Post: #1

I set a goal for myself to become location independent by Jan 1st, so I've been experimenting lately with a variety of income-producing businesses. I currently run a B2B service-selling business when I'm not at my day job, but t-shirt selling was the most recent experiment I conducted.

I've been selling t-shirts for just under two-weeks, and I have (as of today) just crossed the $1000 profit mark. It's not a boatload of money, but for a side business that has consumed a grand total of 10-hours of my time, it's a great way to make some extra money.

While I'm no professional at this, I know enough that I can give you a general guideline. It's a good business model, and fairly simple to get set up. If you have any other questions, just shoot me a PM.

Steps

1 - Find a niche. Look for a niche that you're interested in exploiting. For myself, it was gym shirts. Gym-goers will buy literally anything, so they're incredibly easy to sell to. Other examples are cat-freaks, and pug lovers...it's important not to be too broad (i.e dogs), make it more specific - pugs.

2 - Create your brand. This is simple. Just pick a catchy name, and follow step three to create a logo. Something simple as "I Love My Pug" has worked for pug shirts.

3 - Once you've found your niche, and have created your brand, you'll need to hire a cheap designer (UpWork is fine), who can whip up some designs relatively fast for your shirts, and logo. Based on what I've read during my research-phase, three designs is ideal. Consumer psychology apparently suggests that any more than three shirt designs in the same niche-store creates indecision. I used UpWork and spent $100 for three designs.

4 - Create a facebook page using your brand name. Set your audience to your target niche..i.e pugs, target people who like specifically pugs. Upload a few memes, so that when people visit your page they see some content.

5 - Create a shopify store. Shopify has a ready-made template for ecommerce with a plugin for the t-shirt provider(which I'll mention next). While you can pay someone to set up your shopify, you can do it yourself in a couple of hours (out of the 10-hours I spent on this, the store took the most time). The cost is fairly low for a basic package.

6 - Find a t-shirt provider. I use ThreadMeUp(TMU). You simply copy/paste your designs onto their shirts. They do the printing, and yes, they do take a cut of the profits. Set your movement to three days, this is the optimal length. Use the shopify plugin to link the TMU designs to your site.

7 - Use Placeit.net to put your t-shirts on models. Fairly cheap service, but it makes a massive difference.

8 - Advertise. If you have three designs, split test them. 5$ a day for each design, over a couple of days. By then, you'll know which are working and which aren't. This is all on facebook, by the way. Another option, is to target instagram influencers, and in my case, this was just babes who run fitness pages. Offer them a 15% affiliate fee, and watch the money roll in!

This takes trial and error, and some initial capital. My initial investment was $200, which includes the t-shirt designs, advertising, hosting costs (shopify) and the placeit.net fees. While my B2B business is where I see myself making most of my future income, several people (Justin Cener, is the most prominent) has made millions selling t-shirts...I believe Cener had over five niche stores rolling at one time. Low overhead costs make it a good business model. I just wish TMU didn't take such a large cut!

Post: #2

Thank you for this guide!

I really like the step-by-step breakdown and the costs on various things. I've been pussyfooting too much around this subject and this seems like a fairly low cost, low risk way to experiment

Post: #3

(06-18-2016 06:08 PM)philosophical_recovery Wrote:  I've been pussyfooting too much around this subject and this seems like a fairly low cost, low risk way to experiment

This subject is one of those things that people spend countless months researching, but never take any action. I was guilty of that. I think the best thing to do is to jump right in, and learn from trial and error. Of course research is important, but people often become frozen due to information overload.

Post: #4

How are you targeting or advertising your tees on Facebook? Generating views etc? Or is this built in from facebook?
400% roi in 2 weeks is amazing, do you see sales continuing t grow or will you need to branch to another brand?

Post: #5

(06-18-2016 06:26 PM)JayD Wrote:  How are you targeting or advertising your tees on Facebook? Generating views etc? Or is this built in from facebook?

My store is a workout t-shirt store, so what I do is post workout videos/memes, and 'boost' those posts, which is a way of reaching your target audience. Aside from that, I just create ads, again, targeted to whoever I wish (Women ages 18-40, who like xyz pages, for example).

