Custom Apparel Startups

The space in your shop, retail store or warehouse is essential to how much money you can make. Not surprisingly there is an entire field based on workspace optimization and customer experience. How fast you can get things done, how comfortable your customers feel and the overall space you work on can heavily impact your success. Examples: Customer walks into two shops, which one do they buy from?...

How To Make Your Brand Stand Out 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 abou...

Maybe you never want to really grow bigger, just grow more profitable. For some people the idea of a big business with hundreds of employees and a big building with a huge sign is a dream. 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 THRI...

Can you guess how success in your customization business is like success in a fitness, financial, or weight loss program? 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...

Being a business owner means you wear many hats. 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...

While we're not always running an advertised promotion, they ARE a powerful tool for increasing sales, creating awareness and maximizing contact with current and future customers. 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: W...

Oftentimes when people are shopping to start their t-shirt, embroidery or other customization business, the mind is one track. Which machine do I buy? How to I get the best one? How to I get the best deal? How fast can I get it? 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 t...

Word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most effective ways to generate leads and sales 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 t...

Having a website for your business can be very important. We aren't saying every business needs a website, but most will. 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...

So you want to start a t-shirt business on a budget. The two cheapest / lowest cost ways to start are with sublimation and HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl). 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. Wh...

Guaranteed Success Plan for your Side Hustle / Small Business 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...

The recent price increase for Etsy sellers has got a lot of their long time customers looking for alternatives (from 5% of everything you sell to 6.5%) - and it's reminding others of Etsy's other money-making practices, like selling advertising for your store and charging you a big % of THOSE sales too. https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/etsy-seller-fees-25-02-2022/ First, let's take a look at what tha...

Those letters - ROI - are thrown around a lot in almost every business. 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....

We got this question in the Group a few weeks ago and again just yesterday. It was some variation of: "What's wrong with my website?" and then it's either 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 - w...

You want to invest in some "new" equipment for your shop or maybe start a new business. Often times the way people save money is by purchasing things that are 2nd hand or used or preowned. 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 t...

Once a year you go to the Dr for a check up. What do they do? They will listen to your heart, check your lungs, have you do a blood test. They are looking for anything out of the ordinary, even if you don't notice it. If anything is out of the ordinary, you take action to fix it... before it's a bigger problem. This is the purpose of a Marketing Check Up How healthy is your marketing? Is anything...

Read in-depth article clicking here: https://coldesi.com/2021/08/digitalheat-fx-roland-versastudio-bn-20-sawgrass-sublimation-printer/   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...

How much does it cost to start a t-shirt printing business? 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 maki...

How much does it cost to start a t-shirt printing business? 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 maki...

This episode is inspired by an article written on ColDesi.com . It's all about what you need to start a white toner transfer business. This episode is important if you are going to invest in white toner printer or have recently invested. Overall, though, a lot of this spills into what you need to start a t-shirt business in general too.   A Basic Plan The article doesn’t dive into this, because it...

Part 3: What you need to do to GET THERE What will you need to do to reach your goals? If you need to sell 400 more shirts per month, how will you do that? 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....

Goal Setting for 2022 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...

Direct to Film printers are the most talked-about new products from 2021 and are SURE to be the same for 2022! 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...

This is actually a series of 3 episodes to discuss how you can plan your business for 2022. It's important to be 3 parts because planning isn't just about setting goals, but it's also about looking back and then implementing action items so you can hit those goals. That breaks it down into 3 parts: looking back, setting goals and implementation. Today's part is about looking back! Part 1: How to l...

It's 2021. Things STILL aren't normal. All over the world, we are running into shortages and production delays. You have heard the news about computer chips for trucks, container shortages and productions shut downs from Covid outbreaks.... and that's just 1 of 1000 examples. The custom t-shirt and promotion business is feeling the same issues. We have even seen shortages in equipment, inks, t-shi...