# It amazes me... don't turn business away..



## badalou (Mar 19, 2006)

OK, I am at the show and a lot of people are here telling me they are in this part or that part of the business.. Then I ask so you have a heat press.. and they say yes.. So I ask do you get calls for screen printing? They say yeah, alot, but I don't do screen printing. Then I just stare at them and say.. but you do.. they say, no i don't, then I say yes you do.. OK this goes on.. then I ask do you know about plastisol transfers.. ahhh well I have heard the term... Then I explain the use of plastisol transfers... I really feel great about enlightening people about this process that so many of you pass over that could put the bucks in your wallet or support a poker habit... Look into it and rethink you decision to turn away business. Lou


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## mystysue (Aug 27, 2006)

I dont turn away any business ever..
Do i do business cards..
heck yes
flyers?.. all the time..

Menus.?? Sure.. would you like me to do the design too or just the printing?? lol.
you name it we do it..
(you can outsourse what every you really dont make yourself.. and make money without doing any of the work.. lol)


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

I agree Lou some people just don't think. I only did embroidery for years and sent a lot of business away. Then one day, I bought a used heat press( my beloved Hix 15x15 ,I call her money!!!!) and away I went. I then found that doing less than 24 wasn't as profitable so I bought a vinyl cutter. I now have 3 heat press',2 vinyl cutters and embroidery machines. I now have the money( if I hide it from my wife, if not she has the money) to play poker, but don't have the time to play. .... LOL ... JB


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## pshawny (Feb 27, 2008)

Being in the t-shirt business requires one to wear many different hats, or maybe it's shirts .

For me, being new to the business, I don't quite know how to do it all yet. But you are right, someone has to do the job & someone is going to make the money. Why not me, right?

We can't do everything for everyone all the time though. Some stuff might be above my skill or knowledge level. It comes with time I think. 

I'm glad to have all the supportive people here for when I do need something.


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## Uncle John (Mar 11, 2007)

Dam, ur good, howd u know about my poker problem...lol


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## Unik Ink (Nov 21, 2006)

I have been taking orders for everything from t-shirts (in-house) to low quantity embroidery, pen orders, plastic bag orders. I find that the frustration trying to work with vendors is not worth the $20-$50 I make off of those type orders. I recently had to refund a customer for a prepaid order because my vendor didn't meet the deadline when he said that it wouldn't be a problem.


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## CUSTOM UK (Jun 28, 2008)

*Sadly I am one of those guys that finds it hard not to capitalise on a business opportunity.*

*Nowadays I only sell direct to the customer, as I'm really not interested in having dialogue with another business telling me how much they want to buy my product for.*

*Consequently the range of items I produce has extended quite dramatically, meaning I now have equipment for producing a lot more things than just garments. Downside is that I have to be really creative, as to how I utilise my space.*

*Take the money while it's there.  *


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## Progeny (Jul 28, 2007)

It would be nice to do it all, but there are times when it makes more sense to get someone else to do it, someone who has all the right equipment and knowledge. Right now i don't have space for embroidery or screen printing, maybe I'll be in the position to have it all one day, but for now i'm happy to contract out.


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## Heidisp (Nov 12, 2007)

showing my inexperience here. How do you go about finding a source for your plastisol transfers? I am guilty of being one of those that say "I don't do screenprinting" or "I don't do hats". I hate when I have to but not knowing where to turn for these items makes it difficult to say yes.


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

Heidisp said:


> showing my inexperience here. How do you go about finding a source for your plastisol transfers? I am guilty of being one of those that say "I don't do screenprinting" or "I don't do hats". I hate when I have to but not knowing where to turn for these items makes it difficult to say yes.


There is seceral articles about different company's that do them. I use Ace Transfer Company for all my needs. .... JB


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## victorysign (Apr 22, 2008)

We NEVER say we can't or don't do something! 

I am the type person that researches (for hours), looks for the best price and does most of my shopping off the internet - so it always amazes me when someone calls looking for a particular item that I know they could find on the internet if they just LOOKED! Hasn't anyone ever heard of EBAY or AMAZON 

We also have a video store and so many people have us order movies they could very easily order themselves or even find at Walmart - Sometimes it bothers me that I am charging more for something they could easily get theirselves - but oh well - I just think of myself as being their personal shopper and being paid for my time. I have even ordered flags for a lady that wanted a state flag - all it cost me was a few minutes searching on the web and a call to her that they were in - quick $$$

So, when asked what exactly we can do - my answer is always - ANYTHING and EVERYTHING - you name it -we do it!! They don't have to know that we outsource - I especially love screenprinted shirts - all we do is order the shirts, drop them at the printer, pick them up, call the customer and get paid! We called around town until we found a printer that would give us a decent deal and have used them for most of the screen orders we get! If it is a smaller order, we will order the transfers from one of the companies listed on this forum.

Overnightprints.com is a great place for business cards - which we do A LOT of! 