You can reach thousands of people daily if you target properly and set your budget to the right amount. Set your budget to 5$ for design X. If you see that people are engaging with your post (Liking it, sharing, clickthroughs), then scale it up to $15 a day, and keep it going.

Post: #6

What about your budget for distributing (actually delivering) the tee-shirts? You post them by regular mail service, to paying customers (and you still have a margin after delivery costs?)? Within the USA certainly, not abroad? Because it'd be a great business if you could produce (manufacture) them, for example in Thailand or Vietnam, then send them abroad to worldwide customers. But, customs taxes and prices of mailing them, would be too much for you to generate a profit, I fear...

Post: #7

(06-18-2016 06:40 PM)Going strong Wrote:  What about your budget for distributing (actually delivering) the tee-shirts? You post them by regular mail service, to paying customers (and you still have a margin after delivery costs?)? Within the USA certainly, not abroad? Because it'd be a great business if you could produce (manufacture) them, for example in Thailand or Vietnam, then send them abroad to worldwide customers. But, customs taxes and prices of mailing them, would be too much for you to generate a profit, I fear...

But, someone I know found a way: have them (the tee-shirts) manufactured in SEA, send them to yourself in a boat container, then sell them within your own Western country...

I haven't explored that option yet. ThreadMeUp does everything. They produce, as well as distribute. The shipping I charge is $10 to Canada, and $5 within the U.S. I haven't looked at international shipping yet, as the U.S is my main focus right now. TMU takes the production costs straight from each sale, and they take a large portion of the shipping fee as well.

If I sell one shirt, my margin is quite small. However, if I sell >100, my margin increases drastically. Because TMU ships shirts at the end of your 'movement', they give big discounts if you sell more, and offer bonuses for selling certain quantities as well.

You could have shirts produces in SEA and then store them using Amazon FBA, but I've never looked at that.

Post: #8

GoingStrong:

Just how many worldwide customers are there? The majority of the buying market is in the "west". You could find a local european shirt maker to distribute there but I doubt people in Pakistan/Africa/SEA are going to be paying 20-25 for a shirt (10 shipping, 15 for the shirt). Better to focus on the US/Can as the majority of the money is to be made there.

Post: #9

What are the margins like? What % of the sale price do you net?

I have recently been approved for Merch by Amazon, but have been too busy with other projects.

Post: #10

How am I suppose to know I'm not stealing somebody elses shirt design? I feel I have great ideas but they may already be taken

Post: #11

Thank you for the datahseet.

The low cost make it interesting.
In addition, the fact that you don't handle the shipping is excellent.

So the big challenge is to identify the right niche (as always).

Ray

Post: #12

I love the hands off approach of this. I do wonder though, after Shopify fees as well as Thread Me Up's cut, can I ask what a typical profit margin looks like?

Post: #13

(06-18-2016 06:57 PM)WeekendCasanova Wrote:  

(06-18-2016 06:40 PM)Going strong Wrote:  What about your budget for distributing (actually delivering) the tee-shirts? You post them by regular mail service, to paying customers (and you still have a margin after delivery costs?)? Within the USA certainly, not abroad? Because it'd be a great business if you could produce (manufacture) them, for example in Thailand or Vietnam, then send them abroad to worldwide customers. But, customs taxes and prices of mailing them, would be too much for you to generate a profit, I fear...

But, someone I know found a way: have them (the tee-shirts) manufactured in SEA, send them to yourself in a boat container, then sell them within your own Western country...

I haven't explored that option yet. ThreadMeUp does everything. They produce, as well as distribute. The shipping I charge is $10 to Canada, and $5 within the U.S. I haven't looked at international shipping yet, as the U.S is my main focus right now. TMU takes the production costs straight from each sale, and they take a large portion of the shipping fee as well.

If I sell one shirt, my margin is quite small. However, if I sell >100, my margin increases drastically. Because TMU ships shirts at the end of your 'movement', they give big discounts if you sell more, and offer bonuses for selling certain quantities as well.

