# should i start setting up my website now even though i dont have t-shirts yet?



## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

hi all, i want to start my line but im still in the begining stages. im still deciding on a logo design and as you may know from my other topic, i still have to trademark everything...

the problem is, i HATE the idea of wasting time. in fact, my new years resolution is to not BS about anything this year and get things done without wasting any time. whenever im not working or doing anything i feel this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that im letting time slip through the hourglass or something. 

so with that said, i want to work work and work on my clothing line. so do you think i should begin setting up a website? (or any other important steps for that matter?) or do you think i should wait and slow down a bit and not get ahead of myself to ensure that i dont make a mistake 

advice please !


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

i guess ill be more broad! is there anything AT ALL that i can do while in the waiting process besides a website? should i start ordering blank t-shirts? should i buy that zebra machine that helps me print labels? help! im very determined and i want to do this and i HATE wasting time, so i want to get my line up and running by atleast FEB, im wondering if thats possible?

please feed me with advice! i have a big appetite for it !


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## Binary01 (Jun 2, 2007)

research websites.... and different screen processes..... theres sooo much you will need to learn if you really want to get things going

and learn how to market


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## DigitalLowdown (Dec 6, 2008)

This is where, planning and research come into play, and more specifically how you manage your cashflow through your start up.

The first thing you should do is make a list of all the things you need to have done and/or figured out. for example...licensing, tax stuff, business formation, logo, letter head, shirt designs, hang tags, labels, packaging, website, ect.

Then prioritize that list and start going through it one by one. also be stingy with your $$, don't spend it on items until you need them...example you don't need a label printer until you already have your website ready to sell and your shirts either being printed or already printed. also you don't need to invest in any blanks until you are actually ready to start printing.

Do your research and get everything planned out then just start going down the list. there is nothing wrong with multi tasking, but just make sure its focused.


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

thank you, can you gie me some advice on which steps i should take next? all i have right now is a logo and im trying to trademark it ...where should i go from here?


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## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

I think working on a site would be especially helpful if you spend time thinking about what you will sell (your specific market and how you will cater to it). It would function as a type of business plan because it will force you to narrow in on your niche market.


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## tshirtsep (Feb 15, 2007)

Gratz_The_King said:


> hi all, i want to start my line but im still in the begining stages. *im still deciding on a logo design *and as you may know from my other topic, i still have to trademark everything...
> 
> the problem is, i HATE the idea of wasting time. in fact, my new years resolution is to not BS about anything this year and get things done without wasting any time. whenever im not working or doing anything i feel this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that im letting time slip through the hourglass or something.
> 
> so with that said, i want to work work and work on my clothing line. so do you think i should begin setting up a website? (or any other important steps for that matter?) or do you think i should wait and slow down a bit and not get ahead of myself to ensure that i dont make a mistake ... D!


Weeell, I'm gonna get straight to the point. 

You kinda ARE wasting alot of time on your trademark if after all this time since your first posting about it, and you still haven't picked a finished logo! ... while also not having any t-shirt samples ready yet?

People who have started selling t-shirts as a hobby or second income during this same time period would already be far ahead of you.

I haven't bothered with a trademark yet, no website... but I've sold quite a few designs and tshirts in the past month so everything that you've been spending time on has little relevance to earning a profit.

Creating the product / samples and soliciting interest / orders from customers and having the ability for reliable production is the foundation for success.... and this is the hardest & longest part of the process to starting your business.

All this miscellaneous legal stuff can be easily (and quickly) taken care of with a lawyer... and if you're hesitant about spending money on a lawyer, having a product that's already selling and earning you money would make it easier.
A website can be done pretty quickly too, and knowing the type of customers who are buying your tshirts would help you decide which demographics to specifically target.


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

if i know the type of customers i want to specifically target, how do i make a website geared towards them in particular? 

and, although that was kind of harsh, thanks for being so honest! so with some current designs that i have right now, should i order a couple blank tees and have those designs printed on them and give them out as samples or something? you are right, i am wasting time and i want to get things moving NOW


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

tshirtsep do you think i sohuld order some blank tees and have some sample designs printed on them and hand them out for free to people just to start getting my name out there?


