How do you choose the right t-shirt?You are looking to start or grow your custom apparel business. There are a ton of challenges with choosing the right equipment, making sales, pricing your apparel and so much more. However, a topic not often discussed enough is the apparel you use.Choosing the right blanks is a core part of your success. This is similar to a great chef. If you learn about great chefs, it's not just about the best pans and recipes, but also about the best ingredients. More so, it's about the best ingredients for their particular recipe.The same thing applies to the custom apparel industry. You must pick the right apparel for your business. The idea of 'what is the best t-shirt' is a fallacy, just like the question of 'what's the best chocolate for a dessert'. It depends!In this podcast we will discuss the idea of 'the best shirt' with an industry expert Mike Putnam. Mike has been in the apparel industry for over 30 years working in the apparel, sportswear and equipment industries.Some of the questions we’ll answer in this episode include:What is the best technology for your custom apparel business?What type of T-shirts should you sell?What problems should you expect?How do you get past these problems?Why is the idea of a ‘best’ shirt is a bit of a fallacy?Your processYour TechnologyYour customers’ needs (timeframe, color, quantity)The retail price you sellWhat technology should you be printing with?Screen printingDirect to FilmWhite TonerDTGSublimationWhy do some shirts fail and others succeed in printing (even when they are the "same" material)?How do you decide the best shirt for your business?

How do you choose the right t-shirt?You are looking to start or grow your custom apparel business. There are a ton of challenges with choosing the right equipment, making sales, pricing your apparel and so much more. However, a topic not often discussed enough is the apparel you use.Choosing the right blanks is a core part of your success. This is similar to a great chef. If you learn about great chefs, it's not just about the best pans and recipes, but also about the best ingredients. More so, it's about the best ingredients for their particular recipe.The same thing applies to the custom apparel industry. You must pick the right apparel for your business. The idea of 'what is the best t-shirt' is a fallacy, just like the question of 'what's the best chocolate for a dessert'. It depends!In this podcast we will discuss the idea of 'the best shirt' with an industry expert Mike Putnam. Mike has been in the apparel industry for over 30 years working in the apparel, sportswear and equipment industries.Some of the questions we’ll answer in this episode include:What is the best technology for your custom apparel business?What type of T-shirts should you sell?What problems should you expect?How do you get past these problems?Why is the idea of a ‘best’ shirt is a bit of a fallacy?<ul><li>Your process</li><li>Your Technology</li><li>Your customers’ needs (timeframe, color, quantity)</li><li>The retail price you sell</li></ul>What technology should you be printing with?<ul><li>Screen printing</li><li>Direct to Film</li><li>White Toner</li><li>DTG</li><li>Sublimation</li></ul>Why do some shirts fail and others succeed in printing (even when they are the "same" material)?How do you decide the best shirt for your business?

Episode 191 - What Is The Best T-Shirt?

Starting A Side Business And Growing To Full TimeEveryone is looking for a way to make more money, achieve financial independence, and enjoy the work they do. One of the ways people accomplish this is by starting a side hustle, and potentially growing it to a full-time gig.But how do you do this successfully?   If you are brand new, how do you get started? If you already have a side hustle, how do you take it full time?In this episode we are joined by Amir Bavi, a ColDesi employee and customization business owner. Amir has taken the journey from side business to full time and back around. It’s all about YOUR personal journey and we are here to help.Here are the steps to starting and growing your side business.You have an idea, so what’s next?Put it in writingConsider WHO your customer isConsider WHAT you will sell themDetermine HOW profitable your products arePick WHERE you will do the workSchedule WHEN you will do the side hustle workWrite down WHY You are doing this (and never forget it!)Other topics covered in this episode:What are the steps to getting started?What should you watch out for?Once you get started, how can you make sure you don’t grow too fast or slow?How do you know when you are ready to go full time?How do you stay motivated?Did you ever have a time when you wanted to give up?#1 Tips for success

Starting A Side Business And Growing To Full TimeEveryone is looking for a way to make more money, achieve financial independence, and enjoy the work they do. One of the ways people accomplish this is by starting a side hustle, and potentially growing it to a full-time gig.But how do you do this successfully?   If you are brand new, how do you get started? If you already have a side hustle, how do you take it full time?In this episode we are joined by Amir Bavi, a ColDesi employee and customization business owner. Amir has taken the journey from side business to full time and back around. It’s all about YOUR personal journey and we are here to help.Here are the steps to starting and growing your side business.You have an idea, so what’s next?<ul><li>Put it in writing</li><li>Consider WHO your customer is</li><li>Consider WHAT you will sell them</li><li>Determine HOW profitable your products are</li><li>Pick WHERE you will do the work</li><li>Schedule WHEN you will do the side hustle work</li><li>Write down WHY You are doing this (and never forget it!)</li></ul>Other topics covered in this episode:<ul><li>What are the steps to getting started?</li><li>What should you watch out for?</li><li>Once you get started, how can you make sure you don’t grow too fast or slow?</li><li>How do you know when you are ready to go full time?</li><li>How do you stay motivated?</li><li>Did you ever have a time when you wanted to give up?</li><li>#1 Tips for success</li></ul>

Episode 190 - Starting a Business

Many small business owners get into their business with an idea, rather than a full plan. You want to make t-shirts or print signs. You know it's profitable and you've already got some referral business. It's not that hard to make some money and get overwhelmed with business. What IS hard is growing your business to achieve your dreams and goals. One of the first steps to understanding how to create a great marketing plan (that will lead to success) is understanding the 4 Ps of marketing. In so many words, it's understanding your businesses goals, so you can make truly educated marketing decisions. So, what are the next steps for your marketing?Should you start a TikTok?Should you do local paid advertising?Would doing google ads be a good idea?Is renting a booth at a farmers market going to be profitable?Is hiring a marketing firm/person the right move?Anyone who tells you they have the answer to these questions is wrong. None of these can be answered correctly without knowing your 4 Ps. So let’s get to them!All Marketing revolves around the 4 Ps:Product:The number of products categories, product lines and variations your company sells.For example:Product Categories: Workwear, SignageProduct Lines:WorkwearMen’s WorkwearWomen’s WorkwearSignagePrinted Graphic DecorativeIndoor SignsProduct Variations:WorkwearWomen’s Short Sleeve t-shirtWomen’s Long Sleeve t-shirtWomen’s PoloHats (One)SignageRoom Names / BrailleRestroomsDirectoriesMapsInstructions (wash hands)How a product is presented or packaged and servedHow will your customer place their order?ecom, call in, email, in-person.How will your customer get their product?Personal delivery, by mail, customer pick up.Do you install or instruct?Price:What is the fair market rate of each item sold?How do customers pay? Can they pay online? Deposits? Pay in full?Promotion:What channels are you currently utilizing?New business: Nothing because your business hasn't started.Existing business: Google My business? Social Media? Word of Mouth? YouTube? Paid Advertising?What channels are you capable of utilizing?Can build a website? Can you hire someone to build one?Can you afford a paid advertising budget?Are there live events you can attend?Do you have a personality for social media/YouTube?Place:Are your products sold online? In store? 3rd party?Do customers need to be local?Are your products only sold with your physical presence? (e.g., signs)Is there anywhere you won’t / can't sell?BONUSOnce you have 4Ps then you need to look at your demographicsWhat is the face of your customer or their profile / avatar?e.g., local small business owners - Dentists, Drs, Pharmacy, Interior Designers, Real Estate, Golf CourseNow that you have the 4Ps and your Demographics. You can start answering questions: Should you start a TikTok?Should you do local paid advertising?Would doing google ads be a good idea?Is renting a booth at a farmers market going to be profitable?

Many small business owners get into their business with an idea, rather than a full plan. You want to make t-shirts or print signs. You know it's profitable and you've already got some referral business. It's not that hard to make some money and get overwhelmed with business. What IS hard is growing your business to achieve your dreams and goals. One of the first steps to understanding how to create a great marketing plan (that will lead to success) is understanding the 4 Ps of marketing. In so many words, it's understanding your businesses goals, so you can make truly educated marketing decisions. So, what are the next steps for your marketing?<ul><li>Should you start a TikTok?</li><li>Should you do local paid advertising?</li><li>Would doing google ads be a good idea?</li><li>Is renting a booth at a farmers market going to be profitable?</li><li>Is hiring a marketing firm/person the right move?</li></ul>Anyone who tells you they have the answer to these questions is wrong. None of these can be answered correctly without knowing your 4 Ps. So let’s get to them!All Marketing revolves around the 4 Ps:Product:The number of products categories, product lines and variations your company sells.For example:<ul><li>Product Categories: Workwear, Signage</li><li>Product Lines:<ul><li>Workwear</li><li>Men’s Workwear</li><li>Women’s Workwear</li><li>Signage</li><li>Printed Graphic Decorative</li><li>Indoor Signs</li></ul></li><li>Product Variations:<ul><li>Workwear</li><li>Women’s Short Sleeve t-shirt</li><li>Women’s Long Sleeve t-shirt</li><li>Women’s Polo</li><li>Hats (One)</li><li>Signage</li><li>Room Names / Braille</li><li>Restrooms</li><li>Directories</li><li>Maps</li><li>Instructions (wash hands)</li></ul></li><li>How a product is presented or packaged and served</li><li>How will your customer place their order?<ul><li>ecom, call in, email, in-person.</li></ul></li><li>How will your customer get their product?<ul><li>Personal delivery, by mail, customer pick up.</li></ul></li><li>Do you install or instruct?</li></ul>Price:<ul><li>What is the fair market rate of each item sold?</li><li>How do customers pay? Can they pay online? Deposits? Pay in full?</li></ul>Promotion:<ul><li>What channels are you currently utilizing?<ul><li>New business: Nothing because your business hasn't started.</li><li>Existing business: Google My business? Social Media? Word of Mouth? YouTube? Paid Advertising?</li></ul></li><li>What channels are you capable of utilizing?<ul><li>Can build a website? Can you hire someone to build one?</li><li>Can you afford a paid advertising budget?</li><li>Are there live events you can attend?</li><li>Do you have a personality for social media/YouTube?</li></ul></li></ul>Place:<ul><li>Are your products sold online? In store? 3rd party?</li><li>Do customers need to be local?</li><li>Are your products only sold with your physical presence? (e.g., signs)</li><li>Is there anywhere you won’t / can't sell?</li></ul>BONUSOnce you have 4Ps then you need to look at your demographics<ul><li>What is the face of your customer or their profile / avatar?<ul><li>e.g., local small business owners - Dentists, Drs, Pharmacy, Interior Designers, Real Estate, Golf Course</li></ul></li></ul>Now that you have the 4Ps and your Demographics. You can start answering questions: <ul><li>Should you start a TikTok?</li><li>Should you do local paid advertising?</li><li>Would doing google ads be a good idea?</li><li>Is renting a booth at a farmers market going to be profitable?</li></ul>

