What do I need to start a business?

[LMThompson]

Looking to start up a screen printing business.  I would love any opinions on equipment I need to purchase.  Also, I was wondering opinions on manual vs. electric printers??  Thanks!

[blue moon]

as a business guy with long history of starting business, your most important tool will be to learn how to run a business. Take a business plan developing class at your local chamber of commerce or college. They will give you all the questions you should be asking and have answered BEFORE you open the doors.

My next thought would be to have sales before you buy equipment. Money is not in printing, it is in sales. If you can start selling now and use a local contract printer you will be waay ahead.

This is probably not the answer you were hoping for, but it is the RIGHT answer. You can start without all that, but a good business plan will increase your chances of success ten times.

pierre

[Screened Gear]

The first thing you need to let us know is your experience and capital or means to capital. There is a ton of ways to start a business. But the two ways I see it is start small and build as profits are available or takes loans and buy what you need. Both ways have pros and cons. I built my business from a $3,000 investment and marketing skills. It was a long road but doing it that way taught me at every step.

Pierre is right about getting sales first but that is not the easiest thing to do. I would not of been able to do that when I started because I just didn't know enough about contract guys and sales in this field. The good thing about this field is there is plenty of work. If you can't find jobs your not trying. The bad part about this field is there is not alot of the easy work that is not bid to death. This is why most of us average about 35-75 shirt orders.

To get started I feel you need to be able to print the small orders. Out sourcing those orders you will lose money and the relationship with the contract guys. No one wants to print your 12 shirt orders. If you have no experience printing, small orders is the way to go and if you mess up its only a dozen shirts you have to replace.

Let us know what your plan to start is now and we can help fine tune it.

[royster13]

Looking to start up a screen printing business.  I would love any opinions on equipment I need to purchase.  Also, I was wondering opinions on manual vs. electric printers??  Thanks!

The kid down the road started with 1 screen and some water based ink....Some days I see 100s of shirts spread around his backyard drying in the sun....So IMO this business can be started with a little as you have or as much as some "venture capitalist" wants to invest...

[LMThompson]

I want to start small and grow from there.  I am totally NEW to this business.  I have several local companies that already promised to use me! I am located in a small town, so I know advertising is a MUST! I was just curious on suggestions on what equipment I should purchase... brands, styles, and sizes.  I order several shirts for different organizations that I am a part of and want to make the $$ myself. 

[jvanick]

Honestly, the first thing I would do if you have no experience at all is to take a class to get a feel for what you need to be doing/thinking about/etc.

you'll easilly save at least 4x the $$$ you spend on a class somewhere on your savings in screwups/headbanging/etc.

You should be able to take that experience as well to determine what you'll want to look for in equipment based on what you're looking to produce.

if you want to do a deep dive into printing, SGIA has a few courses that are offered a few times a year that are great for a beginner...  Ryonet has some around the country that are pretty decent. 

Something else you could consider is talking to your local screen print supply vendor, they may offer something as well.

Also, take the time to read through some of the posts here. -- there's tons of great information about the inter-dependent variables.

It's been said here, and I tend to agree, that the more experience you have running a manual printer, the better you'll be on an automatic.  (to say nothing about what a complete automatic shop will cost you).

Something else that may be beneficial is letting us know where you live... some of us here (myself included) would be happy to give you a tour of our shops / and show you a condensed version of a 'day in the life'.

[jsheridan]

I want to start small and grow from there.  I am totally NEW to this business. 

As in you have never printed a shirt in your life..

If you answered yes to that.. my advice is run.. run very fast and don't look back.

[Sbrem]

I want to start small and grow from there.  I am totally NEW to this business. 

As in you have never printed a shirt in your life..

If you answered yes to that.. my advice is run.. run very fast and don't look back.

I whole heartedly recommend the above, but if that doesn't scare you off, get a job in a local shop to get some experience. Even though I thought I knew (20+ years before I started my own) I had no idea. However, 23 years later, we're still here and crazy busy.

Steve

[whitewater]

a pair of balls.

[blue moon]

a pair of balls.

That might be a problem, I think LeAnna might have to go to a sporting goods store to acquire some . . .

pierre

[whitewater]

oh crap..i did not mean to offend.

i apologize.

[whitewater]

I should not assume its all guys...im a dumbass

[Sbrem]

a pair of balls.

That might be a problem, I think LeAnna might have to go to a sporting goods store to acquire some . . .

pierre

she wouldn't be the first to acquire a pair...

Steve