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If you are looking for a business that requires little start up cash to create, you may consider a Print on Demand (POD) business. The POD business is one that has been around for some time, but during the pandemic it seemed to make a huge return in popularity as people began to search for avenues for making extra money.
The concept of POD is a simple one. You design a product. You select a company to produce your product. When someone purchases one of your products, you pay the company you chose to make that product and ship it to the customer. Besides the product creation and upload, there is little that you- the business owner- need do to operate your business.
Choosing the right POD company
There are many companies out there that do Print On Demand services. Some have been around for a long time. Depending on where you want to sell will determine what company you may ultimately decide to choose. For example, I have chosen Printful in the past due to the fact that they have several locations throughout the United States and Europe. Orders would be sent to the location that was closest so that there were minimum delays in shipments. The only downside I noticed was the limited stock or out of stock during supply shortages due to the pandemic. Other than that, most of my customers were ecstatic by the fact that shipments arrived quickly.
Before fully settling on a company, make sure that you order some of your own items to make sure that quality is up to your standard. Sometimes the mock ups can be deceiving and do not look as crisp and clear in person as they do on the screen. That clarity comes down to many factors including their printing capability and the quality of your design. If it isn’t a high resolution image, the result could be a poorly reproduced product. In other words, what looks good on a mug area less than 3 inches by 3 inches, may not look as fantastic once blown up to a 12 inch by 12 inch area. The result may be grainy in appearance.
Where do I find designs to use?
Coming up with designs can be as simple as designing “Spring Break 2023” or “Bride Tribe.” Of course, you can get fancy and come up with sayings that are all your own. I had a friend who constantly used the same phrase over and over. It was used to keep from using an expletive around her 2 year old, but it worked fabulously on a shirt. Keep a small notebook with you and jot down ideas.
To design your shirt, I would highly recommend Canva, as you can purchase their pro-version and have access to different clip art and fonts. Some of the POD companies have design capabilities, too, so you have multiple options to choose from. I have used the POD companies design software, Canva, and even my Adobe Photoshop. Canva is fantastic and easy with out having to learn your way around the photo editing software.
I must insert a WARNING here about reproducing copyrighted designs. Logos from well-known companies are copyrighted and trademarked. You can be sued or even arrested for selling those items. You cannot even use their names or phrases in the Title of your product. So just be forewarned.
Where do I sell them?
You can sell your products almost anywhere. Use Facebook to sell to your friends or create a business page and sell from both Facebook and Instagram. Some of the POD companies have the capability to sell on Etsy, and they will upload your design that you create straight to your Etsy account. Or you can sell on a website you design, and even Shopify.
Just keep in mind that wherever you decide to sell, you need to make sure that you have a way to immediately pay your POD company once you make a sell. If you want it to run seamlessly and have passive income, you may choose to have a specific credit card that you use just for paying the POD for each sell, or even setting up money in a “wallet” on their website (I know Printful has this) so that payment comes directly from there.
If selling through Etsy, your website, or your Shopify website, make sure that you take into consideration fees that may be associated with your chosen method of sales and incorporate that into your selling price so that the amount of fees doesn’t surprise you and come out of your profits. Etsy has fees associated with it, but your website or Shopify website may not, but you will still want to incorporate your overhead into the sales price.
Once you have your designs chosen, your products chosen, and your store chosen, you will be ready to have a business that earns passive income for you.