Episode 189 - The 4 Ps of Marketing

What is a social media strategy?A social media strategy is an outline or plan of your social media goals, how you will achieve them, and how you’ll track metrics. Social is talked about all the time in business, but do you need it? If yes, then how will you use it? This episode is all about finding out what is right for your business. Why having a presence on social media is important for small businesses:Maintains and builds relationships with customers you already haveGrows brand awareness and familiarityBuilds trust with new and current customersBuilds engaged communitiesTurns customers into advocates (gain mentions, comments, likes, tags, etc.)Gives your business a chance to respond to any negative feedbackAnother channel to promote products or servicesHow to set up a strategyDetermine a goal – make sure it’s measurable/realistic for your business (ex: increasing email sign ups, increase web traffic, generate sales/leads, etc). Understanding and researching your competition can help you.Understand your audience – Know the basics about your target audience like age, location, income, interests, etc. Which can all be found using that platform’s analytics tool. This can help you build better strategies and goals based off that data. Also know things like what kind of content do your customers engage with? What accounts do your customers follow? What do they like/share?Get to know your competition – Complete a competitive analysis to help you understand what your competitors are doing, what their strengths/weaknesses are. Or keep an eye on their pages, search relevant keywords and how your competitors rank, etc.Start Implementing Your StrategyDetermine which platforms you want to use and are relevant to you (Instagram for reels, TikToks for short videos, Facebook for customer service, etc)Set up your profiles (use consistent branding like logos and brand colors, fill out bio completely, use high-quality images, include keywords people may associate your business with, etc)Create a social media calendar to help organize content ideas, scheduled posts, and maintain consistencyHave your first couple of posts planned out and ready to go liveWho are you selling to? What is your niche?Should social media be a place for you to sell, or just display your products?What would you be able to show off?What do you WANT to do on social media?Learn about your potential audience / customersDoes your audience make purchasing decisions from social media?Can you reasonably work with your customers or influencers to promote your product?Which platforms make sense for your business?Research your competition or other similar businessesWhat are they doing?Do you want to do what they’re doing or something different?Determine your strategyDo you want to sell online?Do you want to have customers find you on social?Are your pages for building trust?Are your pages just an online portfolio?Define your brandWhat do you want to look like?What is the personality of your brand?Who is your audience?Set up accounts / profilesImagesDescriptionsInitial PostsCreate a social media calendarWhen will you post?What will you post?Will you go live?Collaborate with othersEngage with people in commentsConnect with customers on their social accountsCross-promote when possibleFollow and connect with potential influencersExperiment with new ways to engageContestsAsk opinions (This or that? Which is your fav?)Boost posts (pay to get more views)Do you have customers that can promote your pages?e.g. if you work with a school maybe do a # contest for free swage.g. if you work with another small business, cross-promote each other or share a contest. “Win X from me and Y from them.”Track performanceBE PATIENTLook for interesting winsTry to re-create what has worked beforeExtra Social Media Tips/ IdeasAfter your social media accounts are created, keep a few things in mind:Experiment with style of content: Post polls, stories, contests, cross collaborations (mention nails), boost posts, customer success stories.Don’t post too much or too little. One can seem annoying and overbearing while the other can seem lazy or like the brand doesn’t care.Get your team on social media, which helps with keeping track of any messages, mentions, or comments.Search popular hashtags/ keywords to use in written and video posts.Using Social Media for business isn't just as simple as posting cool pictures and getting a million followers. People who have 'gone viral' as a rule didnt get there by accident. They spent a ton of time interacting with the platform, creating content, posting like crazy and working hard.Make a smart business decision on how YOUR business will use social media and go for it!

<h2>What is a social media strategy?</h2>A social media strategy is an outline or plan of your social media goals, how you will achieve them, and how you’ll track metrics. Social is talked about all the time in business, but do you need it? If yes, then how will you use it? This episode is all about finding out what is right for your business. <h2>Why having a presence on social media is important for small businesses:</h2><ul><li>Maintains and builds relationships with customers you already have</li><li>Grows brand awareness and familiarity</li><li>Builds trust with new and current customers</li><li>Builds engaged communities</li><li>Turns customers into advocates (gain mentions, comments, likes, tags, etc.)</li><li>Gives your business a chance to respond to any negative feedback</li><li>Another channel to promote products or services</li></ul><h2>How to set up a strategy</h2><ol><li>Determine a goal – make sure it’s measurable/realistic for your business (ex: increasing email sign ups, increase web traffic, generate sales/leads, etc). Understanding and researching your competition can help you.</li><li>Understand your audience – Know the basics about your target audience like age, location, income, interests, etc. Which can all be found using that platform’s analytics tool. This can help you build better strategies and goals based off that data. Also know things like what kind of content do your customers engage with? What accounts do your customers follow? What do they like/share?</li><li>Get to know your competition – Complete a competitive analysis to help you understand what your competitors are doing, what their strengths/weaknesses are. Or keep an eye on their pages, search relevant keywords and how your competitors rank, etc.</li></ol><h2>Start Implementing Your Strategy</h2><ul><li>Determine which platforms you want to use and are relevant to you (Instagram for reels, TikToks for short videos, Facebook for customer service, etc)</li><li>Set up your profiles (use consistent branding like logos and brand colors, fill out bio completely, use high-quality images, include keywords people may associate your business with, etc)</li><li>Create a social media calendar to help organize content ideas, scheduled posts, and maintain consistency</li><li>Have your first couple of posts planned out and ready to go live</li></ul><h2>Who are you selling to? What is your niche?</h2><ul><li>Should social media be a place for you to sell, or just display your products?</li><li>What would you be able to show off?</li><li>What do you WANT to do on social media?</li></ul><h2>Learn about your potential audience / customers</h2><ul><li>Does your audience make purchasing decisions from social media?</li><li>Can you reasonably work with your customers or influencers to promote your product?</li><li>Which platforms make sense for your business?</li></ul><h2>Research your competition or other similar businesses</h2><ul><li>What are they doing?</li><li>Do you want to do what they’re doing or something different?</li></ul><h2>Determine your strategy</h2><ul><li>Do you want to sell online?</li><li>Do you want to have customers find you on social?</li><li>Are your pages for building trust?</li><li>Are your pages just an online portfolio?</li></ul><h2>Define your brand</h2><ul><li>What do you want to look like?</li><li>What is the personality of your brand?</li><li>Who is your audience?</li></ul><h2>Set up accounts / profiles</h2><ul><li>Images</li><li>Descriptions</li><li>Initial Posts</li></ul><h2>Create a social media calendar</h2><ul><li>When will you post?</li><li>What will you post?</li><li>Will you go live?</li></ul><h2>Collaborate with others</h2><ul><li>Engage with people in comments</li><li>Connect with customers on their social accounts</li><li>Cross-promote when possible</li><li>Follow and connect with potential influencers</li></ul><h2>Experiment with new ways to engage</h2><ul><li>Contests</li><li>Ask opinions (This or that? Which is your fav?)</li><li>Boost posts (pay to get more views)</li><li>Do you have customers that can promote your pages?<ul><li>e.g. if you work with a school maybe do a # contest for free swag</li><li>e.g. if you work with another small business, cross-promote each other or share a contest. “Win X from me and Y from them.”</li></ul></li></ul><h2>Track performance</h2><ul><li>BE PATIENT</li><li>Look for interesting wins</li><li>Try to re-create what has worked before</li></ul><h2>Extra Social Media Tips/ Ideas</h2>After your social media accounts are created, keep a few things in mind:<ul><li>Experiment with style of content: Post polls, stories, contests, cross collaborations (mention nails), boost posts, customer success stories.</li><li>Don’t post too much or too little. One can seem annoying and overbearing while the other can seem lazy or like the brand doesn’t care.</li><li>Get your team on social media, which helps with keeping track of any messages, mentions, or comments.</li><li>Search popular hashtags/ keywords to use in written and video posts.</li></ul>Using Social Media for business isn't just as simple as posting cool pictures and getting a million followers. People who have 'gone viral' as a rule didnt get there by accident. They spent a ton of time interacting with the platform, creating content, posting like crazy and working hard.Make a smart business decision on how YOUR business will use social media and go for it!

Episode 188 - Setting up Your Social Media Strategy

John Sullivant

Financing is an important part of starting and growing a business. However, there are a lot of misconceptions and confusion. Many people only have experience financing a house, car, or a new couch. Yet there is a whole world of financing business equipment and software.This episode discusses financing for business and answers the most frequently asked questions.Why do businesses finance equipment?Utilize banks money to startKeep current liquid money on handTax benefitsTime value of moneyCan a new business finance?Yes!You can use personal creditWhat if you don't have perfect credit - should you finance? What if the rate is high?Start now, or don't startRisk and rewardDo what you gotta doWhy not just use a credit card?Installment vs revolving creditSave your credit card for quick purchase / pay off like supplies or blanksDon't use personal revolving credit lines for businessIsn't interest bad?If you can make more money than the interest, you winTax benefitsBank loans cost money, that's the way it works. They are in business too.Better to do something than nothing to winWhat's the finance process like?ApplyReview credit and terms with agentAccept, sign, deliverWhat's financing vs leasing?What if someone has a lot of other questions?Isn't debt for suckers?Most businesses have debtYou buy a house with a loan for the long-term benefits (equity)Is a car loan for a new and reliable car better than paying cash for a car that will break down?Financing: assets vs liabilityA machine for business is different from a carThis isn't just adding to your bills but giving you opportunity.Tax benefitsYou own something of real value vs taking on debt for a vacation or new tvOverall, financing isn't complicated, but it feels scary. So is starting a business or buying a house. Those who take the risk are the ones who can be rewarded.Learn more at https://coldesi.com/financing-options/

Financing is an important part of starting and growing a business. However, there are a lot of misconceptions and confusion. Many people only have experience financing a house, car, or a new couch. Yet there is a whole world of financing business equipment and software.This episode discusses financing for business and answers the most frequently asked questions.Why do businesses finance equipment?<ul><li>Utilize banks money to start</li><li>Keep current liquid money on hand</li><li>Tax benefits</li><li>Time value of money</li></ul>Can a new business finance?<ul><li>Yes!</li><li>You can use personal credit</li></ul>What if you don't have perfect credit - should you finance? What if the rate is high?<ul><li>Start now, or don't start</li><li>Risk and reward</li><li>Do what you gotta do</li></ul>Why not just use a credit card?<ul><li>Installment vs revolving credit</li><li>Save your credit card for quick purchase / pay off like supplies or blanks</li><li>Don't use personal revolving credit lines for business</li></ul>Isn't interest bad?<ul><li>If you can make more money than the interest, you win</li><li>Tax benefits</li><li>Bank loans cost money, that's the way it works. They are in business too.</li><li>Better to do something than nothing to win</li></ul>What's the finance process like?<ul><li>Apply</li><li>Review credit and terms with agent</li><li>Accept, sign, deliver</li></ul>What's financing vs leasing?What if someone has a lot of other questions?Isn't debt for suckers?<ul><li>Most businesses have debt</li><li>You buy a house with a loan for the long-term benefits (equity)</li><li>Is a car loan for a new and reliable car better than paying cash for a car that will break down?</li></ul>Financing: assets vs liability<ul><li>A machine for business is different from a car</li><li>This isn't just adding to your bills but giving you opportunity.</li><li>Tax benefits</li><li>You own something of real value vs taking on debt for a vacation or new tv</li></ul>Overall, financing isn't complicated, but it feels scary. So is starting a business or buying a house. Those who take the risk are the ones who can be rewarded.Learn more at <a href="https://coldesi.com/financing-options/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://coldesi.com/financing-options/</a>

