I have been watching this forum for a little over a month now and I am amazed at the amount of people getting into this business. My question is, WHY? I got into it when I was asked by someone who had started a business and needed an artist. I learned how to print in the 70's and early 80's. A lot has changed but I still see the same challenges now as I did then. The person who asked me to help him with his business sold it to me 6 months after start up. It turned out that he actually had to work at this business, he thought that he would open the doors and customers would just show up!
9 months out of the year I work 12 - 14 hours a day. I love what I do and the challenges it brings. My background is art but I have found that I have to be a jack of all trades. What about you guys? Why would you want to do this for a living?
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Mike
If you dig ditches be the best ditch digger you can be.
I started under similar circumstances, and owned my own shop from '98-'00. We shut down due to some financial difficulties, but I learned some valuable lessons the first go-round. We started another shop this past January, and things are going infinitely better than the first time. Still tough... and still 7-days-a-week... 12-18 hours a day in most cases.
"Why?" seems to defy logic... I don't have a good answer other than the fact that I love it... and I'm earning a living doing something that I love to do. It's the only job I've ever had that I don't dread getting up for.
Of course, I've never been accused of being all that smart....
My family started out as a soccer shop in 1987. We got tired of having to outsource iron-on numbers, so we got a heat press. We got tired of outsourcing screen printing, so we purchased a sp company. A few years later we were getting many requests for embroidery, so we purchased a single head, followed a few years later by a 6 head. My parents got into this biz, because they wanted to spend more time with the kiddos, and not be told what to do. It meant more work, but we (the kids) were with them every step of the way. We are outdoorsmen/women - hunt, fish, camp, etc. Our slow seasons at work allow us to do the things we love (our slow times are early summer - fishing, and late fall/early winter - hunting). What it really boils down to is freedom. My father and brother are out hunting this morning, and ain't nobody going to complain. My father instilled a great work ethic into all of us, so the effort we put in reflects our success. I like that control. Sure there are good times and bad, but when I lay down for good I won't be proud of the money in my pocket. I'll be proud of the memories in my head.
What is the best and worst part about this career.
Best would be that freedom Jem was talking about.
Worst would have to be that customer that can't understand this process and will never be happy.
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Mike
If you dig ditches be the best ditch digger you can be.
What is the best and worst part about this career.
Best would be that freedom Jem was talking about.
Worst would have to be that customer that can't understand this process and will never be happy.
Hahaha! No doubt.... you gotta love the fact that most folks think we can just psychically will up a few t-shirts. They never understand why you can't do just 3 more shirts once you've moved on to another job... or why they can't pick them up an hour after they ordered them...
And don't get me started on schools and coaches...
Best part for me.... man... I don't think I could narrow it down. I love everything. I love creating the artwork... love producing the tees... love seeing a customer's reaction to my work... love having music playing in my shop... love printing late at night with a cooler full of beer... love telling charitable causes "no charge" (when I can afford it) when they come to pick up their stuff... love watching a little league or soccer team when they see their uniforms for the first time...
And yeah... I'll take the bad with the good. The good outweighs it by far.
I just started creating the artwork for our business, after just doodling around with it for a few years. Well, I was at the local wally world yesterday, and a child in the store was wearing a tee that had my first "sold" design on it. That makes me really happy. I wanted to tell her "hey, I made that", but didn't want to seem vain. Once I started messing with artwork I honestly liked getting up to go to work. I lie in bed at night and think of art. Many people leave work at the end of the day, and leave their work. Mine follows me and I don't mind...luvin' it. Plus the kind folks here help keep it fresh. Thanks to all
Best - see my above posts
Worst - crappy art (that's a big one), having to cover for an employee's mistake (comes with the territory), coming up here at 3:00 AM to meet the police for a false alarm (mice chewing through alarm wires), being the only one here that knows how to change fax film, light bulbs, minor repairs (father likes to outsource NOTHING).