You could have shirts produces in SEA and then store them using Amazon FBA, but I've never looked at that.

I did this, just before I moved to Thailand permanently several years ago. My Thai girlfriend at the time was working for a HK company in the garment industry. She gave me a tour of the BK garment district and some factories. When I went back to Canada after my BK visit I noticed some of the t-shirts selling for $60 CAD in Edmonton. Discovered that the t-shirts sold for $1.50 wholesale, so on my next trip I filled up 2 suitcases which gave me something to sell while I waited for the big shipment to arrive from Thailand. Strictly old school selling them by word of mouth back home for $15, but I don't doubt that you could make money selling online.

Post: #14

I have been doing this as a Side Hustle for a few years.
Here is one of my tricks, although keep in mind this does not make very much side money, this is good for beer money only (maybe enough to pay for your monthly Gym/MMA Membership/Training).

Step 1) Find a Business in the Craigslist "Services" Section that advertise their website.

Step 2) Goto their website and right-click save-as some of their images (Logos, Marketing Materials, etc...)

Step 3) Goto http://www.HiddenMiracle.com (zazzle shortcut) and click on the "Create" tab. Make a nice looking collared Business Shirt or Sweater with the Step 2 Images on it.

Step 4) Once you've finished designing your Product, create an Affiliate Link from it.

Step 5) Advertise that Affiliate Link to the "Service" you found in Step 1.

NOTE: This is a Cold E-mailing, sometimes Cold-Calling based Side Hustle. You should only expect to convert 1 out of 20 Companies on a good day and 1 out of 50 on a bad day. On a great day, you never know what can happen!

With enough practice, you can basically go into "Auto Pilot" mode and automate this by re-using your old designs as "Templates"

Post: #15

Hey WeekendCasanova,

How many customer ask for refunds?

Have you ever had any issues with copyright in infringement? For example, let's say I wanted to target the NBA niche, can I use the words LA Lakers, or Curry with a unique picture of Curry on the shirt?

Perhaps you're not the best person to ask for the latter but just wondering if you had any issues with this before.

Thanks.

Post: #16

(06-18-2016 10:21 PM)skptc Wrote:  What are the margins like? What % of the sale price do you net?

The margins depend on the amount of shirts you sell, however, in general on a $25.99 shirt, I generally net around 30-40%. When you sell 500 t-shirts, this adds up quite quickly, without the headache of dealing with printing, shipping, etc..

(06-19-2016 02:26 AM)Phil Jackson Wrote:  How am I suppose to know I'm not stealing somebody elses shirt design? I feel I have great ideas but they may already be taken

Copyright infringement isn't an issue unless you're taking logos from sources that you know have a protected brand. Two examples I can think of quickly that people often use, are Marvel characters and Football teams logos - using these will get you into trouble. Otherwise you're fine. Most shirt designs will have been done before, but the percentage of shirt-makers that actual register their business and protect their designs with copyrights is incredibly small; this is why you see so many shirts with a similar design on the internet. People just try to find better ways of advertising a similar design, quote, etc..

(06-19-2016 10:39 AM)Afarang Wrote:  How many customer ask for refunds?

Have you ever had any issues with copyright in infringement? For example, let's say I wanted to target the NBA niche, can I use the words LA Lakers, or Curry with a unique picture of Curry on the shirt?

I'm fairly new at this, but I haven't had one customer ask me for a refund. Based on what I've heard though, the average seems to be around 1-4% of customers, but it can be higher depending on whether or not your advertising, and pictures you show on Facebook ads are honest or not. When it comes to t-shirts, because they're priced relatively cheap, most people won't be asking for a refund because they won't want to go through the process of shipping it back to you.

In regards to the infringement issue, I answered above, but I definitely wouldn't venture into that. You can have a graphic designer whip up a cartoon composite of Curry, with a quote, or a saying, but I wouldn't put his name or anything like that...you start getting into copyright infringement issues with all of that.

Post: #17

Looks like the RVF Internet Marketing posse arrived.

Waiting to hear their take and strategy on this.