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## TEEZYSHIRTS (Jan 4, 2009)

You should print all of your designs on shirts as samples..then get models to take photos...then work on the website and paypal setup..etc

If you need help with getting a good quality print and blanks ,I can lead you in the right direction...also to host your site and have invoices sent to your customers ...I recommend a place called prostores...its amazingly helpful for me.


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## mezmerize (Jan 2, 2009)

Samples are primarily to see if you like the design on the t-shirt, if the quality is good and if it really is a t-shirt which will sell. Handing them out will not help much, you will loose money and you will no doubt be giving it to people who aren't interested. If people are interested they will buy your product.

Also, if you want a simple but effective way to sell your tshirts, ebay and bigcartel are 2 great ways to get started - as I am using this method too!

You basically need what is called a business plan.
As yourself questions about every aspect which is stopping you getting started - atm it seems like this is basically the theme of your brand, is it for music fans, skaters, is it just funny quotes? Research ideas of how to print, package, showcase, market, how to get your product out there physically and online.

Asking questions to others is good but if you dont find things out yourself then how will you ever be independant enough to take the market on by yourself!


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

teezyshirts can you explain "prostores" more to me??


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## TEEZYSHIRTS (Jan 4, 2009)

prostores is where i host my website...it keeps up with everything..sells ,top sellers ,pending orders...its sends the invoice to your customers via email...it tells you everything to keep you organized.

when you ship your shirt you simply check that customer off 

its $30 monthly...Its like a store within a store


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

hmm that sounds interesting, would you say its worth it to pay the 30$ monthly fee and do alot of people use this?


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

also i remmebe rhearing johhny cupcakes say he doesnt recommend using paypal as a payment service, he prefers a service called merchline or something. know anything about this?


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## TEEZYSHIRTS (Jan 4, 2009)

Im not sure if a lot of people use it...but it is a must have for me and $30 is a bargain.

look into it
prostores.com


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## TEEZYSHIRTS (Jan 4, 2009)

I use paypal,and like it


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## breakaway (Jun 26, 2008)

I think merchline sucks. The person who runs that place is arrogant, and if you notice the stores on that place, it is for a specific target market.


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## lburton3 (Aug 14, 2008)

If Johnny Cupcakes DOES use Merchline, it doesn't say anything about it on the Merchline website... but then again, it doesn't say very much of anything on the Merchline website.


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

well is there something similar to marchline then? is prostores kind of like the same thing?


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## TEEZYSHIRTS (Jan 4, 2009)

Im not sure what merchline is ...but I assure you prostores is a must have.


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

well we went kind of off topic a bit there. but back on topic, what SHOULD i be doing right now other than sitting on my behind getting my logo finalized? i feel like ive wasted the past 3-4 days and thats not how i want to start my new year. i want to make the most out of every day this year.

so what should i be doing and what steps should i be taking currently for this clothing line to get up and running? im so motivated, i will do ANYTHING!


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

Gratz_The_King said:


> well we went kind of off topic a bit there. but back on topic, what SHOULD i be doing right now other than sitting on my behind getting my logo finalized? i feel like ive wasted the past 3-4 days and thats not how i want to start my new year. i want to make the most out of every day this year.
> 
> so what should i be doing and what steps should i be taking currently for this clothing line to get up and running? im so motivated, i will do ANYTHING!


First thing to do is, slow down, calm down, breathe! 

You should ask Alex from the post "starting a clothing brand" thread. Maybe he will have some insight for you and it will help others in the future too. 

But IMO, I think you are rushing too much.


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## DigitalLowdown (Dec 6, 2008)

Gratz_The_King said:


> well we went kind of off topic a bit there. but back on topic, what SHOULD i be doing right now other than sitting on my behind getting my logo finalized? i feel like ive wasted the past 3-4 days and thats not how i want to start my new year. i want to make the most out of every day this year.
> 
> so what should i be doing and what steps should i be taking currently for this clothing line to get up and running? im so motivated, i will do ANYTHING!


