Sounds like you have a good plan.Im sort of in the same situation as you.heres my background...I had always wanted to be an artist,but my dad told me artist dont make any money and i had to learn a trade.I listened to my dad and went into a trade.I had put together a womens softball team and was looking to buy t-shirts.I got out the yellow pages and called around.Everyone had about the same price except one guy.he was much cheaper.I said hey you must be off on your quote.He told me no,I contract print everything...I had him do my shirts.I asked him more about it and he gave me the number to his printer.I thought that this would be a great way for me to do my art and have it displayed.(Its really neat when you are out and about and you see your shirt).I decided i was going to do this on the side of my regular job.I went to his printer and spoke with him,he gave me the low down and was very helpfull.I found a local shirt supply warehouse.I started telling people I did screenprinting and embroidery.Id randomly stop in businesses and cold called sales.I even spent 400 bucks on a tiny yellowpage add that only got me one call!(lived in small town at time)I found word of mouth is the best marketing.Make sure you have cards on you at all times.One time while vacationing in Puerto Rico I went to a resturant .The owner came out and bought us drinks and asked where we were from and asked what I did.He asked for a card.I didnt have one with me but i told him next time i come back id bring him a shirt.(i have big plans for this account to long to get into here)Here's the thing about customers. I have found They change their mind...I use to go home draw a design to show them,priced the garments and printing...sometime that alone took hours and this is without having the job yet!Alot of running around picking up shirts dropping off shirts.I could go on for days...but heres my My new way of thinking is keep it simple.For example their is a price difference between light and dark garments, also 2x is more.Just price at the higher and it takes alot of the hassle away.Start with one product,one price.Hell I can put your name on toilet paper if you wanted it...but trust me you can get overloaded quick.I always could keep my cost low cuase my overhead was low....Id try to figure out exactly what the customers shirts would cost me at the supply warehouse,and how much my printer was going to cost,then I always added on my profit and walla.It may be a a pain sometimes...you might loose your *** on jobs or just break even on others...I could spend hours on that one too!...I use to get some totes with their print on it load thier shirts in the totes and I always hand delivered to my customers.(customers always want a deal and free things)a happy satified customer is a return customer.(This is were that word of mouth comes into play)Thats the other side of the coin.Ive had customers call and reorder.I pick up the phone make a call and make $700 profit, no stress, no headaches. I think you should look for a contract printer locally first,Its that face to face thing again. especially if your are new to it.go to their shop...see their operations,see their work,every printer does things differently.get the low down.So I am about to have my third back operation,I am currently setting up to keep it REAL simple.I am planning a online t-shirt store also...I had purchaced a wacom 21ux cintuq (which you can veiw on you tube).I use photoshop 7 and corel paint for software.my art is best applied with a
DTG which is a printer that directly prints on t-shirts(my contract printer has one of these)I am drawing designs and getting my line ready for my web site.I notice you said you can make a better web site then whats out there.Well as we all know there is a million of them out there,now the question is yours really better or you just
re- inventing the wheel?The way i look at it is it doesnt matter how good your web site is if the art is crap.the art and its originality is going to set you apart.Dont get me wrong I know guys operating out of thier basements.just choose your stock transfers,buy a heat press,list on site,press and ship(ups picks up from house daily)add shipping into cost and label it free shipping yadda yadda yadda.
You said your competing for the shirts you have in mind but whats that mean?What do you have in mind?do you have web site ready yet or just an idea?Is your web site going to be for sale?If its that great Id like to see it.Im looking for a premade t-shirt site .I have a professional web developer in the family that i have been planning on using but hey why reinvent the wheel right?I was also thinking id love to see your designs.mabey you could sell them also!good luck if I can help more lemme know.Eric
Trying to find an all in one screenprinter/warehouse-fullfillment company 
