i need some words of encouragement...

[Command-Z]

I like Pierre's idea of making killer shirts for your kids to wear to school that will outshine those other guys' product. Maybe invest on making a different version for each day of the week. The other kids will covet and ask where they came from. Put your phone number on there!

And yes, printed pamphlets, flyers, brochures, etc. are kind of a good idea.

[inkman996]

I like Pierre's idea of making killer shirts for your kids to wear to school that will outshine those other guys' product. Maybe invest on making a different version for each day of the week. The other kids will covet and ask where they came from. Put your phone number on there!

And yes, printed pamphlets, flyers, brochures, etc. are kind of a good idea.

This is the first year for my daughter in school (kindergarten) I hooked her up with a bad azz back pack with logo, and some DTG shirts with school logos and already we got a hit one at least two jobs.

[Gilligan]

I just recently picked up a local account whom got his shirts from some printer in Cali for years now.  He questioned my cheaper pricing.  He saved money on shipping as well since we could drop off or he could pick up.  He "gambled" on us. 

Not only is our design cooler, the prints are better.  He spent 3k last week, just spend another 3k this week.  We have quotes to him for another 13k that he should be paying invoices on any day.  Beating these prints were not hard at all.  I don't understand how some people push some of this stuff out the door. 

Perfect example how you can get some one on a good price and if your printing and service are good you can keep them.

I'm sure you won't agree or take this the right way but I honestly think (from your description) that he possibly didn't believe you would turn out a good product BECAUSE your price was so low... "how can you, if the other guy is so high".

I had an EX-biz partner do that with a video shoot.  A HUGE company wanted a commercial... the big boys in town were quoting 50k and 70k... my buddy was like "that's ridiculous... we could do it for under 10k".  It was a friend of his and he never even got a chance to place a bid... they don't want to see that.  They PERCEIVE that they are getting 50k-70k WORTH of a commercial and that we would only give them 10k worth of a commercial.  They were of course wrong and we would have rented the same gear the other guys have and hired the same light crew (or better)... but we didn't even get our foot in the door because we just looked to small/mom and pop to do such a "large" job because our price was too reasonable.

In the end one of the other companies got that gig and made HAND OVER FIST simply because they were priced higher and ergo had a "perceived value" that we didn't.

If we would have bid the job at 40k we might have gotten it and been set... but my buddy was too short sighted to see that.

I think in your case you might have had to convince him to give you a shot because he felt like there was no way you could do as good as the other guys because of the price.  "you must be cutting corners somewhere" is the mindset.  Or "there must be something wrong".  If you are looking at two identical trucks and one guy says "I'm asking 10k for it" and the other guy says "I'll take 2k".  Are you going to jump all over that 2k truck or will you investigate to see "what is wrong" and why is he only asking 2k?

[GraphicDisorder]

I just recently picked up a local account whom got his shirts from some printer in Cali for years now.  He questioned my cheaper pricing.  He saved money on shipping as well since we could drop off or he could pick up.  He "gambled" on us. 

Not only is our design cooler, the prints are better.  He spent 3k last week, just spend another 3k this week.  We have quotes to him for another 13k that he should be paying invoices on any day.  Beating these prints were not hard at all.  I don't understand how some people push some of this stuff out the door. 

Perfect example how you can get some one on a good price and if your printing and service are good you can keep them.

I'm sure you won't agree or take this the right way but I honestly think (from your description) that he possibly didn't believe you would turn out a good product BECAUSE your price was so low... "how can you, if the other guy is so high".

I had an EX-biz partner do that with a video shoot.  A HUGE company wanted a commercial... the big boys in town were quoting 50k and 70k... my buddy was like "that's ridiculous... we could do it for under 10k".  It was a friend of his and he never even got a chance to place a bid... they don't want to see that.  They PERCEIVE that they are getting 50k-70k WORTH of a commercial and that we would only give them 10k worth of a commercial.  They were of course wrong and we would have rented the same gear the other guys have and hired the same light crew (or better)... but we didn't even get our foot in the door because we just looked to small/mom and pop to do such a "large" job because our price was too reasonable.

In the end one of the other companies got that gig and made HAND OVER FIST simply because they were priced higher and ergo had a "perceived value" that we didn't.

If we would have bid the job at 40k we might have gotten it and been set... but my buddy was too short sighted to see that.

I think in your case you might have had to convince him to give you a shot because he felt like there was no way you could do as good as the other guys because of the price.  "you must be cutting corners somewhere" is the mindset.  Or "there must be something wrong".  If you are looking at two identical trucks and one guy says "I'm asking 10k for it" and the other guy says "I'll take 2k".  Are you going to jump all over that 2k truck or will you investigate to see "what is wrong" and why is he only asking 2k?

Of course I don't agree because you are taking my post out of context.  Don't read so far into something.   "He questioned my pricing".  It was a very simple, "You are cheaper than what were paying, is this price correct?"   "Yes, this is the correct pricing."  Then "Gamble" was the words I used here because the topic here was basically saying that anything cheaper must also be cheaper made or worse quality or something like that.  IMO it is not ALWAYS like that was my point.  I didn't have to convince him of anything, we met him, we did him 1 design free in effort to score him as he is a big fish around these parts. 

