

How do you get past these problems?

Why is the idea of a ‘best’ shirt is a bit of a fallacy?

• Your process
• Your Technology
• Your customers’ needs (timeframe, color, quantity)
• The retail price you sell

What technology should you be printing with?

• Screen printing
• Direct to Film
• White Toner
• DTG
• Sublimation

Why do some shirts fail and others succeed in printing (even when they are the "same" material)?

How do you decide the best shirt for your business?

Everyone is looking for a way to make more money, achieve financial independence, and enjoy the work they do. One of the ways people accomplish this is by starting a side hustle, and potentially growing it to a full-time gig.

But how do you do this successfully?   If you are brand new, how do you get started? If you already have a side hustle, how do you take it full time?

In this episode we are joined by Amir Bavi, a ColDesi employee and customization business owner. Amir has taken the journey from side business to full time and back around. It’s all about YOUR personal journey and we are here to help.

Here are the steps to starting and growing your side business.

You have an idea, so what’s next?

• Put it in writing
• Consider WHO your customer is
• Consider WHAT you will sell them
• Determine HOW profitable your products are
• Pick WHERE you will do the work
• Schedule WHEN you will do the side hustle work
• Write down WHY You are doing this (and never forget it!)

Other topics covered in this episode:

• What are the steps to getting started?
• What should you watch out for?
• Once you get started, how can you make sure you don’t grow too fast or slow?
• How do you know when you are ready to go full time?
• How do you stay motivated?
• Did you ever have a time when you wanted to give up?
• #1 Tips for success

One of the first steps to understanding how to create a great marketing plan (that will lead to success) is understanding the 4 Ps of marketing. In so many words, it's understanding your businesses goals, so you can make truly educated marketing decisions. 

So, what are the next steps for your marketing?

• Should you start a TikTok?
• Should you do local paid advertising?
• Would doing google ads be a good idea?
• Is renting a booth at a farmers market going to be profitable?
• Is hiring a marketing firm/person the right move?

Anyone who tells you they have the answer to these questions is wrong. None of these can be answered correctly without knowing your 4 Ps. So let’s get to them!

All Marketing revolves around the 4 Ps:

Product:

The number of products categories, product lines and variations your company sells.

For example:

• Product Categories: Workwear, Signage
• Product Lines:
  • Workwear
  • Men’s Workwear
  • Women’s Workwear
  • Signage
  • Printed Graphic Decorative
  • Indoor Signs
• Product Variations:
  • Workwear
  • Women’s Short Sleeve t-shirt
  • Women’s Long Sleeve t-shirt
  • Women’s Polo
  • Hats (One)
  • Signage
  • Room Names / Braille
  • Restrooms
  • Directories
  • Maps
  • Instructions (wash hands)
• How a product is presented or packaged and served
• How will your customer place their order?
  • ecom, call in, email, in-person.
• How will your customer get their product?
  • Personal delivery, by mail, customer pick up.
• Do you install or instruct?

Price:

• What is the fair market rate of each item sold?
• How do customers pay? Can they pay online? Deposits? Pay in full?

Promotion:

• What channels are you currently utilizing?
  • New business: Nothing because your business hasn't started.
  • Existing business: Google My business? Social Media? Word of Mouth? YouTube? Paid Advertising?
• What channels are you capable of utilizing?
  • Can build a website? Can you hire someone to build one?
  • Can you afford a paid advertising budget?
  • Are there live events you can attend?
  • Do you have a personality for social media/YouTube?

Place:

• Are your products sold online? In store? 3rd party?
• Do customers need to be local?
• Are your products only sold with your physical presence? (e.g., signs)
• Is there anywhere you won’t / can't sell?

BONUS

Once you have 4Ps then you need to look at your demographics

• What is the face of your customer or their profile / avatar?
  • e.g., local small business owners - Dentists, Drs, Pharmacy, Interior Designers, Real Estate, Golf Course

Now that you have the 4Ps and your Demographics. You can start answering questions: 

• Should you start a TikTok?
• Should you do local paid advertising?
• Would doing google ads be a good idea?
• Is renting a booth at a farmers market going to be profitable?

A social media strategy is an outline or plan of your social media goals, how you will achieve them, and how you’ll track metrics. 

Social is talked about all the time in business, but do you need it? If yes, then how will you use it? This episode is all about finding out what is right for your business. 

Why having a presence on social media is important for small businesses:

• Maintains and builds relationships with customers you already have
• Grows brand awareness and familiarity
• Builds trust with new and current customers
• Builds engaged communities
• Turns customers into advocates (gain mentions, comments, likes, tags, etc.)
• Gives your business a chance to respond to any negative feedback
• Another channel to promote products or services

How to set up a strategy

1. Determine a goal – make sure it’s measurable/realistic for your business (ex: increasing email sign ups, increase web traffic, generate sales/leads, etc). Understanding and researching your competition can help you.
2. Understand your audience – Know the basics about your target audience like age, location, income, interests, etc. Which can all be found using that platform’s analytics tool. This can help you build better strategies and goals based off that data. Also know things like what kind of content do your customers engage with? What accounts do your customers follow? What do they like/share?
3. Get to know your competition – Complete a competitive analysis to help you understand what your competitors are doing, what their strengths/weaknesses are. Or keep an eye on their pages, search relevant keywords and how your competitors rank, etc.

Start Implementing Your Strategy

• Determine which platforms you want to use and are relevant to you (Instagram for reels, TikToks for short videos, Facebook for customer service, etc)
• Set up your profiles (use consistent branding like logos and brand colors, fill out bio completely, use high-quality images, include keywords people may associate your business with, etc)
• Create a social media calendar to help organize content ideas, scheduled posts, and maintain consistency
• Have your first couple of posts planned out and ready to go live

Who are you selling to? What is your niche?

• Should social media be a place for you to sell, or just display your products?
• What would you be able to show off?
• What do you WANT to do on social media?

Learn about your potential audience / customers

• Does your audience make purchasing decisions from social media?
• Can you reasonably work with your customers or influencers to promote your product?
• Which platforms make sense for your business?

Research your competition or other similar businesses

• What are they doing?
• Do you want to do what they’re doing or something different?

Determine your strategy

• Do you want to sell online?
• Do you want to have customers find you on social?
• Are your pages for building trust?
• Are your pages just an online portfolio?

Define your brand

• What do you want to look like?
• What is the personality of your brand?
• Who is your audience?

Set up accounts / profiles

• Images
• Descriptions
• Initial Posts

Create a social media calendar

• When will you post?
• What will you post?
• Will you go live?

Collaborate with others

• Engage with people in comments
• Connect with customers on their social accounts
• Cross-promote when possible
• Follow and connect with potential influencers

Experiment with new ways to engage

• Contests
• Ask opinions (This or that? Which is your fav?)
• Boost posts (pay to get more views)
• Do you have customers that can promote your pages?
  • e.g. if you work with a school maybe do a # contest for free swag
  • e.g. if you work with another small business, cross-promote each other or share a contest. “Win X from me and Y from them.”

Track performance

• BE PATIENT
• Look for interesting wins
• Try to re-create what has worked before

Extra Social Media Tips/ Ideas

After your social media accounts are created, keep a few things in mind:

• Experiment with style of content: Post polls, stories, contests, cross collaborations (mention nails), boost posts, customer success stories.
• Don’t post too much or too little. One can seem annoying and overbearing while the other can seem lazy or like the brand doesn’t care.
• Get your team on social media, which helps with keeping track of any messages, mentions, or comments.
• Search popular hashtags/ keywords to use in written and video posts.

Using Social Media for business isn't just as simple as posting cool pictures and getting a million followers. People who have 'gone viral' as a rule didnt get there by accident. They spent a ton of time interacting with the platform, creating content, posting like crazy and working hard.

Make a smart business decision on how YOUR business will use social media and go for it!

This episode discusses financing for business and answers the most frequently asked questions.

Why do businesses finance equipment?

• Utilize banks money to start
• Keep current liquid money on hand
• Tax benefits
• Time value of money

Can a new business finance?

• Yes!
• You can use personal credit

What if you don't have perfect credit - should you finance? What if the rate is high?

• Start now, or don't start
• Risk and reward
• Do what you gotta do

Why not just use a credit card?

• Installment vs revolving credit
• Save your credit card for quick purchase / pay off like supplies or blanks
• Don't use personal revolving credit lines for business

Isn't interest bad?

• If you can make more money than the interest, you win
• Tax benefits
• Bank loans cost money, that's the way it works. They are in business too.
• Better to do something than nothing to win

What's the finance process like?

• Apply
• Review credit and terms with agent
• Accept, sign, deliver

What's financing vs leasing?

What if someone has a lot of other questions?

Isn't debt for suckers?

• Most businesses have debt
• You buy a house with a loan for the long-term benefits (equity)
• Is a car loan for a new and reliable car better than paying cash for a car that will break down?

Financing: assets vs liability

• A machine for business is different from a car
• This isn't just adding to your bills but giving you opportunity.
• Tax benefits
• You own something of real value vs taking on debt for a vacation or new tv

Overall, financing isn't complicated, but it feels scary. So is starting a business or buying a house. Those who take the risk are the ones who can be rewarded.

Learn more at https://coldesi.com/financing-options/

So here we go... let’s get ahead of 2023 with expected challenges and resolutions!

Supply Chain Issues – There will still be issues with getting supplies, and it shouldn’t be a surprise anymore. Since 2020 everything from toilet paper to cars has seen the effect of backorders & supply chain issues.

What this means for you

• Stock up, Stock up, Stock up
• Have backup plans, especially for apparel
• Don't procrastinate
• Include in communication to customers

*Accelerated Digital Transformations** - Changes are happening faster than ever. Your customers are going to want to interact with you digitally the way THEY want to. Texts, live chats, emails, social media, package tracking, etc.

What this means for you

• Find the ways your customers like to interact
• Figure out how to implement (CRM, Texting Software, Apps)
• Move away from the old ways (Excel quotes, Taking credit card numbers over phone, physically signed quotes)

Inflation – Prices are still expected to go up.

What this means for you

• Prepare your customers ahead of time
• Be watchful of waste / Find ways to be more efficient
• Raise YOUR prices when you have to
• Find ways YOU can help YOUR customers save money. e.g. 'what other promo items do you use, maybe I can help you consolidate all of them with me to save money'

Talent and Staffing – Good quality employees are going to have plenty of opportunities

What this means for you

• It may be hard to hire if you need to add staff
• Create a Good Working Environment that encourages employees to join/stay
• Know employees’ worth, if you hear similar jobs pay $2-3 more an hour, consider raises

Increased customer expectations – People get things faster and more personalized than ever.

What this means for you

• You ARE in the customization business, so that’s good for you.
• You will want to be efficient to deliver things faster than ever.
• Consider what you keep in stock so you can deliver same/next day

Transformation of gig workers - More people are moving to gig/contract work as a side hustle or even full time.

What this means for you

• Potential to outsource to help your growth
• You might not have to hire in a full timer
• Hire people seasonally, even IN your shop
• Gig workers can be a market too

Even though challenges are expected in 2023 there is still a ton of optimism in our industry, so be sure to keep pushing forward and make it a great one!

Some customers are very needy, others are poor at communication, others don’t pay on time.

So how do you handle all these different types of customers when you are trying to run your business YOUR way? You want to keep your best customers happy, so they come back!

Get a CRM
This is key. You need a way to organize all your information, contacts, notes, reminders, invoices.

Set Reminders
Be sure to have reminders for ANYTHING important. Remind customer to get you the art, Remind that a bill is due. Remind to follow up on approval for production.
If you can set up automated reminders to email / text them… even better.

Use your calendar
Every meeting needs a calendar meeting (invite the customer too)
Use Calendly to avoid those "are you available at XYZ time/day" emails
Block out time for work. Invoicing, production, etc.

Have policies and procedures
You cannot force your customers to do everything your way, but you sure can suggest it. Many people will comply to your procedures. And YOU can decide which rules are ok to bend and not.

Fire customers
Yes, it's HARD to say no to money but there is a price for your time, effort and stress. If one customer is preventing you from growing or enjoying your business, it's time to let them go.

Be Friendly
You catch more flies with honey. People will like you. People will adhere to your reminders, people will respect your calendar invites, people will follow your procedures and you will have enough customers to be able to fire the bad ones.

• Maria does the printing
• John does the art
• Mark does the writing and website
• Etc.

But how do you manage that as you grow? or if Maria is sick?

Do you also think about how Maria does maintenance? Or how Mark answers chats on Google? Or how John posts to Facebook and answers comments?
Further, as you grow, and art goes from 5 files a day to 15 files a day, WHAT are tasks that John could take off his plate? IS there something Mark can do instead of John? Is there something you can hire a part-timer to do, or outsource to an agency?

When considering the inner workings of your business, think about all the tasks, not the people.

List EVERYTHING that the business needs to do.

• This should be anything your team can think of, and the list needs to grow over time.
• e.g. maybe Mark makes sure your website domain renews every year, but he doesn't remember that when making the initial list.

List the talents and skills of your team

• Who can do what?
• One team member does the website now, but can anyone else?
• One team member dislikes running the embroidery machine, but CAN in a pinch

List areas of potential growth & efficiency

• If we did X better we could grow
• If we did Y better we could save money

List anywhere that is close to max capabilities

• Is there an area where your team is spread thin?
• One team member does art. Some days there is more art than they can do. What if you grow 10%, can they handle that? How will you handle that if you do?