Episode 187 - Expert Advice on Equipment Financing - John Sullivant of Adia Capital

2023 is here and what’s in store for YOUR business. Mark and I have been reading around to learn what problems the 'experts' say small business owners will run into. We then put our heads together to consider how these affect the customization business industry.So here we go... let’s get ahead of 2023 with expected challenges and resolutions!Supply Chain Issues – There will still be issues with getting supplies, and it shouldn’t be a surprise anymore. Since 2020 everything from toilet paper to cars has seen the effect of backorders &amp; supply chain issues.What this means for youStock up, Stock up, Stock upHave backup plans, especially for apparelDon't procrastinateInclude in communication to customers*Accelerated Digital Transformations** - Changes are happening faster than ever. Your customers are going to want to interact with you digitally the way THEY want to. Texts, live chats, emails, social media, package tracking, etc.What this means for youFind the ways your customers like to interactFigure out how to implement (CRM, Texting Software, Apps)Move away from the old ways (Excel quotes, Taking credit card numbers over phone, physically signed quotes)Inflation – Prices are still expected to go up.What this means for youPrepare your customers ahead of timeBe watchful of waste / Find ways to be more efficientRaise YOUR prices when you have toFind ways YOU can help YOUR customers save money. e.g. 'what other promo items do you use, maybe I can help you consolidate all of them with me to save money'Talent and Staffing – Good quality employees are going to have plenty of opportunitiesWhat this means for youIt may be hard to hire if you need to add staffCreate a Good Working Environment that encourages employees to join/stayKnow employees’ worth, if you hear similar jobs pay $2-3 more an hour, consider raisesIncreased customer expectations – People get things faster and more personalized than ever.What this means for youYou ARE in the customization business, so that’s good for you.You will want to be efficient to deliver things faster than ever.Consider what you keep in stock so you can deliver same/next dayTransformation of gig workers - More people are moving to gig/contract work as a side hustle or even full time.What this means for youPotential to outsource to help your growthYou might not have to hire in a full timerHire people seasonally, even IN your shopGig workers can be a market tooEven though challenges are expected in 2023 there is still a ton of optimism in our industry, so be sure to keep pushing forward and make it a great one!

2023 is here and what’s in store for YOUR business. Mark and I have been reading around to learn what problems the 'experts' say small business owners will run into. We then put our heads together to consider how these affect the customization business industry.So here we go... let’s get ahead of 2023 with expected challenges and resolutions!Supply Chain Issues – There will still be issues with getting supplies, and it shouldn’t be a surprise anymore. Since 2020 everything from toilet paper to cars has seen the effect of backorders &amp; supply chain issues.What this means for you<ul><li>Stock up, Stock up, Stock up</li><li>Have backup plans, especially for apparel</li><li>Don't procrastinate</li><li>Include in communication to customers</li></ul>*Accelerated Digital Transformations** - Changes are happening faster than ever. Your customers are going to want to interact with you digitally the way THEY want to. Texts, live chats, emails, social media, package tracking, etc.What this means for you<ul><li>Find the ways your customers like to interact</li><li>Figure out how to implement (CRM, Texting Software, Apps)</li><li>Move away from the old ways (Excel quotes, Taking credit card numbers over phone, physically signed quotes)</li></ul>Inflation – Prices are still expected to go up.What this means for you<ul><li>Prepare your customers ahead of time</li><li>Be watchful of waste / Find ways to be more efficient</li><li>Raise YOUR prices when you have to</li><li>Find ways YOU can help YOUR customers save money. e.g. 'what other promo items do you use, maybe I can help you consolidate all of them with me to save money'</li></ul>Talent and Staffing – Good quality employees are going to have plenty of opportunitiesWhat this means for you<ul><li>It may be hard to hire if you need to add staff</li><li>Create a Good Working Environment that encourages employees to join/stay</li><li>Know employees’ worth, if you hear similar jobs pay $2-3 more an hour, consider raises</li></ul>Increased customer expectations – People get things faster and more personalized than ever.What this means for you<ul><li>You ARE in the customization business, so that’s good for you.</li><li>You will want to be efficient to deliver things faster than ever.</li><li>Consider what you keep in stock so you can deliver same/next day</li></ul>Transformation of gig workers - More people are moving to gig/contract work as a side hustle or even full time.What this means for you<ul><li>Potential to outsource to help your growth</li><li>You might not have to hire in a full timer</li><li>Hire people seasonally, even IN your shop</li><li>Gig workers can be a market too</li></ul>Even though challenges are expected in 2023 there is still a ton of optimism in our industry, so be sure to keep pushing forward and make it a great one!

Episode 186 - Getting Ahead of 2023

Working with many customers can be very challenging, especially when it's repeat customers.Some customers are very needy, others are poor at communication, others don’t pay on time.So how do you handle all these different types of customers when you are trying to run your business YOUR way? You want to keep your best customers happy, so they come back!Get a CRMThis is key. You need a way to organize all your information, contacts, notes, reminders, invoices.Set RemindersBe sure to have reminders for ANYTHING important. Remind customer to get you the art, Remind that a bill is due. Remind to follow up on approval for production.If you can set up automated reminders to email / text them… even better.Use your calendarEvery meeting needs a calendar meeting (invite the customer too)Use Calendly to avoid those "are you available at XYZ time/day" emailsBlock out time for work. Invoicing, production, etc.Have policies and proceduresYou cannot force your customers to do everything your way, but you sure can suggest it. Many people will comply to your procedures. And YOU can decide which rules are ok to bend and not.Fire customersYes, it's HARD to say no to money but there is a price for your time, effort and stress. If one customer is preventing you from growing or enjoying your business, it's time to let them go.Be FriendlyYou catch more flies with honey. People will like you. People will adhere to your reminders, people will respect your calendar invites, people will follow your procedures and you will have enough customers to be able to fire the bad ones.

Working with many customers can be very challenging, especially when it's repeat customers.Some customers are very needy, others are poor at communication, others don’t pay on time.So how do you handle all these different types of customers when you are trying to run your business YOUR way? You want to keep your best customers happy, so they come back!Get a CRM This is key. You need a way to organize all your information, contacts, notes, reminders, invoices.Set Reminders Be sure to have reminders for ANYTHING important. Remind customer to get you the art, Remind that a bill is due. Remind to follow up on approval for production. If you can set up automated reminders to email / text them… even better.Use your calendar Every meeting needs a calendar meeting (invite the customer too) Use Calendly to avoid those "are you available at XYZ time/day" emails Block out time for work. Invoicing, production, etc.Have policies and procedures You cannot force your customers to do everything your way, but you sure can suggest it. Many people will comply to your procedures. And YOU can decide which rules are ok to bend and not.Fire customers Yes, it's HARD to say no to money but there is a price for your time, effort and stress. If one customer is preventing you from growing or enjoying your business, it's time to let them go.Be Friendly You catch more flies with honey. People will like you. People will adhere to your reminders, people will respect your calendar invites, people will follow your procedures and you will have enough customers to be able to fire the bad ones.

Episode 185 - How to Handle and Keep Your Customers

When you think of your business you may think:Maria does the printingJohn does the artMark does the writing and websiteEtc.But how do you manage that as you grow? or if Maria is sick?Do you also think about how Maria does maintenance? Or how Mark answers chats on Google? Or how John posts to Facebook and answers comments?Further, as you grow, and art goes from 5 files a day to 15 files a day, WHAT are tasks that John could take off his plate? IS there something Mark can do instead of John? Is there something you can hire a part-timer to do, or outsource to an agency?When considering the inner workings of your business, think about all the tasks, not the people.List EVERYTHING that the business needs to do.This should be anything your team can think of, and the list needs to grow over time.e.g. maybe Mark makes sure your website domain renews every year, but he doesn't remember that when making the initial list.List the talents and skills of your teamWho can do what?One team member does the website now, but can anyone else?One team member dislikes running the embroidery machine, but CAN in a pinchList areas of potential growth &amp; efficiencyIf we did X better we could growIf we did Y better we could save moneyList anywhere that is close to max capabilitiesIs there an area where your team is spread thin?One team member does art. Some days there is more art than they can do. What if you grow 10%, can they handle that? How will you handle that if you do?Go back to the topNow that you have all the above data, take a bird's eye view of it.What can you improve?Do you need redundancy in talent?How will certain jobs get done if someone is sick or on vacation?If you hired someone, what could they fill in?

When you think of your business you may think:<ul><li>Maria does the printing</li><li>John does the art</li><li>Mark does the writing and website</li><li>Etc.</li></ul>But how do you manage that as you grow? or if Maria is sick?Do you also think about how Maria does maintenance? Or how Mark answers chats on Google? Or how John posts to Facebook and answers comments? Further, as you grow, and art goes from 5 files a day to 15 files a day, WHAT are tasks that John could take off his plate? IS there something Mark can do instead of John? Is there something you can hire a part-timer to do, or outsource to an agency?When considering the inner workings of your business, think about all the tasks, not the people.List EVERYTHING that the business needs to do.<ul><li>This should be anything your team can think of, and the list needs to grow over time.</li><li>e.g. maybe Mark makes sure your website domain renews every year, but he doesn't remember that when making the initial list.</li></ul>List the talents and skills of your team<ul><li>Who can do what?</li><li>One team member does the website now, but can anyone else?</li><li>One team member dislikes running the embroidery machine, but CAN in a pinch</li></ul>List areas of potential growth &amp; efficiency<ul><li>If we did X better we could grow</li><li>If we did Y better we could save money</li></ul>List anywhere that is close to max capabilities<ul><li>Is there an area where your team is spread thin?</li><li>One team member does art. Some days there is more art than they can do. What if you grow 10%, can they handle that? How will you handle that if you do?</li></ul>Go back to the top<ul><li>Now that you have all the above data, take a bird's eye view of it.</li><li>What can you improve?</li><li>Do you need redundancy in talent?</li><li>How will certain jobs get done if someone is sick or on vacation?</li><li>If you hired someone, what could they fill in?</li></ul>

Episode 184 - Your Business Butts In Seats

One of the biggest challenges for businesses is keeping up with all of the 'tasks' that can bog you down. These things may seem redundant or not as important as your daily duties, but avoiding them will absolutely cause trouble.Review pricingIs everything still available?has pricing gone up?SHOULD pricing have gone up?Is there an opportunity for a SALE or Discount?Marketing check-inPromotions for next month or the NEXT month?Does your phone number work?Does your contact form work?New/replace products?Planning for eventsWebsite updates and changesCheck your voice mail messageSocial media review (links in profiles, contact info, posts)Financial ReviewLook back at the prior monthRevenues Profits ExpensesLessons and changesInvoices and billsTaxesFees/DuesSales ReviewHow many new customersLost customersBest sale of the month / worst sale of the monthMost profitable ordersLegal StuffTax filingsCertificatesLicensesOrder legal languageHOA?Clean Up!Make sure your work area is clean and safeCheck your computer - are all the files in the right place?Gut check - how do YOU think you're doing? How are you feeling about the business?The purpose of a monthly check-in is not always because you didn't properly adjust prices or didn't pay bills. It's so much more than that. It is creating a consistent habit of checking very important things often. It is also about making sure you didn't forget details. Lastly, as you do this you will recognize patterns or oddities, which will help you catch something before it's a problem (or catch something while there is opportunity!)

