Cheatsheet for Starting a T-shirt Business on a Shoestring Budget

In addition to forums, we did a bunch of direct mail (targeting churches and ministries for fundraisers). 

As I mentioned earlier, when you know who you're targeting, it much easier to get your shirts in front of the right people that are likely to purchase your stuff.

Nurses would quickly understand these says ...

So start with your job... If that doesn't work, take an assessment of yourself.

Are you funny? Do you play bingo? Do you have a passion for pets (like dogs, cats, pigs).

Are you a sports car fanatic? Are you passionate about protecting the environment?

Are you a hair stylist? Are you a plant based foodie? Are you into the Keto diet?

Are you a fitness junkie? 

Start where your interests are...

My 16 year old daughter is into skateboarding ... Naturally, skateboard t-shirts would be a great starting point for her. In fact, she asked me to help her come up with some ideas for skateboarding t-shirts.

The following is one of her creations... 

There are multiple ways to get your designs onto the shirt.

There's screen printing, direct-to-garment (DTG), and screen printed transfers with the use of a heat press. 

Screen Printing T-shirts 

Screen printing provides the best optimal results. The only problem is the cost. It's super expensive to get all of the proper equipment needed to screen print. It can easily cost upwards of $15,000 - $20,000 to get just the basic stuff. 

It'll be almost impossible to even think about running this out of your home.

In addition to that, the learning curve is atrocious. You'll spend months learning how to make it all work. 

Direct-to-Garment (DTG)

I've never purchased, nor used this type of equipment. I can't really give feedback on this method. 

Research (and feedback from others) indicate it's very expensive. If you're doing a ton of 'one-off' shirts, this may be an option for you.

If you're considering going the DTG route, consider buying used. I've seen them for practically free from those who thought they wanted to get into the t-shirt space.

Screen Printed 'Plastisol Transfers' and a Heat Press Machine

The #1 method for making quality t-shirts would be screen printing ... The 2nd best method for making quality t shirts would be with screen printed transfers; also known as plastisol transfers.

Plastisol is a type of ink screen printers use to print onto shirts. We use plastisol transfers because as the name implies, the inks on the transfer paper are plastisol inks. When you make tshirts with this method, you essentially get a screen print quality shirt (see video above for actual example).

The release paper you see in the video are NOT the same types of paper you purchase in the store and run through your printer ... These are two totally different types of paper and processes.

You cannot find this type of paper in the store. As mentioned in the video, a screen printer will take your design and screen print it directly onto release paper that can be used later to transfer your designs onto some type of garment.

There are many screen printing vendors that'll do this on your behalf.

Technology has made the turnaround time much faster, and costs much cheaper.

EXAMPLE: For a one-color design, the company below charges a $25 setup fee + .15 cents per transfer.

If you ordered 50 transfers, your cost would be $7.50 (for 50 transfers) + the $25 (setup fee) and broken down, you're looking at about .65 cents per transfer; which is much cheaper than using a traditional screen printer to make your shirts.

There are other companies that may charge a smaller setup fee, or no minimums. The higher quantity you purchase, the costs per transfer goes down even lower. And you can typically have these custom transfers in hand within a matter of days.

Understand that the more colors you have in your design, the more it'll cost you. That's standard practice with screen printing. More colors require more screens to be made, more work, and more money. So keep that in mind when creating your designs.

If you have lots of t-shirt ideas twirling around in your head, and you wish to get them online to the masses very quickly, this is going to be the most exciting news you'll ever read.

The technology as it is today,  was not available to me when I got started in the business. Because of that, I struggled daily just to get a decent start. The equipment and supplies I needed to get started was very expensive.

I worked extra shifts at my job just so I could buy enough blank t-shirts to get a great wholesale rate.

The family and I ate pinto beans and corn bread for weeks, just so we could afford to get our t-shirt designs made. It was hard, and honestly, I really did not think we'd make it through that first year of business.

But we did survive ... and over time, things finally started to turnaround. More inquiries came in. Our name started to get out. And finally, the sales started to flood in. I even had to fly a friend in from Washington D.C. to help me get the orders out on time!

But the way I got started ... that was the hard way!

Today ... You Never Even Have to Make or Touch a Single T-shirt!

Listen: 22 years ago, the Internet was brand new and it was just getting started.