Bottom line, I would NEVER turn any business away - a dollar is a dollar!


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## mystysue (Aug 27, 2006)

Victory.. Yups.
I think especially with sign shops this is really important..
We use 4over for our cards and broshures.. and they offer good prices and free shipping lol.
I get them in like 3-4 days from ordering..

I research alot and find the best to outsource too.. when it come to many items..
we also have sign shops that outsource to us..
When you turn away work you are actually many times losing more than just that one order.. but many jobs..
You can often turn a job for business cards in to orders for brochures.., signs, shirts, promo items..
etc
People really seem to like that they can use us for a one stop shop..


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## gmille39 (Oct 18, 2006)

Progeny said:


> It would be nice to do it all, but there are times when it makes more sense to get someone else to do it, someone who has all the right equipment and knowledge. Right now i don't have space for embroidery or screen printing, maybe I'll be in the position to have it all one day, but for now i'm happy to contract out.


You can still do it, without doing it. I don't think Lou meant you had to physically do it. Right now I contract out the embroidery and screen printing, but I still "do it", according to my web site and business cards. I also do, magnetic signs, even though I've never done one myself.
I haven't done a lot of the things I do, but I still seem to make money doing them. Or should I say, not doing them.


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## murani (Sep 13, 2006)

People in my area have a bad habit of coming to me wanting screen printing done in like 1 or 2 days. I started to use my heat press vinyl for the jobs but it was way too much work weeding all that material. I have started to turn away last minute jobs because its not worth the headache at the quantity my customers want. They typically only want no more than 10 shirts printed but want to be cheap at that.


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## JustinB (Jul 28, 2007)

Make them pay a rush charge. No need for you to bust your butt trying to get them out when they decide last minute that they are going to need something.


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## out da box (May 1, 2007)

There is a downside to dealing with "everything". I guess a lot depends on the type of customers you see or who find you. For my clientele, I only wish I could fire more people and prevent even more from knowing that I even have a shop. I just dont have the HOURS that it takes to deal with small orders of bus cards, t-shirts, flyers, brochures, color copies, and God knows what else. It usually takes an hour AT LEAST to deal with a 50-100.00 job, BEFORE I actually do the job or sub it out.
Time is money, so I'd rather define my niche more sharply and phase out the other odds and ends unless and until I have competent help to manage the csr duties and help out with the actual production.

You guys should thank God for timely, organized, well paying, serious customers, time wasters can put in a whole different world.


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## murani (Sep 13, 2006)

I have FINALLY grasped the concept that time is money. I used to spend alot of extra time giving customers free bells and whistles as part of their design but now I give the customer exactly what they ask for and charge accordingly. If I have to take half the day to deal with an order i'm going to charge for it.


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## mystysue (Aug 27, 2006)

out da box said:


> There is a downside to dealing with "everything". I guess a lot depends on the type of customers you see or who find you. For my clientele, I only wish I could fire more people and prevent even more from knowing that I even have a shop. I just dont have the HOURS that it takes to deal with small orders of bus cards, t-shirts, flyers, brochures, color copies, and God knows what else. It usually takes an hour AT LEAST to deal with a 50-100.00 job, BEFORE I actually do the job or sub it out.
> Time is money, so I'd rather define my niche more sharply and phase out the other odds and ends unless and until I have competent help to manage the csr duties and help out with the actual production.
> 
> You guys should thank God for timely, organized, well paying, serious customers, time wasters can put in a whole different world.


we dont do small business card orders either.. at all.. we only do larger orders.. like 1000 cards or more..
and yeah prolly only make 100.oo for it.. but it doenst take long to design them.. if it does need more time.. we charge design time on top of it..

we have done some reallllllly big orders for business cards and flyers tho.. where we have made 1,200 or more.


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## dim116 (Nov 27, 2006)

Same here, I actually do(don't do) over 100,000 items. I never turn down a job, there is a supplier out there for everything. As far as having the item for a deadline date, I always tell the customer that normal delivery is 10-14 business days + shipping but we cannot be responsible for late arrival of the product due to production or shipping delays. 99 percent of the time they go ahead with the order anyway. Why just last week I made a profit of 2000. on one order that took me a 1/2 hour to do, then a couple of days later I made 1500 on another one. this is all outsourced orders. When I add in all the other little orders of t-shirts, mugs, etc that I do in house it all adds up to a pretty good week.


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

out da box said:


> There is a downside to dealing with "everything". I guess a lot depends on the type of customers you see or who find you. For my clientele, I only wish I could fire more people and prevent even more from knowing that I even have a shop. I just dont have the HOURS that it takes to deal with small orders of bus cards, t-shirts, flyers, brochures, color copies, and God knows what else. It usually takes an hour AT LEAST to deal with a 50-100.00 job, BEFORE I actually do the job or sub it out.
> Time is money, so I'd rather define my niche more sharply and phase out the other odds and ends unless and until I have competent help to manage the csr duties and help out with the actual production.
> 
> You guys should thank God for timely, organized, well paying, serious customers, time wasters can put in a whole different world.


