Screen printing business

Ok, well first of all, thank you for your time. I feel very overwhelmed, with no guidence at all. This is new to me.

So, basically this is my idea. I am a tshirt designer right now. I freelance, getting jobs here and there, but it has always been a passion of mine.

My ultimate goal was always to make and sell my own graphic tees, but have since lost interest in the idea of a formal clothing brand. I have ideas, and designs, but nothing I want to launch into a fullout brand....

Anyway, I have always been interested in screen printing, and always wanted to do it. And, to this day, it still remains something that excites me, just by the very idea of it.

So, I want to start my own screen printing shop, that specializes in doing great graphic tees. Now, I do realize that I would like to do dtg, embroidery, and other things in the future, to accomodate customer needs, I really want to start with one thing so im not in over my head.

But, I was also inspired by a shop in a town my uncle lives in. The owner of the shop is your typical screen printer, who also does emroidery vinyl dtg, ect. But, he uses his shop space to sell tshirts that he makes himself. Its not a full out retail store, but he has about 6 or seven catchy ideas made into shirts, that also draws revenue to the business.

I want to go in that direction, since im bascially already designing shirts right now. Nothing crazy ya know? But if I start a screen priniting shop, and have the space and equipment, i thought it would also be a great way for me to fulfill my passion of selling my own shirts. I basically have the idea of being the guy in my town, know for graphic tees. It is my passion and no sence faking anything else.

So that is basically the gist. A screen printing shop, with the goal of expanding to other print methods, that doubles as a graphic tee shop.

No other screen printers in my area do this. They all just work with walk ins and local businesses and dont sell anything in house. They just basically have racks of the types of stuff they offer in their catelogs.

Would love to put it near one of the colleges in my area. There is a very popular college in my town, where kids are always in and out of local shops. A very socially conscious bunch too, which is the way I am.

I just have NO clue where to begin. I dont have funding, or a savings right now. All I have is a passion and a dream.

All things aside. I dont expect it to be easy or an overnight phenom.

Just looking for some guidance or experienced advise.

The only problem I see is taking out a loan to open a shop when you have no experience in it to begin with. Starting a business even if you know how to screen print is hard enough. There are too many unknown variables for you. Would you venture into this alone. You mentioned you design t-shirts already. Maybe you could work out deals with the people you are designing for. I'm not trying to take down your dream I just want you too realize the extreme amount of risks you'd be taking on. Learning to screen print, establishing a customer base, rent, insurance, taxes, utilities, equipment, possibly employees, long long hours. Can you handle all of that at once? Your dream is definitely attainable, I just think that in your current position, its a little too much too soon. Take everything in steps. Those steps can go in any direction you choose just as long as its one at a time.
I hope this helps and again I am by no means saying not to follow your dreams and/or passion, just take it slow. Crawl before you walk and walk before you run. Good luck to you!

I fully understand what your saying, which is why im emailing all the local print shops asking to give me the opportunity to learn.

No doubt this is a huge risk. Which is why im not jumping the gun. Im trying to gain as much info as possible before I take action.

My wife would be helping a bit. She is great at certain things that I am not, like organization, money matters, time management. But, she has a fulltime job teaching which means she could only really help when she can.

I have thought about asking her father, who is a really smart dude, who is out of work and refuses to go back to a job that kills him and that he cant stand. But, I just worry that his vision would clash with mine.

I also have a friend who I asked if he would be interested, and he said "hell yeah", but he doesnt want to think about anything. He just wants to go take out a personal loan and start spending with no planning....Thats just not the way I operate. Especially since i really want to do this and have it succeed....

Right now, im banking on a really good friend to help me with advise as well. He is extremely smart, and owns his own staffing biz in washington dc, and is in the process of starting a new company dealing with food transportation.....long story....but he has a degree in international business and knows a little somthin somthin....Waiting for him to email me back...

But, the advise that I get from this site is always invaluable since A) everyone here loves tshirts, and B) there are a whole slu of people here who have done it already.....

But, like you said, I am a designer, which I think would also help me with putting out quality products, whether its my own stuff or others.... Im not a newb when it comes to designing and using adobe art programs that I would use for color seps and such.....just a newb to the printing aspect, and an extreme newb to owning and opperating a business.