This isn't school! Then why am I still learning?!

What have I learned so far? And more importantly, what am I basing my current business model off of? Here is some of what I've come to know in hopes of imparting this knowledge to you.

What I've learned

1. Advertising is expensive
1. but of course! I already knew this. I'm just glad I was watching my numbers to confirm my suspicion. Facebook Ads add up over time. I've spent a pretty penny on a dollar here and a quarter there. I'm exploring as many options as I can when advertising.
2. Listen to the fans
1. it is your market that is your best critique. It doesn't matter how silly I think a design is or how bad ass I think another one is. If the people want that silly design or they hate that 'so called bad ass one' they are not going to monetarily agree with you. And in the end that is what counts for a business.

What I'm doing

1. Your close network is your friend
1. my network of close people is my best venue for advertising, creative support, and revenue. Many friends have purchased both shirts that I have custom created for them and original ones that they thought were great. It is best to start with your core audience, the ones you know best. The ones you see everyday. From here you can learn the intricacies of PR work and customer service.
2. Advertise the hell out of it, in any means possible
   
1. seeking as many venues to advertise as a new business is key. You need to hit as many places as possible. With the dollar jar looking sparse, you have to be resourceful, and researching all your options is vital. Lots of time has been spent online seeking what others have done and how they succeeded at this crucial stage. I've learned of many free forms of advertising, many which require a large time commitment. They eventually pay off, and that is where your ask yourself, "is it worth it?" For some people, it's not. They rather sit on their butt than invest their free time into a long term investment that requires real work and effort. For me, yes. My time is definitely worth it.
   
3. Listen to the fans
1. I always believed in the power of the voice of the people. But to what extent? I've learned that they are your deciding force for what works and what doesn't, since they are your market. But what I've always knew and am still doing is that you need to want to listen to them, and they need to feel that. I believe strongly, to the core, of the voice of your audience. I've believed this in all leadership positions that I have held. And this is the same side of the coin. To lead these people to a happy product, you have to find out what that product is for them. And additionally, to get that extra bang for your buck, ask them what they think of the original product ideas. Sometimes they didn't even know they were interested in something until you ask them, "hey is this interesting to you?"
4. You got to give alot to get a little... at first!
1. Capital. It's all about what you can invest first to build a foundation that will be built upon later. All that money I keep in a pickle jar for a rainy day is coming out to push this initiative forward. I've always dreamed of operating my own business, and it's time for me to get my hands dirty. My money and time will surely pay off in some form. I may not recognize it at first. It may not be a monetary pay off like sales. It could be knowledge of business or accounting, or copyright law, all that I will be able to apply in the future to my next endeavor. I hold this truth to be self-evident.
   

This is a overview of things that come to mind when I wonder where I am and how I got here. Things are looking good. I'm happy to create designs, and I'm even happier that people like them! Selling them is a bonus! How many business-type people say that? I love what I do!

Sales! Sales! Sales! And their EVIL side!

Sales are great because there's something for everyone! Customers love saving money. You love the flurry of interest it creates. Even the kitchen sink is interested!

Yet, let us not forget what happens with many sales very close together. Even though money savers encourage interest at first read, they have the potential to create negative perceptions and deter sales! 'Oh noes'!

That's right, sales deterring sales. How can this happen? Let's analyze the psychology of the situation. Simply, you are creating a rapidly changing environment for your customers, one in which they can't simply predict what the prices will be tomorrow. For example, today I release a coupon for $5 off a purchase of $30 or more. Two days from now I release a coupon for $10 off $35 or more. At first thought, you may think, "Fantastic! I just saved my customers even more money! They must love me!" This may be true, but unlikely. More likely, the customers who just partook in your $5/$30 coupon are upset that they jumped the gun, and your $10/$35 customers are wondering if they should wait out longer for another potential coupon. Do you see the signals you could be sending customers?

Knowing what perceptions your customers are receiving is a key to a successful business. Gather information to see what time of the month customers are most likely to buy products. Try using polls or a blog to communicate with your customers. If you do plan on offering sales in the near future, try to either consolidate the offers and offer them at the same time, or separate them with enough time for many sales to be processed and shipped. Remember! Avoid buyers remorse that may occur from that feeling, "Dang, if only I waited 1 more day!"

Designs: When to know you have enough, and what to do!

Now that you've started your own T-shirt website, your main goal is to produce a large number or products. Great goal! Why else would your customers keep coming back unless there is much to peruse and updates to get in on? But eventually you will reach a decent number of designs and it will be time to do other things!

Today let's talk about how to assess if you've have enough designs! Keep in mind, you can generalize this to many other products, not just shirts! Also, with a good number of designs, we can do certain things with them as a whole.

I believe I've hit a decent cap at around 60+ designs. All but about 3 were designed by myself. That is a lot to some people's standards. What is a lot to you? That is a great place to start. Ask yourself what you would consider a plentiful selection at another t-shirt store. If you have no idea, go browsing to other stores and see how you feel sifting through different amounts of shirts. To me, 60 is a good number for someone to go browsing through on a few visits.

