need help in starting a tshirt business

Hi, Henrix! Everyone has a different way of succeeding in this business, but I love the heat tranfers! I've been a customer of 1st Street Graphics for over 7 years now, and boy have I made some money and kept happy customers by using them. I purchased a Hix machine from a local man looking to sell his business, and I started from scratch. The folks at 1st Street basically helped me learn how to get my design from a rough draft jpeg to a beautiful transfer that made my customers so happy. I started out being happy with orders of 24-48 pieces, and now, I'm regularly ordering 500 tranfers at a time. It takes time to build relationships with customers, so please be patient. My best advice to you is to not overprice nor underprice yourself, but most of all to build a true relationship with your customer. He/She will need to know that you are dependable and offer a high quality product. While you're building your business, take $100 or so, and try out different printing methods and simply "waste" some products as you learn. This way, you won't make as many mistakes as you normally would when you get REAL orders. I've learned the hard way that it's best not to rely on your memory. Write down EVERYTHING when printing your shirts, and that way, you will be prepared on future orders. I wish you the best of success. This business is so much fun, and I hope this helps somehow!!

Kristen