You have a good point. Years ago I was the production manager for a fairly good sized print shop and the owner kept adding services because he didn't want to turn away business. The problem became that we had to become an expert at everything and the overall quality of our production declined. Training time for new hires took months.

The solution is to outsource. I took over another shop that was struggling and one of the first things I did was sub the business cards to a vendor that did nothing but business cards. Show the customer a book, let them pick a design, fill out an order form and the whole thing takes very little of your time. If they want something custom then they pay for design time.

I subbed the oversize stuff to a local vendor who specialized in that. Banners were subbed. Large binding jobs were shipped to Atlanta, bound and shipped back for what it would have cost me in labor. The result was that within 3 months we went from red to green and within 6 months were setting sales records. Then the business changed owners and the new owner did everything possible to run the business into the ground. He didn't like me subbing out so many services but he cut my labor budget in half. I managed to stay profitable but sales went down, morale went down and I finally left vowing never to work for anyone else.


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## pshawny (Feb 27, 2008)

dim116 said:


> Why just last week I made a profit of 2000. on one order that took me a 1/2 hour to do, then a couple of days later I made 1500 on another one.


 What kind of jobs were these? How did you figure out your markup?


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## bogie (Dec 24, 2007)

Hey, I'd rather run plastisol than "printed transfers" any day. And I -hate- cut vinyl... So many folks seem to want one-off shirts tho...


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## bogie (Dec 24, 2007)

Stupid question: 

Can we network amongst ourselves? I don't do embroidery (much - have a one-needle Janome machine for "omg, I gotta have it now), but I do large format printing...


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## mystysue (Aug 27, 2006)

bogie said:


> Stupid question:
> 
> Can we network amongst ourselves? I don't do embroidery (much - have a one-needle Janome machine for "omg, I gotta have it now), but I do large format printing...


Yes in a way.. we can.. Im not sure about the exact rules for it. as to how we can let people know what we do.. so we need rodney to let us know.
But i know.. Ive used JPD from here for some hats.. 
And ive done stickers for several members here.. that have contacted me.. and some large format printing also.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Basically that is something that needs to be done either thru private messages or posting a referral requests in the referrals section of the forum. I'm pretty sure that is the only way you would be able to do this  Hope this answers your question, and hope I'm right haha.  Just kidding, i'm pretty sure I'm right.


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## mystysue (Aug 27, 2006)

yeah bobbie.. Its like if someone ask.. hey who can do this or that.. You can say.. I can.. I will.
But you cant..make post for the purpose of promoting it.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

The rules basically are that if someone asks, you cant offer your services in the regular forum areas, but If they are asking in the referrals section, then you can absolutely offer them  Like that one sue where earlier someone was looking for stickers and you were able to offer there, you just cant respond by offering them in the other forum areas or they get moved  I try to get people to post there when I see them trying to ask in regular areas, and I think more are learning about how the referrals section works, so they check more often to see what work is available. I think its really great Rodney added that section because it gives an area where you are able to look for a service or find work when someone is looking. Before it was added there really wasnt anywhere for people to do this. Kudos to Rodney for making that available to the members here


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## dim116 (Nov 27, 2006)

pshawny said:


> What kind of jobs were these? How did you figure out your markup?


The first order was for 3000 printed silicone wristbands, the 2nd order was for 1500 antique gold medallions for a university.
For markup I do it several ways. If it is a repeat order that I get from the same customer every year (which happens alot) then I have a certain markup I use. If it is for a one time event I markup a little higher. Sometimes I use the suppliers suggested selling price as a guide as well.
The point is that you can make good money by taking orders & outsourcing them. Just make sure you tell the customer the production/delivery time. The suppliers all have standard & rush order times for their products.


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## brbpro (May 13, 2008)

JustinB said:


> Make them pay a rush charge. No need for you to bust your butt trying to get them out when they decide last minute that they are going to need something.


Exactly. That's what is nice about a cutter you can do onesies all day long just charge enough. At shows I do custom lettering (Whatever you want to say) For $20 a Tshirt


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## murani (Sep 13, 2006)

I primarily use my cutter and just moved out of my house into a storefront. I rented a small corner space in an old partner's store. I have been keeping track of the foot traffic and it is really light despite the fact it is on a heavily travelled street in town and has great exposure because it is on the corner of the block. I am thinking about adding an outside banner promoting my business products inside the store and devoting some money to radio ads.

I just got an order in for 6 shirts front and back two toned lettering but all the shirts have different lettering so I can't screen print the job. Luckily the job is just simple lettering so the weeding won't take forever but i'm going to use up a ton of vinyl.

It is quite clear I was not charging nearly enough for my one-off services. Fellow people in the heat transfer business that I know said the same thing to me about stop trying to give customers a break because it makes no sense to work so hard for so little especially when this is how I make a living.


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## out da box (May 1, 2007)

damn right.


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