One of the biggest challenges for businesses is keeping up with all of the 'tasks' that can bog you down. These things may seem redundant or not as important as your daily duties, but avoiding them will absolutely cause trouble.Review pricing<ul><li>Is everything still available?</li><li>has pricing gone up?</li><li>SHOULD pricing have gone up?</li><li>Is there an opportunity for a SALE or Discount?</li></ul>Marketing check-in<ul><li>Promotions for next month or the NEXT month?</li><li>Does your phone number work?</li><li>Does your contact form work?</li><li>New/replace products?</li><li>Planning for events</li><li>Website updates and changes</li><li>Check your voice mail message</li><li>Social media review (links in profiles, contact info, posts)</li></ul>Financial Review<ul><li>Look back at the prior month</li><li>Revenues Profits Expenses</li><li>Lessons and changes</li><li>Invoices and bills</li><li>Taxes</li><li>Fees/Dues</li></ul>Sales Review<ul><li>How many new customers</li><li>Lost customers</li><li>Best sale of the month / worst sale of the month</li><li>Most profitable orders</li></ul>Legal Stuff<ul><li>Tax filings</li><li>Certificates</li><li>Licenses</li><li>Order legal language</li><li>HOA?</li></ul>Clean Up!<ul><li>Make sure your work area is clean and safe</li><li>Check your computer - are all the files in the right place?</li><li>Gut check - how do YOU think you're doing? How are you feeling about the business?</li></ul>The purpose of a monthly check-in is not always because you didn't properly adjust prices or didn't pay bills. It's so much more than that. It is creating a consistent habit of checking very important things often. It is also about making sure you didn't forget details. Lastly, as you do this you will recognize patterns or oddities, which will help you catch something before it's a problem (or catch something while there is opportunity!)

Episode 183 - Monthly Business To-Dos

One of the struggles and causes of anxiety for small businesses is the competition. It's either the reality that you'll lose deals to the competition, OR just the anxiety because you might (or when will you?)"I can't make any money in my area""No one can sell for that price"One of the best ways to combat this is by getting in front of the knowledge. When you know your competition, you:Can get ahead of customers who shopImprove your products and servicesBe sure you are actually charging enoughKnow your strengthsSteps To Competitive AnalysisIdentify ThemAll competition - This is anywhere your customer might buy a similar product. For example, Walmart and Bass Pro Shop might be on this list.Close competition - These are businesses that do close to what you do, but not the same. These might be screen print shops if you do embroidery.Direct competition - Companies that do almost exactly what you do, such as a company that sells DTG one-off shirts, when you offer the same thing.Make A List And Categorize ThemGather InformationInfo - The BasicsAll competition - What might someone buy there? How much is it? What is it like to shop there?Close competition - What do they offer? Why might someone shop there?Direct competition - This one is where you actually want to spend time. You should be looking deep.What do they sell?What prices do they advertise?Do they appear to focus on any niches?Is there anything they do that you can learn from?Read ReviewsInfo - Social MediaFor basically everything below, don't bother with the All Competition and try not to focus too much time on the Close Competition. You really want to put the effort into Direct Competition.Review all their social accountsLook for how they postDon't focus on # of followers, but posts that get interactionInfo - WebsitesHow do they look? on your desktop and on your phoneWhat info do they show?How does it compare to yours?Is there anything you don't like?What can you learn about their size, age, pricing, products, nichesInfo - Shop ThemThis work can be done by yourself or someone you trust.Call them, what is that like?Ask for a quoteFind out delivery timesLook for 'hidden fees' (set up, art, etc)Get details on what they will or won't do (will they do the art? How much? Will they let you provide shirts? what brands do they sell?)AnalyzeNow it's time to step back and look:What are they GREAT at?What are they good at?What are they weak at?If you compare yourself, where can you shine? Look at their weaknesses and find where you can be stronger.Maybe they cannot deliver anything in less than 2 weeks, but you can do next day.Maybe they only offer really cheap shirts they stock, but you offer higher-end apparel.They might advertise low prices but have lots of hidden fees.They might appear to be a very diverse shop, but they really only focus on a couple of niches.Create Your Competitive PlanFIRST - did you determine that it's REAL competition? If so, then...This is where you can make it a point to show off your strengths that your competition doesn't have.Advertise these strengths on your website and social mediaMention them in phone calls and meetingsDo email blasts or local ads"Can deliver shirts in 2 days""Top quality apparel that won't shrink after one wash""High-end art services included in the price""Full-color prints - print your dog, baby, or anything else on a shirt"Be sure to repeat this process often and don't be intimidated. There will always be competition, but smart business people can always find a way to stand out. If you are ahead of them, you can always come out successful.

One of the struggles and causes of anxiety for small businesses is the competition. It's either the reality that you'll lose deals to the competition, OR just the anxiety because you might (or when will you?)"I can't make any money in my area""No one can sell for that price"One of the best ways to combat this is by getting in front of the knowledge. When you know your competition, you:<ul><li>Can get ahead of customers who shop</li><li>Improve your products and services</li><li>Be sure you are actually charging enough</li><li>Know your strengths</li></ul>Steps To Competitive AnalysisIdentify Them<ul><li>All competition - This is anywhere your customer might buy a similar product. For example, Walmart and Bass Pro Shop might be on this list.</li><li>Close competition - These are businesses that do close to what you do, but not the same. These might be screen print shops if you do embroidery.</li><li>Direct competition - Companies that do almost exactly what you do, such as a company that sells DTG one-off shirts, when you offer the same thing.</li></ul>Make A List And Categorize ThemGather InformationInfo - The Basics<ul><li>All competition - What might someone buy there? How much is it? What is it like to shop there?</li><li>Close competition - What do they offer? Why might someone shop there?</li><li>Direct competition - This one is where you actually want to spend time. You should be looking deep.<ul><li>What do they sell?</li><li>What prices do they advertise?</li><li>Do they appear to focus on any niches?</li><li>Is there anything they do that you can learn from?</li><li>Read Reviews</li></ul></li></ul>Info - Social MediaFor basically everything below, don't bother with the All Competition and try not to focus too much time on the Close Competition. You really want to put the effort into Direct Competition.<ul><li>Review all their social accounts</li><li>Look for how they post</li><li>Don't focus on # of followers, but posts that get interaction</li></ul>Info - Websites<ul><li>How do they look? on your desktop and on your phone</li><li>What info do they show?</li><li>How does it compare to yours?</li><li>Is there anything you don't like?</li><li>What can you learn about their size, age, pricing, products, niches</li></ul>Info - Shop ThemThis work can be done by yourself or someone you trust.<ul><li>Call them, what is that like?</li><li>Ask for a quote</li><li>Find out delivery times</li><li>Look for 'hidden fees' (set up, art, etc)</li><li>Get details on what they will or won't do (will they do the art? How much? Will they let you provide shirts? what brands do they sell?)</li></ul>AnalyzeNow it's time to step back and look:<ul><li>What are they GREAT at?</li><li>What are they good at?</li><li>What are they weak at?</li></ul>If you compare yourself, where can you shine? Look at their weaknesses and find where you can be stronger.Maybe they cannot deliver anything in less than 2 weeks, but you can do next day.Maybe they only offer really cheap shirts they stock, but you offer higher-end apparel.They might advertise low prices but have lots of hidden fees.They might appear to be a very diverse shop, but they really only focus on a couple of niches.Create Your Competitive PlanFIRST - did you determine that it's REAL competition? If so, then...This is where you can make it a point to show off your strengths that your competition doesn't have.<ul><li>Advertise these strengths on your website and social media</li><li>Mention them in phone calls and meetings</li><li>Do email blasts or local ads</li></ul>"Can deliver shirts in 2 days""Top quality apparel that won't shrink after one wash""High-end art services included in the price""Full-color prints - print your dog, baby, or anything else on a shirt"Be sure to repeat this process often and don't be intimidated. There will always be competition, but smart business people can always find a way to stand out. If you are ahead of them, you can always come out successful.

Episode 182 - Analyze Your Competition

The Custom Apparel Startups podcast was started simply because we love both the apparel decorating business and the idea that almost anyone, with a small investment and a little dedication, cannot only start their own business but thrive!    Our goal in starting CAS is to help educate apparel entrepreneurs about the business of the business, something often overlooked by people with an idea and a budget, but no business plan or experience behind them. We’ll be talking with the biggest names in the apparel decorating about things that are interesting and useful for all of you. Below are just a few topics we’ll be covering:    Marketing Ideas  Finance and Taxes  Social Media  eCommerce and Shopping Cart Software  Pricing your work  Managing inventory  Equipment and Software Uses

I just found this podcast and I binged listened while working on a large order of caps and it had me so focused! I’ve really been searching for a podcast like this being an at-home embroidery business. Made me feel better about some of the things I’ve been doing wrong and opened my eyes to new ideas! I already received a few extra orders this week using some of the strategies they taught me! Plus, it’s a bonus that Mark &amp; Mark have great personalities together! Keep ‘em coming!

The custom apparel bible!

Fun. Educating. Entertaining. Informative. It&#39;s what small business owners are seeking!