 I agree you are rushing to much, and rather than do 'anything', why don't you focus yourself down and do something specific.

Go to a bookstore or a library and get yourself a basic book on starting a business... something that covers business plans, business formation, taxes, accounting, forcasting, marketing, ect.

then read that book and use it to help you get your business going.

There are even several books you can find on amazon that deal specifically with starting a clothing line.

After reading all your threads, you sound like someone who is very excited, with a lot of energy, but not a clue what to do to get going... When this is the case the first thing you need to do is Educate yourself about what your getting into, and if you don't know much about business in general, then educate yourself in that too.

That way you will be able to start, run and grow your business the right way.


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

do you recommened any books in particular?


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

I ahve to agree with you here.. You have designs, KIND OF a logo, and the urge to build your website, but you have NO knowledge.

Forget about the website right now. its not time for that

You need to figure out if it is worth it for you to spend money to get your shirts printed. What is your market? WHO are you going to sell to? HOW are you going to reach those people? A website doesnt instantly mean people will find you. A website can make or break a company. If you have a half assed website and someone comes across it, they are going to think of you as some cheesey backyard do do with no business experience.

Figure out what it takes to OWN a business. Before ANYTHING else, your deisgn company is a business. You need to get your FEIN, Federal Tax ID, State Tax ID, sales and use tax. You need to figure out if you need to charge/collect tax for your items. You need to figure out WHERE to send that money every quarter. I mean, when you pay tax for someone at a store, the tax fairy doesnt just come down and take that money and put it into a big tax piggy bank. You have to keep track of ALL taxable goods and then pay the government by filing those taxes that were collected.

On that note, what about your books? Who is going to do your book keeping? YOU? Have you ever done it before? What software are you going to use? FIgure out a filing system that will work for you.. 

And even before you do ALL of that, figure out how much money you need to spend in order to get a good, legitimate business going, and figure out how long it will take you to make it back. Do not expect to turn a profit at all within the first two years or so. 

Are you printing shirts yourself? Have the equipment? If not, have a printer? have you met with that printer? Price out the cost per shirt you want to print? What quantities are you going to print per batch?

You really CANT go to a printer for a good quote until you figure all that stuff out. There is SOOOO much you can be doing


DO NOT do a website until you already know you want to do this and you can afford to do this. If not, maybe you can sell your designs to an established clothing line. 

As for websites, WHEN you are ready to go there.. you need to decide how much freedom you want for your website desing. BIGCARTEL you can not do much with. I mean, you can customize colors and banners and boarders, but that is IT they are all identical and they get boring after a while in my opinion. They are easy though, and they can look ok.. Pretty much ANY pre built and monthly pay cart is not going to let you fully customize. If you want to fullly customize, you need an open source cart, or hire a designer/code to build one for you. Do you know anything about webdesign? Do you know code? Add that into your cost of doing b usiness. If you want a fully customized/customizable shopping cart/website, and you have no code experience, expect to drop a few thousand on that alone.


GET ORGANIZED WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN!

and finally, go to google and print out a copy of a business plan and fill it out. Business plan is the best way to get you in the real life. LOTS of people have these grant plans of becoming the next "johnny cupcxakes" and when they see how much it takes to get there, they realize it isnt going to happen the way they expected


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## DigitalLowdown (Dec 6, 2008)

lindsayanng said:


> I ahve to agree with you here.. You have designs, KIND OF a logo, and the urge to build your website, but you have NO knowledge.
> 
> Forget about the website right now. its not time for that
> 
> ...


