# Advice for a startup in saturated market



## gerryppg (Jan 29, 2010)

I was wanting to pick peoples brains on advice for a start up screen printing shop in a saturated market in this economy. Any advice or suggestions that you can give would be helpful on any subject. (equipment/marketing/etc etc.) I have a budget of about 15k now and was not wanting to spend foolishly and want to get my business off to the right start. Thanks


----------



## TerryCombs (Nov 11, 2009)

Gerry - The posters here could write volumes I'm sure on getting into the business and being successful. I would say the key is to be good at what you do and that will separate you from much of the competition.

Determine what segment of the market you want to enter (your niche), and study the competition. For your $15,000 investment, you can certainly set up a professional shop with everything you need.

Talk a little more about what you want to do and pose some specific questions here, and you'll get more specific answers from everyone.

Best of luck! This business is creative, interesting and lots of fun!


----------



## gerryppg (Jan 29, 2010)

Well I would like to start small doing shirts for construction contractors and would like to start a website and selling some of my own designs that a friend of mine designed geared toward the christian community.
I was wondering what is the easiest way to get a website set up. Thanks


----------



## ShirlandDesign (Nov 29, 2009)

Pagebuzz.com


----------



## mr-fix-all (Oct 7, 2009)

Gerry,

Terry is exactly right. a couple of questions.
1. the market is saturated, Saturated with what, shirt printers, heat pressers, DTG, what. When looking for a niche, allways be unique, look around does anyone do custom gifts, like hats, mugs, tee shirts. if someone wants a photo mug for grandpa, do they have to order it from the photomat?

2. are you willing to do one-off's some of the most successful business started with people doing "custom" work.

the key to a successful small business is not necessarily how much start up capitol you have but setting up so that if necessary you can expand from an order of 10 to an order of 210 without more capitol.

my2cents

Jake


----------



## out da box (May 1, 2007)

Can sell work? If you can then all you have to do is do your spending. If you can't or you don't know, you'd better rethink and do your marketing research before you blow that 15k- especially if you're new to printing. I could blow that tonight on ebay.


----------



## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

I would first ask yourself why you are wanting to start a screen printing business.

If it's because you think you can save money by printing your own shirts, hm...not the best idea. Why? You will have to invest lots of time to learn the trade. There is a high level of craftsmanship in screen printing, if you don't have it, you just don't have it. I would just pay a seasoned printer to print your shirts. You can have a lot of shirts printed with that $15k. 

If you are thinking about starting a printing business...Do you already have connections to bring in business? Thinking that you can sell shirts to contractors may sound good, but most contractors order less than 12 pieces because most are independent contractors which mean they don't have many employees or any at all. Another reason to not concentrate on contractors is because the housing market stinks right now, which means many contractors are kind of out of work right now.

Are you starting from home or a warehouse? If you are starting at a warehouse, calculate the costs of running that warehouse. $15k will fly by overnight.

I see a lot of equipment for sale on craigslist because tons of people jump into this industry, then soon realize it's not as easy as pulling a squeegee. I would suggest you save that $15k, and spend a small amount for a 1 color press or a hobby kit from a craft store and test it out. See how you like it.


----------



## ubercooltees (Jul 20, 2009)

There are a few things I wish I would have done better. I Got into the business not knowing anything at all about it. Literally. I bought everything one piece at a time and made the stuff I couldn't afford. I would suggest you buy a training video, (I like the screen printing 101 by Ryonet) then go on Craigslist and search near by cities to find a shop that is already started. I have spent well over 10k just getting started, and I could have got one heck of a shop for that if I had all the money up front like you do. The chemicles and blanks alone cost a small fortune. 

Also, I would find a screen printer near by and get their contract rates, and maybe go out and do some marketing. Build a website first befor you buy anything. Then see what kind of luck you have generating leads. Take the orders you do get and contract them out to an established printer. Then buy a decent used setup and start taking the easy jobs for yourself untill you get better. As you learn different types of screen printing start doing them in house.


----------

