"He who marches out of step hears another drum." ~ Ken Kesey
Graphic Disorder, your post reminded me of a call I got a few weeks ago....A young kid with 2 employees worked his balls off all year and had nothing to show for his effort.....After talking with him for a few minutes, I discovered that he was using 2 manual presses because he could not scrape enough money together for an auto press....
Quote from: royster13 on December 21, 2011, 05:30:38 PMGraphic Disorder, your post reminded me of a call I got a few weeks ago....A young kid with 2 employees worked his balls off all year and had nothing to show for his effort.....After talking with him for a few minutes, I discovered that he was using 2 manual presses because he could not scrape enough money together for an auto press....Sad to hear. I know several like that. I always took hiring as a last resort. It's worked for us so far. I hired a Auto first, which some said was a dumb move. It has allowed us to work faster and not have to print every day and its far cheaper than most employees. We also design and embroider and other things. So its been good for us. Adding the auto allowed us to print faster, so we could focus on increasing the embroidery business, which I did. I added a 4 head last month, we exploded with work this month in embroidery. In fact I paid myself back for the 4 head already in just over a month. How about that for return on investment. Just had our best 30days on the books ever and we still have 10 days left in the month so we could shatter that. This all happened this way because of the auto. So I guess my advice to others is if a 2 person shop who just started taking screen printing seriously in 2008 can do it, ANYONE can do it if you have the drive. I wouldn't cheap out for the cheapest press if you can avoid it at all. However my advice would be over and above all. GET ONE, but get the biggest baddest mofo you can afford, remember you will want bigger. Of course we have now hired and he starts Jan 2nd. I can say this much Shelly and I took this business as far as 2 people could have in my opinion. So it was time for help. I look forward to seeing what we can do with more time. I think we have just touched the tip of the iceberg.
Quote from: GraphicDisorder on December 21, 2011, 05:53:05 PMQuote from: royster13 on December 21, 2011, 05:30:38 PMGraphic Disorder, your post reminded me of a call I got a few weeks ago....A young kid with 2 employees worked his balls off all year and had nothing to show for his effort.....After talking with him for a few minutes, I discovered that he was using 2 manual presses because he could not scrape enough money together for an auto press....Sad to hear. I know several like that. I always took hiring as a last resort. It's worked for us so far. I hired a Auto first, which some said was a dumb move. It has allowed us to work faster and not have to print every day and its far cheaper than most employees. We also design and embroider and other things. So its been good for us. Adding the auto allowed us to print faster, so we could focus on increasing the embroidery business, which I did. I added a 4 head last month, we exploded with work this month in embroidery. In fact I paid myself back for the 4 head already in just over a month. How about that for return on investment. Just had our best 30days on the books ever and we still have 10 days left in the month so we could shatter that. This all happened this way because of the auto. So I guess my advice to others is if a 2 person shop who just started taking screen printing seriously in 2008 can do it, ANYONE can do it if you have the drive. I wouldn't cheap out for the cheapest press if you can avoid it at all. However my advice would be over and above all. GET ONE, but get the biggest baddest mofo you can afford, remember you will want bigger. Of course we have now hired and he starts Jan 2nd. I can say this much Shelly and I took this business as far as 2 people could have in my opinion. So it was time for help. I look forward to seeing what we can do with more time. I think we have just touched the tip of the iceberg. similar experience here, very similar. It's a lot of hard work, but very doable. This is not a business model that suits everybody, but it is a good option for some ppl. It does provide quicker results, but damn it is hard and testing in the beginning.pierre
I would venture a guess that through the manufacturers or distributors, you could get the name and address of a helpful and willing shop somewhere that is running an example of just about any current press in which you were interested.
We have talked tri-loc, mhm, newman pin. What about Vastex and their reg system? It seems cheap enough for the auto sized frames at about $1200. Anyone use one for their auto? I know Alan tore it apart and made his own.