Awesome Reply. You have much more energy today than I had to spend in this thread. but the above is exactly what I mean


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

hah.. just took my happy pills.. and since i'm a book keeper and run a very successful business, i know everything that goes into all this hoopla of creating a REAL business. Anyone can sell t-shirts to their friends and neighbors, not everyone can be Johnny Cupcakes or Hot Topics


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## bigtyme805 (Jun 26, 2008)

I was once like Gratz the King. I started on ebay while continuing my 9-5 job and making the shirts on the weekend. When it finally took off I left the 9-5 job and kicked off my website, but there was a transitional period for me.

Gratz you can do it but most of these folks have lots of experience and know how hard it is. Especially in today's market. But T-Shirts are relatively inexpensive so as long as you don't price yourself out things should be OK.

Good luck. Just a reminder I did many things myself even building my own website to keep expenses down. 

Regards,
Don


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

lindsayanng said:


> I ahve to agree with you here.. You have designs, KIND OF a logo, and the urge to build your website, but you have NO knowledge.
> 
> Forget about the website right now. its not time for that
> 
> ...


well i appreciate what you said but i found it to be quite negative and discouraing. i have a business plan in my head, and my brother has 6+ years of college doing taxes and books so he will cover me there. i also have the money to start this up and its not really an inconvenience for me. ive worked 9-5 jobs for the past 5 years and have around 15g or so saved up and im willing to spend it on getting started. so this is not some "get rich quick scheme" that i thought i could try and become the next johnny cupcakes

i planned most of it out, i just have no experience in it since ive never been in the t-shirt business before. i appreciate the advice but it is discouraging hearing people talk about how i "wont profit for atleast the first 2 years"...thanks for the advice but please dont respond with those discouraging remarks anymore! regardless if it may be true or not


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

if you found what i said to be discouranging, then you are going to be disappointed GREATLY. 

Did you have answers to even HALF of the questions i asked? You need to write them down and organize yourself, because even if you DO have 15G, which means you are either VERY young and had your parents pay everything for you up until now, or got some kind of settlement at some point, you ARE going to have a rude awakening. 

I am telling you this from EXPEREINCE. DONT THROW AWAY YOUR 15G!! Plan ahead, make a business plan, and THEN go forward, otherwise you will loose your money. I gurantee it. 

Like i said, i run a very successfull business, we profited 2M last year and doubled it this year. This is a business that started in my parent's basement. I can tell you for sure that it would NOT be where it is today if it was just JUMPED right into with no planning. 

And if you think its discouraging to HEAR that you wont profit for the first 2 years, then wait till it HAPPENS!!! because you WONT. You will make a profit of your shirts, yea, because you will mark them up, but for the first two years of your business, you WILL be putting ALL your "profits" into your business to make it better. UNLESS you just want to be that person who sells to their friends and neighbors. 

If you say you have planned most of it out, why in the WORLD do you not know what to do??? The simple act of ASKING what to do next means you have not thought it out. 

I'm not going to tell you not to start your business, i am TRYING to tell youw aht you will need to do, know, and experience before you sink all your money into it.


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

well i am not throwing my 15g away! im trying to keep the costs of this whole thing around 5g MAX...im not just tossing my money around, im spending it very carefully on necessary things

im just curious, you say you made 2m last year..how old are you and how long have you been running your business? im not doubting you, but i think you should know that im NOT some kid who thinks its all fun and games. i KNOW there will be hardships a long the way and not everything will meet my expectations. im not a stupid kid who thinks ill get rich overnight or something. and everyones plan is different, i have mine planned out but it might differ from yours or other peoples but it is still a business plan nonetheless


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

You have only been working for 5 years, you either have to be VERY young, or started late, both of which are not idea for a business owner. 5 years in ANY industry is not much for experience. 

If you must know, I am 26 years old, the business is an Engineering and Manufacturing business. I have been running the business for 3 years and offical owner for the past year. It was my father's business whom i had worked for for my life. I helped him any way i could. Now, he has passed away, but i was lucky enough to have been DEEPLY involved in the business before he passed, hence my 3 years of "running" the business. I do everything from purchasing, book keeping, payroll, inventory control, profit/loss calculations, marketing, customer relations, research and developement.. I do everything that is NOT engineering, i have hired engineers and we have 10 employees on payroll and about 15 good clients and counting. 

