[onetytersx]

a little about myself. im 22/m/cali i work in a chinese restraunt as a waiter/cook/cleanup/ etc. (my parents own it) My parents are retiring and selling the restraunt(thank god) so I have to find a new job. I passed my real estate test and applied for my real estate license. I havent heard anyword from them for over a half a year and im losing intrest in it because the market has really slowed down. well i have been on the boards for a month or so and i decided to register. Im considering making my own tee's and selling them online. I got a team going on. several buddies with good photoshop skills. couple art majors. couple friends who are gaming nerds. my brother ( he is only 14) is really good with html and desighning web pages. and then myself who is a entrepreneur. So after looking at website like pure pwnage and thizzface clothing (cafe press) it kind of hit me. My real condern is not knowing diddly sqwat about creating t-shirts. But i have learned alot of from reading the boards. Is there a weekend class that I can take to learn everything that i would need to know about creating shirts? i found one but it was in like phoenix arizona and they wanted like 5 bills for one day. I got about 20k to spend on equiptment and more when i sell one of my two cars. i was leaning towards a dtg printer but i have seen some really nice printed and pressed shirts. silkscreen seems like to much work for me. Im probally be the only one making the shirts because i dont want to hire any help right now. so would dye sublination and using a heat press and printer be the easiest and fastest way for production? Like many others im going making hip hop tee's and im going to branch out to gaming tee's (counterstrike, wow, battlefied, etc) sorry about the spelling and grammer...

 

[Rodney]

Hey Tao from the Yay area. welcome to the T-Shirt Forums

That's a lot of questions in one post You might get more answers if you broke them out as separate questions and posted them in the appropriate forums here.

With 20k to spend, I'm not sure I would start out doing all the printing myself. Sometimes it's a good idea to outsource so you can spend your efforts getting t-shirts sold instead of learning printing processes and printing t-shirts.

I don't know of any classes on t-shirt selling, but you can get schooled right here if you have the time and patience to read and ask the right questions

 

[onetytersx]

awsome dude... ill try breaking up my questions... but i cant believe you said "yay Area"

 

[badalou]

Tao! STOP RIGHT THERE!!!! OK.. It is nice to want to go into the tee shirt business but what you really need to do is sit down and write a business plan about what the heck your going to do. Don't, please, don't blow 20 grand on something you know little about. I am sure there are people out there that would love to take your money.. but you need to put everything down on paper.. Make a business module, include the responsibilities of "Your Team." calling them that is one thing, but on paper they become 1. partners? 2. Employees? Oh and if they become employees the state needs to know that because they want some of that money also.. And partners need to be responsible for something.. Either financial or working. And what about percentages.. This is going to be a business. I bet your parents could be your best source for going into business. years ago I need a business plan and I went to Stanford and got a business Major to use me for a paper and he did everything for me for free. And the bank loaned me money based on that plan. A few weeks ago we had a thread about this very thing.. You know a lot of us will say, hey good for you. But I am one of those that will say good for you when I know that you did your homework. Where in California are you. me I am now in Stockton, cal. hey good luck. Lou

 

[onetytersx]

Lou really appreciate for the heads up. I was planning on buying a dtg printer for 14k but after reading the forums and figure i can start a little smaller with a press and a epson printer. I'm going to be the only one responsible in the "team" because i am the only one who is willing to invest any money. Michael my brother will be involuntary voluntary for me.As of my friends one is still in high school and the other is in college/art school, they would help me with photoshop etc and artsy stuff. My other friends are losers and stay home and play warcraft all day but they have really creative minds. they probally would work for pizza and beer. I live in Humboldt County. few years back i remember a kiosk in the mall that was selling shirts that "humboldt" written on it with a marijuana leaves or "trainwreck" screened on there shirts. Now they have a actual store and a website. Lou i remember you saying that you were a epson rep. i was wondering what is the best epson printer i can get if money was not a problem? some tranfer paper are 11" by 17' do i need a special printer for those? thanks
tao

 

[monkeylantern]

badalou is totally correct.

1) Don't touch a penny of that money for 4 months.
2) Set aside a few days and read everything you can on this forum
3) Go to a good small business site, and read everything you can there
4) Research, research, research (treat it like you're doing a Masters degree....spend 8 hours a day researching)
5) Write a proper business plan (a realistic one)
6) Get a friend in accounting or economics to critically attack it.
7) Re-write that plan
8) Small scale test run
9) Re-assess
10) Re-write plan
11) Re-test
12) Start spending the cash!

 

[MotoskinGraphix]

badalou is totally correct.

1) Don't touch a penny of that money for 4 months.
2) Set aside a few days and read everything you can on this forum
3) Go to a good small business site, and read everything you can there
4) Research, research, research (treat it like you're doing a Masters degree....spend 8 hours a day researching)
5) Write a proper business plan (a realistic one)
6) Get a friend in accounting or economics to critically attack it.
7) Re-write that plan
8) Small scale test run
9) Re-assess
10) Re-write plan
11) Re-test
12) Start spending the cash!

I agree...friends are just that, friends with no capitol and a coattail! You can get it done for so much less with a concise business plan and some research. Why take all the financial risk and share the profit when you can outsource with professional results and get it done right from the start.

 

[onetytersx]

badalou is totally correct.

1) Don't touch a penny of that money for 4 months.
2) Set aside a few days and read everything you can on this forum
3) Go to a good small business site, and read everything you can there
4) Research, research, research (treat it like you're doing a Masters degree....spend 8 hours a day researching)
5) Write a proper business plan (a realistic one)
6) Get a friend in accounting or economics to critically attack it.
7) Re-write that plan
8) Small scale test run
9) Re-assess
10) Re-write plan
11) Re-test
12) Start spending the cash!

DUDE.. that a awsome plan. iv been on the boards for a while now reading and researching how to create the shirts. I just got done with finals and i have a little more free time. Im going to head out to Borders maybe even later today for a hour or two and check out a few books and magazines about small buisness oppratunities. thanks
tao

 

[Solmu]

You should especially think about what Lou said regarding the potential resources of your friends ("on paper they become 1. partners? 2. Employees?"). If you don't get that organised in advance you could be in a whole world of hurt. It can ruin friendships and businesses. What happens when, having been paying them in beer and pizza, you open your first bricks and mortar store? If the relationship wasn't defined from the beginning they may feel used, or they may try and sue for a piece of the pie. It can get very ugly, so it's something you should figure out before any real money is involved. If you're looking at investing up to $20,000 in this venture this is even more relevant for you than it may be for some.

 

[monkeylantern]

Very true. Make sure everything is in writing, and mutually agreed upon, before going anywhere near a business venture with friends.

Nothing can torpedo a friendship more than $500,000 profit at the end of the year, and no hard written rules on profit sharing.

 

[onetytersx]

thats so true. My parents told me never to go into buisness with any1 becuase friendships get broken. Ill make sure to have it in writting when i actually get off the ground. im soo glad to find this site. I thought it was easy as printing and pressing. now im learning the diffrence between screening vinly and pressing... it actually kind of discourage me in a bit. never knew making a t-shirt was soo dificult.

 

[Solmu]

it actually kind of discourage me in a bit. never knew making a t-shirt was soo dificult.

It's a learning hump - for now it seems overwhelming because you're experiencing information overload, but soon enough it all just becomes second nature. It's difficult when you break it down (as you need to to learn it) but it's easy when you just do it.

If you find later that you don't enjoy designing or printing shirts that could be a problem, but information is just an opportunity to make things easier further down the road when you run into potential problems.