Episode 152 – How To Make $75K In Custom Tees

Why $75,000?

Because according to the article "how much is enough" and the Princeton study they reference there, for most people $75K/year is enough to be worry free. They surveyed people at different income levels and by and large, the people that made less reported to be less happy and happiness didn't increase much at larger amounts.

Depending on almost everything of course - location, family size, etc.

And the $75K is also right in the middle of what is typically considered "middle class" in America.

These articles are talking about top line income - and we'll do that too, but we'll also talk about how much PROFIT you'll make at various sales levels.

Because I think that knowing these numbers will help you figure out your own.

So - if you buy into all this - what do you have to do in the customization business to make $75K?

First - we'll run a few scenarios for you - having to do with sale price, cost of goods sold, et.

Most of our digital t-shirt makers make $12 or MORE for every shirt they sell. Here's how the numbers work to get you to $75,000 per year!

Average profit per shirt $12.00

$75,000/$12 = 6,250 shirts

365 Days/6,250 = 17.12 shirts per day

or 2 week vacation and 5 day work week = 25 Shirts a day

Is making 25 shirts a day realistic?

Doing it alone, it's realistic to break up 2 shirts a day into this:

Production - 2 hours

Sales - 2 hours

Marketing - 2 hours

Paperwork - 2 hours

How do you get to 25 shirts a day?

Marketing:

1. Get your google / facebook / bing info set up for searches
2. Join groups / clubs
3. Up-sell customers
4. Sell through ebay / etsy (if you have good ideas)
5. Be sure you have some niche markets to sell to
6. 90% of our custom t-shirt business customers make ALL their money through word of mouth
7. Ask for referrals

Sales:

1. Get in the car with samples
2. Make phone calls
3. Talk to people / socialize
4. Ask for business
5. Be sure people know what you do
6. Wear what you do

Paperwork:

1. Build into business costs to have a CPA
2. Learn how to do it yourself (if you are good at that thing)
3. Don't let it pile up
4. Do things legally (if not sure hire someone - build that into cost of business)
5. Know your numbers!

Production:

1. Make your room work for you
2. Practice makes perfect
3. Don't give up
4. Stop chasing crazy ideas and focus on a few things you can do well
5. Up-sell more prints on a shirt or item, more money... less garments
6. Sell things that are easy to do. e.g. can coolers, mugs vs a hat with 4 locations of logos for $12

Remember to get to 75k... you have to do these simple things:

1. Leverage YOUR social network to build a business that YOU control.
2. Work hard on sales and marketing... don't just sit there
3. Get production down to a science
4. Do the paperwork right and know your numbers