the most important print on demand video i’ve ever made 

thanks!! really appreciate that. means so much!

That’s incredible! Well done for adapting and working with the times. That’s an amazing skill to have!

That's what I did. I stepped away and learned graphic design and I am now starting to use POD to complement my offerings. So, I will be selling printables and art. I've always wanted to design home goods. So I'm going to start with POD and learn to do things like rugs, shower curtains, and other home goods. And if I'm any good at it maybe I can grow from that. Congrats on your website building. When I can afford it, I will find you and get you to build mine🙂

Etsy certainly has its issues. Most pod companies do and if it was up to me everyone would sell with Shopify and own their business but people can’t afford that starting out

i have to admit i don't fully understand what you mean here. I understand that you haven't physically created a product. But why isn't print on demand your business. You can create a brand, list items on shopify, and make tens of thousands of dollars. You could also sell your print on demand business... why cant you have created a business plan... i can tell you for a fact that my stores have detailed business plans, exit plans, etc

@@shimmymorris1 I see so many people that think they are in the print on demand business. The companies who actually print your items are in the print on demand business. If you are selling items to music lovers, then your business is selling items to music fans, not print on demand. PoD is a way to manage inventory. I have a non-profit. We had 2000 t-shirts printed. I did not use PoD because the costs were too high. I had a local printer silk screen the shirts front and back. Then I picked them up and ship them myself. This non-profit is NOT a PoD or silk screen business. Those are just two ways to buy and manage inventory. I see so many people that think putting up designs on a website is PoD. Nope. That's one way you can fulfill an order. It's not your business. I'm working on a business that will use PoD as a fulfillment option in the early days, but may transition to silk-screen for designs that prove popular to increase margins. Nothing has changed with starting a business. You still need a viable business plan. It doesn't have to be fancy, but on the reddit PoD groups so many don't understand how to start a business. They think PoD is their business. It's not. It's one of many ways to fulfill orders and manager inventory. Don't get my wrong, it's a great way to get started. But it's just a tool for your business to use, but it's not your business itself. As to the platforms, you've hit the nail on the head. The era of the platforms is about over. Ebay, Etsy, even Amazon Merch etc. can't figure out how to make money so they turn to taking it from sellers. That's why I am taking my time and building my own site. Don't have to worry about any of their BS, and it's mine once I've built it.

@@shimmymorris1 He's saying POD is just what you use to print your product. your brand is the actual business.

@@shimmymorris1 I get what he's saying. But I'm with you. If you do POD through Amazon or whatever then you don't have control, therefore it's not really "your business" But setting up on your own website and starting your own brand...that is "your business" That is why I am going that path. I am starting with a shopify website with my own label. It will take a while, but i know it will eventually grow. I will have a full on ecommerce business, not just POD. So when are you going to start showing us how you are building yours with shopify? You said you were going to do that. I'm still waiting...😁 🤣🤣🤣 oh! and BTW I love your sense of humor, don't try to hide it, it's great!

A business is a business, a brand is a brand irrelevant of how you fulfil it. That statement does not make sense.

Thank you so much😊 really appreciate that! It’s good you can sell on Etsy and hopefully Amazon very soon!

You’re welcome!! Hopefully I can help when you decide what route to go down.

Haha that’s awesome!

yeah, im all laying on the sidewalk with my blankies at 1am watching these lol.

You're welcome!! thanks so much for watching

thank you! I think it's really important to spread this message so people are aware it's not all fun and games

thank you!

You’re welcome! Glad you liked it

thank you! appreciate the kind comment

You’re welcome!!! If you want to this properly and earn good money. Aim to sell on those platforms as that’s where it’s at.

Thank you!

Nice one!! Have you tried Etsy and merch on demand?

@@shimmymorris1 rejected by Merch & perm suspended after 1 month on Etsy. 🤷🏻‍♀️

totally agree, as a person who saw it that way even 5 years ago

I don’t recommend using any printing company that has $1 royalties. Whilst I agree the printing company is making a lot of money. That doesn’t mean you can’t. Recently in my shop my profit per sale has been around $19… there’s still a lot to be made in the business if done right.

aw thank you so much! Really appreciate that

Nice! Yes. Shopify is 100% the future

Yes exactly!!!!

you're welcome!