Go back to the top

• Now that you have all the above data, take a bird's eye view of it.
• What can you improve?
• Do you need redundancy in talent?
• How will certain jobs get done if someone is sick or on vacation?
• If you hired someone, what could they fill in?

Review pricing

• Is everything still available?
• has pricing gone up?
• SHOULD pricing have gone up?
• Is there an opportunity for a SALE or Discount?

Marketing check-in

• Promotions for next month or the NEXT month?
• Does your phone number work?
• Does your contact form work?
• New/replace products?
• Planning for events
• Website updates and changes
• Check your voice mail message
• Social media review (links in profiles, contact info, posts)

Financial Review

• Look back at the prior month
• Revenues Profits Expenses
• Lessons and changes
• Invoices and bills
• Taxes
• Fees/Dues

Sales Review

• How many new customers
• Lost customers
• Best sale of the month / worst sale of the month
• Most profitable orders

Legal Stuff

• Tax filings
• Certificates
• Licenses
• Order legal language
• HOA?

Clean Up!

• Make sure your work area is clean and safe
• Check your computer - are all the files in the right place?
• Gut check - how do YOU think you're doing? How are you feeling about the business?

The purpose of a monthly check-in is not always because you didn't properly adjust prices or didn't pay bills. It's so much more than that. It is creating a consistent habit of checking very important things often. It is also about making sure you didn't forget details. Lastly, as you do this you will recognize patterns or oddities, which will help you catch something before it's a problem (or catch something while there is opportunity!)

"I can't make any money in my area"

"No one can sell for that price"

One of the best ways to combat this is by getting in front of the knowledge. When you know your competition, you:

• Can get ahead of customers who shop
• Improve your products and services
• Be sure you are actually charging enough
• Know your strengths

Steps To Competitive Analysis

Identify Them

• All competition - This is anywhere your customer might buy a similar product. For example, Walmart and Bass Pro Shop might be on this list.
• Close competition - These are businesses that do close to what you do, but not the same. These might be screen print shops if you do embroidery.
• Direct competition - Companies that do almost exactly what you do, such as a company that sells DTG one-off shirts, when you offer the same thing.

Make A List And Categorize Them

Gather Information

Info - The Basics

• All competition - What might someone buy there? How much is it? What is it like to shop there?
• Close competition - What do they offer? Why might someone shop there?
• Direct competition - This one is where you actually want to spend time. You should be looking deep.
  • What do they sell?
  • What prices do they advertise?
  • Do they appear to focus on any niches?
  • Is there anything they do that you can learn from?
  • Read Reviews

Info - Social Media

For basically everything below, don't bother with the All Competition and try not to focus too much time on the Close Competition. You really want to put the effort into Direct Competition.

• Review all their social accounts
• Look for how they post
• Don't focus on # of followers, but posts that get interaction

Info - Websites

• How do they look? on your desktop and on your phone
• What info do they show?
• How does it compare to yours?
• Is there anything you don't like?
• What can you learn about their size, age, pricing, products, niches

Info - Shop Them

This work can be done by yourself or someone you trust.

• Call them, what is that like?
• Ask for a quote
• Find out delivery times
• Look for 'hidden fees' (set up, art, etc)
• Get details on what they will or won't do (will they do the art? How much? Will they let you provide shirts? what brands do they sell?)

Analyze

Now it's time to step back and look:

• What are they GREAT at?
• What are they good at?
• What are they weak at?

If you compare yourself, where can you shine? Look at their weaknesses and find where you can be stronger.

Maybe they cannot deliver anything in less than 2 weeks, but you can do next day.

Maybe they only offer really cheap shirts they stock, but you offer higher-end apparel.

They might advertise low prices but have lots of hidden fees.

They might appear to be a very diverse shop, but they really only focus on a couple of niches.

Create Your Competitive Plan

FIRST - did you determine that it's REAL competition? If so, then...

This is where you can make it a point to show off your strengths that your competition doesn't have.

• Advertise these strengths on your website and social media
• Mention them in phone calls and meetings
• Do email blasts or local ads

"Can deliver shirts in 2 days"

"Top quality apparel that won't shrink after one wash"

"High-end art services included in the price"

"Full-color prints - print your dog, baby, or anything else on a shirt"

Be sure to repeat this process often and don't be intimidated. There will always be competition, but smart business people can always find a way to stand out. If you are ahead of them, you can always come out successful.

Examples:

• Customer walks into two shops, which one do they buy from?
  • A - Cool art on the walls, music playing, samples on the walls.
  • B - No decorations, loose thread on the floor, and ink stain on wall, and something sticky.
• Production - who can produce shirts faster?
  • A - Neat and clean workstations, equipment nearby, labeled shelving.
  • B - Boxes of shirts shoved under a table, 20 ink carts all various filled stacked up, heat press in the corner away from everything else.

So how can you make your workspace make money for you?

Know Your Style

If your workspace is a pleasant place to be, you will work better in it.

• First design your space to fit your style and brand.
• You want it to feel good to work in, if you are uncomfortable in the space, you won't be happy.
• Like art a lot? Put some on the walls. Into fishing? Put up a singing fish.
• Consider how you dress and incorporate that into the look. if you dress modern / fashionable, get furniture and decorations that are in that style.
• Tip: Hire a designer or consult friend or family who's good at it.

Consider Visitors

Will customers enter your workspace / shop?

• If you are going to be alone with no visitors, make the space yours.
• If you plan to have customers come in, consider their experience:
  • Have table and chairs for them to sit in.
  • Keep coffee, soda, water bottles.
  • Have samples ready to show off.
  • Put up pictures or books of work to flip through.
• Make your workspace a different place than your customer interaction space.
  • Don't push away shirts you are working on so a customer can sit and chat.
• Have public Wi-Fi.
• Computer or tablet available to interact with customers on.

Don't Break Your Back

Workplace injury or long-term strain on the body is a real thing. Help yourself stay healthy.

• You are in the business of picking things up, bending over and working with machinery, watch your health.
• Put the heat press at the right height.
• Get foot stools and shelves.
• Use tables that match your height.
• Get gloves or braces for back / wrist / knees (if recommended by a Dr.)
  • Or just go to your Dr and say "I do this, what strains or injuries could I get and how do I prevent them?)
• Tip: record a video of yourself working and see if you notice times you strain, bend, hunch over, etc. (or show your Dr!)

Your Workflow Should Be In the Design

Make your space work for you by having everything in the right place.

• If you go from Heat press to printer to heat press to boxing, then consider designing your space in that flow, put the machines/tables in that order.
• If you are bumping your elbows or cannot get a good reach, move things around.
• Be creative like putting heat press facing a printer, this way you turn around and the press is right there.
• Consider more than just placing things by a wall, maybe a circular placement makes sense.
• Tip: record a video of work and see if there is something you notice about wasted time.... like "Look - every time I need a box of shirts I go all the way over there and back, and look – I almost tripped on a wire once!"

Sounds, Tastes and Smells

Eyes are not the only sense, think about the others.

• Music can be a great way to keep you motivated.
• Music can also give customers a good vibe of your shop. If you primarily sell to high schoolers, play pop music.
• Air purifiers, outdoor fresh air, air fresheners, incense, etc. are great ways to keep the shop from smelling like still air, sweat or a factory.
• Keep healthy snacks, gum, mints, sodas, water, coffee, tea etc. Not just for customers, but for you.
• All of this matters because it keeps you going, keeps you positive.

According to a study at Oxford University people who are pleased with their work environment are 13% more productive, and that can include YOU.

Brand It

Have your shop fit your brand, because it's part of it.

• In the last episode we talked about branding, and your shop should fit that too. Just like your website and your social media.
• If you use fonts or colors on your website, use them in your office.
• Use samples from your site, as samples people can see in real life.
• Music, Sounds, Smells, visuals should match your feel.
  • Sell to business professionals? Make your shop feel like a modern office. Look up google or apple offices.

A good workspace and shop design will absolutely have a long-term impact for your business. This is not only for your production, but your mental and physical health... and of course your customers will WANT to do business with you!

There are tons of t-shirts shops, sign shops, restaurants and insurance companies everywhere. The world is a busy place. How do you make YOUR brand stand out? How does something emerge amongst the noise?

If you want to learn about standing out, watch some nature documentaries. You can see how birds spread their wings, sing or flash bright colors.
It's not just about standing out though, it's about building an audience, and trust and a desire to do business with YOU and YOUR COMPANY.

Be Original / You - Pick a style or a theme that fits your niche, personality.

Be Sincere - this brand should be sincere. If you are fake or try to be someone you aren’t, people will pick up on it.

Tell a story - share the dream of your business, your personal dream.

Be consistent - stick with ideas, colors, styles, etc. Don’t try to be business professional on your website, then be quirky and cool on social media. Make sure it all ties together.

Action Items - Suggestions

Get celebrities / Influencers - Know local celebrities? Even "mini celebrities" like the local high school football coach, or the leading home run hitter in the high school baseball team, or the owners of popular businesses. If you can get their endorsements it helps.

Who do you know that's in a position to influence a lot of people?

• Preacher
• Teacher
• Local Politician
• News anchor
• Radio host
• Entertainer

Pay to get your name out there - if your brand supports children, be a sponsor of a local children’s event. if your brand has to do with local sports, give away a bunch of free hats to kids. Use social media to share big stories, even with boosted or paid ads.

• Make a list of online or local "happenings" /events that could relate to your brand
• Find out the best way to participate in these sympathetic-to-brand events
• Rent a table
• Advertise in flyer
• Buy time or space

Hire someone to help you brand - if you aren’t a graphic artist or a branding expert, find someone who is and get them to help with your style: Fonts, logos, colors, etc.

• PR firm/person
• PPC expert
• Marketing company
• Web developer
• Social media pro

For others it's just to have a business for themselves. Maybe it's a small family business. A business on your terms. It could be you just want to keep it as a side hustle.

But how do you make this business THRIVE and generate the income you want to live, to retire, to pass on to the next generation.

If you want to GROW while staying small, you need to optimize the business.

Ways to grow a small business, while also staying small.

• What's the dream?
  • To have a side hustle that makes 40k profit a year
  • To have a family business that profits 250k a year
  • To have a business to retire in, eventually replacing your day job income

Just like with everything, you have to have defined goals to know how and when you've reached them.

• Track your time
  • How much time do you spend taking to customers?
  • Delivering orders?
  • Running production?
  • Maintaining equipment?
  • Accounting?

Part of staying a small business is working with limited time. If you want to stay with 3 people running the shop, you could say you have 120 hours of work a week. You have to track where all that time is going from day one.

• Clean House / Take out the trash
  • Don't work with stressful customers.
  • Only take profitable jobs.
  • Stop taking on projects that don't fit the dream.
  • Stick with what you like and what works.
  • Don't work with technology that doesn't fit the plan.

You will learn lessons as you take on clients. Certain jobs just won't be profitable, others will be loaded with stress. Some work just doesn't scale well (e.g. it takes a 2x the work for the same profit as other work). You have to know when to clean house, turn down jobs and follow the dream.

• Don't be cheap
  • Don't waste time shopping around to save 50 cents on a cone of thread.
  • Do the maintenance, don't skip out on a step to save a few bucks on cleaner.
  • Buy the better heat press.
  • Pay for software if it helps.
  • Upgrade your equipment when its time.

Trying to save a buck can end up costing you so much more. Remember that you are trying to reach a goal. Don't let saving a few hundred bucks get in the way of reaching your goal. If you are trying to get to $100k a year, what's $200?

• Be efficient, everywhere!
  • Move your equipment and tables to save walking time.
  • Get good tools to save time.
  • Have a regimented plan for every order.
  • Get things like a sleeve platen.
  • Sharpen your scissors.
  • Weigh things instead of counting them.
  • Get smart software.

Efficiency is going to be the key to maximizing your small business profitability and revenue. Many times businesses get stuck because they have run out of time!

• Hit your goals, then move to the next
  • If you want to get to $100k a year, start with $20k.
  • Look at what you did to get to 20k and do the math.
  • Can you scale that with the time/people you have?
  • If not, what can you do better?
  • Consider new ideas to scale it up!

You need to step by step to your goal. You may find that there isn't enough time, or not enough profit. This allows you to FIX the problem through success! "I got to $20K! How are things looking? Ok, I know what to fix to get to $40k."

• Ask for advice, maybe take it
  • Ask people who have a business what they do.
  • Find out their goals.
  • What stumbling blocks did they have?
  • Share issues you have and see how they would solve them.

There isn't a magic bullet, but knowledge is absolutely power. Look for inspiration from others, but be sure to not compare yourself to their business too much, remember this is your goal. Seek advice from others, but don't look for exact answers.

Strategies to Plan, Run and Profit from a Business Built for YOU, by YOU. That's the goal. It's YOUR plan, it's YOUR business, it's YOUR goals. You have the ability to make it anything you want.

• If your goal is to lose 20lbs by September 30th, you can't start working on that on the 25th and expect to be successful
• If your financial goal is to save up $20K for a down payment on house, or pay cash for a car, you're probably not going to pull that money out of that week's budget to make the purchase.

Because with your health and your finances you've got to do small things right on a regular basis - or BIG things on a regular basis - in order to succeed. You're not very likely to win the lottery OR wake up with 6-pack abs after buying a scratch off and doing sit-ups one morning.

BUT, if you save and invest over time, every day, do some ab work every day, you're very likely to end up in the place you want to be.

Let's apply that to your Business Life and talk about the habits that will help you reach your goals:

Regular Habit/Organization

Have a calendar. Use it. Live by it.

