# $2000 a Month?!! Does anyone out here sell enough t-shirts a month to pull this off?



## jshade

Hi guys  

I was wondering if theres anybody out here with t-shirt sites makeing about two-grand a month. Or does anyone out there have any idea how i could sell enough t-shirts a month to make this amount a month. Im starting college and the money i need to save every month for school is outrages !! If i could sell that many t-shirts a month (maybe about 300 a month) that could ease my strain. (my job just dosen't give me enough) I know its a High amount to shoot for since im just going to start my site in about a month, but i kinda NEED this to work. Up untill the time i start my site im going to keep working on making the best rock'n'roll/gothic t-shirts i can. If anyone has any ideas on how i could make my t-shirt site as succesfull as it can with the market im targeting that would help out alot.
-Thanks guys


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## Shuffy

Sure you can make that kind of money a month and more . . maybe not right away . . even IMPOSSIBLE . . . says IM POSSIBLE 

Diane


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## darwyn

Shuffy said:


> even IMPOSSIBLE . . . says IM POSSIBLE


Now THAT's a t-shirt!!


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## darwyn

300 a month is a lot. If you want that kind of money...

Step 1: Figure out your business. Write a business plan. Figure out how you will market your tees and all the financials.

Step 2: Assuming your business is internet based...make darn sure your website is top notch. It is critical for your sales goals. If it looks average, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Make it easy to use and appealing (in that order).

Step 3: Have good designs. This is your product. It MUST be appealing because it's what people are giving you their hard earned dollar for. Do your homework. Unless you're CafePress'ing it, ask people what they think before investing money. As a college student, I doubt you have money to waste on unpopular designs.

Step 4: Be unique. I'm sure there are hundreds of gothic/rock-n-roll type t-shirt websites out there. Set yourself apart. Whether it be unique packaging, outstanding service, or original designs...make sure you aren't lost in the crowd.

Again, 300 a month is high to start, I'd say. The more you put in, the more you will get out.

I hope this helps. It actually helped me just writing it.


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## darwyn

All in all...make it YOUR site that gothic/rock-n-roll fans want to come to FIRST.


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## Shuffy

simply sell 134 T-shirts for 15 bucks and wala 2 grand a month


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## Shuffy

Thx Brian 

a few guys that come by my shop on the weekends have gone crazy over the Tee that refers to Anna Nicole Smith's mother . .

V***** A***** is just a pimple in the path of progress

the guys wear the Tee's to bar parties


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## monkeylantern

Yup, that's totally possible. Not with a thrown-together-mess of a site, but if you do everything well, that's totally possible. There are people selling 20 times those numbers simply using eBay.


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## Anruth

Hi, I'm pretty fresh to the fray. But I surprised at how easy a sell my shirts are. I definately can see $2000 a month in my future. Just take one step at a time and don't get discouraged. 

And when it happens remember how good it feels when you go to pick up a check and the customer reorders more then his original order.


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## binki

I know a guy that works 40-50 hours a week doing sales and he does about $75,000/month gross. So yes, $2000 is not unrealistic.


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## jshade

Wow, thanks alot guys If I follow what all of you are saying ill be able to reach my goal for sure! Thanks for giving me faith to put my ALL into my t-shirt biz!
-Thanks again guys!! ($2000 a month here we come!)


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## alphadatabase

binki said:


> I know a guy that works 40-50 hours a week doing sales and he does about $75,000/month gross. So yes, $2000 is not unrealistic.


 
INCREDIBLE!! What type of sales is he doing to make that kind of money??? Does he have a site or something??


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## Raissa8

binki said:


> I know a guy that works 40-50 hours a week doing sales and he does about $75,000/month gross. So yes, $2000 is not unrealistic.


 
How many items does he have in his product line? $75K a month sounds great. What kind of sales does he concentrate on?


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## binki

The $75K/mo guy actually does just over $100K per month and no, he has no web site. He has 3 other sales persons doing the other $25K/mo. We looked at buying his business because it was for sale but we could not come to terms.

Here is the deal. He is 100% outside sales. He does most of his sales to team sports. Not very sexy, but very profitable. 

*YES, YOU CAN MAKE MONEY SELLING NUMBERS PRINTED ON SHIRTS* Who would have thunk? The web is crowded with thousands of competitors but your local area only had a 100 or so. Which forum would you choose to compete?


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## susejevol1

Hey guys. Just a thought what about doing a hat shirt combo design. 
I have started my business doing just hats twice before (uncle stole company the quit 3 months later, tornado came though the second time) and now Im about to get it going again but this time with money $$$ backing me and with t-shirts added to my line. There is good money in hats and shirts. Especially if you target businesses for the hats.


