Sounds pretty reasonable, but have you thought about looking for opportunities to pay for your startup costs or at least a percentage of them with an order or even better a few local orders. Maybe a family member or friends team or club needs some shirts. See if you can tie down a few orders with a couple of weeks lead time so that you have time to get your transfers and equipment in. Even if your main interest isn't custom work long term it might be a good way to get some cashflow to cover the basics. If you like custom work and want to continue it I'd recommend a vinyl cutter and maybe a inkjet or laser paper setup in the future.

 

don't do it, JT. invest it on something else. there are most cost associated to t-shirt business. your $800+ will not be enough.

 

isn't it better for him to learn, and if he has a dream why not...
analytical POV your on point, but if no one ever just takes the plunge who really succeeds?

 

You get 100 free email accounts with godaddy hosting on their cheapest plan...
and i would jump in... it's worth 864.12 cents if you give it your all and enjoy it...
Good luck and i look forward to hearing your success story a couple of years from now...

 

I am inclined to say go for it!

If you have designs that teens like you have a great ready made market.

Print out the designs and see if you can get pre-orders from your friends. They can tell you if the designs are good or if they suck.

Some things are different according to where you live.
Check to see if you have to register your name if you use your own name. Don't use a DBA name right now.
You can usually use Susie Jones Shirts. But you would have to register Mad Crazy Shirts.
Forget the website for now. Sell to your friends.
Are you sure you need a state vendors license? You will most likely need a city license.

Who is JT - CardinalWebDesign CEO?

 

Some things are different according to where you live.
Check to see if you have to register your name if you use your own name. Don't use a DBA name right now.
You can usually use Susie Jones Shirts. But you would have to register Mad Crazy Shirts.
Forget the website for now. Sell to your friends.
Are you sure you need a state vendors license? You will most likely need a city license.

Who is JT - CardinalWebDesign CEO?

Well even if I used my real name for the business I would need to register it for tax purposes and it is the same cost so why not have a cool name? And yes I have to have a state vendors license thats the only one they sell, and third JT - CardinalWebDesign CEO is me... But thanks for your input

 

While I disagree with Texasmom, she does have a good point. Don't think that you will not end up spending a good amount more than you are forecasting. I think my initial startup was projected at about $2500, but in the first six months I spent more like $7000. Now, that doesn't' mean I had to spend that much, but hopefully things will go well and you will see the need to grow or at least things that will improve your business.

I would also go easy on some of your startup stuff or at least be sure you need it right at the beginning. For example if you only sell on the internet then you might not need some of your state things setup at least right at the beginning because all of your sales may be out of state. Once you see things are moving along then I'd do those things, but you just never know how things will go. I'd also go easy on ordering a bunch of inventory until you see what sells. I don't know how close you are to a supplier, but I bet you'd get orders overnight. If all of it went bad and you just couldn't find a good market or decided you didn't like it then you could always sell your press for about what you paid for it and not be out too much money.

 

It's good to see that your eager to begin this and that you took the time to do the research. But like Masterkoin said, your initial start-up cost is not the only money that you will have to spend. Plenty of things will come up along that way that you probably will need to spend more money on.

If your budget is really set at that, then I would suggest lowering some of your initial cost so that you have some extra money. Otherwise, you may want to save up some more money first before you begin.

 

Thanks everyone for your advice this will really help me, JT.

 

You might want to include an amount for advertising and business cards.

 

I started with a $75 business license, $7.66 domain name, $7.95 web hosting and $390 for a stock of screen printed t-shirts. Oh, plus about $30 in miscellaneous supplies. I got free business cards. I mail a free CD and a business card with each order I send out.

I say go for it.

 

Hi JT. Rather than putting the focus on things like business licenses, your first aim should be to do some market research, to see if your intended designs are commercially viable. A lot of people fail in business, as they assume that having a product for sale is all that is needed.

Show your designs to people other than close friends or family. Ask them for honest criticism, what colour tees they'd like to see them on and the sort of price they'd be willing to pay. That will give you a much clearer insight as to the feasibility of the venture.

Good luck with it all. Nice to see a 15 year old with more ambition than to be someone elses employee.

 

From a 17 year old:

Your cost will probably go over 500$ more than you thought before you actually break even.

