This has seriously been the MOST helpful video I have found about starting a t-shirt business. You are so easy to listen to and are so freakin' smart! Thank you for dropping this knowledge! You rock, man!
My pricing sheet is pretty simple, 1. I charge a small insurance cost 2. I charge hours at 20 dollars an hour 3. I charge what profit I want to make on the job. 4. I charge a small supply cost. 5. I charge how much the shirts cost. Insurance goes into a account and is used if problems arise, Supply cost goes into an account whenever I need to restock my supplies. If customers want colors I don’t have I usually add a charge onto the supply cost.
Wow! Talk about real talk. Great video Cam. I am a start-up print shop and you have no idea how much this video hit me and helped my focus and mindset. I really appreciate your transparency in these videos. Thank you!
I've been thinking about starting up a custom printing business for some time and I must say that you've just said some thought provoking things that enspirea me to do more when I actually start. You've got yourself a subscriber. Keep at it man, I want to grow my business like yours in time.
we are starting up a shop in Ocala Florida. I think this guy is very smart and does a great job on everything. love the F bomb he threw in lol keeping it real. I will be subscribed and following the print life from now on,THANK YOU MAN!
Another great trove of information for new printers planning a shop! But for absolutely brand new shops with zero info on number of imprints or how much business you'll do in one month, it is more of just estimating and keeping comparable to competition around you and setting goals on the numbers you'd like to reach to make you profitable.
Just remember your competitors are slowing going out of business, or at the very best they are just surviving., You will be to if you dont get that pricing right. I still have some work to do on my pricing, and on our Value model.
@theprintlife. Your videos have helped me massively. I have followed your techniques and in 3 weeks have screen printed my first draft of shirts. Thankyou guys from a fan in the UK.
@@ThePrintLife Hope you guys and your families stay safe during this pandemic. Hope to see you on the other side of this and learn some more from you. Stay safe
This video is perfect timing. I’m opening my shop doors this week and although most of this stuff is done already on my part, it’s a huge weight off my shoulders seeing you go through the motions and to know that what I’m doing is right. That being said, I picked up great info here to make a more successful opening to my business. I owe SO much to you Cam and you really are the man
I believe the ease and ability to inform customers of all options and offering of the knowledge is the top quality needed by a local print supply company.
The pricing question: I started out mapping out the competition, and threw myself right in the middle of it. Now I am trying to loose the standard quantity volume based pricing sheet. I’m at the moment on a steep learning curve of implementing value based costing. It’s difficult to do upfront when making quotes. But with a short list of questions you can check or uncheck a lot of boxes witch mean a surplus or a reduction in my base prices. I think it’s the best way to differentiate yourself and stop the undercutting aka ‘fastest way to go out of business’ trend.
Most important thing to me is customer service. My current day job is customer service and I hold that very dear to my heart. I use two places locally, one is bigger and they are okay. The smaller place is a bit more expensive, but she is so nice to me that I prefer going there. I also have a horrible habit of undervaluing my work, I do that a lot as a designer. Most of what I have done with pricing is a really basic excel table that my fiance has helped me with. I have just barely started using that, and still tweaking a few things so that I don't shoot myself in the foot as far as pricing goes.
Hi Cam! Me and my brother we're about to start our own business after 20+ yrs working for industry and even if we are in another continent we'd like to thank you for all the advises you share with us! As far it concerns your question about the suppliers and how to choose from I think that everything turns around price. The clients asks for lower prices you search for the same but at the end those who stand with the quality will survive. So I'll prefer a little expensive company which their colour do the job (for example a white colour printed on a black t-shirt with a single print which after drying is white is better and perhaps cheaper than a low cost white ink where you print flash print ) and have the knowledge and guide you through a problem than a company who might have cheaper inks and asks you to try different things until you make it.
@@ThePrintLifein our job we have so many things to change until we take the result we are looking for where sometimes even if we do the same exact things we don't have the same result. Why? Because even the quality of the fabrics and how they are painted and the thickness or the waiving might be different where you can't do nothing else but to start from scratch.
