Starting a screen printing business... Must knows? Helpful Knowledge?

[Sbrem]

Damn a lot of helpful information.   I honestly didn't think this site would help but I'm extremely glad I came across it. All this is info is really helpful, and I think the best thing for me to do is get some hands on in a shop and learn the business before I take my next step. You guy are all right and my first thought was "easy money"  but Im going to have to work my butt off and its best to learn from other people before I just jump into it and start counting down the numbers in my bank account haha !   again thank you all for all the info and keep it coming 

This is the place guy, all good info so far. Keep in mind that almost everything you think you know or have figured out is probably going to jump up and slap your face proving you wrong. Do not get discouraged, it's a learning experience, and I'll bet anything you run into can be solved for you here. There's a million years of experience here... good luck my friend.

Steve

[Wildcard]

Damn a lot of helpful information.   I honestly didn't think this site would help but I'm extremely glad I came across it. All this is info is really helpful, and I think the best thing for me to do is get some hands on in a shop and learn the business before I take my next step. You guy are all right and my first thought was "easy money"  but Im going to have to work my butt off and its best to learn from other people before I just jump into it and start counting down the numbers in my bank account haha !   again thank you all for all the info and keep it coming 

One of my biggest hindsight moments with getting into screen printing is wishing that I had worked in a print shop for longer than I did to learn the ropes. Seems like you are onto that plan now which is good.

[crobinson524]

crobinson is in Sacramento CA

How did you know where I'm located?!  Thats kinda scary haha

[crobinson524]

Damn a lot of helpful information.   I honestly didn't think this site would help but I'm extremely glad I came across it. All this is info is really helpful, and I think the best thing for me to do is get some hands on in a shop and learn the business before I take my next step. You guy are all right and my first thought was "easy money"  but Im going to have to work my butt off and its best to learn from other people before I just jump into it and start counting down the numbers in my bank account haha !   again thank you all for all the info and keep it coming 

This is the place guy, all good info so far. Keep in mind that almost everything you think you know or have figured out is probably going to jump up and slap your face proving you wrong. Do not get discouraged, it's a learning experience, and I'll bet anything you run into can be solved for you here. There's a million years of experience here... good luck my friend.


Steve

Thanks Steve

[blue moon]

crobinson is in Sacramento CA

How did you know where I'm located?!  Thats kinda scary haha

Admins have access to your IP address which points to your location. Plus a lookup of your email address might show more info, too.

Pierre

[im_mcguire]

Sacramento is filled with a lot of good shops to learn from.  Hell, Im from Sacramento... But not sure if that means much.  But if you ever have any questions feel free to email or pm me.

[merchmonster]

I wanted to reply since I was in your same shoes one year ago. We went from a garage shop to projecting just under $1MM gross revenue since I started the business in Jan 2015. Currently have 5+ full time employees on staff. Both my staff and my vendors say they haven’t seen a shop grow this fast before. Located in Oakland CA.

I had decided at that time to do sales + marketing and contract out my work to my friend's shop but after taking a 2 day Ryonet screen printing class I decided to start my own and it’s been off to the races.

Advice
Take a screen printing class in a screen printing shop. The class from Ryonet accelerated my learning 1000x since it was in a real production shop.

Be frugal; there is always cheap starter equipment on the market. I got my first 6/4 Rototex w/ full set of aluminum pallets, flash dryer, National 8’ dryer, and 20 screens for $1000. Vacuum exposure unit for 23x31 screens for $700.  With consumables I was able to print shirts for a startup cost of less than $4000. I bought 60-70 20x24 screens from another shop for $4 each. Many screen printing shops don’t make it or are upgrading - don’t buy brand new equipment. There is a lot more used screen printing equipment in LA than the Bay or Sac so get on a flight, rent a Uhaul and drive the equipment back home on a one way. I’ve done it twice now.

Hire an experienced screen printer to do the actual work, and you do all of the support work. The learning curve to becoming a good printer is very steep and you’ll need at least a few years experience in a real shop (don’t hire a  home printer) to consistently make good prints with a low error rate (3-5%). I tried printing my first 10 jobs - my prints were mediocre, I was slow, and my error rate was 20%. I hired my first guy on 1/2 time and did everything else - sales, marketing, cleaning screens, reclaim, developing screens, catching folding. I learned a lot from that first printer and now I know how to do everything in my shop.

Reinvest and upgrade constantly. You need a lot of stuff to be a legit screen printing shop and it all adds up. So just be prepared to dump your profits back into things that makes your life easier or work better. However you don’t need everything to get started. For example I started out with 2 washout booths made from prefab plastic sinks and plastic sheeting, then upgraded to used Ranar washout booths I got for $200 each in LA.

I started with (1) 6/4 American Rototex manual + (1) National 8’ dryer
Then (2) 6/4 American Rototex and Workhorse Mach manuals + (1) National 8’ dryer
Then (1) 6/8 Workhorse Javeliin auto + (1) Workhorse Mach 6/4 manual + (1) Workhorse 13' dryer
Currently (1) 6/8 Workhorse Javeliin auto + (2) 6/4 M&R Chameleon + Workhorse manuals + (2) 13’ Workhorse and 8’ BBC dryers

You need a 6 color press to handle 98% of the work out there. 4 color is severely limiting for a lot of reasons. FYI our six color auto is a Workhorse and we can print 6 colors w 2 flashes in one turn.