Well, I was at the local wally world yesterday, and a child in the store was wearing a tee that had my first "sold" design on it. That makes me really happy...I lie in bed at night and think of art. Many people leave work at the end of the day, and leave their work. Mine follows me and I don't mind...luvin' it. Plus the kind folks here help keep it fresh. Thanks to all
Once this thing gets in your blood there is no relief. I can't go anywhere with out looking a t-shirts. I look at the design, the print quality, type of shirt, literally everything about the shirt. I know people see me looking at their shirts and wonder what is that man over there looking at me like that for. My wife wants to know what to get me for Christmas, she hates it when I tell her something to do with the business. I really don't have any other hobbies other than screen printing. I play golf and stuff, but while I'm on the course I'm thinking about the business. Gotta love it!!
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Mike
If you dig ditches be the best ditch digger you can be.
Once this thing gets in your blood there is no relief. I can't go anywhere with out looking a t-shirts. I look at the design, the print quality, type of shirt, literally everything about the shirt. I know people see me looking at their shirts and wonder what is that man over there looking at me like that for. My wife wants to know what to get me for Christmas, she hates it when I tell her something to do with the business. I really don't have any other hobbies other than screen printing. I play golf and stuff, but while I'm on the course I'm thinking about the business. Gotta love it!!
That is me exactly. It is torture sometimes as there are just too many shirts too look at and study. I cant sit in my fishing boat with out coming up with shirt ideas and then I wish I was in front of my computer creating them instead of fishing. I can stay up all night printing shirts no problem, where staying up all night for anything else is a chore. My blood flows plastisol!
__________________ Cards kill trees! Give a custom printed shirt.
I agree, and every piece of clothing I own has ink on it somewhere. I have a deal with one of my employees. When I die she has to come to the funeral home and rub "white ink" on my clothing somewhere. I can't go to my final resting place with out ink on me somewhere. I don't want a t-shirt just the ink where it does not belong!
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Mike
If you dig ditches be the best ditch digger you can be.
I agree, and every piece of clothing I own has ink on it somewhere. I have a deal with one of my employees. When I die she has to come to the funeral home and rub "white ink" on my clothing somewhere. I can't go to my final resting place with out ink on me somewhere. I don't want a t-shirt just the ink where it does not belong!
lol! Good plan
So.... I suppose it's not uncommon for anybody around this board to have stripped down and run their clothes through the dryer before getting in the car to go home???
Thought it was just me :P
Ever wonder how that stuff gets on places like your shoulder... or the back of your pants... or in your hair...?
I have to say you guys are making my day with this post! I was born a printer! My dad was a printer at the mint in D.C. Also taught printing at Appalacian state while getting his masters. Now is the technical complaint manager for a paper company. He has been in printing his whole life.
As for me I have been around and worked in and been the GM of print shops my whole life. I remeber when I was 18 my dad asking me if I wanted to start a screen printing business with him and I did. We did not end up doing it then but have talked about it many times over the past 10 years. I am now determined to do it. I get frustrated that I have invested thousands of dollars and have not printed the 1st shirt for someone to pay me for. The reason being is that I know I will be producing top quailty ****s in the near future. I am dying to be my own boss. I want my shop to be a one or two man operation. Nothing really crazy. I just hope someday I can figure out the graphic design side of things cause it is all new to me as far as printing goes. I have always had it farmed out in or had people that did it in shop.
I just keep saving money and buying the best that I can cause I want to be the best like I used to be in the flexo industry after just one year of printing! I know that I can! So watch out cause I will be coming up with some crazy shirts some day!
I went to art school in Chicago to study fashion design and art history. Somehow I ended up poor and the only thing that I had left was my artistic talent(cue the violins). It didn't cost me anything to buy blank tees and it cost me even less to screen print on them. So that's where it began and now not only do I eat, sleep, and breathe t-shirts, but I'll never have to worry about money again.
Why Screen Printing 