Great for small business

The Custom Apparel Startups podcast was started simply because we love both the apparel decorating business and the idea that almost anyone, with a small investment and a little dedication, cannot only start their own business but thrive! Our goal in starting CAS is to help educate apparel entrepreneurs about the business of the business, something often overlooked by people with an idea and a budget, but no business plan or experience behind them. We’ll be talking with the biggest names in the apparel decorating about things that are interesting and useful for all of you. Below are just a few topics we’ll be covering: Marketing Ideas Finance and Taxes Social Media eCommerce and Shopping Cart Software Pricing your work Managing inventory Equipment and Software Uses

Custom Apparel Startups

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Episode 3 – Social (not social media) Marketing

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Episode 23 – Biggest Mistakes Starting a T Shirt Business

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Episode 8 – Biggest Mistakes Made Starting an Embroidery Business

Here's a GUARANTEE: You're wasting your time doing either one of these 5 things, or every close it. You don't realize how much of your time is being wasted. As a business owner, your time is the most valuable thing in the company. How you use this time absolutely affects your business growth and how much money you will make. You set on a journey to live a dream, don't waste time getting there. Let's go through some wasters and winners! Solving a Problem using Google Waster: Youtube, searching, forums and Facebook to try and resolve a machine issue. Winner: Contact support FIRST. You may find your answer online, you also might not and make things worse. Waster: Searching all over for 'how to do XYZ in photoshop Winner: If an art project is out of your reach, pay to get it done right. Waster: Filing business / tax paperwork when you have no clue what to do Winner: Get a CPA or use an online service. Its not too much money and it will be done RIGHT. Catering to needy clients Waster: Being at the beck and call of needy clients The 80/20 rule is true - 80% of your actual sales come from about 20% of your customers - and they're NOT needy Winner: Help them understand your time is valuable too. e.g. "I have a meeting at 1 pm, I will address your issue after" Waster: Dropping everything to fix a problem Winner: How urgent is it? Does it matter if you wait an hour, till after lunch, or tomorrow? TIP: Read the 4 Hour Work Week Your BAD at Something. But you do it Anyway Waster: You cannot digitize well. So you try, sew out, try sew out, try sew out Winner: Hire a digitizing company to get it done right. If you want to learn to digitize do it outside of business time. like 'nightschool' Waster: You are an introvert and generally unlikeable... then you try to handle customer service Winner: Hire someone to help you out. Talk to customers, handle problems etc. Waster: You get a scary legal letter, then try to look up the laws. (or ask on facebook) Winner: Send it to your attorney who will know exactly what to do. Another book: EMyth by Michael Gerber You Can't Find Anything Waster: Piles of boxes of shirts. Finding a "small" takes 5 minutes Winner: Get creative with storage. Shelves, racks etc. You can even find used stuff like this on facebook or ebay. Waster: No CRM, No Customer database. You will find yourself searching through emails and texts to find what you quoted someone Winner: Use a CRM or other database to keep track of customers info and details. Waster: No process from orders in to orders out. Winner: Have an exact thought out process for your orders. This should include not only the method but the set up of your space. Penny Pinching Waster: Jamming vinyl designs or transfer designs so close, it takes 5 minutes just to cut them out. Winner: Don't worry about saving $0.50 in materials. If you get the job done faster that means you can do more to make $$. Waster: Always price shopping supplies that cost almost nothing. e.g. thread Winner: Buy from somewhere you trust and is consistent. Your inventory and results are easier to manage. Waster: Trying to save money with lower quality materials. Winner: Use quality supplies and apparel. Your customers will like it, they work better and overall you win. You've got the opportunity to achieve and exceed your dreams in front of you. Don't waste time getting caught up in the details of things that won't help you achieve your dream. Litmus Test: Whenever you are doing something that takes a long time. Ask yourself. "Is this task going to help me achieve my goals?" - if it's not, don't do it!

Here's a GUARANTEE: You're wasting your time doing either one of these 5 things, or every close it. You don't realize how much of your time is being wasted. As a business owner, your time is the most valuable thing in the company. How you use this time absolutely affects your business growth and how much money you will make. You set on a journey to live a dream, don't waste time getting there. Let's go through some wasters and winners! Solving a Problem using Google Waster: Youtube, searching, forums and Facebook to try and resolve a machine issue. Winner: Contact support FIRST. You may find your answer online, you also might not and make things worse. Waster: Searching all over for 'how to do XYZ in photoshop Winner: If an art project is out of your reach, pay to get it done right. Waster: Filing business / tax paperwork when you have no clue what to do Winner: Get a CPA or use an online service. Its not too much money and it will be done RIGHT. Catering to needy clients Waster: Being at the beck and call of needy clients The 80/20 rule is true - 80% of your actual sales come from about 20% of your customers - and they're NOT needy Winner: Help them understand your time is valuable too. e.g. "I have a meeting at 1 pm, I will address your issue after" Waster: Dropping everything to fix a problem Winner: How urgent is it? Does it matter if you wait an hour, till after lunch, or tomorrow? TIP: Read the 4 Hour Work Week Your BAD at Something. But you do it Anyway Waster: You cannot digitize well. So you try, sew out, try sew out, try sew out Winner: Hire a digitizing company to get it done right. If you want to learn to digitize do it outside of business time. like 'nightschool' Waster: You are an introvert and generally unlikeable... then you try to handle customer service Winner: Hire someone to help you out. Talk to customers, handle problems etc. Waster: You get a scary legal letter, then try to look up the laws. (or ask on facebook) Winner: Send it to your attorney who will know exactly what to do. Another book: EMyth by Michael Gerber You Can't Find Anything Waster: Piles of boxes of shirts. Finding a "small" takes 5 minutes Winner: Get creative with storage. Shelves, racks etc. You can even find used stuff like this on facebook or ebay. Waster: No CRM, No Customer database. You will find yourself searching through emails and texts to find what you quoted someone Winner: Use a CRM or other database to keep track of customers info and details. Waster: No process from orders in to orders out. Winner: Have an exact thought out process for your orders. This should include not only the method but the set up of your space. Penny Pinching Waster: Jamming vinyl designs or transfer designs so close, it takes 5 minutes just to cut them out. Winner: Don't worry about saving $0.50 in materials. If you get the job done faster that means you can do more to make $$. Waster: Always price shopping supplies that cost almost nothing. e.g. thread Winner: Buy from somewhere you trust and is consistent. Your inventory and results are easier to manage. Waster: Trying to save money with lower quality materials. Winner: Use quality supplies and apparel. Your customers will like it, they work better and overall you win. You've got the opportunity to achieve and exceed your dreams in front of you. Don't waste time getting caught up in the details of things that won't help you achieve your dream. Litmus Test: Whenever you are doing something that takes a long time. Ask yourself. "Is this task going to help me achieve my goals?" - if it's not, don't do it!

Episode 109 – You're Wasting Your Time Doing These 5 Things

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Episode 44 Success Tips – Home Based Businesses

If you are listening to this, you have a Cricut or a Silhouette, basically a cutter you got for $200-$600 at a local hobby store. You make things for yourself, for friends and family. Maybe you are even making a little money here and there, or you've opened an etsy shop. You might even be fulfilling orders almost every day. What you all have in common is taking the next step to growing yourself into a better business, or maybe you might think of it as a "real" business. What are the next steps:   Make it a business - Register with the state, get a resale or tax certificate, get a email address with your business name   Find Blank suppliers - stop buying from Walmart   Social Pages - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn   Website..... maybe? Order online?   Start quoting in writing, on a form. Sales Quote excel /google sheet / apple sheet   Start invoicing the same way in writing   Find a way to accept credit cards. Circle pay, Paypal   Treat every customer, like a customer. even friends / family.   Create a price book /  price sheet.   Get commercial equipment   Story of comparing a job from a hobby to a commercial machine Hobby Cutter: cut a 58.5in Triangle..... that is 11.5 across bottom and 23.5 up, then back 23.5 down takes. 30.5 seconds, when in fast mode on certain models, its 15.6 seconds. Graphtec Commercial does that in about 2.5 seconds. That's 6x faster on the fastest hobby cutter or 12x faster on the standard one. NOTE: Consider the size. Affordable professional cutters cut about 15-48in wide, and can track 6-16 feet. That means when you are using a hobby cutter, you are going to cut about 12" x 24" at a time. If you are cutting t-shirt designs that are a 7x7 square, you can cut 3 at  a time. One over the other on a 12x24 in sheet. That is at a speed of about 2 inches per second. Compared to a commercial unit, that is not that much more $.... you can cut 2 wide and about 27 long... so essentially over 50 at a time! Also at a speed that is 12 x faster. Lets break this down into an actual job. You are doing a family vacation to a theme park. Part of their tradition is making shirts for the whole family. That's 3 brothers, and their spouses, plus 2 kits a piece. Then a couple of sisters and their spouses on the other side of the family (plus kits) That's a total of 10 adults and 10 kids. Its a 3 day trip, so they want 3 shirts each. 60 shirts total. If the design is that 7x7 how long will it take to do? Hobby cutter: 5 minutes a shirt x 60 shirts = 300 min of machine run time. Plus you have to load and reload it 30 times. That's an extra 30 minutes of loading time. 5.5 hours of your hobby machine just cranking along. Commercial cutter: at 12 times faster you are close to 45 seconds a shirt 45*60 = 45 minutes of run time on your machine, with only having to load it up 2x. Then you are ready to finally place them on the shirts. Your job goes from being done a few hours after the kids go to bed, compared to trying to stay up all night, passing out at 2am.... then waking up in the morning and doing it for another hour or two. This is quality time with your family &amp; friends or time used to make more money / more sales. So how much did you make an hour? Lets say it takes 3 hours to press all the shirts, fold them, etc. Hobby cutter - 8.5 hours of work for 60 shirts Commercial cutter - less than 4 hours of work for 60 shirts You double the amount of money you make per hour of work! You take this extra time and market on Facebook, attend events to meet more people, spend time with your family, spend more time building up your home based business.

If you are listening to this, you have a Cricut or a Silhouette, basically a cutter you got for $200-$600 at a local hobby store. You make things for yourself, for friends and family. Maybe you are even making a little money here and there, or you've opened an etsy shop. You might even be fulfilling orders almost every day. What you all have in common is taking the next step to growing yourself into a better business, or maybe you might think of it as a "real" business. What are the next steps: <ol> <li> Make it a business - Register with the state, get a resale or tax certificate, get a email address with your business name </li> <li> Find Blank suppliers - stop buying from Walmart </li> <li> Social Pages - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn </li> <li> Website..... maybe? Order online? </li> <li> Start quoting in writing, on a form. Sales Quote excel /google sheet / apple sheet </li> <li> Start invoicing the same way in writing </li> <li> Find a way to accept credit cards. Circle pay, Paypal </li> <li> Treat every customer, like a customer. even friends / family. </li> <li> Create a price book / price sheet. </li> <li> Get commercial equipment </li> </ol> Story of comparing a job from a hobby to a commercial machine Hobby Cutter: cut a 58.5in Triangle..... that is 11.5 across bottom and 23.5 up, then back 23.5 down takes. 30.5 seconds, when in fast mode on certain models, its 15.6 seconds. Graphtec Commercial does that in about 2.5 seconds. That's 6x faster on the fastest hobby cutter or 12x faster on the standard one. NOTE: Consider the size. Affordable professional cutters cut about 15-48in wide, and can track 6-16 feet. That means when you are using a hobby cutter, you are going to cut about 12" x 24" at a time. If you are cutting t-shirt designs that are a 7x7 square, you can cut 3 at a time. One over the other on a 12x24 in sheet. That is at a speed of about 2 inches per second. Compared to a commercial unit, that is not that much more $.... you can cut 2 wide and about 27 long... so essentially over 50 at a time! Also at a speed that is 12 x faster. Lets break this down into an actual job. You are doing a family vacation to a theme park. Part of their tradition is making shirts for the whole family. That's 3 brothers, and their spouses, plus 2 kits a piece. Then a couple of sisters and their spouses on the other side of the family (plus kits) That's a total of 10 adults and 10 kids. Its a 3 day trip, so they want 3 shirts each. 60 shirts total. If the design is that 7x7 how long will it take to do? Hobby cutter: 5 minutes a shirt x 60 shirts = 300 min of machine run time. Plus you have to load and reload it 30 times. That's an extra 30 minutes of loading time. 5.5 hours of your hobby machine just cranking along. Commercial cutter: at 12 times faster you are close to 45 seconds a shirt 45*60 = 45 minutes of run time on your machine, with only having to load it up 2x. Then you are ready to finally place them on the shirts. Your job goes from being done a few hours after the kids go to bed, compared to trying to stay up all night, passing out at 2am.... then waking up in the morning and doing it for another hour or two. This is quality time with your family &amp; friends or time used to make more money / more sales. So how much did you make an hour? Lets say it takes 3 hours to press all the shirts, fold them, etc. Hobby cutter - 8.5 hours of work for 60 shirts Commercial cutter - less than 4 hours of work for 60 shirts You double the amount of money you make per hour of work! You take this extra time and market on Facebook, attend events to meet more people, spend time with your family, spend more time building up your home based business.