Back in those days, people were terrified of using their credit cards to buy stuff online. Instead, they'd mail us checks and money orders. Obviously, we couldn't ship their order until their payment arrived, which in most cases, took 3-7 long excruciating days.

And then, we had to wait another 5-10 days for their checks to clear before we could ship.

Fast forward to the 2020s, you'd think I got my t-shirt business started back in the Stone Age. 

With advances in technology and fulfillment, you don't even have to purchase any type of equipment, no supplies, and no inventory. Whenever you sell a t-shirt, someone else does all of the hard work and prints the shirt for you.

This amazing process is so simple, you could literally start selling your t-shirt designs today!

Here's how it works...

When a new order comes through your website, you get your money upfront! No more waiting weeks or months to get paid. Your website automatically charges the customer for their order, and the money drops directly into your bank account within 1-3 business days.

After you get paid, the order details are instantly sent to the fulfillment company.

From there,  they'll print out the design(s) onto the shirts; they'll package it up with your name and company logo on the outside packaging; and then they'll ship it within 1-2 days directly to your customer. 

This all happens whether you're out enjoying quality time with friends or family, or while you're tucked away in your comfortable bed, sound asleep. 

No struggling along and trying to keep up with the business like I did.

I remember spending long weekends manually pressing thousands of t-shirts with my heat press machine. There were times when my back would hurt so bad, I couldn't do anything for days.

Each day I didn't press shirts, I got further and further behind. I lost customers because I couldn't keep up with demand. 

I spent entire weekends sitting in front of the computer printing out shipping labels and packaging t-shirts to be shipped out the following Monday. 

But you won't have that problem ...

Whether you sell just one t-shirt, or 777 of them, they'll get printed and shipped within 1-2 days; all without you ever having to lift a finger.

And remember, you get your money upfront ... No more waiting weeks or months for third party vendors to decide when you get your CA$H!

How to Build an Automated T-shirt Business That Works For You 24-7 on Autopilot!

So listen to this ... Many years ago, I thought I wanted to build a big empire with lots of employees. I wanted to look like a big shot, so I went out and got a big fancy office and started hiring people.

But there was a problem. You see, people have all sorts of issues happening in their own personal lives. The more people I hired, I found myself spending less time on my business, and had to spend more of my time being a counselor, a coach, a loan officer, and security guard to these employees ... It's a nightmare.

At any given time ...

• Somebody always needed money for their car to get fix
• Someone always came to work crying because of a nasty break-up with their boyfriend or girlfriend.
• Someone always needed an advance to pay rent.
• Someone was always calling out of work (usually after they got paid)
• Someone always needed 'motivation'
• Many were just downright lazy and stayed on their cell phones all day (think Facebook).
• Someone always wanted to steal your stuff, and then we had to get 'the law' involved.
• The problems were endless...

I bring all of this up to warn you ... you do not want the headache of managing people! It takes away from your real focus: The Business!

While your t-shirt business runs on autopilot, you get to focus 100% of your efforts on the things that matter most to growing and building a successful t-shirt company. 

You get to spend your time coming up with new designs. There's no limit to how many design ideas you come up with. It doesn't cost you one-penny extra to load them onto your website.

Whether you have 6 t-shirt design ideas, or 500 of them, you simply load it up through this amazing app, which automatically puts it onto your website. And when someone orders any of your designs, the data passes through the app and is instantly sent off to get printed, packaged and shipped directly to your customer!

Our Recommended Print on Demand Provider 

There are a bunch of companies out there to choose from ... Airwaves on Demand used to be our #1 recommended resource, but a couple years ago we sent all of our members to them and after about a year, they abruptly shut down the service. They're back now, but I no longer recommend them after the catastrophe they caused ...

There's another game in town, and not only can you print t-shirts, you can sell custom coffee mugs, hoodies, canvas and tote bags, sweats, socks and practically anything you can print on.

While they are expensive, it's a great and stable place to start. The more you sell, the less you pay.

Check them out: PRINTFUL

There is NO printer that allows you to make screen print transfer. Screen print transfers are actually made by screen printers. In order to make your own, you must buy all of the necessary screen printing equipment. 

The closest option would be Direct-to-Garment printing where you buy the printer (can cost upwards of $10,000), and you print directly to the garment itself.

At the end of the day, you're attempting to start a legitimate business. You don't want to start out selling inferior products. You will quickly get a bad reputation and people won't buy from you.