I KNOW what it takes to make a business work and i have recently helped my husband start his photography business. here in Connecticut, the market is SATURATED with photographers. He went to college for photography, but never persued it as a career. Well, i have been helping him market himself, get his budget all set, and built his website. ANYWAYS, he started 5 months ago, he now has 3 FULL months completely booked. Ask ANYONE who is a photgrapher if that happened in their first months. USUALLY it takes many many months to even get your first full paying client. 

All i have to say is, you NEED to go into your business with a completely clear head and an organized plan. You do not have that in the least bit. 

You major issue is that you are already upset with the fact that you are likely NOT going to turn a profit int he first years. That is business, and you have to be prepared for that.

Like i said, you might have some GREAT designs.. so answer my question..

do you have the governement paper work filed? You filed for a trademark, but did you get an articles of organization for your company? Did you register your business name? You might be trademarking something that is a;ready a registered business in your state, which means you can not have that same name

What TYPE of a business are you going to start? is your brother going to work for free? does he want to be a partner ship? Will you keep your books on a cash or accrual basis? 

How much will it cost you per shirt WITH your overhead? what will your monthly costs be? 

I am REALLY asking you for actual answers. If you have answers, that is GREAT, get them down on paper.. if not, you need to stop and think about this more.


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

i do not have those specific answers because i have not even begun starting yet. when i say starting, i dont mean the actualy selling of t-shirts. i mean i have hardly even begun ANYTHING yet, i havent even spent a dime yet on this

my next step is to look into all of that. what ive been doing for the past few weeks was getting the designs organized (which is free) and planning everything out (who will be my target customers, what my niche is etc.) ...so far i have not spent any money so i have lost nothing. now that i am planning on moving into the REAL phase of starting a clothing company and not just the brainstorming phase, i will actually begin looking into those things.

and i wasnt mad that you said i wasnt going to make money in my first 2 years. i already told you i was aware of that and expect many many hardships and bumps in the road a long the way. i was just saying that i dont really like negative energy


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

Well then, you have to think and get answers for ALL of that before you even THINK about a website. You say you have spent WEEKS planning everything out. WHAT did you plan out? In 1 week you can have a completely detailed Business Plan that a bank would accept. THAT is what you want. 

You havent lost anything?! You lost TIME!! in the days that you dont move forward, someone else is working on the same idea as yours

Call it what you want, but giving the facts based on MANY people's experience's is not negative energy. Its truth, and thats all. NO ONE here asked you to give up or told you that you would not make it int he business.. they told you EXACTLY what to expect


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

well thanks i guess. so you are suggesting that i make a business plan (what my budget will be, costs of the tees, costs of printing etc.) before i do anything else?


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

Absolutely. You should do that as SOON as you have an idea for a business. Figure out the costs, the vendors (you should have a few in your options) the overhead (cost of phone lines, websites, retail space (if any) taxes, fees, insurances, etc. 

A business plan is more than just a break out of costs. Cost is only a portion of your business, oyu need to know your market - figure out how saturated your market is, then figure out what is going to make you stand out from the rest. Depending on the type of shirts you are designing, you will have anywhere from 500 to 500,000 different companies competing for the SAME market. 

I suggest you read a LOT through here:
Small Business Administration - Write a Business Plan

the SBA is really a good resource. Notice that the second thing they suggest that you do is CREATE A BUSINESS PLAN and that is only second to getting the idea.


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## PavoneoLifestyle (Jan 11, 2009)

Yes you should start on your website. I started working on my website while i was waiting on my quote for the shirts and now that my order is in i am developing market strategies and working on finishing touches for my site...Good Luck with your company!!!!


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## hotwheels (Jul 11, 2008)

What I think you should be doing is trying to add more skills to your portfolio.