Damn, I wish you posted this 3 months ago...I just moved to AZ and started by screen print biz and you reminded me of some things I should done then. But either way, thanks for the vid, advice and sharing. Love the vids too Cam! Subbed 3 months ago
Thats awesome I could help jog your memory. I make this stuff for fun, the fact that you and others are actually watching is simply amazing to me. Keep me posted when you get those things started.
Alphabroder is a great place for blanks. They have distribution centers all over, and carry many brands. Cheap Joes, and Anthem are great suppliers for inks and squeegees. Ryonet for the screens, because they offer bulk pricing. Rather than using emulsions you have to put on the screens, I prefer the capillary films as they are very consistent. My choice for the exposure unit is odd, but I have an unfiltered Black UV Light set that I got from Screen Printing.com
Good video, I think it is also very important to stress that you should ALWAYS pay yourself for the work that you do, calculate your hourly wage and facter this into your pricing calculations. If you don't do this your profits don't tell you a lot about your business.
My answer to the question of, what do I consider most important in a print supplier?... Well there's two... Good selection and always stocked up. There's nothing more frustrating than spending the time to drive somewhere for a common item, ONLY to find out they're out. I'm not one to call ahead, simply to ask if something's in stock. If it were a specialty item, then I could understand. Sorry, short rant. Carry on.
the most important thing for me is for them to have a good amount of products on stock and available for me to just go in and walk away with what I want!
Late again. Thankfully it's because I've been busy! Supplier question: I'm going with the golden triangle; price, quality, service. Sure that big name is a bit pricier, but when I have an issue, they have a replacement for me in the mail as soon as tell them. Amazing service! Just accidentally found another supplier that is far cheaper; haven't used them yet. I have some non-critical supply orders coming up, so we'll see how that goes. Sadly I have no local guys here. (Perhaps that's a hint to myself on where to expand) I've used one that you did an ink review on a while back, and I have been impressed with them and their products. Shop pricing. I've used a lot of subtext from your past videos to help guide that process. Especially from one of your live interviews. It is a pain! But it is also tied for the #1 spot with getting clients for growth. I spend as much time on those two aspects as I do anything else. A note for the person still reading and looking in to starting a shop: some local tax preparers can do business start up filings. They may be able to beat the online guys pricing and service significantly. I found this out after the fact. Thanks again for all your videos! I learn something every time, and get a bost of motivation each time!
My apologies. I can be a bit long winded! In short, I appreciate your videos. You go in to the menusha far more than the suppliers that make videos. Thanks!
I am currently working with a band. They wanted T-Shirts available, in many sizes and colors. I found a great place to get Plastisol HTs cheap, and they take just 20 seconds to press on a shirt, and work with all colors. I then hooked up with Alphabroder to ship me any colors I wanted in the sizes I thought would sell best. I charge the band $10/shirt, making a $4/shirt profit. But I am pressing these at their venues, so my over head doesn't include any utilities. Just the shirts, and the HT designs. They are making $5/Shirt for having me available. Considering one good concert can sell 200 shirts in like 2 hours, I feel I am well compensated, and Alphabroder will ship to me in what ever area I am in in just 2 days. One hand washes the other. Plus my meals and boarding are included.
I miss read this question. In my opinion you need to file an llc but will run as a sole owner, basically you will pay taxes only on profits, if you don't have any profit you wont pay any tax. FIling is so easy and If i remember correctly you need the llc license to get your tpt number that will allow you to open wholesale accounts.
I'd be the happiest person in the world if i had a local apparel wholesale, or screen print supplier within 2 hours of me!!!!! Thanks to being in Kansas
The Print Life oh it sucks!!! No apparel within 3 hours and No ink supplier anywhere either! I have to plan ahead and use what I have sometimes. I end up with a lot of extra shit to not pay shipping!