A few visits. It is great for customers to come back to view more designs, especially if they couldn't see them all in one visit. It leaves a little mystery when they wonder about how many other designs there are, that there are more shirts just around the corner. Make sure to make your design previews as large as you can so they can get a good quick glimpse at it and take in all the essence of a design.

You definitely have a great number of designs when people have to budget themselves to buying 1 or 2 of your products when they really want 5 of them! If your customer can't choose which ones to buy because they just don't have the dough, then your doing great in terms of number of favorable designs! Now, on another note, we might want to talk about your pricing strategies, because even lowering your prices might be beneficial if that means getting more shirts in the hands of your customers thereby advertising your product and making customers happy, but that's another post!

So you have a lot of designs! Now what? Now you can use your collection as a selling point, or a gimmick, per say.

One method of using a large number of designs to draw in the crowd is by setting up a routine by not releasing the new designs all at once. Try releasing them on an interval. Let's say, 1 a week? 2, 3 maybe? This will generate a systematic readership as people get used to the release of new shirts. Plus you can stock up designs for those times when the juices are quite flowing. I'm planning on moving to this model now. I will release a shirt or two a week. You are no longer under the time crunch of establishing yourself as a full large-product catalog business.

Also, be proud of your large selection. Place it on your ads! "CHOU! Store. With over 50+ nerdy designs!" Someone will just have to see a place with so many designs! Also, be sure to place a descriptive word in your ads to emphasize what type of shop you are and that you have a lot of those kind of designs!

Remember, you got enough when you think you've got enough! Think like a customer, in fact be a customer, at another store if you have to! Then when you have enough, start using that great foundation. Advertise your large inventory and even start releasing your new designs in a different fashion!

Maintaining Communication and Positive Customer Report

Your customers have a lot to say. So much in fact, that you may think to brush a few e-mails under the rug to save you time in reading them all. Yet that is not a wise idea. Part of utilizing an open channel of communication like e-mails from customers is reading each and every one and responding to their needs or ideas.

There are many benefits to maintaining a positive open report with your customers. For example, generating custom product designs can be difficult. Sure, your head is full of ideas, but how many? If you drain all of your ideas in the first 6 months, then what?

That's where your fan base come into play. Building a report with your customers will help you communicate with them. When they are comfortable communicating with you, they may share their desires with you as well.

So many times you walk around on the street, see something funny, and say, 'Boy I wish there was a product for that!" Unfortunately, not everyone has the means of creating products for their dreams. That's where you come in! Let your fan base know you are taking submissions and that you can make those dreams come true! If only someone had told me they could have produced me a custom Kool-aid Man Costume, I wouldn't have spent so much time and money making myself one several years back.

Even if your ideas aren't running low, opening communication through positive report with your customers still contains many benefits. You can gather feedback on products, advertisement designs, pricing models, and much more. Simply put, you are communicating with the most important group of them all: your customers!

Empower them by creating their dream products and they may look to you for their future ideas to come to life! No idea is too small and should never be brushed under the rug.

Using Limited Capital in a Small Business

In a perfect world, whenever someone starts a business they would have infinite capital. They could draw from a bottomless well of money and invest it into their business. One would repay it much later when their earnings finally catch up to the expenses, and all would be great!

Unfortunately, we do not live in such a perfect world, and so our capital is often very limited, if we have any at all! What to invest in is an important decision to make, and I have a few opinions on how that should pan out.

First off, many people start at different stages of business. There are those with and with out capital, and at varying levels. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on those with little capital.


When building a business you need to build a solid foundation. Analyze the condition of the different parts of a business as they pertain to yours. Advertising, product quality, and name credibility.


It is best for you to focus on a limited number of investments as opposed to several different ones. By a limited number, I mean somewhere in the 3-5 range. You don't want to put all your eggs in 1 basket, yet you don't want to spread yourself too thin. For example, use your capital to invest in advertising via a local newspaper ad, some relevant website's banner ads, and some printed flyers. There are so many different ways to advertise that if you want to spend capital on this, you have to drill down your options and pick the best ones.


If advertising is not that big of an issue for you, such as you have a user base waiting for your products already, you may invest your capital into the products themselves. Whether it is a website, a tshirt, or a cupcake, use your capital to improve the quality of your product. The better product you deliver to your customers, the more likely they will return to buy another one, or refer a friend.


Another great way to use your capital when you start off as a small business is to reduce the product cost to your buyers. As a new business, you lack name recognition and credibility in the eyes of some. To build those two precious qualities, you need to get your product in more customer's hands. Try lowering your prices to the bare bottom. Make the smallest commission possible by using your capital to support the costs, as opposed to your revenue. This will make the products obviously more attractive, who doesn't like low prices, and hopefully will encourage more purchases. Later, you may raise your prices when there is a demand for the product. You will no longer be 'selling' your products, but offering a place for users to 'buy' your products.


There are so many ways to spend capital, but the bottom line is to analyze the needs of your business and strengthen it on all sides. After there is a demand for your products, and you begin earning revenue, than throw out the capital and start spending that instead!

Let's begin!

The Indie Tshirt blog is striving to be a meeting place for independent Tshirt shops to showcase their content and share information about the business. It is definitely a hard biz to get started in, but hopefully we can band together and be raised up by each other's arms!

Please feel free to reply!