Turning Your Screen Printing Hobby Into A Business: Proven Secret Formula!

Many people who create personalized t-shirts at home may have considered turning it into a business at some point or another. Very few of us know how to do so, however. There are a few notable things you should consider when trying to turn your screen printing hobby into a business. This goes beyond the designs that you’ll be using for these t-shirts, although it can be a considerable part of the process.

Once this is taken care of, there are a few other things to look after. While many of these can be general advice for launching a business in any niche, some may be somewhat unique to creating a custom t-shirt business. Because of that, they’re something that you should put a significant amount of time and effort into before you start your t-shirt printing business.

How To Turn Your Screen Printing Hobby Into A Business

Have A Plan

No business has ever been successful without a plan. This is just as true when it come to a screen printing business. Because of that, you’ll need to put a significant amount of time into creating your business plan. This will also allow you to receive investment, should you be looking for it. 

Some of the notable areas of this include the likes of a sales and marketing strategy, business goals, daily operations, how your screen printing business will be structured and much more.

While many of us may not know how to create a business plan, there are a variety of different resources available online. Furthermore, community colleges and a local chamber of commerce may also be able to help you with this. 

Though business goals and other areas can change over time, this is something that you’ll need to look at from the outset so that your business can grow.

Have The Right Supplies

We already mentioned investment above. While this is something that can come from outside sources in many cases, you’ll also need to use much of your own finances when first starting out. 

This is primarily because you’ll need a certain amount of supplies and equipment to launch a screen printing business. These can include the likes of fabrics, inks and much more.

This is something that you’ll need to figure out alongside your business goals. The primary reason behind this is that, as a business grows, so too will the amount of products that you’ll be shipping. 

While you may not have a considerable volume when you first start out, it’s something that may be much more than you’re used to. This is something that you’ll need to plan for. As such, you’ll need to purchase inventory to meet this demand, which can be somewhat of an up-front investment.

This is also something that can scale up as your business grows, which is why a business plan can be vital. Although business may not go exactly to plan, you’ll have to purchase a certain amount of inventory to create these t-shirts with. You’ll also need to purchase the likes of ink and other supplies. 

You may be able to save a notable amount of money by purchasing these in bulk. However, you shouldn’t over-buy, mainly because you wouldn’t want to have an excess amount of supplies that you may not be able to sell.

There’s also the likes of equipment, which may be one of your largest purchases when starting out. While you may be used to creating a limited amount of t-shirts with a small printer or by hand, this may not be suitable as your business grows. Because of this, you’ll need to purchase equipment that can produce a large enough volume to meet your customer’s demands.

Have A Workspace

Many hobbyists may be used to creating their custom t-shirts at home. When turning the hobby into a business, however, you’ll need all of the supplies and equipment that we mentioned above. This leads to the obvious question as to where you’ll put all of these. If you have the space to put all of these in your home, then that can be an effective way to start out. If not, then you’ll need to find a space to put them.

Storage isn’t the only thing you’ll need to worry about here. Instead, you’ll also need to think about how easy it is to make and take deliveries at the building. You might also want to consider how your business may grow in the future, and whether or not the space will be adequate enough for growth. You should be able to start with a smaller space and then move to another building as your screen printing business grows.

Depending on where you live, there may be a few different laws and regulations in regards business premises. While this may not affect everyone, it’s something that you should research and be knowledgeable about before you start your business or lease any building. Other costs and factors associated with a business, should as electricity, internet connections, space and much more should also be taken into account with this.

By looking after each of the above, you’ll be able to build the foundations of your screen printing business before you start. While these can have a considerable amount of up-front costs, this is something that’s common across every industry and niches. Though the above can seem as though they’re massive steps, they may not be so big if you’ve been creating custom t-shirts for a considerable amount of time.