This is part one of a post that could turn into a 3-part series. Creating your POD (Print on Demand) business is a time-consuming process, and putting all that information into one post will make it incredibly long and tedious.
Update: Read the updated version of this article here.
“Hey Elenny, do you own a POD business? Is it that good?”
Yes! But…
“Do I have to invest THOUSANDS to get the big profits?”
No, not at all.
“Can I do it from home?”
Well, keep reading, and we will learn.
First, What is Print on Demand?
Feel free to read the definition here, and learn about other methods of selling from home.
With print on demand, you can create your designs for a variety of categories, have them produced on a product, and shipped to your customers. It is like having your private brand. The best thing is that with a service like Printful, you can make your brand as personal and unique as possible, and your customers do not have to wait for months to receive their items.
You will have your private label brand, but somebody else is taking care of manufacturing and shipping your products which are a HUGE bonus (unlike with dropshipping).
How to Get Started
Step 1: Head over to Printful and browse through their catalog of items. This will help you brainstorm to determine what products you want to sell, and what designs to make.
Step 2: Using their guidelines, start creating your designs! You want to make at least ten
before you open your store.
Tip: if you suck at designing as much as I do, you can go to freepik.com and gather a few designs. Then read their copyright policy and terms of use, and make sure you give them credit for every design you use! Remember not to sell their designs on your products directly, you always want to edit them a bit and make them look different.
Step 3: Head over to Shopify and use your 14 days free trial. During this trial period, you want to design your store to your liking and make it as accessible and beautiful as you possibly can. Luckily, they have a bunch of posts that can help you perfect your store.
Step 4: After your store is perfect, go ahead and link Printful to Shopify. The easiest way to go this is by going to Printful directly and following their instructions from there. It should take about 2 minutes.
Step 5: Start designing your products. If you are printing on t-shirts, you may want to consider uploading your inside labels to make your brand more unique. Again, Printful has tutorials for doing that.
Step 6: After you have designed at least ten products, price them, write a catchy description, and sync them to your store! This is a moment of victory. You finally have a functional online store, your designs, and finished products.
“What’s next?”
Marketing… Sales… Money!
“It’s not that simple, is it?”
Nope, not at all. However, I have an excellent strategy that will guarantee you make at least one sale during your first month, which will be included in part 2 of the POD series coming out a few days from today.
If you want to be the first one to read it, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will receive part 2 as soon as we finish perfecting it, and before we upload it. I’m sure you can’t wait!
Topic Question: Have you ever pictured yourself running a successful business from home, and being envied by many? Leave a comment below!