Negotiate case pricing, price tiers, free shipping and terms from your vendors from the outset. Get your reseller cert on file. This goes for people you buy shirts from and people you buy consumables from.

Learn to turn down shitty jobs and say no. When you’re starting out you think you need the money but not all money is good money. Some customers are time sucking leeches, others just don’t know how to communicate. If you think it’s not a good fit turn them down. This is a custom work printing shop not McDonalds.

Be organized and create good processes to prevent mistakes. There are a lot of mistakes that can be made in this business and mistakes will cost you money. Also miscommunication with customers over expected deliverables will cost you money. Learn about proof approval process.

Document the work you do and promote your shop.

Find a reliable technician. Whether you have new or used equipment it will break and you will not know how to fix it. So find a tech and build a relationship.

This is a marathon not a race. Most print shops don’t stand behind their work, don’t do great work, and don’t make it right with customers. Sometimes it will cost you more to do the right thing but it pays off over the long term.

There is a lot of opportunity in small jobs. But you don’t want to get stuck doing small jobs forever since it’s shitty work.

Printing is a penny business and every penny counts.

Best of luck,
Mike

[merchmonster]

Lastly - don't quit your day job. I propped up the screen printing business by running rental properties, driving Lyft, freelance project management checks, and order fulfillment jobs. I think we would have failed without those other income streams in the beginning though now I struggle to manage it all.

[crobinson524]

I wanted to reply since I was in your same shoes one year ago. We went from a garage shop to projecting just under $1MM gross revenue since I started the business in Jan 2015. Currently have 5+ full time employees on staff. Both my staff and my vendors say they haven’t seen a shop grow this fast before. Located in Oakland CA.

I had decided at that time to do sales + marketing and contract out my work to my friend's shop but after taking a 2 day Ryonet screen printing class I decided to start my own and it’s been off to the races.

Advice
Take a screen printing class in a screen printing shop. The class from Ryonet accelerated my learning 1000x since it was in a real production shop.

Be frugal; there is always cheap starter equipment on the market. I got my first 6/4 Rototex w/ full set of aluminum pallets, flash dryer, National 8’ dryer, and 20 screens for $1000. Vacuum exposure unit for 23x31 screens for $700.  With consumables I was able to print shirts for a startup cost of less than $4000. I bought 60-70 20x24 screens from another shop for $4 each. Many screen printing shops don’t make it or are upgrading - don’t buy brand new equipment. There is a lot more used screen printing equipment in LA than the Bay or Sac so get on a flight, rent a Uhaul and drive the equipment back home on a one way. I’ve done it twice now.

Hire an experienced screen printer to do the actual work, and you do all of the support work. The learning curve to becoming a good printer is very steep and you’ll need at least a few years experience in a real shop (don’t hire a  home printer) to consistently make good prints with a low error rate (3-5%). I tried printing my first 10 jobs - my prints were mediocre, I was slow, and my error rate was 20%. I hired my first guy on 1/2 time and did everything else - sales, marketing, cleaning screens, reclaim, developing screens, catching folding. I learned a lot from that first printer and now I know how to do everything in my shop.

Reinvest and upgrade constantly. You need a lot of stuff to be a legit screen printing shop and it all adds up. So just be prepared to dump your profits back into things that makes your life easier or work better. However you don’t need everything to get started. For example I started out with 2 washout booths made from prefab plastic sinks and plastic sheeting, then upgraded to used Ranar washout booths I got for $200 each in LA.

I started with (1) 6/4 American Rototex manual + (1) National 8’ dryer
Then (2) 6/4 American Rototex and Workhorse Mach manuals + (1) National 8’ dryer
Then (1) 6/8 Workhorse Javeliin auto + (1) Workhorse Mach 6/4 manual + (1) Workhorse 13' dryer
Currently (1) 6/8 Workhorse Javeliin auto + (2) 6/4 M&R Chameleon + Workhorse manuals + (2) 13’ Workhorse and 8’ BBC dryers

You need a 6 color press to handle 98% of the work out there. 4 color is severely limiting for a lot of reasons. FYI our six color auto is a Workhorse and we can print 6 colors w 2 flashes in one turn.

Negotiate case pricing, price tiers, free shipping and terms from your vendors from the outset. Get your reseller cert on file. This goes for people you buy shirts from and people you buy consumables from.

Learn to turn down shitty jobs and say no. When you’re starting out you think you need the money but not all money is good money. Some customers are time sucking leeches, others just don’t know how to communicate. If you think it’s not a good fit turn them down. This is a custom work printing shop not McDonalds.

Be organized and create good processes to prevent mistakes. There are a lot of mistakes that can be made in this business and mistakes will cost you money. Also miscommunication with customers over expected deliverables will cost you money. Learn about proof approval process.

Document the work you do and promote your shop.

Find a reliable technician. Whether you have new or used equipment it will break and you will not know how to fix it. So find a tech and build a relationship.

This is a marathon not a race. Most print shops don’t stand behind their work, don’t do great work, and don’t make it right with customers. Sometimes it will cost you more to do the right thing but it pays off over the long term.

There is a lot of opportunity in small jobs. But you don’t want to get stuck doing small jobs forever since it’s shitty work.

Printing is a penny business and every penny counts.

Best of luck,
Mike

Wow Thank you for all of that !   I really appreciate it.    Definitely will be very useful to me when starting up !   Looking into class right after I send this