PRINT LIFE..! Good content.. You should definitely be seeing a small return from your vlogs. I have tried multiple products because I saw it on your channel (from Screen Tape from J&J to our shop just changing to Chromoline emulsions after your live and that is just two examples) most important from a supplier is ship products that have not been sitting on the shelf for 6 months so I can get maximum shelf life if needed, ship on time, and in well packed boxes - fair prices are a plus but I will pay a little more to get what I need in one piece on time. Unfortunately if they need to ship a product 3 times to get it there in one piece it is your shop that looks bad to your customer and not the supplier. For pricing make sure to consider EVERYTHING including your time - The R****t cost plus is a good starting point but should be built on based on your shop but the concept is there and it is a great tool. I would strongly encourage printers to stop subtracting the shirt cost from the gross sale and thinking that is profit because it is NOT and to stop shaving prices off of the contract printer price sheet - it is a recipe for disaster and hurts the smaller shops and the industry. I would really like to see the industry as a whole (especially smaller shops that are not contract printers) create a movement where we ALL start charging based on VALUE instead. (I've been told "good luck with that" but ... Before I started printing if I went to a retailer and bought a shirt with a throw back logo or simple print for 9.99 I thought it was a great deal - why would you cut that cost in half for custom printed apparel for a business or an organizations branding specifications. I am not saying price gouge I am saying charge a fair price based on VALUE that also affords you a profit. If we all did this price models would be sustainable for the entire industry. Every shop is different and so is every market. The orders you lose to the local sweatshop you probably wouldn't save anyway. A good thought exercise is that even if that gallon of ink is paid for it not only needs to generate a profit on orders but pay for the next gallon of ink. If you are only buying the next gallon of ink and not making you money beyond that you are on your way out of business. Now think of every screen needing chemicals to reclaim, degrease, dehaze, emulsion, tape, ink, clean up chemical to remove the ink from screens, squeegees, spatulas, tools, and hands, shop towels, and the time to burn screens, post expose, setup and register a job, load shirts, print, flash, print, run through the conveyor, collect, do it all again for the back, stack, box, and on and on. (that is just the bare minimum). WAKE UP and create even more value and charge accordingly. What we do is inherently valuable and if we made a collective effort to charge properly it would make it easier for all shops to do the same. I hear ya "good luck with that" THANKS
Question 1: since I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere I really need good shipping prices. Sometimes the shipping costs more than the order! Q2: I'm just wild guessing my way through the process, but hopefully I'll get everything standardized soon Great video, Cam
@@ThePrintLife no, the shirts I order from a big supplier online, and screen printing supplies I order online or buy on the neighbor city Thinking about buying from China, though
Most important: fair prices. Got this local supplier in Belgium. Tried to sell me a mixingsystem . One google search later I found the same kit in the UK for more then 40% less -_-
A local distributor that is in business to help all clients, weather they be a big fully automated doing thousands of shirts or the small startups that just are trying to make it in the industry.
Awesome video. And I just wish my supplier had more supplies. There's only one in my city which is a bummer. And as for pricing, I just had to go with everyone else. I live in Mexico and here in my city, all the screen printing shops offer the same price for shirts. So I went with that, for now as I am just starting out.
Very good, Looks like you may have another business idea right there. If that's your thing, who knows if it would be worth it but could help allot of printers in your area.
@@ThePrintLife Yea. Would be awesome to also become a screen print supplier. Help printers here have no choice buying over price ink. Will look into it.
Love your channel, I've learned so much, I have an Etsy shop and we bought a spreadsheet package for about $70 that includes a pricing formula, and a cost of goods made section and inventory management stuff and it has been life changing. It's called paper and spark, I think she's a CPA, her spreadsheets are amazing and she responds to messages quickly if you have questions. she's on RU-vid, Etsy, and has a blog.
I modified Ryonet's spreadsheet calculator along with continually checking the market with my competitors regionally. I established reserve bank accounts depositing weekly money to cover overhead, ink & chemicals, blanks, labor outlay as well as company profit for each job. I then continually monitor the reserve accounts to ascertain whether there are sufficient funds to replace supplies and pay labor. Should there be insufficient money in any reserve account money is added. Over time the reserve accounts have accurately represented actual costs. I utilize Ryonet's cost plus calculator to schedule job labor.
Very good stuff, Thank you for sharing, Where do you stand on my thoughts in regards to not comparing your prices with the competition??? Would love to know your thoughts.