• Billing schedule
• Production calendar

Daily:

1. Machine maintenance
2. Check job schedule & checklist
   a. Product, blank and supply status
   b. Art work status
   c. ...
3. Check/Enter new orders
4. Communications - emails, calls and chats
   a. Create appt/task/call entries
5. Wrap up
   a. Machine shutdown/maintenance
   b. Adjust calendar/tasks for tomorrow

Weekly:

1. Marketing Basics
   a. Website Check - Working?
   b. Social Updates
2. Business Progress Check
3. Check your Financial Life

Monthly:

1. Review Quarterly / Annual Goals
2. Business check in
   a. How were sales?
   b. What problems did you have?
   c. What success did you have?
   d. What do you wish you did better?
3. Clean up
   a. Make sure shop is in tip-top shape
   b. Delete that 'downloads' folder on the computer
4. Inventory Check
   a. Supplies / Blanks / Tools

Tools:

• Asana Project Management / BaseCamp / Trello
• Freshbooks / Quickbooks
• Google Calendar or CRM
• Stripe / Square
• Good old Excel!

Project Manager. Production Manager. Financial Officer. Customer Service.

And yes… Sales Person.

Chances are you aren’t starting your business with a full time sales person on staff. You might be fortunate and be a natural born sales person. Or maybe your business partner is the sales person for your company (husband, wife, sibling, friend).

However, if you don’t come from a sales background there is a lot to learn.

One of the core parts of sales is Closing Deals, in other words, getting customers to say yes and pay you.

It’s easy to fumble the close. Saying the wrong thing, letting customers always postpone the deal, losing out to competition.

Today we are going to discuss traditional closing techniques and how you can use them.

The Now or Never Close (Create Urgency)

• This is a close where you offer a special deal or limited offer based on signing up right now.
• Right now my vendor has X shirt on sale. If you buy it today I can save you 10% or $200.
• I’ve got 50 of these shirts in stock on a deal, once they are gone I cannot sell them for that price.
• Prices all over are going up. The supplies I have in stock are at X price, but I’ll run out soon.
• I’m looking to fill up my production as I have a lot of jobs next month, but room for one right now. So if you buy now I can deliver faster, but if you wait, it will take longer.

The Recap Close

• This is where you recap everything the customer is going to get in a brief summary. Describe everything in detail so they are excited at the idea of getting it. Then ask for the business
• You are helping them visualize the deal.
• You are getting 50 shirts and 20 hats with your logo. Plus mugs you will get to give away to your clients (which they will love you for.) So we can get those in production this week. Do you want to put the deposit on a credit card?

The Quid Pro Quo Close

• Your customer may ask for a Deal. “Can you take $300 off?” This means you’ve got an opportunity to present a “favor for a favor” to close the deal now.
• Sure. Let’s do that. But in return, I’d like to sign you up right now. I’ve got to be very efficient to give you that price so I want to get the process started right away.
• Yes I can do that for you, but I’d like a favor from you too. I don’t normally pass out a deal like that, and don’t prefer quotes like that floating around. I can say you strong armed me with a promise to pay today.
• My partner doesn't like deals that slim. They are a challenge with maintaining profitability. However, if you close now, I'll have the excuse that I had to make an executive decision.

Question Closing

• This is where you ask a question that the customer agrees to, and therefore the deal is good for them. If they don’t say yes, then you need to dive deeper into helping them or understanding their needs.
• “Will this order meet your needs and fit within your budget?” Yes. Then let’s get it going so you can move on to more important things.
• "Have I covered everything you need and answered your questions? Does it all look good?" Yes. "Let’s close this up and get to production."
• "In your opinion, will this provide the solution you need for your business? Then let’s move forward and get your promotional goods in process."

Assumptive Close

• This is the power of confidence and positive thinking. Just assume they will say yes.
• “Ok, so I can send you the invoice right now and you can pay on your phone."
• "Do you prefer me send the payment via PayPal or with a credit card form?"
• "Let’s go ahead and look at the calendar to pick an estimated delivery date and time. Then I can collect a deposit and get to work for you."

The Takeaway

• This is when a customer isn’t sure of the price you are charging. So you remove something to make the deal fit their budget. Some people will then begin to think about what they aren’t getting and want to close the deal
• "Well, if this isn’t in your budget, we can go ahead and remove those mugs you talked about giving your clients. That should save you the money you need to fit your budget."
• "We can go with a less premium shirt. It won’t be quite as comfortable and long lasting but it will save you money and fit your budget. Not everyone buys the premium shirts."

Tips:

• Never lead with your cheapest product. Start a medium (better) quality shirt, or front and back print or 15 oz. mug. This way if you need to lower the price, you can sell a reduced feature item.
• Have wiggle room. If you have to make a min of $500 on this deal, don't offer a price where you make $500 right away. Start with a $600 profit or a $700-800 profit, so you can negotiate if needed
• Never take the first 'I'll think about it'. If they have to think about it, just politely ask them what they are considering or what concerns they have. They may have a concern that you can answer right away
• Be confident. Be sincere. Be Honest.

The most successful sales people just work hard, and take time to learn the craft. Just like anything else there are little things you can do to help get more deals handed to you!

But if you're not IN the promotion business - where do you start?

During this episode we'll break down some simple approaches to great promotions and how to get them up and running. First, let's run through the basics:

Who is your Audience?

If you haven't done this yet, you need to develop a clear idea of WHO you're selling to. That way you can design something that fits that "sample" person. That will also lead you to what kind of promotion you might want to run.

Example 1: Blue collar worker in a small town working for an electrician, single mom who loves to spend money on her kids
Example 2: Local parents of elementary and middle school children

Deciding What to Promote:

• Do you have inventory of something you'd like to sell off?
• Is there something in particular you'd love to sell MORE of ?
• What NEW product would you like to test in your market?
• Something seasonal that just makes sense

Promotion Types:

• Savings or discounts (was/is)
• Free upgrade or add on at retail $$ spent
• Loyalty coupons
• Order one, get another one for free
• Referral offerings
• Time-limit bundles
• Unique Offering
• Seasonally hot or fashionable

Create Your Message

What, Why, How

Support your local restaurant by eating out with a 50% discount on food or non-alcoholic drinks.
What: 50% discount on food or non-alcoholic drinks
Why: Support your local restaurant
How: eating out - ordering online

Publishing Options

How will you actually promote your promotion? Because that will determine what you'll need. But the basics are almost always the same:

• Photos or a short video
• Pricing
• Print
• Digital

Email Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Menus / Tables
Signs Outside of Schools
Calling your Customers

Measure success

• Make sure you measure success
• How many sales did you generate?
• Did you sell the promo or make other sales because of the promo?
• How much did the promo cost you? (ads or goods or time)
• Should you do another one?

But after this decision, many are left with a 'what's next?' mindset, unsure where to go. Further, others get frustrated that there might be more money to invest because they didn't get it all with their machine (didn't want to overspend, or trying to stay within a payment budget.)

So what's next? What do you need to start a customization business (besides a printer)?

Accessories & Add-ons

• Finishing Sheets
• Heat Temp Probe for heat press
• Teflon Sheets
• Hat / Mug heat press
• Scissors, tweezers, knife
• Vinyl Remover
• temp / humidity (so important)

Business Set up

• State License
• EIN
• Tax certificates
• Accountant
• Attorney

Accounting / Invoice / Credit Cards

• A way to take credit cards - stripe, square, paypal, local merchant service provider
• Managing the money - quickbooks, freshbooks, etc
• Business Bank account
• Business credit card / debit card (checks)

A Plan

• What is your niche?
• Who will you sell to? (and a sales plan)
• How will you produce goods?
• How will you price?
• How will you deliver? (and follow up)
• What times / days will you work?
• A 'Plan B'
• Have a business email

Space

• A place to work (desk / computer)
• A place to produce (tables, heat press, machines, boxing)
• Storage (place to keep ink, paper, shirts, mugs) (keep in mind how much that can be)
• Power

Organization

• For all of the above!
• Organize your plan
• Organize your workspace (digital and physical)
• Organize your finances

Help

• This is simple, and not. But if you need help, who will help you?
• Assistant?
• Accounting
• Production
• Sales

Overall you need a lot more than just a printer or an embroidery machine. Some of it is going to be an upfront cost, others are going to be a monthly cost or a down the road cost. Either way, if you are investing upfront (especially financing) get all you need while you are working on budgeting/financing, and plan for costs that are today or down the road. Lastly, besides $$ you also need to be mentally and physically prepared to make it happen!

How to generate Word of Mouth

• Label your shirts
• Do great work
• Be the "I met a guy/lady/ the other day that does this"
• Ask for referrals

Encourage your customers to refer their friends and family members to your business

Friends and Family Plans
There's a reason that you recognize that phrase. And a reason that Multi-level marketing is a bajillion dollar business..

Because there may be no better advocates for you and your business. You just need to systemize your plans.

Tip: every time you meet someone, make sure they know what you do!

Create a referral program that rewards customers for referring their friends and family members

Refer a Friend Programs Work
Here are a few things you can try:

• Refer a friend and get discount
• Refer a friend and get cash
• Refer a friend and get a unique gift e.g. custom monogrammed bag
• Give $20, Get $20

Use social media platforms, such as Facebook, TikTok, or wherever you "social", to promote your referral marketing campaign

Leveraging Social Media for Referrals
The theme to this one is, don't make your referral program a secret. Or something you share on a limited basis.

Ask for social media referrals:

• Post just asking for referrals - if you like the content I make, please share with friends
• Ask followers to 'tag' - tag someone who would look great in this hat
• Ask followers to share page - hey I am looking to grow the business, please refer me.

Make it easy for customers to refer their friends and family members by providing them with customized referral links or coupons

Landing Pages/Web Pages/Emails JUST for Referral Programs

• Make it easy and obvious
• Add a referral link / suggestion to email signature
• Upon invoicing ask for referrals
• Have a page on your site just about referral program

Say thank you for referrals

• Send Thank You cards (yes, in the mail)
• Send gifts - chocolates, wine, apparel, gift cards
• Call and literally say 'thanks, that means a lot'

So how do you go about getting a website made for you? Should you make it yourself?

These questions are answered by going through the list below. Once you have gone through all of this you will be in the right position to either get one made for you, or do it yourself.

Its VERY important to not call a website company or start building one yourself until you listen to this podcast and answer the below questions / understand the below statements.

Understand that websites are complicated.

• Getting a website up and running can go from EASY to HARD very fast. There are things like DNS Records, and Site Security and Privacy and setting up your email to go under your domain.
• Take some time to research the basics of the anatomy of a website. You can do this by looking through training videos on places like Wix or Shopify, watching Youtube videos or even taking an online course.

Why do you need a website?

• Your answer should be very clear. Examples might be:
  • To show I am a legitimate business
  • To have customers order online
  • To communicate what i offer
  • As a sales tool to share links
  • To be found online
  • To have a place to send online ads
• It's very important to know WHY and the more "WHYs" you have, the more expensive the site

Is there anything interesting or special your website will do?

• If it's just to "show words and pictures" that is the simplest site. But is there anything else?
  • Customers can order products online
  • Customer can upload art files
  • Connect to your accounting or CRM software
  • Be able to create mini-stores for your customers

What do you want it to look like?

• The easiest solution for this to start searching for sites you like and note them
• Also consider keywords and feelings you want the site to have:
  • Modern
  • Fresh
  • Professional
  • Feminine
  • Masculine
  • Urban
  • Country
  • Patriotic
  • Religious
  • etc
• What pages do you want?
  • Home
  • Contact
  • About Us
  • FAQs
  • Testimonials
• Use other websites to make a "wish board" of the look and feel of your website.

Consider a platform you want it to be on

• Do you want an e-comm store? Search those platforms and create a short list. Get demos.
• Do you want very heavy custom coding and complexity?
• Do you want the most economical and be able to DIY?
• Platforms you might choose may be:
  • Wordpress
  • Wix
  • GoDaddy
  • Drupal
  • Shopify
  • BigCommerce
  • SquareSpace
  • OpenCart

Start Shopping for the cost

• Get price quotes
• What does the CMS cost?
• What are 1 time set up costs?
• How will you get art / graphics?
• Who will write the website? How much to have someone write the content for you?
• Any 'hidden' fees or add-ons

What are the other costs involved?

• Site Security -SSL
• Maintenance / updates
• Domain
• Custom email
• Alternate domains
• Hosting
• Back ups of the site

Once you have gone through this exercise you should know a few things:

• Do you still want to build a website now?
• Have your plans or ideas changed?
• Do you want to DIY or pay someone?

Knowing all of this will help your website project be a great experience at a fair price.

But what is the difference between Sublimation and HTV?

Which is better: Sublimation or Heat Transfer Vinyl?

Which is cheaper?

In this episode we are going to deep dive into both Sublimation and HTV to help you pick the best for your new business.

Why is HTV or Sublimation right for you?

1. First we will start who should get either of these.
2. You want to customize t-shirts (or mugs or tumblers or more)
3. You want to be able to operate in a small footprint
4. You don't want to be concerned about special electricity or venting etc
5. You want something relatively easy to learn
6. You want to get something that's versatile
7. You want to start on a small budget.

Sublimation

What is sublimation?

This is printing with an inkjet printer to a specialty paper. This paper and ink combination reacts with certain 'sublimation blanks' to transfer the print to the substrate. This process works on t-shirts, hats, mugs, mouse pads, keychains, towels and tons of other goods.

Cost to get started

The SG500 is the best option for starting on a small budget. You can purchase a printer like this for just over $600 or finance a sublimation package for around $50 a month.