When I first thought about starting my clothing line I was going to pay someone to do designs for me, then pay someone else to print them, have them all sitting around in my house and then sell them when the orders came in.

It didnt take me long to realise that if I spent a little bit of time and effort I could cut some of these people out and earn more profit.

so...long story short I spent a LOT of time reaserching printing methods and finally brought a good vinyl cutter, then learned how to use it and make my own tees.

Now I am currently teaching myself Illustrator CS3, its not easy but its good to be designing my own shirts.

It sounds like you are going to get someone else to screenprint your shirts?
This method might be right for you, but if you arnt selling loads (e.g. you are not selling to stores) then maybe you could do them yourself with vinyl?

I dunno, just trying to help, it probably doesnt. I guess the main point was that there is SO SO much to learn, the more you can learn the better.

Also I think all that talk you are doing with copyright is a bit of a waste of time and money, I read somewhere on here things to that effect, cos basically even if you have a copyright and someone steals your design (which is kinda unlikly to happen really) then you still need all the money and time to pursue them


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## dmbypsi (Feb 8, 2009)

Won't just selling shirts on an ecommerce store suffice?
You really don't need to get a Fed. ID or anything. At least not until you really get a profit rolling in right?
I just got an E-store and am now just bringing in enough money to pay back my debt i got myself in purchasing all my equipment. Hope I'm not doing anything illegal, but I just don't feel the need to make myself into a "business" when the website is really doing all the work for me.
I'm just posting my shirts up there as I make them, and they pretty much sell themselves(with the help of some local marketing).


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

how much do you have to pay to sell on those e-commerce sites?


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## dmbypsi (Feb 8, 2009)

I use buyitsellit.com and pay 5 dollars a month. 
I have a domain name with godaddy.com and then just linked that with my buyitsellit account. 
Now when you type in my website, godaddy automatically kicks it to my store.
buyitsellit is easy to set up, and its free to post and start to sell, but i pay the 1st upgrade, which is 5 bucks, so i can customize and use my domain name.
you should give it a look.
I make about 20 shirts, and then post the design, just so i know i have some in stock when they get ordered.
They also have an inventory on buyitsellit. so you know when your getting low, and lets customers know that too.

check it out
buyitsellit - Free Online eCommerce Store Builder


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

> Won't just selling shirts on an ecommerce store suffice?
> You really don't need to get a Fed. ID or anything. At least not until you really get a profit rolling in right?
> I just got an E-store and am now just bringing in enough money to pay back my debt i got myself in purchasing all my equipment. Hope I'm not doing anything illegal, but I just don't feel the need to make myself into a "business" when the website is really doing all the work for me.
> I'm just posting my shirts up there as I make them, and they pretty much sell themselves(with the help of some local marketing).


You are CRAZY for not getting your FEIN and all the paperwork to start a real business.. and not jsut because the government can come after you for making a profit off the books, but because you simply can not write ANY of the money you spent to start the business off of your taxes.

The reason people create a business with the government is so that they can take all of the money they spent for startup, and write it off of their income for the year.. ESPECIALLY if you have another job.. If you have a regular job, and you make income, you pay taxes on that income. If you spend money to create a business, you write that off of your income.

So you are crazy for not actually doing it thecorrect way and registering your business


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## Obstructees (Sep 22, 2008)

Working on a website before you have any shirts designed is definitely not a good idea. I've seen alot of shirt sites that have two different themes. One for their shirts and one for their website. Get an idea for a style of shirts your comfortable with and then build the website off of that.


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## thrasherdoo (Nov 15, 2008)

this was an amazing thread!!!! Lindsayanng.... you are awesome, haha. for the most part i already knew it, but still you answered alot that was brewing in my brain. thanks!!!


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## curiousity (Feb 15, 2009)

Lindsayanng thanks for your posts. Very informative.


Gratz - 

1. Listen to Lindsayanng. Always listen to experience so that you can avoid missteps. Better yet, find a mentor in your local area that you can use as a resource.