Episode 90 – Your Cricut Based Business Next Steps

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Episode 9 – Offline Marketing Essentials

Monty Mims

Join us in this episode when we discuss the world of blanks, apparel, Sanmar and more with the Apparel Geek, Monty Mims. His experience in the industry will provide you insights on how to improve your business, choose the right apparel, sell to your customers better and overall improve your expertise on custom apparel blanks. Monty is a member of Decorator Relations with Sanmar. One of his many goals is to build strong relationships with the decorated apparel community and help people like you succeed. You can contact Monty at https://apparelgeek.com/ or find him on twitter @apparelgeek or Instagram @apparelnerd.

Join us in this episode when we discuss the world of blanks, apparel, Sanmar and more with the Apparel Geek, Monty Mims. His experience in the industry will provide you insights on how to improve your business, choose the right apparel, sell to your customers better and overall improve your expertise on custom apparel blanks. Monty is a member of Decorator Relations with Sanmar. One of his many goals is to build strong relationships with the decorated apparel community and help people like you succeed. You can contact Monty at <a href="https://apparelgeek.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://apparelgeek.com/</a> or find him on twitter @apparelgeek or Instagram @apparelnerd.

Episode 83 – Insights From The Apparel Geek – Monty Mims From Sanmar

Learn these 12 steps and grow your home based business:  Start thinking about it and treating it like a business Evaluate your profitability Look at your equipment Define and Amplify your Niche... who do you sell to now? DO more of that.. Shirts for sales teams. Dance and Cheer. no effort into anything else Dig deeper into current customers … call to ask for more business, ask what else they do/order Then expand product lines to match where you can.... koozies, bags, promotional items Create a solid referral plan - find a way for customers to refer you, ask for referrals, give out coupon codes, etc Live Social - BNI, Chamber of commerce, charity groups, church groups, sports clubs, car clubs Go online - build a web store and get your customers visiting. pick products your "niche" might buy and push to them via email / flyers / word of mouth Partner with other businesses - you don't sell signs? partner with a sign company. award company, paper printer Hire freelancers - get people to write for your website, send emails for you, do accounting, do art (even work with your kids, spouse, etc) Expand your niche to a second market... repeat first steps

Learn these 12 steps and grow your home based business: <ol> <li>Start thinking about it and treating it like a business</li> <li>Evaluate your profitability</li> <li>Look at your equipment</li> <li>Define and Amplify your Niche... who do you sell to now? DO more of that.. Shirts for sales teams. Dance and Cheer. no effort into anything else</li> <li>Dig deeper into current customers … call to ask for more business, ask what else they do/order</li> <li>Then expand product lines to match where you can.... koozies, bags, promotional items</li> <li>Create a solid referral plan - find a way for customers to refer you, ask for referrals, give out coupon codes, etc</li> <li>Live Social - BNI, Chamber of commerce, charity groups, church groups, sports clubs, car clubs</li> <li>Go online - build a web store and get your customers visiting. pick products your "niche" might buy and push to them via email / flyers / word of mouth</li> <li>Partner with other businesses - you don't sell signs? partner with a sign company. award company, paper printer</li> <li>Hire freelancers - get people to write for your website, send emails for you, do accounting, do art (even work with your kids, spouse, etc)</li> <li>Expand your niche to a second market... repeat first steps</li></ol>

Episode 85 – 12 Steps to Grow Your Home Based Business

Inspired by the Harvard Business Review. It's important to understand your stages of growth and when you are transitioning to a new stage. If you don't take specific actions while in each stage, you will get stuck (or worse regress). Stage 1: Existence This stage is all about the big question..  Can you get customers and deliver a product? Do I have the ability to get started financially? And do you have the money to sustain your business before break even  During this stage of your business, you are heavily involved in every aspect. You may even be the entire business yourself. The main goal of this stage is making sure the business can exist and making it to stage 2! Stage 2: Survival This stage is all about financial survival. You know you CAN be a business. You know you CAN get customers. You know you CAN deliver the product. But... can you do it profitably?  Can you generate enough cash-flow to break even? Including repair, maintenance, and replacement of equipment and supplies? Can you generate enough income compared to your costs to stay afloat?  During this stage, you may actually significantly grow in size. You may have employees and achieve some record breaking sales for yourself. Many of you will stay here - some on purpose. This is the business that provides a "salary" or pays for the owner's lifestyle, but never goes beyond that. This may be satisfying personally, but it's very vulnerable. However, you must grow in profitability to get to stage 3. Stage 3: Traditional "Success" Getting to this stage means you have some economic health. You are profitable (meaning the business is putting money in the bank after paying you.) This is a place you can stay in indefinitely. Your business is making money. The owners are getting paid. You are stable enough to handle changes in the market, emergencies and financial setbacks. This differs from stage 2 where you are 'just making it.' Now you have a solid business with a growing bank account. This is the stage where you have some professional staff coming on board (or outsourcing.) You will most likely have employees dedicated to certain tasks (accounting, sales, production, etc.) During this stage you can go one of 2 ways: 1. Disengagement - You have the opportunity to walk away from certain aspects and know the job will get done. You can choose to only work in the aspects you desire. Maybe you just want to sell or manage staff, or run equipment. This is the 'dream' stage. You can do exactly what you want with the business, and leave all the things you hate to employees. 2. Growth - Now that you are profitable and have a business that can leverage that power. Do you risk it and shoot higher? You can take your profits and dive into a new endeavor. You can use your business's credibility to borrow money and get into bigger business. This is the stage where you would completely step away from day-to-day operations and focus on making the business grow even more. You have staff that controls every aspect of the business so you can take things to the next level. Growth has risk though, you could take yourself back a stage if the risks you take don't work out. Now you are just back to 'surviving'. On another hand, if you don't look for some level of growth you could be at risk of falling behind the competition. This growth can take you to stage 4. Stage 4: Take-Off If you have chosen 'growth' then the stage you want to hit is right here. The focus of this stage is to have financial growth including income and profitability. You are no longer focused on what's happening in your supply chain, but what's happening with financials. In order to get to this stage and succeed you must master delegation. You will have to continue to add levels of management to watch over each part of the business (as needed.) You and your team will have to manage cash and staff with precision. The business can really make it to the big leagues here, but without managing people and money, it can crash too. You can grow HUGE or you can fail miserably. If you make it you enter stage 5. Stage 5: Resource Maturity Your business has the ability to get into detailed operational and strategic planning. Your management is mature and very experienced. You have systems in place from sales to production that are well developed. Learn more about this stage by reading the HBR article. Here are some factors that determine success or failure and moving through the stages: Business factors:  Financial resources - cash and borrowing power Personnel resources - quality and number of people. Levels of staff and management. System resources - the systems you have in place to keep the business performing at peak. Business resources - customer relations, market share, supplier relations, distribution process  Owner factors:  Owner has personal and business goals / dreams Owners abilities to do the important jobs in running the business... marketing, sales, production, delivery Owners managerial ability, willingness and competence on management and delegation. Owners strategic ability - Looking beyond daily operations and into the vision of the company. Seeing strength / weakness  You have to understand these stages and where you want to go. Recognizing where you shift focus and motivation. Your business can be whatever you want! Resource: https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-five-stages-of-small-business-growth

Inspired by the Harvard Business Review. It's important to understand your stages of growth and when you are transitioning to a new stage. If you don't take specific actions while in each stage, you will get stuck (or worse regress). Stage 1: Existence This stage is all about the big question.. <ul> <li>Can you get customers and deliver a product?</li> <li>Do I have the ability to get started financially?</li> <li>And do you have the money to sustain your business before break even</li> </ul> During this stage of your business, you are heavily involved in every aspect. You may even be the entire business yourself. The main goal of this stage is making sure the business can exist and making it to stage 2! Stage 2: Survival This stage is all about financial survival. You know you CAN be a business. You know you CAN get customers. You know you CAN deliver the product. But... can you do it profitably? <ul> <li>Can you generate enough cash-flow to break even?</li> <li>Including repair, maintenance, and replacement of equipment and supplies?</li> <li>Can you generate enough income compared to your costs to stay afloat?</li> </ul> During this stage, you may actually significantly grow in size. You may have employees and achieve some record breaking sales for yourself. Many of you will stay here - some on purpose. This is the business that provides a "salary" or pays for the owner's lifestyle, but never goes beyond that. This may be satisfying personally, but it's very vulnerable. However, you must grow in profitability to get to stage 3. Stage 3: Traditional "Success" Getting to this stage means you have some economic health. You are profitable (meaning the business is putting money in the bank after paying you.) This is a place you can stay in indefinitely. Your business is making money. The owners are getting paid. You are stable enough to handle changes in the market, emergencies and financial setbacks. This differs from stage 2 where you are 'just making it.' Now you have a solid business with a growing bank account. This is the stage where you have some professional staff coming on board (or outsourcing.) You will most likely have employees dedicated to certain tasks (accounting, sales, production, etc.) During this stage you can go one of 2 ways: 1. Disengagement - You have the opportunity to walk away from certain aspects and know the job will get done. You can choose to only work in the aspects you desire. Maybe you just want to sell or manage staff, or run equipment. This is the 'dream' stage. You can do exactly what you want with the business, and leave all the things you hate to employees. 2. Growth - Now that you are profitable and have a business that can leverage that power. Do you risk it and shoot higher? You can take your profits and dive into a new endeavor. You can use your business's credibility to borrow money and get into bigger business. This is the stage where you would completely step away from day-to-day operations and focus on making the business grow even more. You have staff that controls every aspect of the business so you can take things to the next level. Growth has risk though, you could take yourself back a stage if the risks you take don't work out. Now you are just back to 'surviving'. On another hand, if you don't look for some level of growth you could be at risk of falling behind the competition. This growth can take you to stage 4. Stage 4: Take-Off If you have chosen 'growth' then the stage you want to hit is right here. The focus of this stage is to have financial growth including income and profitability. You are no longer focused on what's happening in your supply chain, but what's happening with financials. In order to get to this stage and succeed you must master delegation. You will have to continue to add levels of management to watch over each part of the business (as needed.) You and your team will have to manage cash and staff with precision. The business can really make it to the big leagues here, but without managing people and money, it can crash too. You can grow HUGE or you can fail miserably. If you make it you enter stage 5. Stage 5: Resource Maturity Your business has the ability to get into detailed operational and strategic planning. Your management is mature and very experienced. You have systems in place from sales to production that are well developed. Learn more about this stage by reading the HBR article. Here are some factors that determine success or failure and moving through the stages: Business factors: <ul> <li>Financial resources - cash and borrowing power</li> <li>Personnel resources - quality and number of people. Levels of staff and management.</li> <li>System resources - the systems you have in place to keep the business performing at peak.</li> <li>Business resources - customer relations, market share, supplier relations, distribution process</li> </ul> Owner factors: <ul> <li>Owner has personal and business goals / dreams</li> <li>Owners abilities to do the important jobs in running the business... marketing, sales, production, delivery</li> <li>Owners managerial ability, willingness and competence on management and delegation.</li> <li>Owners strategic ability - Looking beyond daily operations and into the vision of the company. Seeing strength / weakness</li> </ul> You have to understand these stages and where you want to go. Recognizing where you shift focus and motivation. Your business can be whatever you want! Resource: <a href="https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-five-stages-of-small-business-growth" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-five-stages-of-small-business-growth</a>