The next step up is the SG1000, This is just a bigger version of the printer. Bigger means bigger prints and faster production. This printer is just over $1500 and you can finance kits for this for around $100-200 a month.

You will also want to get a heat press machine. These can range from a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars a month (by the way when we mentioned financing packages before, those often include a heat press.)

1. The heat press machine will be based on what you want to make.
2. Flat heat presses - these will work for t-shirts, mouse pads, key chains, etc.
3. Cap heat presses - these work for hats and other curved items.
4. Mug Heat Press - Designed for cylinder shaped items like a mug or tumbler

PROs

1. Super versatile
2. Pretty easy to use and learn
3. 'Feels' and 'washes' great
4. Proven technology
5. Tons of options for blanks from luggage tags to t-shirts to coasters

CONs

1. Inkjet systems do require some maintenance.
2. Need to use 'sublimation blanks' (also a can be a pro since YOU have to provide the blanks, customer cannot ask to go to Walmart and buy shirts)
3. Only works on light colored items
4. It's HOT - nearly 400 degrees to sublimate
5. Everything requires heat (no stickers or car windows or body art)

Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV) and Other Vinyl

What is Vinyl Cutting?

This is a process where you take a rolled material and run it through a cutting machine. It is kind of like how you make Christmas cookies. You roll out the dough, cut out your shapes and put the shapes in the oven.

Vinyl comes on a roll. You roll it through a cutting machine, then put your cut-out shapes on t-shirts, or tumblers, or signs.

Cost to get Started

We recommend the Graphtec and Roland brand of cutters. The lowest cost of entry on these is the Graphtec CE7000-40 which is around $1300 and kits can be financed for around $50-150 a month. You can also get larger cutters for closer to $2000 and even a system that prints and cuts (the Roland BN-20a for about $6000 or under $200 a month).

Similar to above, you also want to consider about getting a heat press.

One thing to note is that cutters don't always need a heat press, because you can also cut sticker materials that adhere to glass, cars, signs, etc. which don't require a heat press.

PROs

1. Super versatile
2. Pretty easy to use and learn
3. 'Feels' and 'washes' great (depending on the material you buy - Triton vinyl is A+)
4. Proven technology
5. Use almost any blank
6. Print stickers also
7. Cut interesting materials like glitter or flock or reflective

CONs

1. One color at a time!
2. Rolls of material take up space - if you have 20 colors, that's 20 rolls
3. Cannot print full color (like a puppy or baby) - unless using a BN-20A
4. More colors & more complicated designs take longer

Both of these systems are great and they are useful on day one of your business, and 10 years later. These can be considered like a great plan for someone just getting started.

You are getting ready to start a side hustle, or maybe you haven't pulled the trigger yet. (Actually, even if you have already started there might some things to learn.)

This Episode is really for those just getting started or looking to get started on a shoe-string budget.

Many small business owners and side-hustle permutations have 2 things in common.

1. They never start out of fear of failure.
2. They start and immediately give up. Don't even make it past the first month.

By the way, there is nothing abnormal about this. We are 100% guilty of it. Our friends are, our family is.

So we have put together a plan based on our experience, knowledge from the industry and lots of other sources around the web. This plan works, all you have to do is follow it.

Know what you plan to offer and who will pay for it.

This is often what we have described as niche marketing. You should have an idea of which markets you will sell to, what they will buy, how much they will spend.

1. Dance moms - t-shirts, tote bags, plaques, awards
2. Restaurants - Aprons, polos, t-shirts, menus
3. New moms - Bibs, baby apparel, diaper bags
4. Local small business - polos, hats, t-shirts, signage

Create an expense budget

What's it going to cost you to run this business. This is like the bare minimum budget. We aren't talking about spending money on ads yet, or hiring anyone. This is like a year-one bare minimum budget.

1. website monthly cost
2. email monthly cost
3. state fees /set up
4. machine monthly payment
5. money for samples, practice, training, testing

Budget for no income

Once you have the budget number, you will be able to work this into money you have, and will have. This is assuming no income from the business yet. So you work this money out from your savings and monthly income. Cancel netflix so you can get business email. Stop buying Starbucks every day so you can own a machine. Eat out less so you can have your own website.

You can now OWN your own business and afford to take your time being successful.

Plan your work time

Open a new calendar in your phone or add something to a written planner. But schedule time every week to WORK. This can be Tuesday 6am-8am. Thursday 8pm-10pm. Saturday Morning 7am to 11am. Mondays 12pm-1pm (lunch power hour).

Whatever the time is you need to budget a min of 5 hours a week JUST for the business. This is the time you work. Fulfill orders, marketing, website work, Google Business Profile work, social media work, etc.

In addition to this you should have some 'floating work time' that is a time each day to reply to emails, answer customer questions, etc. This doesn't mean you WILL do this daily, but you should plan for it. Maybe it's every night after 8pm. Maybe it's every morning at 6am. It's just got to be a time when you know you can answer an email.

Also, during business hours you will need a time when you can make calls or answer calls. This should be before work, during lunch or after work. You will just need a reasonable time to talk to customers if they want a phone call (which probably isn't 6am or 10pm.)

Create realistic sales goals to get your business 'to profit'

How many shirts do you need to sell to pay that money mentioned above?

How many hats do you need to sell to make $500 a month in profit?

Once you know the numbers, write them out. Put them in a place and find a way to get to those numbers. What's great is with numbers this low, you are going to be able to reach them through referrals. Friends, family, co workers, neighbors, church goers, kids sports parents, etc.

Don't empty the profits

Eventually you will want to grow or invest in an upgrade. Whatever that is. It might be email marketing software, or a better website, or machine accessories, or a hat heat press. So don't suck out all your profits. If you are making $500 a month in profit finally... maybe just take 1/2 of that for you and keep 1/2 in the business.

Grow at YOUR own pace

There is no race versus anyone but yourself. Don't judge if you are successful or a failure by anyone but yourself. If you are stuck at making $500 a month profit ALL your first year. Well, you made $6k! If you took 1/2 of that you just made enough money to buy a new TV, a new grill and go on a long weekend getaway to the beach! You are successful.

Plan some next big steps

This doesn't need to be done before you start, but it should be done as you are going.

What opportunities are you seeing?

What is a next big growth opportunity?

How can you reach more customers?

Do you want to do farmers markets? Advertise online?

Once you have your sights on some next big steps, then you can plan on HOW you will get to them or WHEN you will start them.

The above plan ensures success because

1. It changes over time
2. You don't have any budget drop dead times
3. It budgets not only money, but time.
4. You started with a clear plan on what and who to sell to

https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/etsy-seller-fees-25-02-2022/

First, let's take a look at what that price increase means to a business like yours.

Then do some math to see if it's actually WORTH moving.

Explore alternative platforms or additional platforms.

And finally, map out a few options you might want to explore.

Who should move FROM Etsy?

If you have a brand new start up, and are not willing to invest cash into advertising elsewhere, Etsy / Ebay type of sales are probably still your best way to be found. It will cost you a lot more (potentially) but you don't have to pay big $$ for ads, plus the time to learn ads or hire an expert.

If you have a brand people know, a following, or a way you get people to buy online already... then it might be time to move.

e.g. if you are selling stuff now and tell people to go to Etsy to buy, you can probably tell them to go to your online store for a better rate.

What does it cost to open your OWN store?

Shopify:

Store Fee - $29 - $299 / month (you probably want the $29-$79 range)

Credit Card Fees - 2.4 - 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction

Big Commerce:

Store Fee - $29 - $299 / month (you probably want the $29-$79 range)

Credit Card Fees - 2 - 2.59% plus 49 cents per transaction

Wix:

Store Fee - $27 - $59 / month

Credit Card Fees - 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction

Etsy:

20 cents per listing

6.5% of transaction + 3% Credit Card fee and 25 cents per transaction

Ebay:

3-15% fee to sell. This varies a lot based on category.

Seems like most people will fall in a 12-14% range.

How will you get business?

You lose the platform of search. Part of selling on Etsy is being the store people go to for those unique items and your product gets found.

How else might you advertise?

1. 1. Google Search / Bing Search
2. 2. Social Media
3. 3. Display on Niche websites / etc

Technically, it's Return on Investment - but just what does that really mean?

What is an ROI?

When you put money into a business endeavor, ROI helps you understand how much profit your investment has earned. Looking at potential ROI numbers, and going back to review them over time helps you to make solid business investments.

So WHY should you care? Why figure out ROI at all?

Businesses look at ROI a few different ways, and they're all helpful in figuring how profitable your business might be based on how much money the equipment cost.

ROI - How long will it take to make in profits what your equipment cost you?

• For example : let's say you bought at $10,000 t-shirt transfer printer
• And you project you'll make $10 for every shirt you sell using it
• Sell 200 shirts per month and you'll make $2,000, which means your machine is "paid back" in 5 months
• Sell 500 shirts per month and it's paid back in 2.

If the expected life of the printer is 5 years and it pays for itself in 5 months - that's a great investment! Because that's 55 months of owning the equipment outright and making $2K per month. You spend $10K and make $110K.

The number everyone is seeking is the net return: I want to make $$$$ to put in my pocket. That is your net return.

In other words, if you spend money on something, how much could it potentially make you in profits?

The Financing ROI

This is how you might do some math when you are financing your equipment. One of the concerns people have is "this machine costs $X a month, is this something profitable or something I can afford?"

Let's do the math above, but talk about payments

Payment = $300 / month
Sales = 100 shirts a month
Profit = $10 per shirt

Net Profit is $1000 a month - $300 payment = $700 net, or $8-9k a year. And that's running a machine for maybe a day or two a month!

One could say if you sell 30 shirts a month you can "afford" a payment

What is a Net Return? (for comparative investment costs)

A net return is the investment's return after costs.

You purchase a $10,000 machine and sell 1000 shirts a month for $20 each. That is $20000 a month. If you run the machine for 5 years that is $1,200,000 in revenue.

However, that is not your NET return. Your net return should deduct costs like:

• Cost of printer
• Cost of shirt
• Cost of supplies for each shirt
• Cost of doing business (state fees, credit card fees, website
• etc.

So the net return above would be more like:

$1,200,000 Revenue
- $10,000 machine
- $600,000 in shirts/supplies (at $10 per shirt for shirt, ink, etc)
- $5,000 in business fees (yearly cost to do taxes, register with state, etc)
- $30,000 in credit card fees
= $555,000 Profit

Now of course this is SIMPLE math and there are other fees to consider, or your costs could be much less, or profit much more. It's important to consider these numbers as you make plans, goals. etc.

How to calculate a SIMPLE ROI when determining your next business investment? or your first investment? In other words, are you considering buying your first machine or an additional machine? You will need:

• Cost of Equipment
• Estimated profit per piece
• Estimated number of sales
• Estimated cost to run equipment
• Estimated life of equipment

Once you have some of these numbers, you can crunch them to determine what your potential ROI is, and make a choice if its the right decision for your business.

So you are thinking, "Do i want to buy an embroidery machine, or a DTG printer?"

Embroidery:

Cost of Equipment - $10,000
Estimated profit per piece - $15
Estimated life of equipment - 10 years
Estimated sales - 40,000 units (4 pieces per hour, 4 hours a day, 20 days a month, 10 years)
$15 profit x 40,000 units = $600,000 or $60,000 per year

DTG:

Cost of Equipment - $15,000
Estimated profit per piece - $15
Estimated life of equipment - 5 years
Estimated sales - 55,000 units (12 pieces per hour, 4 hours a day, 20 days a month, 5 years)
$15 profit x 55,000 units = $825,000 or 165k a year

In this example we can see how the DTG printer is a better business based on how THIS business operates.

Here is a COMPLETELY different example, same machines.

This business might have a lot of customers willing to buy high end shirts, and SOME customers wanting to purchase embroidery.

Embroidery:

Cost of Equipment - $10,000
Estimated profit per piece - $100
Estimated life of equipment - 10 years
Estimated sales - 12,000 units (4 pieces a day, 25 days a month, 10 years)
$100 profit x 12,000 units = $1,200,000 or $120,000 a year

DTG:

Cost of Equipment - $15,000
Estimated profit per piece - $10
Estimated life of equipment - 5 years
Estimated sales - 40,000 units (8 pieces per hour, 4 hours a day, 20 days a month, 5 years)
$10 profit x 40,000 units = $400,000 or 80k a year

In this case the business should go with the embroidery machine. They are more likely to sell high-end expensive embroidery, compared to their customer base not really being interested as much in high end shirts, and not near the volume.

Further... this business owner might say LET'S DO BOTH!

Another Example:

You invest $10,000 in a business. This could be a printer, supplies, etc.

After one year this business grosses $50,000.

Your Net Return = $50,000 (Gross Return from investment) - $10,000 (initial investment) = $40,000 Net Return.

Then $40,000 (Net) / 10,000 (Initial) = 4 x 100 = a 400% Return on Investment.

This was an amazing investment for your business, especially considering it's not just a one year return, but this equipment could be 3, 4, 5, or more years in return.

• How can I get people to visit the site?
• Why isn't anyone buying anything on the site?

Since almost all of these businesses are in the custom t-shirt, embroidery or customized items business and are trying to sell directly to consumers online - who better to answer those questions than Marc Vila - the brains behind ColmanandCompany.com

There are two things to consider when asking about your online store:

• Why isn't anyone coming to my store?
• Why aren't the people who visit buying?

