How To Start A T-Shirt Business On A Budget
Even with a day job, it’ll always be great if you could have an additional source of income to help you achieve financial freedom and finally be your own boss. While there’s plenty of business out there that you could try, trying a T-shirt business might be a good option as you have a wide market, and they’re quite easy to source and do.
Starting a T-shirt business can be an excellent option as you can play with various colors, designs, and fabrics. However, if you don’t have much budget in your pockets but still would like to proceed to establish this business venture, you should look for ways how you can make it happen without burning your wallets. Moreover, below are some ways to start a T-shirt business on a budget:
Do Print-On-Demand Process
One of the best and most cost-effective ways to start a T-shirt business with a tight budget is to do a print-on-demand process like Printful. This type of operation allows you only to print T-shirts whenever you have a confirmed order from your customer. This way, you don’t have to pile up on your stocks but only get them when there’s a guaranteed order for that specific product.
With a print-on-demand process, you can save greatly on cost as you’ll only be producing the T-shirt once a customer orders it. Just ensure that you look for a good print-on-demand business that can provide you with speedy service so you can quickly ship your products to your customers as soon as possible. The faster you can deliver your products, the better output you’ll receive from your customers.
Implement A Pre-Order Process
One great way to save on costs when running a T-shirt business is to implement a pre-order process. With this method, you’ll be collecting orders for a specific duration, and you’ll only produce them depending on how many orders you have. This can help ensure that you’re only making T-shirts that already have their rightful owner. Moreover, you can also use their pre-order payments as your capital to purchase the T-shirts and produce them.
When doing a pre-order process, ensure that you inform your customers about this operation and how long they should wait until their orders arrive. Depending on your market and production, you can make the pre-order waiting time from one week to one month. On top of their pre-order period, you should also consider how long the production will take, along with the demand.
Start With Few Designs
When running a T-shirt business, you’ll need to come up with designs that could help you attract as much audience as possible. While it might be tempting to go out on designs, it’ll be the best choice if you could start with a few artworks first. This way, you won’t have to produce many t-shirts with various designs, colors, and sizes.
You can begin with having two to three designs that you think people would be interested in having inside their wardrobes. Moreover, it’ll also help if you could try to stick with a maximum of two colors to reduce your inventory. You can play with black and white and let the other colors come after once you’ve guaranteed success.
Create Your Own Design
Since you’re going to add plenty of amazing designs for your t-shirt business, you’ll need to come up with original artwork or purchase one on the internet. While they can be quick and easy, they can cost you a lot, which could take a toll, especially if you’re on a tight budget. To save on costs, you should consider creating your own design instead.
There are plenty of free resources online that you can use to edit photos for your T-shirt. Moreover, there are also some free assets that you can use as you design the artwork you’d like to put in. Alternatively, signing up for free digital art classes allow you to create your own art while also learning a new skill.
Maximize Your Social Media
Luckily, the world of social media is slowly rising, allowing small business owners to find a new way to advertise their products without any cost. While running ads might be helpful, maximizing social media’s full potential without one is still feasible. All you have to do is to find the right strategy on how you can allow your business account to be popular with the crowds. This will help them navigate your online store or order from you through a direct message.
For your social media enhancement, you should use SEO properly and use the right hashtags to target the right customers. Posting actual photos also give your audience an image of what your T-shirt would look like in the real world and not on the digital scale. Just be creative in how you’ll display your product, and everything should move smoothly.
Takeaway
Starting a T-shirt business can be tricky, especially if you have a tight budget. But with the right planning and a few adjustments, you should still be able to adjust to your needs and produce T-shirts without having to put out a large amount of money. While there might be an extra challenge, the benefits it’ll bring you would be worth it. Take it as part of your soon-to-be success story.
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