2. Write your plan down on paper. I've helped several people start businesses and it is very, very easy to overlook things they are just in your head (or even to re-use a certain resource again and again.) An example of that is when I was helping one friend start a business, he kept using his investment money for different expenses while forgetting to actually subtract the cost from the initial amount. He also repeatedly brushed off attempts aimed at keeping a list for all the resources and expenses as we discovered them. This resulting in a "we'll just use "x" money for" any new expense that arose. I ended up separating myself from that project because that kind of sloppy attitude will cause any business to fail. AND no one is immune from this. I, myself, ran into this issue as I am learning and creating a very basic plan in my head for a tshirt company. When I started writing things down, I realized that my money went a lot further in my head than on paper. 

Write a business plan and then go to the sba.gov website to find free resources to review your business plan. You will be so thankful later if you do those two steps.


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

thanks curiosity

im wondering if i should by one of this bookeeping programs for the computer..which do you recommend?


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

Quickbooks for retailers.. and YES you need one. It will save you money in the long run and help you work on your profitability. 

The thing with selling stuff is that your profit is NOT what you markup your shirts to be.. So you THINK you might be making a $10 profit on a $10 shirt that you sell for $20 but thats just not true. You have a bunch of overhead, even with e-commerce.. you have to pay for the designs.. there is SOO much that should be done for book keeping if you want to have a successful business.

There was a thread here in which i explained the whole book keeping system to someone.. i will see if i can find it. 

Quickbooks is the easiest to use, most user friendly program out thre.. and they have a great online community. 

I do QB stuff for small business as a freelancer. I show up once a week and clean up their books and organize everyhting.


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## Peleg_86 (Dec 1, 2008)

thanks linds!

can you try to dig up that thread ?


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

here you go.. found it
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/site-reviews-design-reviews/t73375.html


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## BelHeirClothing (Mar 23, 2006)

I think if you know your companies name you should get your domain first to see if its available and maybe get simple hosting cause you can upgrade it later. So atleast you could have the site down. But also at the same time. You should make sure no one else is using that name in the same manner you are. Just google it or goto USPTO.GOV and do either DBA search or a trademark search.


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## goodtease (Nov 29, 2006)

Gratz_the_King - I think everyone has some good advice here. I would suggest writing everything out and then go to one of the non for profit small business organizations. I go to SCORES in Fairfield County, CT....all ex CEOs, CFOs, and executives looking to help the little people out. They have them all over the USA.

You really don't have to worry about the trademark at this time. You can use the TM marking on your logo and that will protect you for the time being. You don't have any income from this company right now....so it really won't make a difference. The Trademark process takes about a year....and you can't apply for one unless you actually have articles of clothing you can document with your logo.

This is what I did when I first started.

Got my domain first. This is probably the hardest part. It is critical getting a good domain....this could actually change the name of your company...but it is key since you want it to be an easy to remember name and easy to type. The longer it is....the worse off you are....in terms of the searchability.

Register that domain.

Now you have to file your federal and state paperwork. I used Legalzoom to file my LLC and my DBAs. Very easy site but lots of them out there. You will have to see if the name is being used in the same since you are going to use it. If this is all clear you should be good to go. Also you DON"T have to file for an LLC unless you really want to. If it is only you....you can file your taxes on your regular tax forms.

So now that you have this done.....you can start printing.
Figure your printing style....and what materials you are going to use. This took me about a year to final decided what I wanted to specialize in.

Go to the ISS shows. Learn from others in the printing business. I can tell you that networking has been my most valuable asset. This is key for starting up a company.

Now I would suggested starting to build your site....and at the same time test out some samples on friends and family. See if they like your products and fine tune them. But make sure the people you are giving it to is your target market.

Once you get the website up you will have to test, test and retest functionality and then start optimizing it for the web. 

And then maybe you will sell a shirt.

THis is a very basic overview....but at least it is a framework. I have been working on mine for 2 years....and I just got a break getting some of my stuff on tv. That has helped a TON! Anyways if you have any questions just post them!


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