This means we can break down the episode into 2 sections

• How to get people to come to your online store
• How to get people to want to make a purchase when they visit

How to get people to come to your online store:

• Do the basics
  • Listen to our episode on how to get found online
  • Google my business
  • Bing places
  • Social profiles / link to site
• Share your content (Links should be easy to view and share)
  • Social Media (Link in profile / comments if needed)
  • Emails
  • Previous customers
  • In-person
  • Text Message
  • YouTube videos
  • Blogs, forums, groups, etc
• Create search engine friendly content
  • Write up articles about what you sell
  • Set up a google product feed
  • YouTube videos (with a great description)
  • Answer blog posts or create blog posts
• Pay for clicks
  • Google search
  • Social media ads
  • Ads on niche websites

NOTE: it wont happen FAST unless

1. You are super lucky
2. You spend a lot of $$

How to get people to buy while visiting your store:

• Basics
  • Make sure products are good.
  • Make sure pricing is within reason (too cheap or too expensive is bad)
    • also don't be afraid of being a bit higher on the price, just watch out for extremes
  • Clear images
  • Clear descriptions
  • Make sure everything works (links, checkout, etc)
  • Build trust (logos, designs, connect with trusted brands, reviews, testimonials)
• Optimize shopping experience
  • Do your categories make sense?
  • Is it easy to find what you offer?
  • Show customers popular and related items
  • Reduce friction in buying process
    • Don't over sell
    • Make checkout easy
    • Offer free shipping when possible
      • Raise price of shirt / lower shipping costs
  • Be clear when item will ship and be delivered
    • You will lose sales if someone doesn't have at least a rough idea when they will get the product
• Test Test Test
  • Try different images
  • Try different prices
  • Feature different items
• Create a journey
  • You post content to a shirt on social
  • Have that shirt featured in the link you share
  • Show related shirts to that in the link
  • Have a featured price / discount / bogo (if needed - test test test)
  • Let them checkout easy (paypal, apple pay, amazon pay, visa checkout, etc)
    • If someone has to type in a credit card, you will lose some sales (harder to impulse buy or just dont trust your site yet)
• Follow up
  • Email them
  • Mail them
  • Call them
  • social link them
  • ask them to social link you

Here's some other Custom Apparel Startups episodes we mention in the show:

Episode 91 - Steps to Getting More Customers by Networking

Episode 101 - Marketing Plan: Picking Your Niche

Episode 102 - Advertising and Marketing To Your Niche

Episode 131 - 5 Cheap Marketing Options

Episode 136 - Building a Winning Ad Strategy for Your Business

Episode 141 - How To Get Found on Google Maps

Episode 166 - Your Marketing Checkup

But how do you go about buying used equipment?

In this episode we will help you answer the following questions:

• Why would you want to buy used equipment?
  • Save Money?
  • Opportunity came knocking (e.g. a shop down the road is retiring)
• What are the risks involved?
  • Warranty
  • Repair
  • Training
  • Tech support?
  • Parts
    • Checklist of what you need with equipment
      • Ink, Paper, Toner, Thread, Needles, Backing
      • Software
      • Warranty
      • Training & Support
      • Hoops, Platens, Attachments
• What is the true cost of purchasing pre-owned?
  • DTG Horror Stories
  • Pick up / Shipping / Inspection of equipment?
• How do you know if you are getting something good?
  • See it run
  • Hire an expert to inspect it
• How do you handle training / support / etc?
• What are the risks and rewards in general?
• Finally.... is used equipment right for you?

This is the purpose of a Marketing Check Up

How healthy is your marketing? Is anything broken ? Is there any information incorrect? Is there something that isn't a big deal now, but could be if not addressed?

Mark's Story & Inspiration for this episode: Here's what I run into on a very regular basis. ESPECIALLY if a company relies on word of mouth of some kind for new business and they want to grow using digital marketing - everything, or the most important things, are broken.

Out of the last 4 businesses I reviewed their "marketing" presence:

• 3 had contact forms that didn't work. - didn't record or send a lead.
• 2 didn't have google my business profiles
• 4 didn't have content devoted to seo only
• 1 didn’t have control of their FB/IG pages
• 1 had their contact form email going to someone that hadn't worked there in years

So here are the thing you need to check right now:

Does your website work? Log into the back end to see…

• is there anything broken
• does it need updating
• look for red exclamations and yellow warnings, etc
• Click through your website and look for broken pages or links

Is your website info correct?

• You may say online you offer a service that isn't true anymore
• You may recommend a product, but now you have a new recommendation
• Your address or email might have changed
• Overall check that everything it says is correct

Check your listings (Paid and Free)

• Google My Business
• Bing Places
• Yelp
• Facebook, Insta, Linked in
• Anywhere else you have listed your business. this might also be like local chamber of commerce

Check your Print materials

• Business cards
• Letterhead
• Flyers, Posters, Banners

Check emails

• Email signatures
• Marketing emails

You should make up a schedule that rolls through all of these depending how critical they are to your business. If you rarely send out emails you might only need to check every few months, but your website might be busy which means you check monthly. If you print a banner for a school once a year, maybe just check that every 6 months.

P.S. Also check your voicemail!

ColDesi is in a unique position in the marketplace. Because we get people started in such a wide variety of businesses with so many different - and competing - kinds of technologies, we have to be advocates for each one. When fit the use case.

Basically, you tell us what you want to do and we'll match you up with the equipment/software that we think is best.

But that conversation is often limited by what your initial interest was - what sparked your imagination and caused you to call in, etc. So we do things like that article and this podcast to educate, compare and lay out real pros and cons.

Do here we are going to compare the Roland BN-20 with it's 2 biggest internal competitors, DigitalHeat FX and Sublimation:

First - Let's Define each one:

Roland BN-20: Print and Cut

• It's a cutter
• And an inkjet printer
• Rolls of vinyl
• HTV ++++
• $6K-8K

DigitalHeat FX - White toner

• LED/laser style printer that uses toner, not liquid ink
• Sheet fed, not roll
• CMYW or CMYKW
• Transfer system
• $5K to $15K

Sublimation - Sawgrass

• Inkjet printer
• No white, so no dark substrates
• Becomes part of the material
• $600-2500

That machine is WAY too expensive.

Why would I buy that when a cricut can do the same thing?

It only cost that much to own a business? I thought it was so much more.

What is the best t-shirt printer?

These are the comments you will read on social media posts about the t-shirt business. As you can see, there are assumptions people are making or just a lack of in depth knowledge about the t-shirt printing business.

In this episode we are going to jump into .. what does t-shirt printing equipment cost?

This episode was inspired by an article, on ColDesi... which was inspired by the questions and comments from people above. (Click here to read the article)

Keep in mind all of these prices and estimated financing costs are as of when we wrote this podcast and probably will change over time. However, for the time being we can assume all of this data will still be reasonably accurate for some time.

Heat Transfer Vinyl

Brands

• Graphtec
• Roland

Cost

• Starting around $2400 or about $65 a month

Pros

• One of the easiest to learn / simplest machines
• Very versatile - lights, darks, cotton, poly, stickers, t-shirts, signs
• Little-to-no maintenance
• Nice quality finished goods
• 10x faster than a cricut / hobby cutter

Cons

• You aren't digital printing
• Storing and investing in rolls of material
• Range of production speed varies a lot (1 color, simple design VS 4 color complex design)

Sublimation

Brand: Sawgrass

• SG1000
• SG500

Cost

• $600 - $6000 or $45 - $165 financed

Pros

• Relatively easy to learn
• Extremely versatile
• Finished print is now "a part of" the t-shirt (or mug or mousepad or totebag)

Cons

• Only meant for white / light colored items
• Polyester or sublimation coated items only
• Ink systems require some maintenance
• Ink can get expensive over time

Print & Cut

Brand: Roland

• BN-20
• BN-20A

Cost

• $6000 - $8000 or starting about $165 a month financed

Pros

• Full Digital Prints
• Very versatile - t-shirts to signs to window clings to car decals
• Can do the same as a vinyl cutter above, but can also print
• BIG prints about 20" x HUGE
• Versatile - lights, darks, cotton, poly

Cons

• Ink and Printable vinyl has a higher supply cost than other methods
• Can be considered slow when compared
• Requires a bit more graphics knowledge to set up prints and cuts

White Toner Transfer Printers

Brand: DigitalHeat FX

• Uninet & Crio
• i560, 8432wt, i650, 9541wt

Cost

• $3700 - $15000 or about $100 - $400 a month

Pros

• Full color digital prints
• Very fast print time
• Little-to-no maintenance
• Versatile lights, darks, cotton, poly.
• Can be used on hard good with no special coatings required

Cons

• More precise learning process, requires practice
• Toner and transfer paper is not as soft as alternatives like DTG, Sublimation, DTF
• Cost per print higher than other methods like DTG or DTF

Direct to Garment Printing

Brand: DTG

Cost

• $15000 - $24000 or about $350 - $600 a month financed

Pros

• Amazing colors and full digital prints
• Washes and wears beautifully
• No transfer required, more details
• Low cost per print

Cons

• Light colors - cotton & poly - Darks - Best for cotton only
• Liquid ink systems requires maintenance
• Good knowledge of graphics really helps to get the best prints

DTF - Direct to Film

Brands: DTF / Coldesi - DigitalHeat FX

Cost

• Still a growing field of printers but right now about $25k or $690 a month financed.

Pros

• Amazing quality digital prints
• Wears, washes and looks great
• Super fast
• Very low supply cost

Cons

• Liquid and film system requires maintenance
• Initial cost to invest is one of the highest
• It's bigger and louder than anything on the list

Hopefully this information helps you to understand what it costs to invest in a t-shirt printing system and which one is best for you. Be sure to click the link and read the article for more information: How Much Does It Cost? Comparing Pricing and Payments on Custom T-Shirt Printing Equipment - ColDesi

That machine is WAY too expensive.

Why would I buy that when a cricut can do the same thing?

It only cost that much to own a business? I thought it was so much more.

What is the best t-shirt printer?

These are the comments you will read on social media posts about the t-shirt business. As you can see, there are assumptions people are making or just a lack of in depth knowledge about the t-shirt printing business.

In this episode we are going to jump into .. what does t-shirt printing equipment cost?

This episode was inspired by an article, on ColDesi... which was inspired by the questions and comments from people above. (Click here to read the article)

Keep in mind all of these prices and estimated financing costs are as of when we wrote this podcast and probably will change over time. However, for the time being we can assume all of this data will still be reasonably accurate for some time.

Heat Transfer Vinyl

Brands

• Graphtec
• Roland

Cost

• Starting around $2400 or about $65 a month

Pros

• One of the easiest to learn / simplest machines
• Very versatile - lights, darks, cotton, poly, stickers, t-shirts, signs
• Little-to-no maintenance
• Nice quality finished goods
• 10x faster than a cricut / hobby cutter

Cons

• You aren't digital printing
• Storing and investing in rolls of material
• Range of production speed varies a lot (1 color, simple design VS 4 color complex design)

Sublimation

Brand: Sawgrass

• SG1000
• SG500

Cost

• $600 - $6000 or $45 - $165 financed

Pros

• Relatively easy to learn
• Extremely versatile
• Finished print is now "a part of" the t-shirt (or mug or mousepad or totebag)

Cons

• Only meant for white / light colored items
• Polyester or sublimation coated items only
• Ink systems require some maintenance
• Ink can get expensive over time

Print & Cut

Brand: Roland

• BN-20
• BN-20A

Cost

• $6000 - $8000 or starting about $165 a month financed

Pros

• Full Digital Prints
• Very versatile - t-shirts to signs to window clings to car decals
• Can do the same as a vinyl cutter above, but can also print
• BIG prints about 20" x HUGE
• Versatile - lights, darks, cotton, poly

Cons

• Ink and Printable vinyl has a higher supply cost than other methods
• Can be considered slow when compared
• Requires a bit more graphics knowledge to set up prints and cuts

White Toner Transfer Printers

Brand: DigitalHeat FX

• Uninet & Crio
• i560, 8432wt, i650, 9541wt

Cost

• $3700 - $15000 or about $100 - $400 a month

Pros

• Full color digital prints
• Very fast print time
• Little-to-no maintenance
• Versatile lights, darks, cotton, poly.
• Can be used on hard good with no special coatings required

Cons

• More precise learning process, requires practice
• Toner and transfer paper is not as soft as alternatives like DTG, Sublimation, DTF
• Cost per print higher than other methods like DTG or DTF

Direct to Garment Printing

Brand: DTG

Cost

• $15000 - $24000 or about $350 - $600 a month financed

Pros

• Amazing colors and full digital prints
• Washes and wears beautifully
• No transfer required, more details
• Low cost per print

Cons

• Light colors - cotton & poly - Darks - Best for cotton only
• Liquid ink systems requires maintenance
• Good knowledge of graphics really helps to get the best prints

DTF - Direct to Film

Brands: DTF / Coldesi - DigitalHeat FX

Cost

• Still a growing field of printers but right now about $25k or $690 a month financed.

Pros

• Amazing quality digital prints
• Wears, washes and looks great
• Super fast
• Very low supply cost

Cons

• Liquid and film system requires maintenance
• Initial cost to invest is one of the highest
• It's bigger and louder than anything on the list

Hopefully this information helps you to understand what it costs to invest in a t-shirt printing system and which one is best for you. Be sure to click the link and read the article for more information: How Much Does It Cost? Comparing Pricing and Payments on Custom T-Shirt Printing Equipment - ColDesi

A Basic Plan

The article doesn’t dive into this, because it's more about the printer itself. However, it’s an important part to mention. You should have SOME plan.