Take your time and save the money you need to get started. While saving, there are a million other things you can do to work on the business (such as drafting out a business/marketing plan and/or sketching out design ideas).

There's plenty to do.

Inkjet printers were created to print inks onto papers. They were never designed to print onto t shirts or other garments. Even though you'll find inkjet transfer papers for printing shirts, the quality is inferior.

The inks from a inkjet printer will typically fade and flood out of the garment as soon as you put it through the wash cycle in the washing machine. It can stain and damage other clothes in the load.

Your customers won't appreciate that and you could be liable for damages. In my opinion, it's not a good idea to do this. It's best to just save your money, sell some stuff, or get a part-time job to help fund the startup costs for your new t shirt business.

There's no simple or easy way to do this. There's only the right way. Doing it the right way will help you build a legitimate business that can thrive and be around for a long time.

Cutting corners and trying to be cheap puts you out of business.

A lot of folks jump into the tshirt business without ever sitting down and mapping out a real plan for building their business. Many of these folks end up letting their equipment sit in their garage or basement without ever using it.

Because of that, you can usually find some incredible deals from folks looking to get rid of their equipment. Craigslist is one of the places I recommend you search to find a deal. I've seen brand new and used heat press machines being sold for as little as $200 bucks

Watch this training to uncover some of the slick strategies and techniques I use to get a steal of a deal:

In order to get your t-shirt design ideas put onto plastisol transfers, you must send the artwork to the screen printers in a digital format. And you do that by either creating your own designs, or by hiring a graphic designer to create your designs for you.

I love this business because you don't have to know how to draw ... You don't have to have an artistic eye ... And you don't have to know how to use any of the advanced graphic design softwares like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

There are graphic designers out in the marketplace that are far more creative than most of us will ever be. All you have to do is come up with the idea and let them turn your ideas into a masterpiece.

For example, my 14-year old daughter at the time sketched out the following design ideas on a piece of paper ... We posted a project/contest on the Freelancer website, and a graphic designer from Freelancer took her ideas and turned it into the following designs:

The service is very easy to use ... You essentially post a contest. When you post that contest, you write up a detailed description of what you want and envision for your design.

Like my daughter did, to better communicate your ideas, you might have to sketch it out and submit the sketch with the contest post. This way, there's no confusion.

And for the contest, you award a prize ... So, for example, the prize may be $50 dollars.

Once you do that, you submit your contest, and then the details of your contest is broadcast and sent to all of the graphic designers in the Freelancer community.

Those who wish to participate will start creating your t-shirt design idea. Their goal is to hope you like and choose their design so they can win the $50 prize money.

Many of these designers live in foreign countries where their cost of living is very cheap compared to the U.S. cost of living.

So you're essentially tapping into some of the best and top quality graphic designers in the world, and getting artwork done for cheap.

For that $50, it's not unusual to get 50-100 submissions of your idea from multiple designers.

This was another skateboard t-shirt idea my daughter came up with ... We ran this contest on another website called DesignCrowd. 

From the contest at DesignCrowd, we ended up getting over 84 design submissions from their community of graphic designers.

My daughter ended up choosing the following design as the winner... Freelancer and DesignCrowd are the only 2 services I use for getting artwork created for t-shirts. 

Should You Create Your Own T-shirt Designs or Not?

If you're not already a graphic designer, now isn't the time to learn how to become one. This takes a lot of skill and years of practice. Most of these graphic designers eat, sleep, and drink graphic design.

For the cost to hire someone to do this for you, it just doesn't make sense to learn this. The learning curve for these high-end graphic design programs are ridiculous. 

It takes a creative eye and brain to know how to manipulate this software to create and design amazing works of art.

It makes more sense to lean on the expertise of these designers and let them create your masterpiece.

If you still insist on trying to learn this yourself, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator are the 2 main software programs used by graphic designers.

Costs can vary depending on if you're purchasing new equipment versus used equipment. It also depends on how many t-shirt design ideas you intend to start with. And it also depends on the number of colors in each of your designs.

As you can see, there are a variety of factors that'll determine your costs ...

In our online training course, we go over the different options available to you, so you can make an informed decision on the route that works best for you.

We cover stuff like ...

• where to buy wholesale t-shirts
• where to get custom screen printed transfers
• how to setup an e-commerce store to sell your shirts
• how to make money with print on demand
• how to market and promote your t-shirt business
• how to get your apparel into the store
• how to package and ship your tees
• and soo much more