Episode 110 – 5 Stages of Small Business Growth

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Episode 26 – Facebook for Business – Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook

custom apparel businesscustomer serviceeventsMarketingshowsStartup Business This Episode  Mark Stephenson &amp; Marc Vila  customapparelstartups.com  CAS Podcast  ColDesi You Will Learn    What you can do BEFORE you get to the event to ensure success The secret to selling at events even if no customer show up The best way to handle 2 or more people at your booth What are tchotkes Why Mark S hates them so much  Resources &amp; Links  Colman and Company Blog Success Stories ColDesi Learning Center Leasing Equipment  In this episode of the CAS Podcast, learn 10 tips to get the most out of events and shows that will help you acquire new customer for your custom apparel business. These are simple yet effective techniques you can apply before, during and after events that are critically important to ensure success in the custom apparel business. Show Notes Premarketing This is a great way to bring people to meet you and pull some business in advance. Get them to commit to visiting you, picking up their order there, etc. Advertise to your customers you will be there, post to FB event pages, make your own FB event page. If there is a list of attendees or booths…. reach out to some of them as well. Refine Your 30-Second Pitch At trade shows, you really only have about 30 seconds before you lose the attention of the person you’re trying to sell to. That’s why it’s critically important to nail down your 30-second elevator pitch before you arrive at the event. An effective elevator pitch will include a short description of what your product or service is and concisely detail how it can help that individual or their business. Make Connections at the Event You are about to be surrounded by a bunch of other business owners, many of them successful. Are all of them wearing custom apparel? They should be! Be sure all of them know you, and have your info. Also sign up for their email lists, learn about them. There may be an opportunity in the future. Have a way to collect emails, get reviews, get followers, etc. This is a time to get people on your email list, get people to like you on facebook, follow you on twitter, etc. You can get creative “Like me on FB and get a coupon” or give away something for free for a follow. Have an ipad or laptop out with your email for sign up. If you have MC or CC you can have one of your forms up, or your website too. When possible, go before you attend This is an opportunity to scope out the scene, see what type of people attend. See what booths get attention. See if there are any ideas you can ‘borrow’. Have a way people can keep your info Business cards are great…. but think of something else fun too… might be worth it. Can cooler, Bottle opener, etc. Think of your audience. If its businesspeople… pens and cards. If its dog lovers, a small bag of treats with your card. If its bikers.. beard combs. People love these little giveaways… even though its mostly junk trinkets, its a reason to stick your hand out and say hello. Bundles / Upsells A “show deal” is a great way to upsell to your customers AND gives your customers an opportunity to save money. Add a hat for only XX, Buy x Get y, This is our show promo deal. order a shirt, hat, polo, tote bag normally $120 now, $99 Offer something special, not available at the show Not to delay sales, but to catch people that don’t see what they like from what you’re displaying. Tell non-buyers about a jacket or hat or something that you’re excited about that you didn’t have time to prep for the event. Get their information if they express any interest. Work the crowd Be sure to greet everyone who comes to your booth, even if you are busy. Say hello, point to cards, show email sign up, shake hands, say “i will be right with you.” Certain people can rob your time, you have to realize when someone is a “talker” .. not a “buyer.” Be friendly, wear a smile, say hello. When its slow.. step OUT of the booth… sand in front. Have literature in your hand. Even if you just say hi to people passing buy. Have a clear message of what you DO displayed as well. Then you are standing out there, people can know to stop by if interested. This helps to have fun giveaways or an event. Know what idea i like? Have a spinning wheel. People love to spin wheels. They can win anything from a coupon, a free ice cream sunday, to a 100% custom free t-shirt. etc etc. (This can also be a way to work with local vendors/customers (“hey i am going to be at a show, want to give me some free Ice Cream Coupons to give away on my wheel” Post Marketing Email people, call people. Have a post show special or coupon. Contact them after. Most people will have little-to-no follow up. You can be the best by picking up the phone, emailing people. thanking them. Watch the END of the video below for 2 more tips that make a HUGE difference! The post Episode 70 – Events and Shows | 10 Tips for Getting the Most from Events appeared first on Custom Apparel Startups.

<a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/custom-apparel-business/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">custom apparel business</a><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/customer-service/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">customer service</a><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/events/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">events</a><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/marketing/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Marketing</a><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/shows/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">shows</a><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/startup-business/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Startup Business</a> <h4>This Episode</h4>  <h4>Mark Stephenson &amp; Marc Vila</h4> <a href="https://customapparelstartups.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> <h4><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">customapparelstartups.com</a></h4> <a href="https://business.facebook.com/caspodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> <h4><a href="https://business.facebook.com/caspodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CAS Podcast</a></h4> <a href="https://twitter.com/ColDesi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> <h4><a href="https://twitter.com/ColDesi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ColDesi</a></h4> <h4>You Will Learn</h4> <ul> <li>What you can do BEFORE you get to the event to ensure success</li> <li>The secret to selling at events even if no customer show up</li> <li>The best way to handle 2 or more people at your booth</li> <li>What are tchotkes Why Mark S hates them so much</li> </ul> <h4>Resources &amp; Links</h4> <ul> <li><a href="http://blog.colmanandcompany.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Colman and Company Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://coldesi.com/success-stories/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Success Stories</a></li> <li><a href="https://coldesi.com/learning-center/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ColDesi Learning Center</a></li> <li><a href="https://coldesi.com/2017/01/equipment-leasing-tips-john-sullivant/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Leasing Equipment</a></li> </ul> In this episode of the CAS Podcast, learn 10 tips to get the most out of events and shows that will help you acquire new customer for your custom apparel business. These are simple yet effective techniques you can apply before, during and after events that are critically important to ensure success in the custom apparel business. <h4>Show Notes</h4> Premarketing This is a great way to bring people to meet you and pull some business in advance. Get them to commit to visiting you, picking up their order there, etc. Advertise to your customers you will be there, post to FB event pages, make your own FB event page. If there is a list of attendees or booths…. reach out to some of them as well. Refine Your 30-Second Pitch At trade shows, you really only have about 30 seconds before you lose the attention of the person you’re trying to sell to. That’s why it’s critically important to nail down your 30-second elevator pitch before you arrive at the event. An effective elevator pitch will include a short description of what your product or service is and concisely detail how it can help that individual or their business. Make Connections at the Event You are about to be surrounded by a bunch of other business owners, many of them successful. Are all of them wearing custom apparel? They should be! Be sure all of them know you, and have your info. Also sign up for their email lists, learn about them. There may be an opportunity in the future. Have a way to collect emails, get reviews, get followers, etc. This is a time to get people on your email list, get people to like you on facebook, follow you on twitter, etc. You can get creative “Like me on FB and get a coupon” or give away something for free for a follow. Have an ipad or laptop out with your email for sign up. If you have MC or CC you can have one of your forms up, or your website too. When possible, go before you attend This is an opportunity to scope out the scene, see what type of people attend. See what booths get attention. See if there are any ideas you can ‘borrow’. Have a way people can keep your info Business cards are great…. but think of something else fun too… might be worth it. Can cooler, Bottle opener, etc. Think of your audience. If its businesspeople… pens and cards. If its dog lovers, a small bag of treats with your card. If its bikers.. beard combs. People love these little giveaways… even though its mostly junk trinkets, its a reason to stick your hand out and say hello. Bundles / Upsells A “show deal” is a great way to upsell to your customers AND gives your customers an opportunity to save money. Add a hat for only XX, Buy x Get y, This is our show promo deal. order a shirt, hat, polo, tote bag normally $120 now, $99 Offer something special, not available at the show Not to delay sales, but to catch people that don’t see what they like from what you’re displaying. Tell non-buyers about a jacket or hat or something that you’re excited about that you didn’t have time to prep for the event. Get their information if they express any interest. Work the crowd Be sure to greet everyone who comes to your booth, even if you are busy. Say hello, point to cards, show email sign up, shake hands, say “i will be right with you.” Certain people can rob your time, you have to realize when someone is a “talker” .. not a “buyer.” Be friendly, wear a smile, say hello. When its slow.. step OUT of the booth… sand in front. Have literature in your hand. Even if you just say hi to people passing buy. Have a clear message of what you DO displayed as well. Then you are standing out there, people can know to stop by if interested. This helps to have fun giveaways or an event. Know what idea i like? Have a spinning wheel. People love to spin wheels. They can win anything from a coupon, a free ice cream sunday, to a 100% custom free t-shirt. etc etc. (This can also be a way to work with local vendors/customers (“hey i am going to be at a show, want to give me some free Ice Cream Coupons to give away on my wheel” Post Marketing Email people, call people. Have a post show special or coupon. Contact them after. Most people will have little-to-no follow up. You can be the best by picking up the phone, emailing people. thanking them. Watch the END of the video below for 2 more tips that make a HUGE difference! The post <a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-70-events-and-shows-10-tips-for-getting-the-most-from-events/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 70 – Events and Shows | 10 Tips for Getting the Most from Events</a> appeared first on <a href="https://customapparelstartups.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Custom Apparel Startups</a>.