@@ThePrintLife I agree with your premise that following competition low pricing is the quickest road to bankruptcy & going out of business. I have learned to rely on the cost plus spreadsheet calculator. Use of the spreadsheet has shown that lower end pricing are profitable only if production volume can be increased. I operate a small shop that varies production volume between 5,000 to 6400 shirts monthly causing my overhead of 96 cents per impression to drop to 75 cents per. I have been unable to market greater than 6400 shirts per month in standard months. The only exception has been the Christmas New Years season. Though I do compare my prices to my competition, I do NOT decrease pricing until my sales ability adjusts thereby lowering my overhead with the resulting lower price bidding. One example of the necessity to monitor competition: I discovered other printers were offering folding, poly bagging & labeling.
That is the perfect pricing model in my opinion, on the new software I built it around the spread sheet model because so many want it that way, but I will soon integrate a cost plus model.
I wish this video was out when i started it would of made my life so much simple im one of them fly by the seat of my pants and hope for the best type of ppl just cause i havnt had anyone to really get advice from and the few ppl i have well im just barely a business still and thats probably cause i got the wrong advice from ppl who really didnt know how to run a stressfull print shop also starting with decals and transitoning to screen printing probably didnt help especially with starting this all with no real budget or hardly any money going into it
@@ThePrintLife its gotten me pretty far at times but also about put me out of business trying to build a shop with no budget and no idea of what your doing tends to back fire at somepoint lol
This video has helped me tremendously. At the end of this video you talk about how you may not buy equipment until you get clients which can support your growth at your current level.. I have enough background in screen printing, that i've been able to build my print lab out of scrap wood, an old shower base, construction plastic, some staples, a halogen shop light and about 2 weeks of time. I did this for a few reasons, the biggest being just so i could start printing (trial by fire theory). But my question is this... Should i be focusing on getting a press that is able to handle registration for spot color & CMYK prints, or start out just firing off 1 and 2 color designs? I feel like if the equipment purchase is going to improve my quality, it might be worth more initial investment, than waiting on my customer base to support the growth, but then that leaves me with.. how do i finance a larger press without ensuring I will have the customers to justify the purchase?
That exactly the point, it's better to start than to wait for financing, start with a home made one color press and contract the other jobs out to a local contract printer.
Im in Australia and found your vid very helpful. Two things. Where can I download that pricing model spreedsheet from, looks great. and Second, what I find most valuable from a supplier is help. I supplier that can answer those little questions that you can find on the internet is worth its weight in gold. Thanks
I’m late to the party and am just finding the print life channel! I hope you can still answer my question which is what was the cost difference when filing for the llc, ein, and tpt yourself versus paying legal zoom 500-900$?
Choice and speed of delivery - In the UK there is not that many suppliers and they are 300 miles away - so popping out for emulsion is out of the question
Hi Cam - The biggest supplier in the UK is Dave Ropper (now called screen print world ltd). There are other ones but he does the best line for waterbased and plastisol - he also does a range of second hand stuff - presses, dryers etc - so its always worth a look at his website
Its a bit of a mix to be honest - there are some that now only use waterbased (good marketing angle - being eco friendly) A lot of people here use Permaset, You have to remember that we don't have the same choices as in the states but waterbased is ideal here in a cold damp climate. To answer your question (the long way round) Plasticol 70% Waterbased 30% Very few do discharge.
That is a big difference compared to what I have been led to believe here in the states. I have been told over and over that its water based exclusively over there, and that americans refuse to use it because we are lazy!
I'd recommend people stay away from Legalzoom, they're expensive. For example, my brother spent about $300 to get his LLC in AZ through LZ but I believe going direct was only like $50. Same with trademarking and such. With a little time and research anyone can just register their business for cheaper than dealing with LZ. Good stuff though Cam.
Yea it way more expensive, but allot easier, I did my first one myself, the second one, legal zoom. I will use them from now on, but doing your first one yourself helps you understand the process better.
@@Bonelafide oh right on, I hope it helps you like it helped me, Your gonna shit how much higher you pricing needs to be to actually have a profitable business.
As far as picking a distributer for consumables goes, it can be pretty unsettling when the person you talk with knows nothing about inks or whatever you are ordering except the price. Try to find someone who knows what they are talking about and get their extension. Pricing your work from a table is okay, but pricing is nuanced. If you have office people who have never printed, they may overcharge or undercharge, potentially sending customers away or leaving customers feeling ripped off, i.e. adding an underbase on substrates that don't need it, or charging for flashes when the job can be printed wet. I think a good practice is to price the job a little high , keep track of time and material. If you do it faster and cheaper than you expected you tell them "because you are great to work with and your project was exciting for us to be a part of, I'm going to bill you $X less than originally quoted". It's more personable and leaves them feeling more taken care of.
