hi guys, i am "teh n00b" here so i apologize if this is a silly thread...
we are a new orleans based design company, primarily do web design etc. but we think we have some great t-shirt ideas.
i see on the side of this site you have website recommendations but i was wondering, have any of you had luck with pitching just an idea to someone and receiving loans? ie. they will create the shirt for you based on your idea only.
we have an ingenious idea and think it would be a big hit.
what is the first step to making 1 million dollars???
Not to be Debbie Downer, but so many people think that this business is all about slapping an "awesome graphic" on a shirt and its their ticket to easy money. Which makes me laugh. Lots.
If that were the case this website wouldn't be here!!! Its a completely flooded market, everyone and their mom wants t do shirts, or has a great idea...you need to be honest with yourself and keep that in mind. Its A LOT of work, I would say a good majority of us here spend our freetime, weekends, and nights trying to promote our business, draw in traffic to our sites, generate excitement, etc. Some of us have full time jobs and do this on the side until things get rolling. Some of us don't eat if we don't print or our design don't sell.
If you're willing to do all of that, then why not go for it?
Hi,
It is possible...not easy... to attract investors with little more than an idea. Here's how I did it. I took my design idea, used cheap iron on transfer paper,ironed it on a shirt and wore the shirt where there were a lot of people (in my target market) I took orders only, of course, because I did not have a real shirt yet just a mock up. I explained to potential customers that I would be having the shirts made " properly" when I had enough money to do so.One of the people who wanted a shirt also wanted to invest. Actually I had 3 people who wanted to invest.So the "idea" was now more than an idea. It was a proven seller. It is easier to find investors when you have sales. Then I found this forum and most of the answers to what I needed to do next.
I agree with the above post that it is not as easy as slapping a design on a shirt and making a million. There are numerous steps along the way.
#1.idea
#2. mock up
#3. market research...will it sell?
#4. sales=investors
Good luck and hope this helps.
angels26
I don't think you will hear a whole lot of get rich quick stories on this forum, not to say it couldn't happen, but I think a whole bunch of hard work would be a more realistic answer
I don't think you will hear a whole lot of get rich quick stories on this forum, not to say it couldn't happen, but I think a whole bunch of hard work would be a more realistic answer
I did not ever think it was going to be buying a heat press one day then a million dollars would appear in my pocket the next, would be nice though wouldn't it? . It has been alot of trial and error execution for me.
I started out doing small items here locally then worked from there. I did pitch my "idea" to one person and they wanted to become involved with it as well and offered to invest to get up and running just by hearing what I wanted to do and seeing my sample product. (My sample product was creating custom tee's for a mayoral candidate during our election and wearing them all over town). People would ask us where those had come from and instantly it was a way for me to self promote
I'm sure my idea was not that much different than anyone elses I just had a passion for what I wanted to be doing and knew it was going to be long unsatisfied hours if I did not give it 110%. I have been blessed enough to have found this forum and the many educated and experienced people here sharing their knowledge.
In just my experience it is not so much the caliber of the idea but how you market it to your target market that will determine your success or failure. You never know until you try, speak to some folks and see what kind of feedback your getting about investing in your idea and good luck!
__________________
Creativity is your vehicle, profit the destination.
Last edited by Comin'OutSwingin; February 13th, 2008 at 06:57 AM.
Reason: fixed font color and sizing
I am far from a million dollars but I do pretty good with my t-shirts. What I did/do is I make shirts for my family- me, hubby and kids and we wear them. When people ask where they came from, I get to say from ME and they then ask for one or 2 or more. I have gottin 2 big jobs just from my 11 year old wearing a shirt to a club meeting at school (he's in the 5th grade). I made him a shirt with a design and the club name on it, then the teacher put in an order for the other kids. Same thing with our local 4-H club. My kids wore shirts to a meeting and other kids had to have one- so parents put in an order.
I think you get out of it what you put in it. I work on shirts everyday several hours a day. Then I work on getting the word out there. I place business cards everywhere I go- the dr's office, the library, the grocery store. There's endless promotion/marketing tools out there. It's a lot of hard work and you have to WANT to do it.
Brenda I agree totally you get out of it what you put into it absoultely. It's much like anything else no matter how much you want to have your not going to get it without the dedication and effort to match . Making t's for the family is an excellent tool as I use that one myself and have them wear them around, it has generated business for me also. The million dollars well, I don't know all about that but I'll be happy to pay my bills and have some mad money with my name on it.
__________________
Creativity is your vehicle, profit the destination.
hi guys, i am "teh n00b" here so i apologize if this is a silly thread...
we are a new orleans based design company, primarily do web design etc. but we think we have some great t-shirt ideas.
i see on the side of this site you have website recommendations but i was wondering, have any of you had luck with pitching just an idea to someone and receiving loans? ie. they will create the shirt for you based on your idea only.
we have an ingenious idea and think it would be a big hit.
what is the first step to making 1 million dollars???
Hi, welcome to the forum. If you would like to have someone else create your shirt and see if it would be a big hit, you could do this by opening a cafepress store or spreadshirt.
A cafe press store is free, you can upload your designs, promote your site, and cafepress will print and fill the orders and you make so much $$ per shirt.
I don't have one, so if anyone sees anything wrong in my post, will you please fix it up? I have read about it, and reads posts on it, and been there, but not first hand experience. Thanks.
You can order one of your own shirts from your cafepress store, and wear it yourself and see the reactions from those around you.
This involves no start up costs, you can test your designs on the buying public, wear your own sample and order your own shirts for give away samples if you want to do that, and pull the plug if you don't think it's going well.
I mention spreadshirt, which I know less about, b/c I've heard some folks favor them and I watched a news clip on zazzle, cafepress, and spreadshirt sample shirts a guy uploaded the same design to each fulfillment center, and the speadshirt shirt won.
pitching ideas? how to make it work 
. It has been alot of trial and error execution for me. 