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## Vtec44

If I did it right, at $10 profit a shirt you need to sell about 200 shirts a month. or about 7 shirts a day, to make $2000 profit. That's totally possible. 

(2000/10)/30=6.66


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## susejevol1

ChumpsChange. You can do that without much effort.


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## knight7th

When I was on eBay, I did $5-10k gross. 

My own site does $11k gross

Cafepress alone does $600 gross. 

The key there are costs. I really only net 10% of that after all expenses, especially cafepress being the highest charging production. My bulk-ordered outsourced shirts are the second cheapest and my in-house are the cheapest, but time was just too valueable. 

I agree with the other posts here, plan to succeed and you will. Have no plan, and you will plan to fail.


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## paulo

Shuffy said:


> simply sell 134 T-shirts for 15 bucks and wala 2 grand a month



 minus cost


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## collisiontheory

Anruth said:


> Hi, I'm pretty fresh to the fray. But I surprised at how easy a sell my shirts are. I definately can see $2000 a month in my future. Just take one step at a time and don't get discouraged.
> 
> And when it happens remember how good it feels when you go to pick up a check and the customer reorders more then his original order.



This is encouraging. Do you produce your own shirts or go through cafepress or something? I'd like to know how you do it as i'm interested in selling my shirts too. 

Anybody here earning good money on cafepress? 

thanks!
aj


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## Anruth

Currently, I'm selling off my web-site and have a few products on Cafepress. I'm also doing graphic design work and product production for local businesses. I do T-shirts, Hoodies, Sweatshirts, magnets, and stickers, atm. 

This spring I hope to add a vinyle cutter, and hat press to my equipment and offer even more products.

My original busniess plan was to do my own designs and sell just them. But that has changed slightly. My customers kept wanting new fresh items that outpaced my ability to design them fast enough. So, I moved into selling permade Transfer designs. And they sell just as quick.

With football season well under way. I've been moving into doing items for school sports fund raisers. Which I can see already as a major source of income.

I've also added my first salesperson totally on commission pay and she's very happy at how easy it is to sell.

My advice is to stay flexiable and don't do things for nothing. Alot of guys will do a job so cheap they aren't really making enough to expand. 

I also think that if you do things too cheap you risk getting the reputation of a guy that buys cheap product and equipment and just slaps the ink on, no matter how good of a quality product you really make.

Okay, enough rambling. Am I making $2000(In my pocket cash) a month yet? The answer is No. But, I'm closing in quickly. And my customer list is growing. And once I get all the equipment I want/need and get my garage built for that equipment. I'll be happy and putting that cash in my pocket.


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## Moo Spot Prints

jshade said:


> I was wondering if theres anybody out here with t-shirt sites makeing about two-grand a month.


We're pulling in just under $1k/mo right now, basically in our spare time. No steady online sales yet, but we haven't finished the site or promoted it much. Basically we're selling out of the back of the car and via word of mouth. We've done anywhere from $2k-$6k at events but we only do a few of those a year. 

We've been doing a lot of custom work lately. That sucks up a lot of time and isn't as profitable as selling preprinted shirts, but it's doing a lot to get the word out.

$2k a month is totally doable if you have good designs to a receptive audience.


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## Moo Spot Prints

One caveat I forgot to mention:
*
Startup Costs.*

I don't know what you're planning on doing, but the costs involved can be substantial, especially if you don't have a lot of dough. Figure on at least 4-5k for a basic setup. 

Sure, you can get a used press for $500 or so, but there are a lot of little things that you don't think about: paper, ink, toner (if you're doing home transfers), shirts, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutter and vinyl, scissors, teflon sheets/pillows/covers, storage containers, binders, folders, test shirts, tables... that doesn't even cover the stuff you'll need if you'll be screening everything.

Not trying to scare you, just letting you know.


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## BurnTees

knight7th said:


> When I was on eBay, I did $5-10k gross.
> 
> My own site does $11k gross
> 
> Cafepress alone does $600 gross.
> 
> The key there are costs. I really only net 10% of that after all expenses, especially cafepress being the highest charging production. My bulk-ordered outsourced shirts are the second cheapest and my in-house are the cheapest, but time was just too valueable.
> 
> I agree with the other posts here, plan to succeed and you will. Have no plan, and you will plan to fail.


what do you use besides cafepress? you print yourself or use a printer?