You could take about a month (or more) longer than you think to actually get in production because random things do pop up - for me, my printer's mod chip to let me use custom inks was not compatible with the revised version of the printer. Who knows what could get ya, maybe nothing, maybe something no one could ever have forseen (silent revision to a printer rendering my mod chip useless? wtf? Ross @ inkjetcarts confirmed it was the printer's revision at fault)


Also, internet sales are shaky for me. I would not rely on it as a way of breaking even.


From start to present (Jan 26 2009 to July 17) I have made about 150$. However, I now have about 100 orders for a popular design and I will finally turn some profit (overall). It is a lot of work. It can also make things awkward in school because you want to promote your brand name and products but don't want to push stuff on your friends. A lot of the social aspect depends on where you live and the crowd you interact with. I would not do customs for individual people as a business model - go to teams and clubs.


The hardest part is getting GOOD, SALEWORTHY artwork and designs. What you sell represents you, don't forget that.


Also, have you accounted for how you are going to make "custom shirts for businesses, groups, etc."?

 

Cant believe someone would tell u not to pursue a dream. You're only 15 & u have ur whole life to try things & start over. I like the way u came across in ur initial post & it seems to me like u can pull it off. Not to mention u probably have a better chance at being successful because of ur age. Without the responsibilities of an adult u have the time to just get started & learn as u go along. U dont have to make the mistakes most ppl have made if u Stay tuned into this site cuz most ppl on here kno their stuff & will lead u in the right direction. Man just go for it!!!!

 

I'll say this much - it most definitely is an eye opening experience.


Some blunt honesty: If you don't have the guts to promote your product to people you have never met before, don't even try. You HAVE to be outgoing and social.


Don't ask us if it's worth it, ask yourself if you're up to it. It takes a lot of time and effort. Just because you have designs doesn't mean they will sell. Pre-sell designs before you order the stock tees. Get the word out before you invest. Print a page with your designs and ask how many people would buy one.

 

If you're in a situation that you don't have to rely on this business for a pay-check each week for house,food, etc..... than you're a smart kid for trying this out. You should try the word of mouth advertising and low budget first, like a sign at ball diamonds for t-shirts.... hit the smaller guys that might need a dozen shirts like landscapers and general workers like cement contractors... always looking for a simple quick design...( High turnover rate so more shirt orders) And I don't know if you have them in your area but in Canada we have the "Free Flyers" Advertisment in a Grocery store.
Good luck, and when you hit College or University... all the intermural teams are gold mines.

 

I say definitely GO FOR IT! One major thing I feel like you are missing though is some money for advertising. Your shirts may be great but the truth is there are billions of websites. No one can buy a shirt from you if they don't know you exist. Even if you fail miserably it will be an awesome learning experience and totally worth the money. I am 19 and just like you I started at 15 doing whatever I could to make a buck. Truth is most people fail about 10 times before you really start to make money. I know I have, just last year I lost 2,000 in a bad stock investment. But now I have a pretty successful Graphic Tee shirt business that brings in enough money to pay my rent, car payment and allow me to live my dream. So even if you invset this 800 and some odd dollars and end up lossing it all you still gained something worth a lot more than 800 dollars. Something that you cant pay a college or school to teach you. The life experience you gain from this will be worht so much more. Shoot for your dreams bro! Good luck!!!

 

And now 8 years or so later, are any of y'alls tshirts companies still in business? Did all you make a fortune or go under? Trying to see if it would be worth doing today. Thanks!

 

I would say flopped as the OP has not be active since 2011 when he said he was go finally start up.. he only had a total of 47 post so I think most of them flopped toits worth it if you find a niche market but this business is very expensive.

 

You don't need GoDaddy . Try etsy.com instead

 

Hi there
You could open a website but you will still have to get traffic to your site and would most likely spend additional money on marketing .

To start your business I would suggest

1. Post your designs on popular marketplaces such as Etsy, EBay, and Amazon. By posting on these marketplaces your designs will get exposure and have a greater chance of a sale compare to a newly created website.

2. Partner with a fulfillment company that can print and ship your orders. Great thing about fulfillment companies is that you don't need to carry inventory and only pay them when you get a order.

Anyway I wish you all the best with your new business!

 

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