Post: #18

(06-19-2016 10:39 AM)Afarang Wrote:  Hey WeekendCasanova,

How many customer ask for refunds?

Have you ever had any issues with copyright in infringement? For example, let's say I wanted to target the NBA niche, can I use the words LA Lakers, or Curry with a unique picture of Curry on the shirt?

Perhaps you're not the best person to ask for the latter but just wondering if you had any issues with this before.

Thanks.

I did some research on this point and found this thread: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-s...05009.html

You might want to take a look at it.

After reading the thread, I would come to the conclusion that you can not use the word LA Lakers or Curry on your shirt.

Ray

Post: #19

Anybody know any European company's that print and ship your custom designed t shirts/hoodies/bags etc..?

Post: #20

(06-18-2016 10:21 PM)skptc Wrote:  What are the margins like? What % of the sale price do you net?

I have recently been approved for Merch by Amazon, but have been too busy with other projects.

How long did it take for you to get approved? I submitted my request probably two months ago and still haven't heard back from Amazon. I've been told it can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months, so curious what the timeline was for you.

I tried starting a similar business last summer with workout apparel, but I never ended up getting off the ground because I had a lot of issues with my print-on-demand service (printful). Still, I'd like to take another crack at this because it seems like a fairly easy side hustle if you pick the right niche and dial in your marketing efforts.

Post: #21

(06-19-2016 12:59 PM)Zona Wrote:  

(06-18-2016 10:21 PM)skptc Wrote:  What are the margins like? What % of the sale price do you net?

I have recently been approved for Merch by Amazon, but have been too busy with other projects.

How long did it take for you to get approved? I submitted my request probably two months ago and still haven't heard back from Amazon. I've been told it can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months, so curious what the timeline was for you.

I tried starting a similar business last summer with workout apparel, but I never ended up getting off the ground because I had a lot of issues with my print-on-demand service (printful). Still, I'd like to take another crack at this because it seems like a fairly easy side hustle if you pick the right niche and dial in your marketing efforts.

What issues did you have with Printful?

Post: #22

By recently i mean about 2 months ago. It took me only one month to get approved but I signed up with my FBA account with 1000+ feedback which might have expedited the process.

Post: #23

Thanks again WeekendCasanova. I did some really quick, simple designs on Zazzle for a couple of products and am going to see what I can pull off. The royalty is only about $1 on the item, but that's not bad for them taking care of ALL the dirty work.

It's a good experiment since I know jack shit about marketing except for a few books I've thumbed through. Just the first step.

Post: #24

(06-19-2016 01:09 PM)aeroektar Wrote:  

(06-19-2016 12:59 PM)Zona Wrote:  

(06-18-2016 10:21 PM)skptc Wrote:  What are the margins like? What % of the sale price do you net?

I have recently been approved for Merch by Amazon, but have been too busy with other projects.

How long did it take for you to get approved? I submitted my request probably two months ago and still haven't heard back from Amazon. I've been told it can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months, so curious what the timeline was for you.

I tried starting a similar business last summer with workout apparel, but I never ended up getting off the ground because I had a lot of issues with my print-on-demand service (printful). Still, I'd like to take another crack at this because it seems like a fairly easy side hustle if you pick the right niche and dial in your marketing efforts.

What issues did you have with Printful?

Just poor quality control on their end. I put in multiple test orders with different designs and I'd say probably 50% of them were completely unusable. The most common issue seemed to be the fact that they couldn't seem to get my designs centered properly. I used their mockup generator, which has a feature that centers the design for you automatically. After the first batch flopped I also put a note on each design explicitly stating that I wanted it centered. I still ended up with a bunch of wonky looking shirts that I wouldn't even give away, let alone sell. It was very surprising given the fact that a lot of people seem to recommend their services.

And thanks for the response skptc. I've never sold on Amazon before so maybe that's why it's taking longer for me.

Post: #25

I might look into this.

I have a pretty in depth knowledge of clothing brands, and have worked in retail for over 12 years.

If it really is that easy, and you can make this a side hustle, I'm in.

I have a few ideas in my head, politics, local wise, etc.