You are so welcome

nice!!! glad to hear it. Etsy would be the main one there unless you have some sort of budget in which case I'd say go for shopify

I appreciate that!

good for you!

i'm so happy! thank you

thank you so much! really appreciate that

You’re welcome!

good luck!

Figuring out what to charge will be based on research unless you’re creating a Shopify store in which case there is no competition. I charge $26.99-$31.99 for T-shirts. Why would you be depositing any money with a printing provider. You only pay when a sale comes through

thank you so much! £1500 is very very doable especially if you're able to sell on etsy!

thank you so much! £1500 is very very doable especially if you're able to sell on etsy!

@@shimmymorris1 That's great to hear!! I will probably try joining Etsy in the next few days.

nice one! @@Elkfazer1

@@Elkfazer1Good luck. It’s a hard, hard slog. I’ve been selling on Etsy since 2010. Physical items, POD and digital. I gave up on the latter two. Sales were abysmal and the profit margin is just a joke…. Oh, and make sure you FULLY understand all the fees that Etsy charges you.

thank you so much! being a jack of all trades isn't a bad thing in my opinion

woohoo! good luck. LMK how i can help

good idea! i'll add it to the list. thank you for subbing!

that is a very smart move!

you're welcome!

thank you! Glad you liked it!

Who?

Have you considered doing any freelance?

thank you so much!

👍good advice

Nice advice! This is a really important topic!

you're welcome!

That's good! It's always good to try and get on these bigger platforms. You had to apply for etsy? that doesn't sound right...

Can I ask how many items you have up for sale?

@@nanettewitmer about 700 but I have let 900 items expired and I also deleted them.

That is awesome. I have 8 sales in 3 years, lol. I did just revamp my store, but I think I have learned the final piece of the puzzle...research first...that Im going to start an entirely new store with different more profitable products.

Well done! That’s awesome to hear! It’s definitely not passive income! I can’t stand it when people say that. There’s sooo much work. Only after getting hundreds of sales and ranking higher in the search results does it become slightly more passive. But never fully passive

Yes I’ve heard about this idea and it is very scary. Just asking a.i to make something. I don’t think a.i is there, but also what I’ve found with print on demand is customers don’t know what they want until they see it. A customer might not be creative and have T-shirt ideas, they might just be browsing and come across your T-shirt that they like and then buy… that’s what I feel might happen

it is the best option for sure

Wow!!! Thank you so much! Very kind

Yes that’s true. Getting clients is hard! That’s amazing you’re getting sales with RB. Have you tried other platforms that’ll have much higher margins?

@@shimmymorris1 I am on other platforms such as TeePublic and others but I find it difficult to manage so many at the same time. I mostly get sale from RB. I do have a FB & IG Biz account and design/upload/market daily. I am a Professi9nal Graphic Designer so it's easy for me. I study so many YT videos such as yours & others and learned almost everything about POD. I don't know. I have almost 3000 designs and am Branding myself but still difficult. Hope to apply to Amazon KDP next.

That’s a good idea! And well done for earning a star seller badge!! That’s huge!

@@shimmymorris1 Thank you! For that AND the information you provide! On that note, do you have a video on how far out we should start focusing on designing and uploading for each holiday? I usually kick designing into high gear 4-5 months before each holiday and upload 2-3 months prior. Excluding Christmas, which I’m going to try to keep most of them up year round. Does this sound like a typical or sound strategy?

ye, this sounds like more than enough time :D @@KetoFitChef

@@shimmymorris1 thank you

You’re welcome! Ye it’s tough but hopefully helpful

nice!!

I created quite a few of what I considered good designs on Spoonflower. NOT A SINGLE SALE. It’s been about a year since I started that and I gave up adding to the designs about 4 months ago. One problem with the site that prohibited growth of designs for me was the fact that you have to buy at least one sample of EACH design before you can sell it. After not seeing any sales it got VERY disheartening.