I feel you on "perceived value", it's certainly relevant, and now when he looks at what he used to pay a higher price for worse quality it will be perceived he got more for less.  That works out great for me.  But it's not like I was light years cheaper than they were paying, less than $1 difference in print/shirt cost, the savings on shipping helped as well since I am local they don't have to pay that. 

[Gilligan]

Sorry I took your words as you typed them at face value.

[GraphicDisorder]

Sorry I took your words as you typed them at face value.

Well I think you took the words how you wanted to take them but that's a whole other discussion now isn't it. 

[Screened Gear]

You guys need to just ignore each other for the good of the forum. Just my opinion.

[GraphicDisorder]

You guys need to just ignore each other for the good of the forum. Just my opinion.

[Socalfmf]

Nope

I think that we all need to follow Gilligan..it is obvious he knows everything about everything...

just sayin

sam

[Gilligan]

Nope

I think that we all need to follow Gilligan..it is obvious he knows everything about everything...

just sayin

sam

So is this where we are at Sam... just taking cheap shots left and right?

I'm down with that.  Tell us how it's done... you buy one of the smallest presses, the smallest wide format and you claim to be SOOO f'ing busy.  So busy that you worry so much about what I'm posting?

Give it a rest man... now that Shawn's out of the biz you need someone else to pick on is that it?  Get a life... go fly a plane or something.

[Gilligan]

Tell you what Sam... I'd like to just get this out there and say let's let any BS go by the way side IF you are willing to.

The fact is, I like to talk/type.. I like have discussions/debates, plain and simple.  I'm sorry that bothers you but I would hope you understand that I obviously mean no offense by some of the discussions, hell... half the time it's "devil's advocate" type of talk.

That being said... do you think that in 10 years you won't look back and go "man, I thought I knew X or Y but boy I had it wrong"?

Plain and simple you nor anyone on this board knows EVERYTHING nor do you or anyone know how to do everything right.  We are ALL just fumbling through this life.  We will ALL learn something everyday from this life and realize what we thought we knew wasn't exactly what we thought we knew.

If you don't agree with that then I guess you can just hate away but if you think it's possible that you might realize that 10 years from now you didn't know it ALL today like you thought you did, then why not put yourself in someone else's shoes and let it go.

[GraphicDisorder]

Nope

I think that we all need to follow Gilligan..it is obvious he knows everything about everything...

just sayin

sam

So is this where we are at Sam... just taking cheap shots left and right?

I'm down with that.  Tell us how it's done... you buy one of the smallest presses, the smallest wide format and you claim to be SOOO f'ing busy.  So busy that you worry so much about what I'm posting?

Give it a rest man... now that Shawn's out of the biz you need someone else to pick on is that it?  Get a life... go fly a plane or something.

So wait, cheap shots, isn't that exactly what you do to me and now you are criticizing Sam for taking a few at you?  That makes a lot of sense.

Sam is a ass, he knows it.  He also seems to be doing a lot better than you in business, so maybe turn off your keyboard once and awhile and take notes.

[Socalfmf]

Gilligan

here is what I see...I see a guy trying to tell people how to do stuff in this business that doesn't even have his own business up and running...I see a guy who thinks it is ok to have his guns stolen because he leaves them unlocked, I see a guy who is posting stuff he has no clue about...

as for me...well some people know me very well...I am NOT a screen printer...I am a business guy...do I run the biggest shop out there NOPE and don't want to...do I run one of the most profitable shops...you bet your ass...I am about making money not being the biggest...if you do any research at all you will see the bigger shops are going by the wayside....there are not the 100,000 item jobs out there anymore...they are all off-shore...it is about systems and putting them in place.   

so you know what Gilligan I will keep doing what I do while you guys mess around buying up used old worn out equipment and then bitch it doesn't work while I keep trying to find ways to save $40-$100/yr by making my systems better...

So there you have it...keep doing what you are doing and I will keep turning over screens making money....oh yeah on that smallest wide format printer I made 6 banners yesterday for a profit of over 500 bucks...hmmmmm again most profitable not the biggest....

[mooseman]

A little off topic (hopefully) i saw this in one of the above posts "... now that Shawn's out of the biz......"
did I miss something, or let me rephrase this is anothere thing I missed and am curious EndlessInk? quit? can anyone speed me up?
mooseman

[royster13]

(Update 9/4/2012) Endless Ink Printing is now an extension of Gnarly Graphics.  The master minds at Endless Ink Printing and Gnarly Graphics have decided to merge under the name Gnarly Graphics.These are exciting times for both companies and a huge plus for our customers! 

Gnarly Graphics is a Rochester, NY based screen-printing company. We offer a number of screen-printing and graphic design solutions for those in need of our services. Our goal is to keep overhead low and products high-quality, while being very affordable and profitable for our valued customers.