Print on demand is a ridiculously simple business model to make money
online. I stumbled on print on demand from watching a YouTube video, and
I was able to create a passive income stream in less than a year.
Here was a business that needed very little investment with lots of potential. In my first year I made over $40,000 from print on demand.
If you have some basic skills in creating digital art or typography you can start creating designs to sell with print on demand. I started with typography which was easy to apply to t-shirt designs. Please note I am not a professional artist, yet I made a huge amount of money from my basic design skills.
You might need to learn a few programs or apps to get started. With a quick Google search I found tutorials that improved my design skills. These tutorials and apps set the foundation for my print on demand business.
Basically you need to design stuff that looks good on products like t-shirts or hoodies, and you make money every time someone buys a product with your design on it.
The nice thing about print on demand is that you don’t need to make a product, you leave that to the print on demand supplier. The print on demand supplier will handle everything, from getting the product manufactured to shipping. If you can create a catchy design, it’s super simple to upload your designs to a print on demand platform.
The easy set up makes this a perfect passive income business. All you have to do is upload designs once in a while which helps grow your design portfolio.
Print on demand products go far beyond just clothing. There are companies placing designs on things like hutches and bar stools. Which is a good thing for those interested in starting a print on demand business. The more products that you can get made with your designs, the better the chance that you can make sales. Many of my designs are adapted for various products such as mugs or masks, and everything in between. You never know what design is going to catch someone's attention.
There are a few different types of print on demand business models. The simplest is joining a site like Redbubble which allows you to upload your design, and they will take care of everything else required to get the product to the consumer. That means they will handle marketing, collecting payments, and order fulfillment.
The way you make money with print on demand companies like Redbubble is from a set margin that you determine for each product. Since you can set the percentage for your margin you can increase how much profit you make. When you reach a $20.00 threshold on your account you will be paid through Paypal. It super simple and easy to get started, and with a little time the sales just keep coming in. The nice thing about this business model is there is very little effort on your part.
If you would like more control of your business you will need to put some work into building your own website. Which will also mean you will need to advertise and to get people to your site. Many print on demand sellers who go this route set up shop with Shopify, and have the orders fulfilled by Printify. Setting up your own web site means you have 100% certainty that you are getting paid for every sale you make. It also gives you the peace of mind that you cannot have your account banned or blocked from the platform.
Here is a list of print on demand sites that you should check out:
Redbubble
Society6
Spring
Tee Public
Spread Shirt
Designed by humans
These are sites that will handle everything for you and all you need to do is upload your designs. The more sites that you join, the better the chance you will make a sale. Remember it’s all about the views and getting your design in front of as many people as possible.
In addition to these print on demand sites you should also set up an account with Printify or another company that can integrate with sites like Etsy and eBay. This will allow you to reach even more customers.
There is also a program from Amazon called Merch. It’s one of the most difficult platform to be accepted into, but they offer the best potential to make sales. If you are accepted your designs will appear in Amazon searches along their other product offerings. As you can imagine having a design available on Amazon can be pretty profitable.
As with any business the first few months are the most difficult. Depending on your design skills you might have to refine some of your work. If art is not your forte you need to gain some skills, or consider outsourcing design ideas. You can negotiate full rights to the work produced, and get full rights to sell the design.
Having a knack for finding trends can be helpful, when deciding what type of design you are going to work on and upload. Using online tools to research what people are looking for you can create designs to fill that niche. It can take time to figure out where to find trends, but luckily there are many videos on YouTube that can assist you with that.
I remember the day I got my first sale on Redbubble, it was for a sticker. The profit on that sticker was only $0.48, but I was happy that someone actually had picked something that I had created. That sale put me over the moon.
Another thing to keep in mind about Print on demand products, is that they make for a great gift. Many sellers make sure to upload design that cover most of the popular holidays and events on the calendar, like mother’s day and fathers day. You want to make sure you have various designs for those events that generates lots of searches online.
If you want to get your products found online you need to learn about tags and descriptions. Remember that designs cannot be identified by the search engines, you need to provide tags that can bring up your design in search. The description of your design should also be well thought out. If you can describe your design you have a better chance of it being found and making a sale.
The print on demand business model has become one of my favorite sources of passive income. There is something about creating a design and having people pick that work above thousands of other peoples designs. It’s becomes pretty additive once you make your first sale, and all you want to do is create new designs. If you want to make some passive income try setting up your own print on demand business. It’s a pretty cool side hustle that allows you to make money with your creativity. Start uploading your work to print on demand sites and keep at it. That first sale is just an upload away.