Wow thank you!! I haven’t used spoonflower much so it’s hard to comment but it looks and sounds like all the other tier 2 pod companies. I just don’t think they’ll ever make anyone decent returns

@@shimmymorris1 No, I am in definite agreement with that.

@@goilo888 Yeah, that part about buying the samples turned me off. You can make really good seamless patterns with AI. You just have to upscale them. Can sell them as digital downloads. I don’t do it cuz you need collections of listings to compete with others who do this and there are many. But AI does a good job with this.

@@traveloasis8389 Indeed. That was what I was using.

nice one!

I don't think marketing is a gamble. It's a test. You are trying out things to see what works best with your niche and designs. :D Thanks for watching and commenting. I actually have no idea why I said Jack and Jill haha

Yes how to content can be a pain when the difficulty and time to succeed isn’t discussed. It sounds like you know what you want to do and that’s great!

I don’t see organic marketing with sellfy so in that case I guess it would go under the same category as Shopify. But if I had to pick between the 2. Id go Shopify every time

@@shimmymorris1 Thank you

That’s the best thing to do. To start with the learning phases. Learn as much as possible and don’t expect fast sales. It seems like you’re on the right track.

Stop selling on Redbubble. That would help. It’s not to late though. We started a new store in January to prove it wasn’t too late and that store is profitable everyday. Yesterday we had a $1000+ day

Thank you ! Seller central is good but super complicated. I personally wouldn’t worry about copycats, they’re out there. They always will be. There’s no avoiding them… but by not uploading because of them, you’re stopping yourself from earning as well.

@@shimmymorris1 you're right, Shimmy... I shouldn't let that fear of copycats block me. Thank you for replying!! I've followed you for years, but subscribed only recently, when you asked 😊 I'm looking forward to seeing you open the coveted silver plaque to mark your 100K subs over the next few weeks 😉

yes,😅 always better to end it than to be ended

Oh I’m sorry to hear. Did you ask them how they were a risk? Maybe it was a bot that did it and a human could have reinstalled your account.

@@shimmymorris1 I contacted them but to no avail. They said that their decision was final and my account will not be reinstalled. Note that my designs comply with the content policy and have been approved on Amazon Merch and Etsy. I don't understand what they are planning.

that's a good idea for a video! I'll note it down :D

@@shimmymorris1 Thank you!

Nice one!!!

overnight success is not a thing, never has been, never will be

Sure I’ll put it on my list

Nice one!

Going in the same category as teepublic. Zazzle. Redbubble etc.

Hey nice work! Sorry to hear about Etsy! That’s so annoying. In terms of printing provider. I switched to printify at the beginning of the year and I think I’ll be sticking with them for the long term. I just how they offer embroidery soon. Multiple streams is definitely a good idea just focus on streams that can bring in a good amount of money. What do you mean Amazon via Shopify?

unfortunately yes, it's a real shame, but i think the reality is better than trying to do something that's doomed to fail

Yes, that’s what I suggest doing with Etsy and Amazon.

Aw thank you! 🙏🏻

No comparison. Shopify is a purpose built e-commerce platform and far superior for print on demand than squarespace

I have yet to try it so can’t comment. It’s on my list. But I’ve heard good things

I hear if pod is bad bc it can take more time to print item especially if something is out of stock and during the holidays ​@@shimmymorris1

highly potential. I have seen many people going viral for interesting t-shirts. But the one challenge for doing print on demand on Tiktok Shop is to manage the shipping time.

Thank you!

affiliate marketing is a great option!

i discussed eBay in this video as well 😊

Nice! That’s very possible😁

Gosh, sorry about that. I’ve never discussed it because I don’t think it’s important for print on demand… I could be wrong but I’ve never had an issue yet in the last 10 years and I don’t know anyone else who has either.

so you'd be in the Jack catagory

only 20 cents can add up quickly when you're adding so many listings. I still think shopify is the best in terms of building a business and a brand. But being successful with amazon or etsy is very possible, and far more likely than the other platforms out there

Yes, technically, the profit might not be as good... Also I think you mean shopify, not spotify.

oh 100% it adds up to a lot