Hey Cam. When ever I need my questions answered I watch your videos!! How did you like the Permaset Aqua water based inks? Im thinking about getting Permaset or Green Galaxy and cannot decide
I love my local supplier because they help me since I am just starting out with my own business. They are willing to help me out with tips and tricks and help answer questions I have. I use local shirt wholesalers depending on the job but the national ones I prefer because of more color options and larger selection brand wise. As far as how I price I was fortunate to work as inside sales for vendors so it help me look at over all cost and help to create a formula for my mark up prices. I am still new at this but I am able to stay competitive in pricing and still make profit which is great seeing return on my investments. The one thing I am seeing is to NOT try and offer services to all my friends. They always want that friend price and I am not here to work for free sorry... the other thing is why ask me for a price then turn around and go online to try and find it cheaper. Sorry for rant I just had a friends fiance ask me to make a quick design and price it to turn around and just got with the cheaper online vendor because they then decided to see for other cost.
Hey man, I am loving your videos. I am based on the west coast of France so loads of the legal stuff does not imply, no worries. My main question is what is the best affordable software to design my vector art for printing my own t-shirts? Thanks 🤘⚡
2nd newbie question... How long do you keep your screens for? My current plan is to charge a setup fee for the artwork and then they are basically purchasing the screen. So after if they want more of the same, the price will drop significantly. But that might require me to hold onto the screens/artwork for a longer period of time.
PRICING!! The secret death of businesses that lurk from day one. There are so many things to consider with pricing, and there are essentially 2 methods to determine pricing. One is cogs up where you factor all of your expenses, determine your desired profit, create your formula, and price from there. The other is Price down, which is where many people start by undercutting the competitors and making it work by cutting their costs anywhere they can to keep the sales coming. Both strategies can work, or you can even utilize them together BUT it is essential that you calculate it correctly, such as by factoring in all of your expenses, but then work to eliminate all unnecessary expenses and improving efficiency so your costs are lower thus increasing the profitability. The biggest killer on expenses is labor, and the one that most new businesses think they can cut by working for free. Always factor labor into your pricing, because when you scale and need to hire someone to help you, you will end up paying them out of pocket just to be able to keep your doors open. Best piece of advice: It's easier to lower prices than it is to raise them, start high and give yourself room to grow. THANKS FOR THE VIDEO!! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK, YOU'RE DOING AWESOME!
Hey, after I use my prints from my XP 4105 Epson to burn my screens do I toss the printouts or do I keep them and reuse them just a question thanks cam!
I cant stress enough about answering your phone. I went looking for a fence contractor to build a custom fence for me, and the first call the person to talk to needed to call me back. The second call, no one answered. The person did get back to me a day later. The 3rd call answered right away and even had someone that could come out that day, and they ended up getting a 10,000 dollar job. One thing you didnt touch on is retail prices. Do you sell your own shirts to the public? Ive bought many tee shirts for myself, and the average prices are 20 bucks. Im retired and have opted to do shirts for retail. my shirts will be printed for special events and specific things. Ive watched a few videos, and find many sell their own tees with their company name, and it seems there would be more profit. Just wondering about others thoughts on selling retail.
More than likely over flashing Shorter. Pre heat you pallets, start production and shorten your flash time down you 1 or 2 sec, add 1 second until the the ink is flashed. let me know how that goes.
@@ThePrintLife , after i finish squeegee, I raise my block up and the tshirt begin to move because it is stuck with the block because of ink. sometimes, the colour is uneven. May i know how to fix this problem ?
@@hazimharun1952 Check if your pallets are level, check if your screen is tight and correct number of mesh, check if your take off is enough, if your colour is too "tight" and create that glue effect and finally check if you are pressing the squeegee both sides with the same amount of strength.