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## lgiglio1

Were you selling your own designs or generic stuff?


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## LujosDeVitrina

hey did u ever reach your goal? 2000 monthly?


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## dennishegstad

making 2,000 a month isn't hard at all. Right now my clothing line's website is doing over 2,500 a month and we're not even 8 months old. www.revertfashion.com


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## jshade

(The Poster)
Wow this post is years old now. So someone asked me if i ever hit the $2000 a month mark. And the answer is no. When I first made this post I was just about to start my first year of college and now im halfway threw junior year now. I ran into many problems when i finally started up. First the shirts were made the wrong way (my fault).Then the shirts that I had screen printed ended up being too dark, but I did end up selling some at a small rock n roll store. keep in mind that iv been in college the whole time (poor as hell). And when you try to screen-print your shirts (for $530) and it doesn’t work it kinda crushes you (but no excuses). Also I began to have some addictions with smoking (just cigs) and other problems that have held me back. But for now im getting my money together to try and use all the new art skills i have now to start an awesome T-shirt line. Overall I don’t have any excuses for why I haven’t "made it" yet. Iv made ALOT of mistakes but I still want to do this! Over this time, iv found out WAY more about business in general and realize that I wasn’t ready back then anyway. I even met Johnny Cupcakes last year (in Chicago) and I was feeling very depressed about the mistakes iv made. I asked him to sign my Entrepreneur magazine and said to him "im very interested in getting into this business" and he shook his head while looking down at my magazine and with a smile he said "if u can do it with cupcakes, you can do it with anything." Then we proceeded to take some fun and goofy pictures together.

Iv read where he has said that b4, but it wasn’t until he told me in person did I understand. When you see in person how his brand can line up 100 people or more outside of somewhere just because he’s going to be there, you understand the power of GOOD branding. So that’s where I stand. Im out to start up an amazing BRAND, not just another random T-shirt line. All my focus will go into putting together amazing artwork and powerful branding. I know for a fact that this will take time but it’s never to late to get back up and go after what you set out to do.


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## stickerguynyc

I think to make 2,000 a month in t shirt is not that hard... it is possible... 
I do mostly custom t shirt with simple design that easy to make and sell them to regular customer and make at least $10 each and when somebody buy one his friend want to buy it too... winter season with hoodie and jacket is where we could make more money on... a hoodie could make $15 and jacket got some that could make like $30 each..

Since I do heat transfer, I make sticker too so it add up some extra $$$ too.


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## noclue

guest3300 said:


> The $75K/mo guy actually does just over $100K per month and no, he has no web site. He has 3 other sales persons doing the other $25K/mo. We looked at buying his business because it was for sale but we could not come to terms.
> 
> Here is the deal. He is 100% outside sales. He does most of his sales to team sports. Not very sexy, but very profitable.
> 
> *YES, YOU CAN MAKE MONEY SELLING NUMBERS PRINTED ON SHIRTS* Who would have thunk? The web is crowded with thousands of competitors but your local area only had a 100 or so. Which forum would you choose to compete?


 I only do a few local organizations and I make 2g a month. I also dont sell on my web site at least not yet


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## LujosDeVitrina

jshade said:


> (The Poster)
> Wow this post is years old now. So someone asked me if i ever hit the $2000 a month mark. And the answer is no. When I first made this post I was just about to start my first year of college and now im halfway threw junior year now. I ran into many problems when i finally started up. First the shirts were made the wrong way (my fault).Then the shirts that I had screen printed ended up being too dark, but I did end up selling some at a small rock n roll store. keep in mind that iv been in college the whole time (poor as hell). And when you try to screen-print your shirts (for $530) and it doesn’t work it kinda crushes you (but no excuses). Also I began to have some addictions with smoking (just cigs) and other problems that have held me back. But for now im getting my money together to try and use all the new art skills i have now to start an awesome T-shirt line. Overall I don’t have any excuses for why I haven’t "made it" yet. Iv made ALOT of mistakes but I still want to do this! Over this time, iv found out WAY more about business in general and realize that I wasn’t ready back then anyway. I even met Johnny Cupcakes last year (in Chicago) and I was feeling very depressed about the mistakes iv made. I asked him to sign my Entrepreneur magazine and said to him "im very interested in getting into this business" and he shook his head while looking down at my magazine and with a smile he said "if u can do it with cupcakes, you can do it with anything." Then we proceeded to take some fun and goofy pictures together.
> 
> Iv read where he has said that b4, but it wasn’t until he told me in person did I understand. When you see in person how his brand can line up 100 people or more outside of somewhere just because he’s going to be there, you understand the power of GOOD branding. So that’s where I stand. Im out to start up an amazing BRAND, not just another random T-shirt line. All my focus will go into putting together amazing artwork and powerful branding. I know for a fact that this will take time but it’s never to late to get back up and go after what you set out to do.


 
wow man great speech dude wish u the best of luck. i also just started with 500$ which i borrow for 50 shirts and a 3 color design back and front. when i got the shirts dude that made them misspelled a word now im still waiting. my problem is building a site i have like no idea i just have the 1 page which says coming soon.


