Hey friends, Dave here with Transfer Express, and today we are talking about scaling your growing
t-shirt business! Now, this video is really for those entrepreneurs and small t-shirt businesses
who started making t-shirts maybe at home as a hobby and have seen their online store or etsy
listings start to grow at a rate that they just can't keep up with anymore or even some of those
small businesses just looking for the next steps so that they could ensure that they are prepared
for the growing success now regardless we've got some simple strategies we're
going to cover here today to get you rolling to expand your business are you ready let's dive in
if you are new to transfer express we are the world's largest supplier of screen printed
and digital heat transfers heat presses free customizable designs wholesale apparel and expert
advice to help grow your t-shirt business if you haven't already subscribe we are kicking out new
videos like this one every single week now last year was huge for the apparel decorating industry
and the growth has no signs of slowing down and we absolutely love hearing the success stories of
these small businesses and how they are thriving with growth comes some challenges so we are here
today to help navigate and simplify the steps to help take your business to the next level
now while there are tons of variables in any business there are some constant themes that
regardless of size or product that you could find in any business of any size now i'm talking
production process and profits we'll be focusing on those three elements today and how they relate
to you and your growing t-shirt business now let's start with production as it's typically
the number one growing pain for smaller t-shirt businesses because it usually requires time and
time is something that we just can't add more of in each day now how you're producing your apparel
is going to directly impact your cost and your profits and we should try to balance that
as much as we can while still accounting for the time spent on creating your product if you're not
paying yourself for your time then you're losing out on profits but spending too much time on a
project can hurt your costs and impact your bottom line now a lot of the businesses that we talk to
started decorating t-shirts with heat transfer vinyl a vinyl cutter and a heat press and that's
great for those low quantities and reduced risk so you can protect your profits right out of the gate
but it does require time for cutting and weeding and that's something that only exponentially grows
as you start to take on more orders and this is where screen printed transfers come in now not
only do you save time with cutting and weeding but the transfers equal out in those higher quantities
in terms of cost so while you're speeding up your production with the plastisol ink transfers
you're not necessarily raising the print cost that you're paying out of pocket now this eliminates
the need to stock material on hand as with each order or new product you're launching
you just have to order the transfers in advance now of course with screen printing the higher
the quantity needed the lower the cost so you'll enjoy those bulk savings with that higher demand
too of course if you're even struggling to keep up with any printing yourself it may be time
to think about hiring a friend or family member to help print your apparel as well
it's a great way to maintain control of your quality while still alleviating the workload
on yourself and keeping the production in house now if you have really outgrown your britches
it may be time to explore a relationship with a local contract printer in your area
while it does kind of take all of the printing out of your hand you may find that a third-party print
shop may charge more than what the products were originally costing you to produce and your pricing
structure may have to change as now you're paying out some of your profits upfront but next up
let's talk process with process this is much more unique to each business as there's a wide range of
business services that you could use to run your orders customer service and even logistics and not
everyone is using the same platform of course this all differs based on if you're using etsy
or using maybe shopify woocommerce squarespace or even wix you kind of get the idea and while there
are all of these different services there's still common challenges with growth and the solutions
to those challenges now first up is order processing and customer service itself you
should have a dedicated routine where maybe you check the returns first thing in the morning then
prep and produce the new orders for the day then after that you check in with your apparel supplier
to be purchasing more blanks or check the tracking on where your blanks are then you finish the day
with some marketing tests on and social media and then a trip to the post office to drop all
of your shipments off now regardless of the order of your own individual tasks be sure to create a
dedicated schedule for yourself to make sure your daily tasks and work stay on target now if you
find yourself shipping a lot it might be time to invest in your own shipping label printer they're
incredibly affordable at just over 100 bucks you can find a ton on amazon now with shipping
partners like shipstation having integrations that connect to tons of stores like etsy or shopify
ebay and even that wix and woocommerce that i mentioned earlier it could really streamline those
mundane tasks for shipping and tracking packages your customers are absolutely going to love that
tracking information and communication as well now bringing label creation in-house can help
ease some of the backups and tedious tasks at the post office or the ups store and it could
give you more time to focus on your product and your storefronts of course you'll need to be
keeping track of your expenses and revenue as your business grows this is more important than ever
for your own pocket but now with the changes to paypal cash app and squarespace reporting to the
irs you're going to need a detailed account ready to go come tax time investing in some
simple bookkeeping software like quickbooks or fully utilizing the back end of whatever
platform you're running on or even paypal invoices having those detailed records is going to be the
key you're going to thank me for that later down the road now this brings us to profits profits is
why we're here in the first place leaving a nine to five to work for yourself is absolutely awesome
in its own right but if you aren't making ends meet you have to reevaluate your business from
the ground up balancing your expenses with price and the cost of shipping or e-commerce platforms
or even marketing isn't all too difficult but if you put in the time and plan out your goals as a
business the financial expectations and the price to charge your customers will put you on the path
to be absolutely rocking it now if you made it this far into the video you are probably already
crushing it looking for those steps to really take it to the next level now of course there's
loads more to scaling any business but taking that time to examine how you're doing things
can not only open up and make room for more growth but lead to more profits and success down the road
but here at transfer express we are always happy to help out t-shirt businesses of all sizes with
questions comments tips of your own just drop it down in the comments section below we're pushing
out new videos like this one every single week on the transfer express youtube channel
so if you're not already subscribed you should do so right now as always we're happy to help in any
way we can for the apparel decorating community if you need to reach us you could always comment
below call or email us at info transferexpress.com but until next time i'm dave happy pressing
you