Most important is the help the supplier will give. I stopped in to a local place and found them to be a bunch of jackolopes. I hate this place. I on occasion buy there stuff on line and go pick it up. The less interaction the better. I would rather take a 3 hour drive to another company then deal with these folks. Now the $25.00 question. When are going to stop dicking around and release your portable unit? Thanks
What pressure washer do you use. I noticed in some of your videos it is a smaller unit that sits on the shelf. Looking for something like that and want to see what you recommend. Thanks.
It AR Blue I think is the brand, with a shorter sprayer I bought from amazon. They also have this super affordable version with auto on off for. I will include both links in the description of this video.
I just launched my e-commerce t-shirt store through Shopify, but the cost to outsource through printing and still make a profit is killing me. So, I started looking at purchasing my own printing equipment to reduce my cost for production. I’ve recently been offered to buy someone else’s equipment, which includes a 4-color press, 5 or more extra aluminum screens, 10 or more pallets in different sizes, left over ink, and a flash dryer. This person had it since 2006 and it was last used in 2016 and is in good shape. My main question is if you think all of this is worth the asking price of $2,000. or if I am being over charged.
@@ThePrintLife Thanks. I don't know what it has, but I'll take a chance on it. Disregard the email I sent to monument asking the same question. I was on a time limit to give the person a decision. Keep up the videos. I'm learning from you. God bless.
I am new to the business side of things. I am a one man team and don’t foresee that changing anytime soon. This is my side hustle. I just want wholesale pricing. Should I start a sole proprietorship or llc? Any advice is very much appreciated.
Hey Cam..great video and info you provided..question, I'm thinking of getting into the screen printing game..nothing on a big scale since I live in a small town..maybe make shirts of my design to sell thru social media and like events/flea market stuff like that and make tshirts for clients on the side since I'll be keeping my full time job and handle small orders..since I'll be a small operation would whole sale tshirt companies sell to me without a business id #? And since I live in AZ, what whole sale place would be a good start place for me to get tshirt blanks from? Any advice would be greatly appreciated and keep up the vids and keep the info coming..
Hi, right please feel free to laugh like a blocked drain at this but I want to start up screen printing as a hobby and obviously on a budget. In regards to drying has anyone ever used a George Foreman Grill to do this? Just had a thought after seeing one refurbished on eBay for about £30 it might do the job with a couple of small adjustments. Just an idea!
how do you do with your own brand, monument clothing line? i just opened a shop and i'm hoping to blast off with my own clothing line, that would be where the big bucks are.
did you have a minimum run when you first started out? We have a minimum run of 20 but it seems to put some people off. We are in a fairly small town with smaller businesses so maybe this is why...any advice on this?
I thinking bout starting a ScreenPrint business in 2020 right now I’m working for someone else as a screenprinter ,but I’ve seen everything I seen all the what not to do and do , wonder if there’s anything else u would want anyone to know before starting it , sometimes I feel like it’s to much pressure but aslong as u have good Mentor and partners everything should be good, & do you recommend partnerships in this business?
Hey I’m wondering what is a good figure for start up cost for a screen printing business Suck as from the equipment used , ink and etc. how large of a space is recommended. I have my own shirt designs I want to made produce them get into custom work.
If you want to start a brand the money would be better spent on marketing, if you want to be a printer. I think a good starter budget for a small shop that mainly focuses on 1-3 color jobs would be 5-10k to start that is a rough estimate, you don't need much space for a small scale operation, you can see people printing out of their 2 car garage, so I would say that is a good start, but things will get tight quickly.
@@johnburnett1974 That is not a niche I have looked into, but im sure its competitive, but thats a good thing, if you get your pricing and marketing right you could slid into that nich, get that wordpress site built to start snatching up the local work.
To order the "Price for Profit" eBook is at atkinson.fyi/printfampfp - Thanks Cam! If you buy the book, I'm happy to help you implement it. - BTW, my webpage is at atkinsontshirt.com/
He goes into hard truth mode after12:00. If u don't make money and u only survive, if ur making the same amount u would workin 30-40hrs/wk, it gets old. Once u find urself taking on immense extra responsibility and pressure to make the same $ u would punching a time clock and sleeping at night with confidence ur checks will deposit like clockwork, ur bills will be paid, and ur life will be easier. It doesnt make sense to take pride n self employment if it only pays u more work and stress to "reward" u the same earnings