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## Garage.Works

seems like alot of shirts to be sold a day, but if there in the right place it can be done


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## jshade

LujosDeVitrina said:


> wow man great speech dude wish u the best of luck. i also just started with 500$ which i borrow for 50 shirts and a 3 color design back and front. when i got the shirts dude that made them misspelled a word now im still waiting. my problem is building a site i have like no idea i just have the 1 page which says coming soon.


Thanks dude, I’m gunna need the luck lol. So i read that your starting out which is really cool. One thing that i realized right away is that the chances of selling shirts are way higher when you try to sell them "in person.” I think you should defiantly get a website up and running but it takes awhile for traffic to hit often enough to start getting sales. I spent over $300 trying to build my own website thinking that telling people online would equal sales…but it didn’t lol. Make sure you know who your “Target audience” is and it can’t be “everyone.” While you put your website together, start finding out where the people who you want to sell to (your Target) hang out at both offline and online. Be aggressive, pitch sales to them right up in person and tell them about your website. Whatever target audience your going after you want to become the “go to” guy for “the cool” t-shirts. The more money you make the more you can recycle it and print more shirts. But if you don’t come up with some sort of logo or trademark to brand your company, you will end up being just some random guy selling shirts. Think of your competition, find out what areas you feel they aren’t marketing hard enough in and focus on it. Forget about trying to be “the next” this or “the next” that. If you come up with some cool designs and a healthy amount of people start buying from you, the “big boys” will look down and think to themselves “hmm, there making a nice little buck down there” and they will use there “spending power” to come with a design similar to yours and because they have more spending power they could even sell it for cheaper because they can buy your materials in WAY larger amounts then you which makes the individual unit coast go down dramatically. And before you know it, you’re in big trouble. So of course u need legal protection down the road but don’t forget about branding on your way to the top. If people know “you” for making that certain type of shirt your following will know the difference between you and the “fraud.” It’s happen to Johnny Cupcakes and can happy to anyone……ok Iv been rambling like crazy lol. Just thought id give you a few things to think about on your way up. Good luck buddy.


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## happyasgilmour

jshade.. you say youve got the art skills now and the drive but not the cash im guessing.
Why dont you for now, try and locate someone locally with the equipment and experience and work a deal with them to get you started and profit share. You'll learn how not to make those mistakes and you can help someone increase their business at the same time.

There has to be plenty of people like me out there that have several businesses and own all the equipment and know how to use it yet most of the time it sits there doing nothing because they make too much money doing other things. Spread the word and you'll find someone you can work with or work for to get the experience and some cash to set yourself up. 

A wise man once taught me that the harder I work, the luckier I get.... 
what he meant was the more doors he knocked on, the more people he helped, the more opportunities that came his way.


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## jshade

Yeah i think that doing some art for people would be a good way to get the money i need. Im trying to get a hold of about $1500 or a little more. Im going to be doing all over screen-printed shirts.

Hey Dennishegstad, thanks for the feedback do u sell that many shirts just online or do u sell to any stores?


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## SickPuppy

Shuffy said:


> simply sell 134 T-shirts for 15 bucks and wala 2 grand a month


That is so not true.

depending on his fixed expenses and variable expenses $15 a shirt could result in a loss of net operatingcome


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## jshade

Im thinking about trying to make some "High end shirts." I like to make detaild artwork and want to do "all over printing" this time around. I know ill have a hard time trying to startout that way and reach my 2k a mounth goal but i think ill try it anyway. I guess im gunna have to see what happens.


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## LujosDeVitrina

i started on thursday the 4th 2010, and so far i got my shirts in 2 stores!!! lol


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## jshade

LujosDeVitrina said:


> i started on thursday the 4th 2010, and so far i got my shirts in 2 stores!!! lol


Good job with that LujosDeVitrina, you'll be at 2K in no time.


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## victorlily

Good advertisement is necessary!
You can consider heat transfer ---flock letters and numbers to decorate your t-shirts.


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