1. Who do you plan to sell to?
2. Nice markets?
3. Local?
4. What do you plan to charge them?
5. How much money does this make per shirt?
6. How many shirts do you have to sell to stay in business?
7. Goal: How many shirts would you like to be selling a month in a year?

Example:

1. Local car / motorcycle clubs, members, organizations, stores
2. Average shirt retail $20, Average shirt cost $10
3. Sell 50 shirts a month to pay for (machine, basic business costs (email, website, state fees, etc.)
4. The goal is to get up to 300 shirts a month
5. Sell to local clubs / members
6. Sell to referrals through that group for other shirts (events, businesses, etc)

The Right Printer

There is no answer to "what is the best printer?" The question really is "What is the best printer for your business"

1. What's better a Chevy Corvette or a Chevy 2500 diesel truck?
2. Well, what are you doing? Cruising the beach, going to meetings, road trips or Hauling a Trailer with 2 tons of construction material?

What are the options?

The systems at Coldesi are DigitalHeat FX. What does it mean to have a DigitalHeat FX System?

1. A printer, software, paper and toner that has all been tested and designed to work together.
2. These have all been curated by the experts at ColDesi
3. Every system has to pass through experts to be sure it will meet standards for support, consistency, quality, etc.

Read the article to see different printers and details.

1. i560
2. Crio 8432
3. i650
4. Crio 9541

Software

It’s very important you have good software to make your printer function at its best. Essentially if you try to buy a printer and just print from Adobe or Corel, you are not going to be happy.

Software like Print Optimizer gives you control over your prints like:

1. Control how much white toner you print
2. Add rasterizing effects like dots, strips, etc to reduce print cost/feel
3. Manage queues for printing on certain papers or materials
4. Control colors, saturation and other print effects
5. Work with papers like metallic / neon
6. Remove colors ... like automatically Knock Black Out when printing on a black t-shirt

Heat Press Machines

This is going to be just as important as your printer choice. If you get a 'cheap' press or try to use one that isn’t good for the process, you are going to be frustrated. It will hinder your success.

What do you need in a heat press?

1. Even temperature
2. Cheap or old presses might be hotter in some spots versus others
3. Even pressure
4. The pressure at the front, back and sides must be even
5. Pressure gauge
6. It's great if you have even pressure, but you also have to know what that pressure is
7. Temperature gauge
8. You need precise temps and it should be easy to adjust
9. Optional, but important
10. You want to be able to move the heat away from you. Marrying, pressing, etc is under 250-350 degrees. A heat press that will let you move the heat away from you while you work helps a ton
11. 16x20 size - any smaller won’t be able to take advantage of larger print sizes like 11x17, 8x19 or 13x19

The pick of ColDesi customers as of Jan 2022 is the Hotronix Fusion heat press. It checks all the above and continues to be reliable.

Paper

Good paper for a heat press is just like good tires/gas for a race car, or good chocolate for cake or good food for your body. If you put something good into your printer, you will get something good out.

Also, consider that the DigitalHeat FX system has had the software and paper fine-tuned for each other. So it lays down the right amounts of toner for the best prints/colors.

FACTS:

1. Color quality is affected by the paper you use
2. Print jams, fuser damage is caused by using the wrong paper
3. Your washability of shirts is more than just paper but also the shirt, the software, and the process.

Types of Paper

1. Standard EZ Peel Paper - Most universal, Most popular. (This is the one you marry)
2. One Step EZ Peel Paper - Prints in a single step but not recommended for dark colors
3. Hard Surface EZ Peel Paper - Designed for hard goods like wood, glass, metal, mugs.

Don’t forget the accessories you will / might need like:

1. Finishing sheets
2. Heat press test probe
3. Mug or Hat press
4. Heat press platens
5. Heat press pillows

Shirts

We have entire podcasts on shirt quality. If you use poor quality shirts, you are going to get poor results. Repeated, if you use cheap shirts, your end result with look (and act) cheap. If you want to sell shirts that are impressive, use impressive blanks.

1. Test a bunch of shirts
2. Pick ones you want to sell after testing, washing, wearing
3. Tell your customers how to care for shirts
4. Include wash instructions, be explicate.
5. Cold Wash, tumble dry low (or hang), wait 24 hours after print before washing, skip things like fabric softener.
6. The price of a blank shirt often is related to its quality (outside of 'branded' apparel like Nike, Adidas, etc... you will pay extra for the brand)

Graphics/Artwork

You'll need to create, buy, have the art created for you or have you provide the art (normally not the best idea btw.

Bad art will frustrate you. Bad art will affect your business. Bad art will make your printer look bad. Bad art will print shirts that don’t wash or wear well.

If you haven’t gotten the point yet. You need to have great art.

Solutions:

1. Learn graphic arts - this means get trained and practice a ton. Months of learning, years to perfect.
2. Hire a graphic artist - Expensive but it’s great to have a professional at your fingertips and working for your company to learn your equipment and how to make perfect art for it.
3. Use a graphics agency - Only pay for what you need. Can charge customers before you order art. ColDesi Graphics!
    

Education is the key to picking the right white toner printer system for your business. Talk to a pro at Coldesi to match the right system for your business.

What will you need to do to reach your goals?

1. If you need to sell 400 more shirts per month, how will you do that?
2. Was expanding a goal? What will you need?

In this series, we first took a look back at last year, (or if you are new maybe you did some initial research on the biz). Then we went through and created goals. These goals helped us work backwards.

So if you wanted to make $50k in profit, you sell shirts for $20 and you profit $10 a shirt.... you need to sell 5000 shirts. This means you need to sell about 417 shirts a month. This is your goal.

You have a profit goal = at least $50k

You have an annual shirt goal = $50k / $10 profit per shirt = 5000 shirts

You have an annual revenue goal = 5000 shirts x $20 retail = 100k

You have a monthly sales goal = about 417 shirts for about $8340 and $4170 profit

Now that you have a goal, how are you going to achieve it.

What has worked in the past?

If you are in business already this is great because you can look at what worked well before.

1. Did you pay for ads online? How much did it generate for you? Did it meet profit per shirt goals?
2. Did you cold call or door knock?
3. Did you get referrals?

What ways did you get business that....

A - met profit per shirt goals

B - you can replicate.

Now do the math on how much money, time, effort it will take. Will this get to your goal?

If it can... great! If not this is one step closer.

Sure-Fire ways to generate business for startups 

Is there a sure-fire way to generate business that you aren't doing?

1. Cold calls / door knocking
2. Asking for referrals
3. Attending networking events
4. Calling old customers

These are all low cost and sure-fire ways to generate business in this industry. If you talk to enough people, and talk to them again... you will find more customers.

This comes back to some math again, and some creative thinking. You can use a 10% rule for a lot of the estimating here. If you talk to 10 people, 1 of them will have some interest in what you do. You can estimate that 10-30% of those people will become a sale in the near future.

So if you talk to 100 people, 10 of them will be interested and 1-3 will buy. This might sound like a lot, but when you break it down by degrees of separation this is very attainable.

If you go to a network meeting and there are 20 people there, you may find 2 that are interested. Also, you will talk to 18 people who aren't interested... but they might each refer you to 1 or 2 or more people each. You might find someone who will shout you out on their social media or on their linked-in or in their business. 20 people can quickly turn into 100 people, landing you sales.

This rule works with cold calling, emailing past customers, attending events, knocking on doors, talking to friends/family, your kids friends' parents, etc etc etc

So just start doing some math. If you talked to X people, how much $$ does that generate for YOUR business. Yours might be for every 20 people I talk to I generate $500. If I need to sell $100,000 that means I need to communicate with 4000 people or 330 a month.

New ways to generate business (if you arent doing them)

PPC

SEO

Direct Mail

Local Ads

Social Media

Influencers

Trade Publications

This really depends on what you want from your business. Every business goal is going to be different, so it’s important to set your own goals, based on your dreams and personal lifestyle.

Abstract Goal setting

This is something that's not necessarily measurable (but could be), but more of an idea or a dream.

What is the fundamental thing you want?

• Vacations/Cars/House?
• Money to retire?
• A business to pass onto your family?
• Is it the freedom to do other things?
• Quit your day job?
• More time with family?

You want to make enough money to support your family, you want to prepare for retirement

Tangible Goal Setting

This is the actual numbers, this is measurable through specific things.

• How much you want to make [Profits]?
• How much do you want to pay yourself?
• How much time do you want to spend with your family/friends/hobbies?
• How much money do you want to have in the bank for retirement by year end? (goals can be a step towards another goal, maybe THIS year you want to put away $10k)

Example, you want to put $75k in your paycheck, you want to put $5k in retirement fund. Then you want the business to PROFIT $20k.

You will have to do some math on how much sales this means (which might be another convo)

let’s use a simple number that you profit after costs 40% so that means in order to reach your goals:

250k in sales,40% profit = $100k (75 to you, 5 to retirement, 20 to profit)

Goal Setting all the way down

Now that you know what you want to do each year. You have to consider how much that breaks down to each month and each sale.

(use last years data if you have it to help)

in the above example 250k / 12months = $20k per month.

If your average sale is $500 that means you are selling 40 deals a month

if your average sales is $1000 that means you are selling 20 deals a month

These should be your GOALS.

If you want to achieve your dreams, these are the goals you have to hit. Now you can alter these if you don't like the numbers.

Examples:

• Well I think selling 40 deals is a lot of work, I want to sell 20 (then you need a higher average ticket)
• 250 k in sales feels like it should generate more profits, then make sure your costs and retail hit a margin that works for your goal
• You aren't sure HOW you will hit those goals.... that is for the next podcast.

How to implement your goals, What can you DO to help you reach them? 

So the big questions are:

- What is Direct to Film (DTF)?
- What makes it different from other technologies
- Screen Printing/Transfers
- White toner Printing
- Sublimation
- DTG
- What are the differences between different printers themselves?
- What comments do you have about people who don't prefer to jump into new technology due to risks of something that isn't 'proven'. Should they wait? Is it time to jump in? Who should jump in?

Resources and Links:

1. DigitalHeat FX DTF-24H2 High Volume DTF Printer
2. DTF Printing White Paper
3. DTF Compared to White Toner Printers
4. Direct to Film Printer Case Study | Girl Scouts Cookie Shirts - Digital Heat FX

Today's part is about looking back!

Part 1: How to look BACK so you can Look forward - evaluating last year

What were your total sales?
What was your total profit?
Most popular item/type
Most PROFITABLE item/type per piece
Best orders
Best customers
What didn't you like?
This might be the opposite of the above
What items were low in profits?
What were least popular items? (specifically ones you thought should be popular)
What were your worst orders?
What were your worst customers?
The above can help you learn
What was a waste of time?
What can you improve?
What opportunities do you know exist?

Once you have this information you should be able to narrow down where you should focus in 2022!

Resources and Links:
Calculator Soup
Learn on colmanandcompany.com/blog
Episode 121 - Business Planning with Marshall Atkinson
Episode 94 - Planning Your First Successful Marketing Campaign

We have even seen shortages in equipment, inks, t-shirts.... its touched everything.

Well, we have a formula we have learned from MANY successful businesses on how YOU can deal with this, and be more successful than ever.

Talking to customers

The first thing to address is you are going to find a product you need is out of stock. It might not be today, it might be next year, but it will happen.

Prepare your customers - if you have regular customers, let them know. He normally orders this shirt, it's been fine, but I've heard rumors. I want to let you know this might not happen, but could.

"I'm sure you've heard the news about the "chip" shortage, shipping container shortage, etc. - Well, those things are hitting the apparel industry in a big way too"

Have a plan - if your normal shirt ever runs out, can we discuss 2 back ups. Again, I don't expect them to be out, but I want to make sure we are prepared. How about A or B as a back up?

Stock Up

If you normally keep 30 days of stock... keep 60. If you have the cash flow, just be prepared. You don't have to go crazy and hoard things, that just makes things worse. However, there is a time when it's ok to safeguard your business with proper stock. Honestly, if you were going to run out of inventory in 30 days of something that doesn't expire, you probably needed to fix that anyway.

While this is on your mind, check your inventory. Ink, paper, cleaning supplies, tools, replacement parts.

Be Flexible 

If you usually use a X-2000 shirt, be prepared that you might need to use the Y-2002 shirt. It might happen, and if you are prepared it won't take you by surprise.

Practice on some new shirts, and get a feel for what your customers might like. This way if shirt X runs out or back orders, you aren't scrambling, you are prepared to use shirt Y

Start being a salesperson

If someone calls asking for a particular shirt, hat, etc.... and it's back ordered, SELL them on something else. Let them know why this other option is a GREAT alternative. Maybe it's a better deal, or a higher quality or something all together different.

Don't just say "sorry out of stock" ... say, "Well good and bad news. That one is out, but I have something even better"

Expand your offering

If you are noticing product X is getting weird in inventory, start thinking about other things you can sell. Maybe you normally only sell hats and hoodies, start selling t-shirts.

You may have never made a mug before, so get a mug press and start offering this.

Your strength can be in the diverse products you offer. When a shirt goes on back-order, you have a hat that's flourishing in sales.

No matter what, you shouldn't give up. It's going to be a challenge with inventory for a while, be prepared. Mentally prepare yourself for issues like this for the next year and you will come out on top!

- Accountant CPA

- Business Consultant  

- Ad Agency

- Marketing Guy

- Social Media Pro

Make sure you have a good reason to hire someone or a company.

