I posted this in the new member forum but it doesn't look like posts there get replied to very often, so I'm reposting it here (hopefully that is ok) in hopes of getting some feedback.
New here. Did some sublimation back in 2010, started up again recently. I sublimate my own designs, mostly on mugs, that are related to a web site I own. In 2010 I had a booth at a festival and people seemed to like my stuff quite a bit but the weather was terrible so the turnout wasn’t too big. I’m going to do that festival again this spring. I can’t do sales – I’m ok at festival type things – but I just can’t do sales to retail stores. Don’t have the right personality for that. Luckily I’ve found someone to help with it and it looks like I’m close to getting an order placed from one local store and the person who’s helping me feels pretty confident she can get my stuff in other local stores also.
I think it will be a good confidence booster for me to have my products sold in stores, but realistically to make enough money I’ll need more than that. I need to get my web site set up a little better, promote it, and get some direct sales from it. I should make quite a bit more of a profit directly selling compared to how much I can make selling to a retail place. Of course it will take a lot of work and some time to get many sales from my site.
Long term I can’t see myself sublimating all day. I’m thinking once I’m getting enough sales from my site I could find a local place that can do the sublimation and I can concentrate on new designs and expanding to other products. I would make less profit per mug but as long as I’m getting enough orders I should still be able to make enough, plus eventually I’d make money from other products.
How does this sound as a plan? It seems almost too good to be true that I can make a mug for around 2.50 and sell it and make such a nice profit per mug. I don’t want to assume it will last forever, hence the expansion to other products. I don’t know exactly how much a company that just does sublimation would charge me per mug either, but based on what I’ve read on some threads here it seems I could still make a decent profit.
Are there many others here that are focusing on designing their own products rather than making items for other businesses? Or are most people here primarily sublimating/printing items?
New here. Did some sublimation back in 2010, started up again recently. I sublimate my own designs, mostly on mugs, that are related to a web site I own. In 2010 I had a booth at a festival and people seemed to like my stuff quite a bit but the weather was terrible so the turnout wasn’t too big. I’m going to do that festival again this spring. I can’t do sales – I’m ok at festival type things – but I just can’t do sales to retail stores. Don’t have the right personality for that. Luckily I’ve found someone to help with it and it looks like I’m close to getting an order placed from one local store and the person who’s helping me feels pretty confident she can get my stuff in other local stores also.
I think it will be a good confidence booster for me to have my products sold in stores, but realistically to make enough money I’ll need more than that. I need to get my web site set up a little better, promote it, and get some direct sales from it. I should make quite a bit more of a profit directly selling compared to how much I can make selling to a retail place. Of course it will take a lot of work and some time to get many sales from my site.
Long term I can’t see myself sublimating all day. I’m thinking once I’m getting enough sales from my site I could find a local place that can do the sublimation and I can concentrate on new designs and expanding to other products. I would make less profit per mug but as long as I’m getting enough orders I should still be able to make enough, plus eventually I’d make money from other products.
How does this sound as a plan? It seems almost too good to be true that I can make a mug for around 2.50 and sell it and make such a nice profit per mug. I don’t want to assume it will last forever, hence the expansion to other products. I don’t know exactly how much a company that just does sublimation would charge me per mug either, but based on what I’ve read on some threads here it seems I could still make a decent profit.
Are there many others here that are focusing on designing their own products rather than making items for other businesses? Or are most people here primarily sublimating/printing items?
