[fedoraoriginali]

I am curious on how everyone first got into the T-shirt business. What are your stories? How did you get the idea that you wanted to do this? What were your expectations? Have your expections been met? How long do you see yourself doing this? What is the most important advice you could give to anyone who wants to get into the business? Whether big or small?
I love reading biographies :tipthank:

 

[freshlysqueezed]

Okay so I was a freshman I was walking down the hallway and saw someone with a lame shirt and im like why dont they make cool shirts that you can get locally so When i was using the urinal(lmfao) i thought of the name! and i thought for hours more of some other name but evryone loves this one... i was going fresh meaning cool...

so I worked at burger king for 8 bucks and hour got 500 bucks and bought a heat press 3 dozen shirts 100 sheets of paper and refil ink carts for a printer a already had... Im frustrated because my press is now to small 12x12 i got becuase it was cheap... I also ordered a dozen pairs of shades from dangshades.com they sold like hotcakes! better then the shirts! half of them gone in 2 days just selling at school! 15 bucks each now im looking into getting belts from miles to go belts...

And maybe some hats from new era customs...

I expect myself to be in this probally till im dead

And my advice is never give up! I almost did it took so long saving up for what i wanted to start! then it took alot of trial and error!

But yes never give up ANd by the way I am only 15 and im a sophmore so its tooken me about 6 months to get all up and running! Another thing is dont let pepole tell you your idea is stupid when you know its not there just being mean cuz they dont think your gonna follow through with doing it!

DONT GIVE UP!

 

[fedoraoriginali]

Wow! I teach kids with learning disabilities and I will certainly read to them your post! So many kids are brainwashed today that if they don't get good grades in school they will not succeed. More important than good grades you need guts, perserverence, confidence in your ideas and the willingness to give it a try! verything you have in spades! Actually, my daughter needs to read your post! LOL!
Wel done! You have succeeded already.

 

[RespecttheCraft]

Okay so I was a freshman I was walking down the hallway and saw someone with a lame shirt and im like why dont they make cool shirts that you can get locally so When i was using the urinal(lmfao) i thought of the name! and i thought for hours more of some other name but evryone loves this one... i was going fresh meaning cool...

so I worked at burger king for 8 bucks and hour got 500 bucks and bought a heat press 3 dozen shirts 100 sheets of paper and refil ink carts for a printer a already had... Im frustrated because my press is now to small 12x12 i got becuase it was cheap... I also ordered a dozen pairs of shades from dangshades.com they sold like hotcakes! better then the shirts! half of them gone in 2 days just selling at school! 15 bucks each now im looking into getting belts from miles to go belts...

And maybe some hats from new era customs...

I expect myself to be in this probally till im dead

And my advice is never give up! I almost did it took so long saving up for what i wanted to start! then it took alot of trial and error!

But yes never give up ANd by the way I am only 15 and im a sophmore so its tooken me about 6 months to get all up and running! Another thing is dont let pepole tell you your idea is stupid when you know its not there just being mean cuz they dont think your gonna follow through with doing it!

DONT GIVE UP!

Sounds just like how i started up! but with screenprinting instead of transfers. mad props man!! having business sense about you is not something i possessed at 15. keep going and you can only land among the stars.

SCREW COLLEGE! GO BUSINESS!

 

[freshlysqueezed]

I AGREE! haha!

 

[veedub3]

There are already several threads on this topic. Use the search feature at the top and you will find many more stories.

Here is a link to one but as I said there are many more.

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t117587.html

 

[cleos]

Okay so I was a freshman I was walking down the hallway and saw someone with a lame shirt ...

Wow, hats to you, this a great story! sometimes young blood have way more common sense than many adults around, no doubt you are an entrepreneur.

SCREW COLLEGE! GO BUSINESS!

Don't say that, with your entrepreneur skills, education will boost your career you can't imagine! my grandpa told me once, "son, a lawyer can be a dishwasher if required but a dishwasher can't be a lawyer", at the time I said "F... school" I didn't get it, later I realised I had wasted precious time.

 

[Cicada]

The Johnny Cupcakes videos/lectures are always a good watch.

 

[Cicada]

links: Johnny Cupcakes / Media
Johnny Earle's Tasty T-Shirts | News Video | MTV

 

[laosfu]

We'll I've been lurking this forum since 2002 i believe.. and finally registered in 2007 so i could see the classified section.. I still lurk the forum and rarely post. I've owned vinyl plotter 24"er since 02 havent really done much with it so i sold it and bought a roland sx15.. sold that and got a 24" plotter. to do bigger things.

Still I rarely use my machine since Im in the family biz of a thai restaurant.

Im looking into getting a screen printing setup and a store front. I think I can build a few websites with different themes and sell shirts online and sell in a store front on a university campus. I have alot of vector graphics from my plotter to help with simple one color designed shirts

Well Ive been in the family automotive repair business as well so I know how to manage inventory and money. I eventually quit that and went to work with a friend building racecars at his shop. but now..

My family adventure is going to be screen printing with a little bit of decal fun. It sucks to work for family at times. But this time around its going to be my gig.

Its not a hard migration from decals to screen printing.. programs are about the same just different steps.. I use both corel draw and adobe illustrator and PS..

My goal is to offer friends and family jobs.. Make ends meet and some.

 

[Dante2004]

SCREW COLLEGE! GO BUSINESS!

Although this was probably a joke...you can't overlook the advantages that a college education will bring you. Will it allow you to print a shirt better? Probably not. But what about at the end of the days when you have to handle the business side of your efforts. Suddenly that finance, economics and accounting class comes into play. What happens when you walk into a bank for the first time and try to get a small business loan? Are they going to treak treat the person with a high school education the same way as a person with a college degree?

Did you know you even get better rates on car insurance and home mortgages? Not to mention the dishwasher and lawyer analogy...

Heck...use the tshirt biz to pay your bills as you go to school!

 

[TeesForChange]

i got into this for a few different reasons, one of them being that i saw someone wearing a shirt that said I DON'T LIKE YOU and i really didn't like the way it made me feel. so i got the idea to put positive message on my shirts.

i started out small, as a side project to do something fun and my business took off immediately. before i knew it, my shirts were in over 100 stores and i had six figure sales! i definitely see myself staying in this business and i love what i am doing.

 

[Egotistic]

I JUST started to get into this buisness my friend got me motivated, i live in san diego, and everyone here i swear has a big *** ego, and thats when i came up with the name EGOtistic