First 3 things:

1. What problem are you solving? or What are you trying to accomplish?

2. Why are you hiring outside for this?

3. Statement of work/Job description

Choosing a Vendor:

1. Send each prospective vendor your SOW

2. Ask them to respond in writing how they can help

3. Ask them to say your SOW back to you (be sure they actually understand it)

Get referrals:

- Good reviews are great, but a referral from a successful business owner (your trust) is worth the most.  

Pricing:

- How do you know you are getting a good deal?

- Get quotes from other companies

- Ask them to explain their value for their pricing

General tips for hiring contractors/companies/ outsourcing:

- Don't let price dictate your decision. Expensive doesn't equal good, and cheap doesn't mean it's the best value.  

- The best salesperson doesn't mean they offer the best service.  

- Don't get sucked into a contract right away, push for an opportunity to exit if they don't meet your expectations.  

- Never take the first price they offer.  

- Where is the work done? On-shore, off-shore, their full-time employees?

- Make sure you like them! 

Testing:
We do a test run which usually results in bloopers, we aren't making t-shirts or sublimating mugs every day or even every week, so mistakes happen. We often do new things in our videos so we don't have solid instructions to follow so trial and error happens.
We also experiment with different pieces of equipment which can alter the process. example - using the galaxy press instead of the hotronix, etc.

We have been saving bloopers and documenting mistakes, because ultimately they happen and any apparel decorator is going to have mistakes.

Equipment:
Currently using iPhone 11 pro
ring light and softbox light
lavalier mic that has a receiver that plugs into the phone
DJI osmo gimbal BUT I have been using a tripod more often when I know I won't be moving around a lot

Format:
1. 90% of the time we shoot horizontal because we use one video in a ton of different places (youtube, social, websites)
2. BUT if making videos specifically for social, shoot vertical

Where our videos go:
Youtube is fun for creating a channel and gaining a following
Vimeo is a great place to home videos if you are adding them to your website or want to share links
Why share a Vimeo link and not a youtube link: Once someone lands on a youtube video you have no control. They will be shown other videos and ads. So most likely they are going to start clicking around and wont be watching your video for long.
Vimeo doesn't have all that going on. They have a specific video screen and you can control what pops up on screen when your video is over.

Social:
Upload videos directly into social, vertical is best, quick clips, eye-catching footage, short
increase video engagement by asking question in the video post or just post something that encourages replies (opinions, need your help, what's your favorite, what do you want to see next, etc.)

Editing:
Camtasia
Adobe Premiere (advanced)
Final cut (advanced - mac)
iMovie

Common mistakes:
Lighting
Shaking
Poor audio

So hopefully if you were curious about how we produce our videos we answered some of your questions and hopefully this encouraged you to start taking some videos of your work, show face, add a personality to your business.

This has been Hannah Rago and Jes Santiago

And as Mark likes to say have a great business!

Resources:

Episode 118 | Social Media Skills - https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-118/

Episode 137 | Marketing Playbook - https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-137/

DigitalHeat FX Videos: https://digitalheatfx.com/videos/

Avance Videos: https://avance-emb.com/embroidery-videos/

Custom Apparel Startups Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/689272454512942

In many ways, it's just like starting any other custom apparel business. Or any business at all. But we DO suggest that you look at your business backwards, or at least in a kind of reverse order from what many experts suggest.

Some suggest you start with buying an embroidery machine - and that seems just wrong, though we do have some very high quality embroidery machines for sale 🙂.

So here are our inverted steps to How to Start an Embroidery Business:

What do you want to sell or make? - because that's where your business idea started.

- Is it embroidered shirts and polos
- Athletic wear and letterman's jackets
- Do you want to make gifts and keepsakes
- Wedding favors
- Linens and specialty draperies
- Custom blankets or baby accessories?
- Uniforms?

List the people, companies you'll be selling to - which is important, because you're going to base a lot of decisions on what you're customer will want, expect and pay for. And different people want, of course, different things.

- Service company owners will want something very different from high schools
- Expectant Mom's will not be keen on buying from someone that specializes in uniforms
- Wedding planners may pay more or less for quality goods than someone wanting to but embroidered car mats

Imagine the products those people will buy, and what they'll pay for them:

- What do company polos go for in your area?
- How much will a hair salon pay for custom aprons?
- What is the going rate for a letterman's jacket
- Or a horse blanket?
- Or a wedding table runner?

In other words, the first 3 things you need to know are:

1. What do you want to sell/make
2. Who are your customers going to be
3. How much will they typically pay for what you're going to do

Next you'll want to do the Math to make sure you're business makes sense.
You already know what your product(s) will be and how much you can charge.

What will it cost you to make and sell them? Or = How much can you make?

- How much does the blank item cost, wholesale? In other words, the pillowcase, table runner or polo you'll be embroidering on.
- How long do think it will take you to make each one? Which leads to how many can you make per hour.

Now subtract your sale price from your materials price and get your gross profit number per item.

Example: If you sell something for $25 and it costs you $12 in materials to make, that's a $13 gross profit.

The fun part you can do next is to figure your potential income, but multiplying that gross profit by the number of the items you can embroider in an hour. In this case, we can imagine it's 5/hour.

So the potential gross profit in THIS business is $13 x 5 = $65/hour.

Sales and Marketing Plan to execute the above

- Word of mouth
- Local outreach
- Online sales

Administration Planning

- Taxes
- Bank accounts
- Legal stuff

Art Creation: http://coldesi-graphics.com

- Who is the artist?
- If not you, then who / where?
- If you, should it be you?

Supply Partners: http://colmanandcompany.com

- What are you going to buy
- Who are you going to buy it from

Equipment: http://avance-emb.com

- What do you need to do all this?
- Do you need more than just embroidery equipment?

Run your numbers

- Does it all work out?
- What might you need to improve?
- If not, go back and rework things.

Do it!

Resources and Links:

Avance Embroidery Machines - http://avance-emb.com
ColDesi Graphics & Digitizing - http://coldesi-graphics.com
Colman and Company Wholesale Apparel - https://colmanandcompany.com/wholesale-blanks.html

Top Shopping Cart Options for Embroidery Businesses - ColDesi: https://coldesi.com/2014/04/top-shopping-cart-options-for-embroidery-businesses/

CAS Mini Cast – Marketing In Facebook Groups - Custom Apparel Startups: https://customapparelstartups.com/minicast3/

Episode 29 – Make More Money Next Month – Creating Active Word of Mouth - Custom Apparel Startups: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-29/

Networking for Custom Apparel Podcast Episode Video: https://youtu.be/2kR0ro6eyfw

Because according to the article "how much is enough" and the Princeton study they reference there, for most people $75K/year is enough to be worry free. They surveyed people at different income levels and by and large, the people that made less reported to be less happy and happiness didn't increase much at larger amounts.

Depending on almost everything of course - location, family size, etc.

And the $75K is also right in the middle of what is typically considered "middle class" in America.

These articles are talking about top line income - and we'll do that too, but we'll also talk about how much PROFIT you'll make at various sales levels.

Because I think that knowing these numbers will help you figure out your own.

So - if you buy into all this - what do you have to do in the customization business to make $75K?

First - we'll run a few scenarios for you - having to do with sale price, cost of goods sold, et.

Most of our digital t-shirt makers make $12 or MORE for every shirt they sell. Here's how the numbers work to get you to $75,000 per year!

Average profit per shirt $12.00

$75,000/$12 = 6,250 shirts

365 Days/6,250 = 17.12 shirts per day

or 2 week vacation and 5 day work week = 25 Shirts a day

Is making 25 shirts a day realistic?

Doing it alone, it's realistic to break up 2 shirts a day into this:

Production - 2 hours

Sales - 2 hours

Marketing - 2 hours

Paperwork - 2 hours

How do you get to 25 shirts a day?

Marketing:

1. Get your google / facebook / bing info set up for searches
2. Join groups / clubs
3. Up-sell customers
4. Sell through ebay / etsy (if you have good ideas)
5. Be sure you have some niche markets to sell to
6. 90% of our custom t-shirt business customers make ALL their money through word of mouth
7. Ask for referrals

Sales:

1. Get in the car with samples
2. Make phone calls
3. Talk to people / socialize
4. Ask for business
5. Be sure people know what you do
6. Wear what you do

Paperwork:

1. Build into business costs to have a CPA
2. Learn how to do it yourself (if you are good at that thing)
3. Don't let it pile up
4. Do things legally (if not sure hire someone - build that into cost of business)
5. Know your numbers!

Production:

1. Make your room work for you
2. Practice makes perfect
3. Don't give up
4. Stop chasing crazy ideas and focus on a few things you can do well
5. Up-sell more prints on a shirt or item, more money... less garments
6. Sell things that are easy to do. e.g. can coolers, mugs vs a hat with 4 locations of logos for $12

Remember to get to 75k... you have to do these simple things:

1. Leverage YOUR social network to build a business that YOU control.
2. Work hard on sales and marketing... don't just sit there
3. Get production down to a science
4. Do the paperwork right and know your numbers

1. Best for your plan

2. Best for your products

3. Best for your budget

Lets break this down by first determining:

1. What do you want to sell?

2. Who do you want to sell to?

3. Where do you plan to fulfill orders?

Things we aren't asking yet:

1. What is your budget?

2. Which technology have you 'heard' is best? what are others doing?

3. What do i need to invest in besides a printer? e.g. heat press, etc

Now based on the above here are the facts on printing technology

DTG (like the G4 and Epson F2100)

1. Quality of print 10/10 - colors, feel, wash, etc

2. Works on Light and Dark garments

3. Dark shirts - cotton only, Light shirts -cotton & poly (ish)

4. Full color digital prints (tons of colors)

5. Essentially Fade to nothing gradients

6. Prints WHITE

7. Space Requirements - Printer, heat press, table and pretreat

8. Production Cost - very low

White Toner Transfers

1. Quality of print 8/10 - colors, feel, wash, etc

2. Works on Light and Dark Garments

3. Works on cotton, poly & blends (almost all)

4. Full Color Digital Prints (tons of colors)

5. Does not fade to nothing (hard stops)

6. Prints White

7. Prints on tons of hard goods

8. Space Requirements - Printer, heat press, table

9. Production cost - moderate

Sublimation

1. Quality of Print - 9/10 - Colors, feel, Wash

2. Works on light colors only

3. Works on poly only

4. Full Color Digital Prints (tons of colors)

5. Fade to nothing gradients

6. Does not print white

7. Print on tons of hard goods

8. Space Requirement - Printer, Heat press, Table

9. Production cost - moderate / low

Print & Cut System - Roland VersaStudio BN20

1. Quality of Print - 7/10 - Colors, feel, Wash

2. Works on dark and light colors

3. Works on cotton, poly and blends (almost all)

4. Full Color Digital Prints (tons of colors)

5. No Fade to nothing and generally requires a border / bleed

6. Vinyl is white, so doesnt print white, but is vinyl

7. Creates stickers which can be used on hard goods

8. Great sign production

9. Space Requirement - Printer, Heat press, Table

10. Production cost - moderate

Cutters

1. Quality of Print - 7/10 - Colors, feel, Wash

2. Works on dark and light garments

3. Works on cotton, poly & blends (almost all)

4. Single colors / pallets

5. Must layer to achieve multi-colors

6. No fade outs, all hard stops

7. Vinyl had white, but a limited # of colors (100s?)

8. Can print solid color or multi-color stickers

9. Glitter!

10. Space Requirement - Printer, Heat press, Table

11. Production cost - low to moderate

So at this point in time lets chat examples

Now bringing up budget:

Since you know your plan and what technology you want, the budget can come into play.

If you have a solid business plan and reasonable credit... they are all affordable.

If you are looking to pay cash, then budget comes more into play.

Is there one tech you prefer you cannot afford?

Can your business plan use one technology to build to another?

Now that you have an education, you should learn more. Go to https://coldesi.com/

The other options is to call a ColDesi pro and get some recommendations. When in doubt consult the experts.

This podcast is inspired by a recent article post on https://coldesi.com/ called 5 Ways to Make Custom T-shirts at Home | ColDesi: https://coldesi.com/2021/01/make-custom-t-shirts-at-home/

Related Podcasts:

Episode 149: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-149/

Episode 101: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-101/

Episode 136: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-136/

Products Mentioned:

G4 DTG Printer: https://dtgprintermachine.com/dtg-g4-direct-to-garment-printer/

Epson F2100 DTG Printer: https://coldesi.com/epson-f2100-dtg-printer/

Sawgrass Sublimation Printers: https://coldesi.com/2021/04/sawgrass-printers/

DigitalHeat FX White Toner Printers: https://digitalheatfx.com/compare-digital-heatfx/

Roland VersaStudio BN-20: https://colmanandcompany.com/roland-bn-20-versastudio-print-and-cut-system.html

Graphtec Vinyl Cutter Bundles: https://colmanandcompany.com/cutnpress.html

What does this mean for YOUR business?

There is an opportunity for a surge in custom shirts, hats, mugs, etc. It's up to you how to evaluate that opportunity and how to benefit from it.

• Restaurants
• Sports
• School
• Camps
• Festivals
• Tradeshow

premarketing for specific events

How to outreach to customers so they know you are there when they are ready.

Which one are you?

What are the next steps?

1. Identify opportunities in your area.

What will be the next big event or series of events by you? Sports, school events, concerts, Renaissance Festivals, business openings (restaurants, paint ball, mini golf)

2. What is your opportunity?

Do you sell something that would be for these potential customers? T-shirts, Mugs, signs, etc.

3. What risks / plans are you willing to make?

There are 3 strategies to have here.