Episode 70 – Events and Shows | 10 Tips for Getting the Most from Events

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Episode 33 – 5 Things That Will Kill Your Bling Business

Pricing is an EMOTIONAL thing for most small business owners.  It's tied up with how you feel about money. About how much money it's okay for you to make. About feeling bad when you think you're charging too much. About your pride when you ARE charging too much, but need to make a change.  The Impact of Pricing:  I've told this story before. About the customer and the $8 DFX Shirts, but I'm going to tell it again because it should terrify you. Pricing too high is tricky as well. With price testing you may find that you make MORE money in the end by charging less for specific items.  In the rest of this podcast we're going to explore price testing strategies the let the market tell YOU how much you should be charging. And taking all the emotions out of it. (or at least as much as you'll let it) 1. The "Tipping Point" Method - Raise your prices incrementally until you see your customer leave. 2.  New Product Change Tactic - As you bring in new blanks, new products or new designs you introduce them at higher prices and leave your older ones as is. A slower tipping point method. 3. Use discounts and offers on your website to measure the impact of lower prices. 4. Show different prices to different users and measure the relative performance. 5. Create different versions of your products and offer them at different prices to see which performs better. 6. Use an email or call list to sell at different prices and measure conversion rates. Here are some ways to increase pricing strategically: Adjust discounts on volume - If you normally provide your first discount at 12 shirts, bump it to 15. If the next tier is 30, bump to 50. Add value extras - increase your price but add more value and low cost value-add extras. Include wash instruction cards for every shirt, put every shirt in a bag, offer a discount for a size exchange. e.g. 25% off size exchange if someone wants a different size. up to 3. etc. Raise Fees - if you charge no 'set up fee' add a modest one for certain orders. If you charge a $20 fee, make it $30. Increase cost for higher perceived value - sell glitter or digital full color and increase price much more than the basic. Then push this offering. Even though your cost might be relatively the same the product seems more valuable. Timed price increases - You may want to increase pricing by 20% but get backlash from customers. Start with 5% and make it a goal to increase 20% over X months. Offer faster delivery at a higher price - Some companies offer a 'rush' fee. Instead, you could offer a standard delivery that is long, and offer 'priority' for a modest fee. e.g. free for 14 days, $20 for priority 7 days, $80 rush for 3 days

Pricing is an EMOTIONAL thing for most small business owners. <ul> <li>It's tied up with how you feel about money.</li> <li>About how much money it's okay for you to make.</li> <li>About feeling bad when you think you're charging too much.</li> <li>About your pride when you ARE charging too much, but need to make a change.</li> </ul> The Impact of Pricing: <ul> <li>I've told this story before. About the customer and the $8 DFX Shirts, but I'm going to tell it again because it should terrify you.</li> <li>Pricing too high is tricky as well. With price testing you may find that you make MORE money in the end by charging less for specific items.</li> </ul> In the rest of this podcast we're going to explore price testing strategies the let the market tell YOU how much you should be charging. And taking all the emotions out of it. (or at least as much as you'll let it) 1. The "Tipping Point" Method - Raise your prices incrementally until you see your customer leave. 2. New Product Change Tactic - As you bring in new blanks, new products or new designs you introduce them at higher prices and leave your older ones as is. A slower tipping point method. 3. Use discounts and offers on your website to measure the impact of lower prices. 4. Show different prices to different users and measure the relative performance. 5. Create different versions of your products and offer them at different prices to see which performs better. 6. Use an email or call list to sell at different prices and measure conversion rates. Here are some ways to increase pricing strategically: Adjust discounts on volume - If you normally provide your first discount at 12 shirts, bump it to 15. If the next tier is 30, bump to 50. Add value extras - increase your price but add more value and low cost value-add extras. Include wash instruction cards for every shirt, put every shirt in a bag, offer a discount for a size exchange. e.g. 25% off size exchange if someone wants a different size. up to 3. etc. Raise Fees - if you charge no 'set up fee' add a modest one for certain orders. If you charge a $20 fee, make it $30. Increase cost for higher perceived value - sell glitter or digital full color and increase price much more than the basic. Then push this offering. Even though your cost might be relatively the same the product seems more valuable. Timed price increases - You may want to increase pricing by 20% but get backlash from customers. Start with 5% and make it a goal to increase 20% over X months. Offer faster delivery at a higher price - Some companies offer a 'rush' fee. Instead, you could offer a standard delivery that is long, and offer 'priority' for a modest fee. e.g. free for 14 days, $20 for priority 7 days, $80 rush for 3 days

Episode 114 – How to Raise Your Prices

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Episode 35 – Accessing the Hispanic Market… for example

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Episode 49 – 50 Cups of Coffee and Other Things You Should Do

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Episode 54 – How to Price Embroidery Work

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Episode 16 – Customer Experience Matters

Great interview with Mark Biletnikoff from https://www.contract-dtg.com/ Mark got his start with direct to garment printing as a novice in 2010 and now has both a retails space and a rapidly expanding contract t-shirt printing company. During our talk, we and Mark Biletnikoff describe his biggest failures, great successes and what he’s done to grow to 12 DTG printers, 2 screen setups, embroidery, vinyl and more... Here are just a few questions Mark Answered:  In your road to becoming a successful business owner, what do you think was your biggest hurdle to overcome? How do you keep customers coming back? What was your biggest order mistake, and how did you handle it? If you knew what you know now about owning a business, what would you have done differently in the beginning? How important is the quality of the garment to your sales/customer satisfaction? What are the top 3 biggest mistakes a t-shirt shop can make? What is the most ridiculous request a customer has made? How do you handle inventory? Stock? What is the exact role of a contract printer? What would you suggest is the best way for a home-based business to find one?

Great interview with Mark Biletnikoff from <a href="https://www.contract-dtg.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.contract-dtg.com/</a> Mark got his start with direct to garment printing as a novice in 2010 and now has both a retails space and a rapidly expanding contract t-shirt printing company. During our talk, we and Mark Biletnikoff describe his biggest failures, great successes and what he’s done to grow to 12 DTG printers, 2 screen setups, embroidery, vinyl and more... Here are just a few questions Mark Answered: <ol> <li>In your road to becoming a successful business owner, what do you think was your biggest hurdle to overcome?</li> <li>How do you keep customers coming back?</li> <li>What was your biggest order mistake, and how did you handle it?</li> <li>If you knew what you know now about owning a business, what would you have done differently in the beginning?</li> <li>How important is the quality of the garment to your sales/customer satisfaction?</li> <li>What are the top 3 biggest mistakes a t-shirt shop can make?</li> <li>What is the most ridiculous request a customer has made?</li> <li>How do you handle inventory? Stock?</li> <li>What is the exact role of a contract printer?</li> <li>What would you suggest is the best way for a home-based business to find one?</li></ol>

Episode 86 – What Success Looks Like in DTG Printing and More!

business tipscustomer serviceMarketingpodcastsalesStartup Business This Episode  Mark Stephenson &amp; Marc Vila  customapparelstartups.com  CAS Podcast  ColDesi You Will Learn  Why giving someone a small gift can make a big difference in your revenues What Apple and Samsung have to do with the Custom T-Shirt Business How come you’re attracted to long lines When Name Dropping can Mean picking up more sales  Resources &amp; Links  Colman and Company Blog Success Stories ColDesi Learning Center Leasing Equipment  The Science of Upselling – The Best Ways to Talk to Your Customers During this podcast we’ll get into Part III of our trilogy on Up-Selling, a vitally important skill in growing your business. The idea that you can service the same number of customers but make more money at the end of the month? Golden. SHOW NOTES: During this podcast we’ll get into Part III of our trilogy on Up-Selling, a vitally important skill in growing your business. The idea that you can service the same number of customers but make more money at the end of the month? Golden. We’re going to go through the following concepts/tactics in detail: 1: Reciprocity – Social norms compel us to respond to a favor with another favor, in order to not be considered ungrateful. 2: Consistency – People like to remain consistent over time. We feel a pressure to remain consistent with previous choices. Especially when we publicly commit to something. 3: Social Proof – When we arent sure of what decision to make, we look to others to see what they are doing 4: Like-ability – We are influenced by people we like. 5: Authority – People have a tendency to obey authority figures. People like a testimony from a person of authority. 6: Scarcity – things are more attractive when their availability is limited. But the best part is that we’ll walk you through specific examples of how to use each one of these ideas in your business AND how ColDesi and Colman and Company do the same. Download Transcript The post Episode 69 – The Science of Upselling | The Best Ways to Talk to Your Customers appeared first on Custom Apparel Startups.

<a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/business-tips/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">business tips</a><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/customer-service/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">customer service</a><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/marketing/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Marketing</a><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/podcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">podcast</a><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/sales/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sales</a><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/tag/startup-business/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Startup Business</a> <h4>This Episode</h4>  <h4>Mark Stephenson &amp; Marc Vila</h4> <a href="https://customapparelstartups.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> <h4><a href="https://customapparelstartups.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">customapparelstartups.com</a></h4> <a href="https://business.facebook.com/caspodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> <h4><a href="https://business.facebook.com/caspodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CAS Podcast</a></h4> <a href="https://twitter.com/ColDesi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> <h4><a href="https://twitter.com/ColDesi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ColDesi</a></h4> <h4>You Will Learn</h4> <ul> <li>Why giving someone a small gift can make a big difference in your revenues</li> <li>What Apple and Samsung have to do with the Custom T-Shirt Business</li> <li>How come you’re attracted to long lines</li> <li>When Name Dropping can Mean picking up more sales</li> </ul> <h4>Resources &amp; Links</h4> <ul> <li><a href="http://blog.colmanandcompany.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Colman and Company Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://coldesi.com/success-stories/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Success Stories</a></li> <li><a href="https://coldesi.com/learning-center/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ColDesi Learning Center</a></li> <li><a href="https://coldesi.com/2017/01/equipment-leasing-tips-john-sullivant/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Leasing Equipment</a></li> </ul> The Science of Upselling – The Best Ways to Talk to Your Customers During this podcast we’ll get into Part III of our trilogy on Up-Selling, a vitally important skill in growing your business. The idea that you can service the same number of customers but make more money at the end of the month? Golden. SHOW NOTES: During this podcast we’ll get into Part III of our trilogy on Up-Selling, a vitally important skill in growing your business. The idea that you can service the same number of customers but make more money at the end of the month? Golden. We’re going to go through the following concepts/tactics in detail: 1: Reciprocity – Social norms compel us to respond to a favor with another favor, in order to not be considered ungrateful. 2: Consistency – People like to remain consistent over time. We feel a pressure to remain consistent with previous choices. Especially when we publicly commit to something. 3: Social Proof – When we arent sure of what decision to make, we look to others to see what they are doing 4: Like-ability – We are influenced by people we like. 5: Authority – People have a tendency to obey authority figures. People like a testimony from a person of authority. 6: Scarcity – things are more attractive when their availability is limited. But the best part is that we’ll walk you through specific examples of how to use each one of these ideas in your business AND how ColDesi and Colman and Company do the same. Download Transcript The post <a href="https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-69-the-science-of-upselling-the-best-ways-to-talk-to-your-customers/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 69 – The Science of Upselling | The Best Ways to Talk to Your Customers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://customapparelstartups.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Custom Apparel Startups</a>.

Episode 69 – The Science of Upselling | The Best Ways to Talk to Your Customers

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