A. The financially conservative approach

1. Don't spend any time or money for an uncertain future
2. Stay the current course
3. Once you know 100% there is opportunity, take action then

Pros - Little risk to spend money on inventory, staff or time preparing for things that may or may not happen

Cons - The biggest risk is missing out on the boom. Your competition will get this business and you will ride behind their wave

B. Investment of time, but little money

1. Call on old business partners and see their plans
2. Brainstorm ideas for the future
3. Run numbers on budgets - marketing, sales, inventory
4. Plan marketing campaigns
5. Choose products & ideas
6. Market test ideas with potential customers

Pros - You are still financially conservative, but are more prepared. When the time comes to act, you will be more prepared than much of your competition.

Cons - You are spending time on a what if, instead of a what is. You still can lose out on the biggest boom of the business when it hits. Someone else gets that.

C. Investment of time & Money

1. Do all of #2 above
2. Invest in inventory that might sell out (mugs, paper, ink)
3. Invest in equipment (Cap press, emb machine, sublimation printer)
4. Invest time in training how to use equipment / software
5. Prepare, Plan, Invest and be ready to strike gold when its time.

Pros - When the peak hits you are going to be ready. You are most likely to get the maximum potential out of the surge. Could be a 'game changer' for your business growth

Cons - There is always a what if. You can take on debt and not get the expected reward. You will need to devise a plan (what will I do with these mugs?)

2021 will present new opportunities and new challenges. There are signs that a boom is coming. How long will that last? what is the opportunity in your area/niche? What risks will you take?

Trends stack the cards in your favor.

What do we expect to trend in 2021:

1. Working remotely - 42% of the US workforce is working remotely now (Stanford University Study) - Many businesses will bring employees back in in 2021, but many will not. (it saves them money, they might see more efficiency, etc etc)

2. Small shopping - it's VERY cool to shop and support small businesses (59% of consumers surveyed in Salesforce’s report would rather buy from a small business than a large corporation)

3. Largest online sales ever - online sales are surging for all the obvious reasons. Its been growing year over year for 20 years and this year creating a new shift.

4. Social Media - Love it or hate it, social media is still growing and being adopted in all age ranges from kids to boomers.

How do these trends specifically mean a customization business like yours will thrive?

Working remotely:

• You CAN work remotely. Unless you have very large industrial equipment most things ColDesi sells can fit through a regular doorway and plug into a regular 110 outlet. Your staff can operate your equipment from various locations, or if you are a home-based business you might have already been working from home!

• There will be a new standard for looking good on camera for companies in 2021. Fine during the spring/summer of 2020 it was fine for business people to show up to video meetings in ball caps, messy bun hair or their Sunday PJs look. However, that is shifting. More businesses want their staff to look good on camera. THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN. - Market 'uniforms' for working at home. Company logo hats, embroidered polos, logo mugs, etc. Anything that is 'on camera' is a branding tool. Even logo signs they can hang up in the background.

Small Shopping:

• People are loving helping their community. Buying from small businesses, eating from local farms, drinking local beer, eating at locally owned restaurants. YOU ARE A LOCALLY OWNED SMALL BUSINESS. This is your time to advertise locally, get your google maps set, attend any local events, etc. Be sure to let everyone know when they buy a shirt from you, they are helping someone in their community.

• Build new local relationships - when you eat at a local restaurant, let them know you are a local embroidery shop. When you shop at a locally owned hardware store, let them know you make custom aprons. Build these relationships. Join local business owner groups, etc.

Largest Online Sales Ever:

• Online sales always grow and 2021 will be a new record. SO GET ONLINE. How? Etsy, Ebay, Amazon, Facebook, your own website, forums. Make it easy for people to buy online.

• Sure up your remote selling capabilities. Get an app so people can pay invoices on their phone. Have a way for people to interact with you via text/DM. Clean up your email signature, re-check how your emails and pages look on mobile, ask for feedback.

Social Media:

• Get on there in any creative way possible. Share the best work you do. Share customer testimonials. Share videos of your work. You don't need to act like an influencer, give motivational talks or make jokes. Just share what you do and what people think of you. Remember that it's not about likes, it's about when BUYERS look you up, the impression they get.

• Join groups - Facebook, linked in, online forums. Be active and drop your business name or links when you can (and when allowed) - Also be an expert without the need for a sale.

• Like, follow, and interact with others. If you sell car t-shirts, follow car people. Comment, like, and share their stuff. Eventually, this can lead to a relationship or sales. ("hey, interested in a t-shirt business partnership" "yea, I know you, we interact on my posts all the time")

Special Note about Maps and GMB:
Google continues to focus more and more on Local search and is expanding what Google Maps means and does as a result.

2 big new changes are:

• Community Feeds - like a running blog post with user comments
• Messaging in Maps

2021 is really a great opportunity for the small customization business.
People want to feel connected to where they shop, they are navigating a world that changed quickly on them and if you help them adapt, you win.

First, we’ll talk about Contact Pages themselves, which ARE important.

Then we’ll talk about Thank You Pages – often overlooked but even MORE important, we think, than ty pages.

So – what’s a contact page and why do people use them? Or more importantly – why do YOUR customers use them?

If you have an ecommerce site they probably use them:

• When they have a question about a product while shopping
• They are looking for something you don’t provide or they can’t find
• They’re looking for a deal or additional discount
• They also might want to discuss (complain) about a current order
• If you aren’t selling online, the contact form is even MORE important because:
• They may be shopping while you’re closed and have questions
• They could want to schedule a call about a BIG deal

Or – they’re trying to sell YOU something – which is why having Captcha is important.

You can use your contact form to do more than just capture information so you can call someone back. You can also:

• Build your email list
• Use it to help route response like:
• Choose the reason for your contact
• Question about a current order
• Finding out if you do ________
• Question about a future order

Elements of a good thank you page:

• Motivation – Why they should fill it out and not just click away
• Form itself
• Prequalification
• Directions/Location

Something more – Reviews, Personal Message, Pics of happy customers, etc

Thank you form are important!

Never use the standard TY page. Those pages are opportunities to make a further sale! also, don’t just have a simple pop up that says “form been submitted

• Reinforce their decision – Thanks, you made the right choice
• What you want them to do next
• Continue shopping
• Look at this new product too
• Visit you on Social
• Share something
• Show them a video!
• Offer a free sample or a coupon

Contact and TY pages are a huge opportunity for you to engage with the people who WANT to talk to you!

Resources:
Here’s our Avance Thank You Page Example: https://avance-emb.com/avance-thank-you/

DigitalHeat FX Contact Page Example: https://digitalheatfx.com/contact-us/

Good article on Contact Page options: https://www.ventureharbour.com/15-contact-form-examples-help-design-ultimate-contact-page/#:~:text=Contact%20Form%20Design%3A%2015%20Best%20Contact%20Page%20Examples,TopTal%209%20Pixpa%2010%20Yummygum%20More%20items...%20

If you're relying on eCommerce for your income, and are running ads to pages OR relying on organic search, they're a big part of why your business will succeed - or not.

So, Marc - what IS the product page?

If you are going to spend the time and money online, do your best to make it RIGHT. If you want to create a good product page, you HAVE to follow everything on this list.

Here are the 10 (plus one bonus) things you should do for every product page on your website.

Know your goal - When someone lands on this page, what do you want them to do?

Tell them what it is - Big and Bold, then short and sweet. Explain the product in a glance.

Ask them to take action - clear and obvious - buy now, call in, live chat, complete form.

Offer more info for those who want it - for many people the short and sweet isn't enough... so after the above. add more text, add videos, additional images, bullet lists of features.

Address their concerns - If you know your customers, or have surveyed people. let them know their concerns and how this product helped them. e.g. won't shrink, collar won't wrinkle, color won't fade, etc

Live chat - most of the time you can get a live chat for free, and make it available during business hours. Even mobile apps to make it easier for you

Let them call you - if they have questions, plenty of people STILL like the phone. Make it easy to find and call you.

GOOD photos, videos, gifs - Be sure to have photos and/or videos... and don't make them super fuzzy or stretched out or confusing. You have a $1000 camera in your pocket, use it.

Add testimonials - site reviews, quotes, pictures from customers, social comments, screenshots, etc

Brag - if a famous person or brand purchased this... brag. Could be local schools, winning football team, local church, big famous brand, famous social media influencer

Review, test, repeat - come back to these pages and review them. When possible test different versions of the page. Don't let them go stale.

But we know THIS is the busy season for many of you! So the best way you can start prepping for next year is to take time each day to pay attention to the slightly bigger picture of what's happening NOW in your business.

So you can use that perspective and experiencing this busy season to better take advantage of the next.

Here are a few things to take note of, and set aside for planning next year:

1. What's wasting your time? Every year you probably take orders for the same kinds of things that you know just take WAAAY too long to do. The way you know that is by looking at how much you're charging for everything, how long it takes you, and what it all costs in materials. But really - you probably kind of FEEL it right now anyway...

• Custom stockings?

• Table runners

• Halloween or Thanksgiving decorations?

2. What Customers are NOT worth it? You can really tell who your best and worst customers are when you're super busy.

• Are you DREADING someone's phone call?

• Do you already know they're going to complain?

• Do you end up with high return rates and low customer satisfaction consistently from one or two businesses?

3. What do you LOVE making right now? Look at all the business coming in the past 30 days - which ones do you want to do FIRST? Which kinds of activities get you excited about starting work?

4. What has made you, or IS making you, the most PROFIT?

• Are you pumping out left chest t-shirt logos with a DigitalHeat FX printer and making tons of money from it?

• Is making a big custom one off project, like a jacket or holiday decoration paying you better than anything else?

• What customers is keeping your mortgage money coming in because every job is so profitable for you?

The last few weekends have been focused on home improvement – which is what happens around Halloween after your kids move out.

Part 1: Assembly REQUIRED

Part of those projects was assembling and installing this new entertainment center – if you’re watching the video recording you’ll see a picture.

It was all unexpectedly difficult. And that made me think of all of you.

First: The instructions for this RTA thing were awful. And parts weren’t labeled. My wife and are RTA PROFESSIONALS, but we still went through a solid day of “oh, that’s backwards, let’s take it all apart again”.

There were no IKEA style pictures that were clear enough to help. No handy assembly videos. Noone to call and ask questions. And like I said, even though we are PROS at this, a few nudges from someone that had assembled this thing before would have saved HOURS in just getting set up.

I thought of all of you out there that get a DTG Printer, Embroidery Machine on White Toner printer system like the DigitalHeat FX and:

1. Try to set up yourself – after all, you have experience
2. Look for advice or info on YouTube and find it – old, unqualified, etc. or find nothing
3. Because you either didn’t buy it from us or haven’t done the training

BUT I KNOW PRINTERS! BUT I HAVE AN EMBROIDERY MACHINE NOW! BUT I HAVE TO GET IT GOING THIS WEEKEND! I HAVE ORDERS TO GET OUT!

Part 2: NEXT time it will be so much EASIER

This entertainment center had 3 pieces – and one of them is basically a bookcase mounted about 4′ off the floor.

It’s freakin’ heavy. And it’s just my wife and I doing the install. No handy rail mounts. Just 2 places to put screws to mount to the wall.

While we held it up in the air with one hand and tried to screw in with the other.

And I was terrified this thing would fall down in the middle of the night.

Oh, and did I mention – stud was in the wrong place.

So we did what anyone would do – googled heavy duty drywall screws and toggle bolts. Went to Home Depot and bought a few of each kind.

We realized the space behind the wall was more shallow than most when we broke the special-heavy-duty mounting things against the inside of the exterior cinder block wall…

And we failed, and failed again, and then we figured it out – you’ll have to listen to find out how we did it – but in the end it took us about 15 or 20 minutes for a pretty easy installation.

And it’s the same for YOU and your business. Your new equipment and your new product or process.

Listen to this short episode for more.

Free pdf: https://www.briantracy.com/success/time-management-made-simple/op/eat-that-frog-transcription.html

Brian Tracy's ABCDE Method:

1. Make a list of all of your To Do’s.

2. Go through the list and put one of these letters (ABCDE) by each item

“A” items are your key tasks. There will be major consequences if you don’t complete these. Start on these first.

A “B” item is “Should Do” but is not as important as an “A” item. There are only mild consequences to not completing these tasks. The consequences are only short-lived.

“C” tasks have no consequences. They’re nice to do, but not essential. They will not contribute to your long-term success in your personal life or career.

D’s need to be completed but should be given to someone else. In one word – delegate. The only time you should spend on these tasks is the amount of time it takes you to figure out someone to delegate the task to.

“E” stands for eliminate. You can eliminate these tasks and there will be no consequences.

The CAS Approach:

What we would add is to score each task in each category by:

• How much you HATE doing them
• How good you are at doing them

The "eat the frog idea" is to start with the A tasks you dread and do that first.

Our idea would be to look at all the tasks and outsource what you hate doing or can't do well.

1: Because he's a PRO in a part of the business that we have less experience in.

2: Because Sublimation is a great technology if you want to start small and really bootstrap a custom t-shirt business.

3: Because now that BestBlanks is part of the ColDesi family - we just have to BRAG!

During this episode we're going to get Jim's take on:

What's hot in the sublimation business right now? In other words Jim, if you were going to start a business, what would you be SELLING?
What are the Pros and Cons of Sublimation vs other technology?
How much does it cost to get started, and what does that include?

What can ColDesi customers ONLY get from BestBlanks right now?

• Sawgrass printers
• Hix heat presses
• Roland BN-20
• Sublimation inks
• BLANKS!